ZebraLight H502 XM-L

[jhc37013]

I liked the 80 degree flood of my H501 and H501w over the 120 (?) flood of my H50 as it makes things look flat. Kinda hard to explain not that I don't like the good old H50. I will hold off for reviews and to see if there are any bugs or V2 models in a few weeks etc but given the low modes and crazy high on one AA in the end I will be buying one.

I agree when I went to 80 degree with the H501 it felt better to me than the 120 degree of the H50, for some reason my brain just didn't like all that light in my peripheral vision. The 501 is the most useful light I have and I'm not talking just headlamps I'm talking all light's so I would be all over this and I was ready to hit the pre-order but now the 120 beam gives me pause.

 

[BlueMarble]

This is definitely the most exciting flashlight announcement in years! :thumbsup:

The H502 will be the perfect nightstand light with its ultra low mode and the glow in the dark piece! And that is only one of countless uses I can think of for this light. Excellent design, Zebralight!

 

[bwm]

I wear glasses. I remember with the H50 and its 120 degree arc output I had to use the rubber cover to block the light from hitting the inside of my glasses. I do not see any such device and with the heat generated by the led I do not see such a device as a practical add-on for the H502.

I will not be ordering right away. I am going to wait and hope that someone will comment on how the headlamp interacts with their glasses.

 

[applevision]

This is definitely the most exciting flashlight announcement in years! :thumbsup:

The H502 will be the perfect nightstand light with its ultra low mode and the glow in the dark piece! And that is only one of countless uses I can think of for this light. Excellent design, Zebralight!

+1! Ordered. We've been waiting a looong time for this. I'm very impressed by the description... agreed that the 120 degrees might be slightly less than optimal for some, but I'm going to pioneer this light and will report. Now we just need our Q50 to come out!

 

[Beacon of Light]

I also wish they would have used the 80 degree instead of 120 degree. I don't have a H501 but I would see it as being ideal having owned a H30, H50 and H31.

 

[ryguy24000]

50lm for 7.5 hours!? Wow

 

[Bolster]

I liked the 80 degree flood of my H501 and H501w over the 120 (?) flood of my H50 as it makes things look flat.

The spread of the beam shouldn't flatten things. The "flattening" effect of the H50 the result of that light's less-than-ideal tint. That earned it complaints about "flattening," which is how people generally describe the lack of certain colors being rendered accurately.

For example, a bare incan lightbulb has a beam spread well over 270 degrees, and it doesn't "flatten" anything.

For the record, I've never noticed the H50 with its 120 beam has ever caused me trouble with glare, either with or without the rubber hood.

Looks like there's a social trend developing to dislike the 120 degree beam. I for one will enjoy it. I could use the extra peripheral vision when working. Sure, 80 is fine, and it concentrates more of the power forward, but I certainly won't be complaining about 120. For me, that would be like complaining about being too rich or too thin.

At the same time, the H501 was a special and unique light, and clearly the H502 won't duplicate all its charms.

If Zebralight had made a threaded bezel (as I campaigned for a year, and lost) this would not be an issue; they could've made extra money by selling a concentrating lens to people who wanted a 100, 80, 60, and other angles of beam, or could have sold colored filters to give just the custom tint people wanted.

But clearly I'm not in the Zebralight development team. Still, very happy about the H502.

 

[skyfire]

my H501w is still one of my favorites, its also the only zebralight i still have, and have been looking for brighter headlamp for a long time.
the h502w might be the first non-usa made light i buy in over a year.

i welcome the 120 degree spill. there have been times where the 80 degrees on my h501w was not wide enough. maybe im lazy, but i dont like having to adjust/rotate the light again and again.

the runtimes on this light seems amazing! maybe thats why zebralight has taken so long to release it? now its release is upon us, and i think its well worth the wait.

 

[psychbeat]

Im wondering if there will be much percieved increase in brighness over the 501?
Id assume most of the extra light will just be the addtional spill area.

 

[nzbazza]

Now all I want is the same electronics to be placed into the H51w so we can have the H52w...:devil:

 

[Photonrunner]

Im wondering if there will be much percieved increase in brighness over the 501?
Id assume most of the extra light will just be the addtional spill area.

Will probably depend on where/how the light is used. In a confined room there may be a lot of reflection of the spill light from walls/objects. In an open area like outside extra spill will likely be lost into the darkness. I would expect less through than the 501 outside. I enjoy using my 501 for running as you don't see a bouncing hot spot, yet it has enough through to see far enough ahead. I would expect the 120 degree angle to quickly dim as you get farther away. Would probably be ok for up close stuff, but wouldn't expect to be able to see too far ahead if the light is evenly distributed over a 120 light cone.

In short I would expect it to excel in up close confined areas. Would expect it to perform poorly as an outdoor light were you need to see any distance ahead of you other than your immediate surroundings. For the second reason I don't think it will perform well as a head lamp for running as the 501 does.

 

[Bolster]

Would expect it to perform poorly as an outdoor light were you need to see any distance ahead of you other than your immediate surroundings. For the second reason I don't think it will perform well as a head lamp for running as the 501 does.

