Armytek XHP-50 Headlamp 1600 lumen

[LumenToro]

QUICK UPDATE ON BATTERY CAPACITY:
In preparation for the long running test, I measured first the fresh capacity of the Orbtronics that I got this week to confirm their capacity. I do that to both label them to choose/bin the best but also as a safety measure ... You don't want to discover that one battery is counter fit or damaged ... And also you can return them if they are way off the stated capacity ... But please don't be too picky - there are many assumptions on any number printed on a label ... I just do it to be sure they are in the ball park.

The good news is that the stated 3500mAh capacity is now confirmed - they had an average of 99.6% of that number. My sample was four batteries, best 99.9% and worst 99.5%.

Before somebody screams that is not 100%, let me state I used a 0.5A discharge cycle ... I am sure they are 100% if I use 0.3A rate which is where I need my endurance in the ~220 lumen mode for all night runs. Also another factor that is even more important is that my charger might be using more conservative voltage limits for the end-discharge and the max-charge ... Cutting a bit short and thus reporting less mAh capacity. In my opinion this are 100% OK.

In summary - Obtronics labeling is 100% truthful ... Which is great. Still batteries are not just defined by the mAh statement as your milage WILL vary if the modes you use are on the higher amperage range / high drain for other reasons. My guess, based on the MEASURED capacity is that my goal of running the main mode of 220+ lumen all night it might be within reach as AT reports runtime for 3400mAh batteries, so I should get few extra minutes to make the combination of the Wizzard XHP50/Warm with Orbtronics 3500 the dream for any mountain ultra-marathoner.

Still the proof should be in the run time. My plan is neither to run it all night, nor run it one hour at 2000 lumens ... As I don't want to push the limits of the light thermal endurance ... Even if reported as legal and self-sensing ...

I just plan to run the 500 lumen mode to see how the runtime number compares with the stated number and extrapolate the over or under rating to the reported 200 lumen number. I am not a reviewer ... I am just a user!

Thanks for the thanks for the mini-report - it was my way of returning the favor of prior reports of the limits of the protection on some batteries - that is the great thing about this forum: we help each other to get the perfect light one step at a time. We also have to be reasonable with any manufacturer and not get catch an ultra-picky number game ... That is how you help them to build better products or update their manuals. Each Manufacturer have pluses and minuses ... Nothing wrong about that if you get into their products fully informed.

 

[LumenToro]

TESTING UI (impressions)
I played with all the modes and I have to say that I LOVE the UI. Keep in mind that this does not account for the basic potential issue I reported should you use a lower drain protected battery which might leave you stranded in +2000 lumen mode. This assume you use the proper battery either unprotected or with protection rated to 10A.

Other than using the manual for the prior versions of the light (and extrapolate from it given that it has extra modes now, and the strict battery requirement) ... The manual (if updated for this model of light) is VERY good - why in the world they did not bother in updating it and printing it to put in the box with the light is beyond my comprehension because they ALREADY did the harder part of the work in the design, manufacturing and the prior manual. But I digress.

I love it because in summary (if you want to skip the manual)
(1) If you just turn on the light, it goes to the last EXACT mode that was active - it does not matter if it was the firefly mode, the 2000 lumen the mode or the strobe. It will go exactly where you left it ... Which I think is great. Also, if you keep it pressed, you can access all the modes except the strobes/beacon ... Which is great if you brain is fried ... You can always access what you want this way.
(2) In addition to (1), you can also Double click (very easy, two clicks speed is very repeatable ...) and you JUMP to the LAST main mode you used before. That is really awesome as you can pre-set what you need and use double click anywhere. This is awesome because if you are like me, you want typically TWO modes easily available: the main mode for long runtime all night (in my case 200 lumens) and briefly the 2000 lumen mode when I get lost and I am trying to replace the function of a high throw spot light. Since you have 2000 lumens, although your Field Of View is large, you are able to put enough intensity/candles on the spot to see enough. Sure, not as much as 1000 lumens spot light, but enough to not have to bring one. I also like the spacing of the main modes ... ~ 500/200/70.
(3) Triple click and you get to the "turbo modes" - again, still memorizes the last turbo mode you used, so you can set it in advance and just use triple click. I find the triple click less easy but it does work. I will only use the 2000 lumens for few seconds ... Even though they say it is designed to hold it you could probably warm your coffee after half minute. Still good to know you can hold it almost 1h, but I would never need that.
(4) Quad-click (if triple is doable, this one is a bit more tricky but you just click away without getting to crazy and it seems to work). As with the above, it does remember the last beacon ... So awesome.

Now, I still have to test this during a night run to see if the color flash reporting on the button annoys me too much (but it can be disabled). So far so good.

I do have a quick early report on the tint (my model is the WARM one ...) - it is very good on mine ... I can see all colors and the blue spectra does not trick my eyes in thinking the needles leafs on our trees have snow on them at night.

Will report my 500 lum runtime test tomorrow. My public bet against myself (always bet to win) is that after I extrapolate the result, with 3500mAh battery is likely it could run 200+ lumens mode for 11h ... Which was my goal ... But we will see.

Sorry for the verbousiness of the post ...

 

[gyzmo2002]

I look forward to see how it will run at 2,000 lumens, temperature regulation, output and runtime. 🙂

 

[LumenToro]

Just posted in the official AT manufacturer thread for this model (where all we should be posting in the future since AT does read that thread) the 500lm test (without instrumentation)

FIRST RUNTIME TEST AT 500lm mode (advertised at 4h10') using warm light
Finally could test this for real albeit without any instrumentation.

Charged my Orbtronics 18650 3500mAh 10A Protected and turned the light on in Main2 (500lm). Results are I think good, with some extra unexpected pluses that were not documented before to my knowledge.

(1) Run in Main3 (500lm) for about 4h before stepping down I don't know if stepped down around 4h15' or maybe 4h30' to ... Surprise, did not step down to Firefly modes but to Main 1! (listed at 40lm, but looks more like 100lm)
It might have gone Main2 but if it did it might have been a short transition. You could not step up above Main1 by 4h30' ...
(2) Remained in Main1 for another hour ! (5h30' elapsed runtime) Main1 is still a very bright headlamp.
(3) Finally went to Firefly1 automatically ... But here it is the interesting part, I could force step up to Firefly3! (Listed at 7lm, but looks to me more like 14lm) I could still use it as a minimal headlamp for hiking.
(4) Remained in Firefly3 for another hour ! (6h30' elapsed runtime)
(5) Finally reached cutoff but ...
(6) Still allows you to instantaneously push and get Firefly1 momentarily ... Awesome design for looking for the next battery.

NOTE1: I did not disable the LED color battery indicator ... Which I saw as green every 5s, then as red every 2s, and finally at red every 1s. Never saw any 0.5 blink.
NOTE2: There was NO main LED battery blink ... Awesome it is gone - I did not wanted that feature.

So, most likely will disable the LED color battery indicator since there is a very graceful degration ... And I always plan for the actual runtime.

Obviously with this level of sofistication somebody like Selfbuilt or the like should make a fully instrumented measurement but the above is all beyond my expectations. I was expecting it to jump down to Firefly after 4h 500lm and we got one more hour of about 100lm to the 5.5h mark of very capable headlamp, with another hour of final minimal hiking light up yo 6.5h mark ... I did hike with it outside and it was usable still. Finally, you can still push the button to look for batteries.

I would guess extrapolating now that in 210lm mode (Main2) I should expect the reported runtime of close to 11h ... With possibly another hour of Main1 (12h mark) and another of Firefly3(13h mark). In other words, I could probably flash Max 2 at 2000lm a number of times, and still get a bright headlamp all night with some emergency spare reserve.

If all the above is measured to confirm with instrumentation, this is the BEST headlamp hands down.

Two final observations:
At 500lm the light head got hot but bearable to the touch. It reached thermal equilibrium quickly and I was indoors at 74F.

One quick not important comment: my Pro light came with a yellow switch not with the one you see in the pictures.

It will be awesome if AT clarified my observations on how steps down ... And UPDATED the manual.

Cheers.

 

[clemence]

(Very) Interesting....but I still stick to my plan to wait another 5 months to avoid the lottery

 

[LumenToro]

Just posted some opinion on the regulation of this headlamp in the proper ArmyTek thread in this same Forum - hate to post the same content in two difference equivalent threads - that is the proper thread for updated info on this headlamp because AT is also subscribed and in the past has answered some questions.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-flashlights&p=4894031&viewfull=1#post4894031

Cheers.

 

[highenergyted]

The lights regulation is not allowing reasonably 3400mah / 3.7v Seikos of Japan to only match an A1 output?

You could add this caveat too
Orbtronic 3100mAh 18650 protected battery. Orbtronic 3400mAh and 3500mAh will provide longer run time .

 

[highenergyted]

With those very high drain capable battery and then after the battery is low. Does it run through the modes ok?

 

[LumenToro]

I would not call them very high drain, just that the protection circuit is higher than the standard 4A.

I run my little test until full depletion/cutoff ... and while in the quoted mode (i.e. if they quote 4h for Main3 at 500lm) I could switch modes higher or lower without restriction. When you are above the stated runtime, it starts to move you down through the modes ... in my test from Main3 ... eventually to Main1. When you are in that over-time (in my test ONE more hour), you can switch modes, but naturally only Main1, Firefly3-2-1 ... etc.

When it finally ends ... at 1-1.5hrs over time, then it just jumps down to Firefly1. Still I notice I could switch up manually up to Firefly3 (which is nice because it is kind of the minimal for emergency hiking) ... which lasted yet another 1h before finally it cut off completely. Then you can still instantaneously push the button to get Firefly1.

That is what I learn on the Main3 test. I don't know how it will behave in other modes but I guess that similarly.

As I noted, I am planning to run a little science capture tonight that my 9 year old designed with a lego sensor which will confirm for sure if they were in FULL regulation (in my case Main3) all the way to their approximated quoted time ... I feel they were up to 4h15' but hard to tell, and whether or not they used Main2 for s short period before staying constant at Main1 for that hour or hour and a half. I will unable to know the actual lumens, but will be able to tell which modes there are as we just calibrated this morning his sensor for all the modes.

With those very high drain capable battery and then after the battery is low. Does it run through the modes ok?

 

[highenergyted]

So whats your thoughts on why the standard batteries fail with this light?
In turbo its dimmer on low battery?
Really they need more supply to get them to run or they may as well be V2s?
Do run times on standard but also state brightness?

On a side note . In the previous order we paid for 5 x grease. They didn't deliver them as I unpacked them myself and found zero grease in the package except on the light threads. So I simply asked them to include it in the next order. Simple solution for a small issue?
No. They refused. Saying they delivered them and a burble regarding some confused reasoning that they didn't deliver it due to extra lights but I had still received it.
So I sent them the invoice that went through customs and the payment proof from the bank matching the invoice....still awaiting the reply.

They said they would refund the lights. I'll let you know if they do.

 

[LumenToro]

There is no much mystery or anything wrong with this light regarding batteries, it is purely that they did not documented or warn about the fact that the Max2 mode of 2300lum LED naturally needs more than twice the current than your typical 1000 lumens mode, and happens to be right above the typical protection found in "standard" batteries which is about 4A limit, thus the need to inform users and use only either unprotected (only limited by the logic/circuit of the light and the battery itself) or just batteries with a protection circuit rated up to 10A.

Protected batteries are just the same unprotected battery but with a solid state circuit in the tip that limits the current ahead of accidental short circuit - until now 4A was sufficient up to 1000 lumen hardware but this led crossed the threshold. Any new lights from any vendor will be subject to the same electric laws and will suffer the same spec of batteries unless you use two in parallel ... But here we have just one 18650.

My my light came with plenty grease (almost too much), even inside the magnet ... Magnet that I quickly put away as adds weight and I don't need it.

By the way, I just posted the results of our sensorized capture in the "official" thread for ArmyTek WIZZARD in this forum ("the other WIZZARD thread, because AT does read that one)... Uncallibrated but confirming excellent constant brightness regulation to the rated runtime for Main3 and adding afterwards very usable lower modes for a couple of hours more.

I have not run 1000 or 2000 lumen modes more than a minute since my use case only require brief periods of time during the night while preserving all night Main2 operation. In main 3 it got hot, but could still touch it. Max1 and 2 naturally will get super hot - they claim they will regulate monitoring temperature ... But I don't need to run more than s minute in Max2 so I don't plan to run two hours with those.

I have no experience anything bad or good from them ... But my light looks solid so far.

So whats your thoughts on why the standard batteries fail with this light?
In turbo its dimmer on low battery?
Really they need more supply to get them to run or they may as well be V2s?
Do run times on standard but also state brightness?

On a side note . In the previous order we paid for 5 x grease. They didn't deliver them as I unpacked them myself and found zero grease in the package except on the light threads. So I simply asked them to include it in the next order. Simple solution for a small issue?
No. They refused. Saying they delivered them and a burble regarding some confused reasoning that they didn't deliver it due to extra lights but I had still received it.
So I sent them the invoice that went through customs and the payment proof from the bank matching the invoice....still awaiting the reply.

They said they would refund the lights. I'll let you know if they do.

 

[highenergyted]

Perhaps you got my grease.. I'd like it back thanks.

Fine but I couldn't even get it past an A1 in 7th mode (1200 lumens)
Not even turbo 1 or 2. Just not enough supply out of the battery or drain to get it, even when fresh out of a charger

the customer is only seeing some 400 lumens at peak output with fresh batteries and in what direction that's going to go real fast.

Descriptions have to be correct in our country and Canada.

I really need a light meter.

When we received the previous wizard version. I tested them and that was an ok light. Performed visibly like the description

I'll do a video with fresh Nitecore 3400mah 3.7v. , the results will be predictably the same failure under consumer protection act.

If I advertised the lights using their description I'd simply be liable. Thats why I really test stuff properly. If it fails its dog tucker

By the way so far armytek has not advised me to use higher amp batteries.

 

[LumenToro]

Sorry about that - I can only say that mine works fine with the batteries I tested with, with the caveat of Max2 for when for example I tested EagTecs 3400mAh which have the protection circuit tripping. That also created the problem of not been able to get out of Max2 unless you had at hand an unprotected or a 10A protected version like Orbtronics.

So in my case using Obtronics 3500 mAh 10A all seems to work 100%. I have not measured the OTF lumens just their regulation but compared with other lights I have Max1 and 2 are almost for sure in the 1000 and 2000 range, and the Main3 for sure around 500-400 range. My impression is that the lower levels like Main1 and Firefly3 are much much higher than listed but ... hard to tell without a light integration sphere + a callibrated light meter. In our test in the official thread we build a white reflection box with a shoe box with two holes, one for the light and another for the cable of the uncallibrated light sensor.

For my use case (100k or 100 miles mountain runs which end up going through the night ) it might be the absolutely perfect light - although will reserve my final judgement for an all night training run in a month or so.

Good luck.

 

[highenergyted]

https://youtu.be/Ou0y0ZgVWIY
Wizard receives a whipping from its apprentice
Armytek batteries
Nitecore next.

 

[highenergyted]

Another armytek customer
https://youtu.be/Uy6cFT6H7Kg

 

[highenergyted]

https://youtu.be/FQdrwdZgriQ

Simple maths in high modes comparing a Tiara A1 which has a max rating of 420lumens and the XPH50 2300 Lumens.

So you should be able to see 5 and a half times increase in light.

 

[harro]

Careful.... A doubling of lumens doesnt mean a doubling of output. There are others here who would be up with the math in this situation. I think its about three times the lumens, for an apparent twice the light output. Possibly the inverse square law applies to this, also.
Anyone.......?

 

[SG Hall]

It's not mathematical harro, but to simplify a complex thing, apply this rule: 4x the lumens = 2 times the perceived brightness to the human eye. It will vary, but it's a starting point. Personally, I also find a brighter hotspot fools my eye into thinking that there is more lumens.

So you are correct, it is not linear. You will see a difference but big lumens offer diminishing returns to our perception of brightness.

 

[clemence]

When I was a kid, my parents bought me my first motorcycle. It was a 110cc 2 stroke Yamaha Force-1. I was the first kid with that model in my school. I read in many magazine reviews that the bike top speed reached 115km/h in standard condition. Mine was never get to that speed, topped only 110km/h as displayed in my speedometer.
I blamed my city altitude, wind, and finally my speedometer. Anything just to convince myself that the bike was perfectly normal, those were the external factors that made it slower than what those reviewers stated. Until one day another kid got one.....
We raced, and raced. I could never win no matter how we started the drag races. My bike was defective, something was wrong with the engine.
The morale is: you have to get yourself a good measuring datum in hand to get a simple-brutally honest-time saving-eye opening-mind blowing-satisfying truth.

A simple lux meter in a closed box will get you a good starting point of relative brightness comparison. It's better to paint white all the inside of the box. Tape your lux meter sensor inside and don't let it move. Then place the comparator inside and mark the light source point as accurate as possible. Don't let the light source aimed to the meter, make it bounce first. Keep everything as constant as possible. Don't let the headband/accessories ruin the meter readings, remove it. Then place your new Wizard inside, compare the readout.
That should give you a MUCH better results. Never trust our eyes for any quantitative measurements. The eyes are only good to tell which is brighter/dimmer, inaccurately...

 

[clemence]

Or you can use your camera light sensor to roughly measure the brightness.
Set the light meter to "average" then set all settings to manual "M". Set the aperture fixed in it's highest setting, for example f22. Then you can roughly measure different brightnesses by looking at the speed adjustment sensor (the + and - readings) with various different lighting conditions. For example: set a flashlight with f22 at 1/10. Different mode that gives 1/20 at the same f22 should be approximately 2 times brighter. Bounce reading will get you more consistent results.