Agreed. This is a specialty headlamp, and fits with ZL's philosophy of "a different light for each purpose." This is not a trail-running or bicycling light. It'll excel for working stiffs such as myself who are crawling around in attics and crawlspaces. And for reading in bed.

But pretty much every floody light gets criticized for being floody (based on past commentary I've been reading on CPF), so I expect to hear a lot of bellyaching that the H502 is not the H51F, or that it doesn't throw, and so on.

 

[Photonrunner]

Agreed. This is a specialty headlamp, and fits with ZL's philosophy of "a different light for each purpose." This is not a trail-running or bicycling light. It'll excel for working stiffs such as myself who are crawling around in attics and crawlspaces. And for reading in bed.

But pretty much every floody light gets criticized for being floody (based on past commentary I've been reading on CPF), so I expect to hear a lot of bellyaching that the H502 is not the H51F, or that it doesn't throw, and so on.

No problem with ZL's philosophy of speciality headlamps, however the 502 is most likely not a good replacement for the 501 in a lot of situations. ZL is discontinuing the 501 series (the 502 is supposed to replace the 501) leaving those with a need for a 80 degree beam of even light in a compact/light package zero options. No problem with floody lights at all, but find a more directional flood beam more versatile/useful, especially when used as a headlamp where it's automatically directed along your line of sight.

 

[varuscelli]

Agreed. This is a specialty headlamp, and fits with ZL's philosophy of "a different light for each purpose." This is not a trail-running or bicycling light. It'll excel for working stiffs such as myself who are crawling around in attics and crawlspaces. And for reading in bed.

But pretty much every floody light gets criticized for being floody (based on past commentary I've been reading on CPF), so I expect to hear a lot of bellyaching that the H502 is not the H51F, or that it doesn't throw, and so on.

That's one of the more sensibly balanced statements I've read in the last couple of days.

The H502 is going to be what it is, is not going to be what it isn't. A lot of what it can and can't do probably shouldn't be judged until actual copies are in the hands of users who can provide feedback and beamshots to the rest of us.

It seems to me that ZebraLight is doing a good job of trying to cover a broad spectrum of user needs with various lamps, and the H502 should be nice for meeting the specific needs of certain users...and it should provide quite a variation from the norm. If it doesn't cover everyone's wish list by not being what they wish it was, I'm sure another ZL lamp will come along soon enough to fill in whatever gaps there are for those users.

Regardless, I'm anxious to see what people have to say about performance once the H502 starts shipping.

 

[pjandyho]

I really wish a H502w would be available soon with tint just like the H501w. I never really liked the tint of my H51w and SC600w that much. They are ok but I still prefer the more magenta warm look of the H501w.

 

[RedForest UK]

I think due to the position of the LED being relatively much further from the user's forehead than the H50 will mean much less glare from the LED's beam than the H50. However, the stainless bezel looks as if it could easily contribute to glare from the portion of the beam reflecting of the far side of it directly into the user's eyes..

We'll have to wait and see.

 

[Outdoorsman5]

my H501w is still one of my favorites.........i welcome the 120 degree spill. there have been times where the 80 degrees on my h501w was not wide enough. maybe im lazy, but i dont like having to adjust/rotate the light again and again....

I agree with you skyfire. Love my H501w, but I think I would rather have a wider beam than occasionally having to rotate the light up or down because of the 80 degree beam. Not a big deal, but think the 120 degree beam would be more useful to me.

...I would expect less through than the 501 outside...

You may be right, but even though it's not made for throw I think that due to the increase in output of this light that it will throw slightly better than the H501 (through brute force....96 lumens vs 260 lumens.) Just seems logical that it would reach out a little further even with the wider beam angle. I've seen this with some other lights that were brighter & floodier than their predecessors (Quark AA2 with the R5 LED vs. the Quark X AA2 with the XML LED.)

These are just educated guesses for now, and we will all know for sure once they start shipping.

 

[travinc]

well i've just ordered one- looks like the best camping light yet! hopefully i'll find out in around a months time....

 

[DIΩDΣ]

The page is worded a little weirdly though, because it says holding it down goes from low to high, and I wasn't sure if it ONLY cycled low and high. I interpreted that to mean the only way to access medium was the double click...

otherwise if its the normal UI, then that's absolutely great!

I can see the confusion if you've never operated a ZL.

Quick clicking goes from high to med to low (1 click = high, second quick click will step it down from high to medium (sometimes referred to as a double click), and third quick click will step it down from medium to low) and pressing and holding goes from low to med to high.

One trick to avoid the preflash in the dark if you want to go straight into medium is to just close your eyes for a brief second while you double click. Unless your multitasking, you dont really need to see while you double click, and it only takes like a tenth of a second.

 

[skyfire]

I really wish a H502w would be available soon with tint just like the H501w. I never really liked the tint of my H51w and SC600w that much. They are ok but I still prefer the more magenta warm look of the H501w.

i have always felt that way too, the neutral tints of past XR-E and XP-E, to my eyes was more pleasant with more magenta. while the XP-G and XM-L neutrals i would see hints of green. lucky for me i love the hCRI XP-G though.
i cant remember for certain, but i think the reason why i sold my H51w, was because i felt the tint was too cool. :shrug: