# Rayovac 1AA Sportsman Xtreme finally!



## f22shift (Aug 27, 2007)

so i finally got my rayovac sportsman xtreme. they had 4 at the monroe, ny Walmart Supercenter, open 24hrs. yeah 24hrs if you want to drive there now  jk

first impressions, it's small, smaller than i thought. it comes with 1aa rayovac alkaline battery.

there is 2 red leds, 1 blue, and the 1 watt white(claimed 45 lumens).

it has the diffuser shield that works very well and has a nice 'click' when going into place. 

the button has a nice feel, feels solid but i can imagine it being pressed accidently. someone had the smart tip of unscrewing the battery cap a little to prevent accidental starts. works like a charm.

the elastic is fairly thin in width but still feels comfortable on the head.

i loaded it with a nimh battery and it seems to work fine.

the battery cap screws into the battery holder and there is a rubber o-ring to add to the 'water resistant' nature. the battery cap is also attached to the back plate with a rubber string which is a nice touch to not lose it.

beam shots are coming


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## f22shift (Aug 28, 2007)

okay beamshots are here.
it looks like to be 45 lumens bright.
the red function well for night vision
the blue functions to track blood i think. i'm not going to use real blood.

http://hamandcheese.smugmug.com/gallery/3380544#188787523


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## f22shift (Aug 28, 2007)

oops i meant for this in the review section.

some things to add. when you have it on blue mode with the diffuser there is some glare if you have eyeglasses. that's because the blue led is so close to the bottom. i guess you could use a black sharpie on the edge of the diffusor.


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## Lux Luthor (Aug 28, 2007)

Very nice beamshots!!!

Thanks.

I'm still liking this light (especially the form factor), but like so many others I'm waiting on the Zebralight.


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## f22shift (Aug 29, 2007)

yeah so far i like it. i dont have any red or blue flashlight so it's fun to play with.

i'm not sure how well it lights up blood with the blue. i tried the blue tonight in the garage and everything was dull blue except the tennis balls i had. it seems to light up neon colors really well like neon yellow, neon orange.

i also noticed with the blue led that my camera couldnt autofocus. it focused with the red or white light.

i also noticed that the red led doesn't charge up my glow in the dark stickers. blue and white works.

when the zebra comes out, i'll probably retire this light to my camera bag for the night vision protection when i go out to do night photography.


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## Oddjob (Aug 29, 2007)

Awesome pics! I just got one today. Bit of an impulse buy when I was shopping in the States. Overall I like it. I could do without the blue LED. I have also signed up for a Zebralight so when that comes this light will be relagated to back up/loaner.


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## RonM (Aug 29, 2007)

Nice beam shots f22shift. Thanks.

It's a great light for the price and it's nice to see a name brand taking the lead in the 1AA headlamp arena. The choice of a 5mm blue instead of white is still a mystery so I wouldn't be surprised if Rayovac changes that at some point. I also wonder if this light would be getting a lot more attention on this forum if it had been put out by Fenix? :ironic:


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## BlackDecker (Aug 30, 2007)

I bought one a few weeks ago, and I like it better than my Tikka XP (which cost 3x as much).

Like everyone else, I would rather have a 5mm white LED instead of the blue. The diffuser idea is purely genius! Great value for ~$19 at Wal-Mart.


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## f22shift (Aug 31, 2007)

took my rov headlamp out for my night bike ride. it actually was fairly useful. 
weird thing was that it seemed to be brighter than my dx xv on high. i guess the light is more focussed in comparison. any diffused light was useless. undiffused white and blue worked.
it was really nice to have. i was on a bike path that is closed at night but i thought what the hell i want to see how the flashlights fair. not really good  i was outrunning the throw. no wonder ppl get hid bike lights.
i suppose these normal lights would be good for a casual bike ride but i was too spooked to ride slow :mecry:

summary: rov outthrew dx xv in real world comparison. location, pitch black bike path. diffused light is useless unless close up work.


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## willrx (Sep 7, 2007)

I noticed my red leds are a bit ringy-not as smooth as the blue. Is this normal? Thanks.


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## RonM (Sep 7, 2007)

willrx said:


> I noticed my red leds are a bit ringy-not as smooth as the blue. Is this normal? Thanks.



Yes. Unfortunately.


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## Mundele (Sep 7, 2007)

So how would this light compare in brightness and general usability to a (mostly) plain vanilla PT Eos?

--Matt


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## willrx (Sep 7, 2007)

RonM said:


> Yes. Unfortunately.


Any idea why this is? Thanks for your confirmation.


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## RonM (Sep 8, 2007)

Willrx, my experience has been that most all red LEDs produce an uneven beam, but I don't know why.


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## swxb12 (Sep 8, 2007)

Isn't it also two red LED beams concentrated roughly into the same target spot? Contributes at least to a non-circular wallshot shape, compared to the blue single LED.


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## BlackDecker (Sep 9, 2007)

Mundele said:


> So how would this light compare in brightness and general usability to a (mostly) plain vanilla PT Eos?
> 
> --Matt



With the flip over diffuser, the Rayovac would be good competition to the PT EOS. The 1AA format is a bonus. I think the Rayovac will become a shelf queen once I get my Zebralight with a Q5 CREE.


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## Oddjob (Sep 9, 2007)

BlackDecker said:


> ...I think the Rayovac will become a shelf queen once I get my Zebralight with a Q5 CREE.


 
I am thinking the same thing.:twothumbs


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## RonM (Sep 9, 2007)

Don't shelve the Rayovac, just put it in your car's glove box.


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## BlackDecker (Sep 10, 2007)

RonM said:


> Don't shelve the Rayovac, just put it in your car's glove box.



Good point... I can shelve the Energizer 3AAA headlamp currently in my glove box and upgrade my car to the Rayovac


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## kitelights (Sep 11, 2007)

I'm looking forward to the ZL, but I'm loving this little ROV. Last night I trimmed my entire yard w/ an Echo string trimmer using the the ROV spot (not diffused) and loaded a full load of downed limbs into the P/U. It was dark when I started - my night vision sucks (old age). I didn't make a mental note of the time, but the best that I can reconstruct was about 2 - 2 1/2 hours. The Energizer 2300 NiMH died about 10-15 minutes before I finished.

I'm sure I'll get plenty of use from the ZL, but I doubt that the ROV will get retired.

BTW, I chose the ROV last night over a PT EOS b/c it was smaller, lighter and used a single cell.


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## swxb12 (Sep 11, 2007)

I'm pretty sure mine fell way, way short of 2 hours on an Alkaline. Will only use NiMH from now on.


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## f22shift (Sep 23, 2007)

i was in an outdoor sports store in florida today and noticed they had the same headlight under the brand 'browning'. it was camoflaged in color and had an extra accessory of clipping to a cap lid.
the price was $45. walmart price seems like a steal now.
says also up to 40 lumens and up to 25 hrs(i'm guessing with the regular leds)


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## BlackDecker (Sep 23, 2007)

f22shift said:


> i was in an outdoor sports store in florida today and noticed they had the same headlight under the brand 'browning'. it was camoflaged in color and had an extra accessory of clipping to a cap lid.
> the price was $45. walmart price seems like a steal now.
> says also up to 40 lumens and up to 25 hrs(i'm guessing with the regular leds)



Yeah, no way you'll get more than 2 to 2.5 hours out of the main beam before the battery can't maintain regulation.

I think both BassPro and Cabela's both carry the light, but at a significant premium to Wal-Mart.


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## Mundele (Sep 23, 2007)

BlackDecker said:


> Yeah, no way you'll get more than 2 to 2.5 hours out of the main beam before the battery can't maintain regulation.
> 
> I think both BassPro and Cabela's both carry the light, but at a significant premium to Wal-Mart.



The Gander Mountain store near me had it labelled as a "browning" for $49. I passed on that one


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## made in china (Sep 30, 2007)

swxb12 said:


> I'm pretty sure mine fell way, way short of 2 hours on an Alkaline. Will only use NiMH from now on.



I tested my new ROV SX HL tonight with Energizer 2500ma NiMH and it ran the 1 watt for 3:10 before shutting down. Not too bad!


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## BlackDecker (Oct 1, 2007)

made in china said:


> I tested my new ROV SX HL tonight with Energizer 2500ma NiMH and it ran the 1 watt for 3:10 before shutting down. Not too bad!



That's great runtime... too bad I've thrown away all my Energizer 2500mAh batteries away cuz they wouldn't hold a charge for more than 3 days.


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## made in china (Oct 1, 2007)

BlackDecker said:


> That's great runtime... too bad I've thrown away all my Energizer 2500mAh batteries away cuz they wouldn't hold a charge for more than 3 days.



yeah, mine self discharge pretty quickly. I have not been using them much in my other devices, but I figured for the ROV they would work pretty well.


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## andyr354 (Oct 4, 2007)

Does the high output LED have more than one level?


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## Grubbster (Oct 4, 2007)

andyr354 said:


> Does the high output LED have more than one level?


No, just one level. It is almost like two though because you can use it with or without the diffuser.


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## defloyd77 (Oct 10, 2007)

What would have really made this light hard to beat is if they had 1 more mode, maybe accessed by just holding the on button and turns on the red AND blue leds for some real blood tracking capability, like the Gerber Carnivore.


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## RonM (Oct 12, 2007)

To keep it simple and hold the price down, my vote still goes for replacing the 5mm blue with a white for reading and task work.


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## s.c. (Oct 13, 2007)

defloyd77 said:


> What would have really made this light hard to beat is if they had 1 more mode, maybe accessed by just holding the on button and turns on the red AND blue leds for some real blood tracking capability, like the Gerber Carnivore.


 

Or a mode where the blue and red strobe alternately, so I can pull over people jogging too fast.


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## Haz (Oct 14, 2007)

s.c. said:


> Or a mode where the blue and red strobe alternately, so I can pull over people jogging too fast.


 
LOL, that's funny :laughing:


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## tnuckels (Oct 15, 2007)

Well, I’m certainly no expert on forensics or tracking bleeding animals, but the other evening my sister-in-law, who is a diabetic, was over, did the finger prick test to monitor her blood sugar, and I asked her to wait a minute while a ran got my Sportsman Extreme headlamp. The blood on her finger didn’t show up as anything but black/dark brown under the blue LED and wouldn’t have been visible at all if I didn’t know where to look, certainly not in the underbrush or on the ground.

I know I’ve seen this stunt done before on TV or in the movies, but I think it requires some sort of activating agent to get the blood to show up against a cluttered background. Perhaps someone with a medical or forensic background can help out and explain this better, and good thing the light is still well worth its < $20, despite this lackluster "feature".


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## Hondo (Oct 15, 2007)

Ditto, I actually tried it while hunting, with blood blobs in the leaves on the ground. Everything red, blood included, just looks black under the blue light. BUT, the orange handles on my screwdrivers on the toolboard glow like a white shirt under a black light using this. So maybe another slightly different wavelength could do the same for red objects :shrug:.

Hondo


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## BlackDecker (Oct 16, 2007)

RonM said:


> To keep it simple and hold the price down, my vote still goes for replacing the 5mm blue with a white for reading and task work.



That single change would turn this headlamp into a real winner! As it stands, it beats any headlamp under the $50 price mark.


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## RonM (Oct 19, 2007)

Even better would be if the 5mm's were white and green!


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## sandbasser (Oct 25, 2007)

I got one of these little gems the other day at WallyWorld. For a little less than $19 I'm quite pleased with it. I really like the diffuser, makes it very handy for reading in bed. Don't really have much use for the 'blue' light; but the 'red' will come in handy when I'm playing around with my telescope. Now my Streamlight Enduro is going in my car's glovebox.


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## f22shift (Oct 25, 2007)

i just use the blue for emergency. it draws the least current.

so for example the main 1watt goes out i can switch to the blue and have another 8minutes of light to find another battery or whatever.
i do notice that the main light does seem to dim before it konks out. but it's konks out like 10 sec later after the dimming. not much time.


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## Hondo (Oct 26, 2007)

sandbasser said:


> Now my Streamlight Enduro is going in my car's glovebox.


 

See my post #11:

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/175295&highlight=River+Rock

One of my tougher mods, but I'm no super-modder. I loved that RR (Enduro now) so much I wanted to make it as useful as the ROV 1AA, and now I think it is better (much longer runtime, WHITE low mode). BTW, at the uber-low drive level of the RR, you could easily get away with a less warm SSC, like a WO or even XO without looking too cold, but at the time I only had Photonfanatic's USVOH emitters on hand. I am using it with a layer of Glad Press'n Seal on the lense for medium diffusion. Wierd stuff, as it diffuses the hotspot into an oval, which on a headlamp I can take advantage of by orienting it horizontal. Now I would like to find a flip-up cover (rifle scope) to put it on so I can still switch back to throw mode when I want. Only problem is, that will take away a bit from the super compact nature of this light.


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## Magichunter (Oct 30, 2007)

What do you think would happen if I tried running this with a 14500 at 3.2 volts??? Has anyone tried this?????


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## GaryF (Oct 30, 2007)

AFAIK nobody has tried. I would proceed cautiously, as the led and heat sink are sealed up in the plastic body without much of a heat escape path.


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## RonM (Oct 30, 2007)

Magichunter said:


> What do you think would happen if I tried running this with a 14500 at 3.2 volts??? Has anyone tried this?????



If you've got $18 to burn (almost literally), give it a try. :devil:

Unless the driver circuit can hold back the current, I can't imagine that this lamp has enough ability to dump heat to survive.

If you do it, be sure to post some pics!


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## El_Canyon (Nov 5, 2007)

I just picked up this light last night at Wally World on impulse. I have been looking for a AA LED headlamp to replace my Princeton Tec EOS since I recently got a AA-powered GPS and want to maintain battery commonality while hiking.

I put an Energizer lithium cell in it 'cuz that's all I use outdoors. In rough terms, it seems just as bright and throwy (w/o the diffuser) as the EOS on high. Build quality doesn't seem as good as the EOS but it does look like Ray-O-Vac made an effort. The main LED only has 1 output level but you can use the little LEDs as your "low beam". I concur that the little blue LED would be more universally useful if it was white.

The diffuser works quite well, the unit is lightweight and compact; I found myself thinking "why the H-E-double toothpicks can't Princeton Tec or Fenix do something like this?!".

Does anyone know if the main LED is regulated? I figured not due to 1) the low price and 2) no mention of regulation was made on the package. I will be very pleased if it proves to be regulated! 

Also, do you think using lithiums will hurt this light?


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## BlackDecker (Nov 6, 2007)

El_Canyon said:


> Does anyone know if the main LED is regulated? I figured not due to 1) the low price and 2) no mention of regulation was made on the package. I will be very pleased if it proves to be regulated!
> 
> Also, do you think using lithiums will hurt this light?



Yes, the ROV is regulated... it will run at full brightness then *conk* just go out.

I've used L91 Lithiums in mine with no ill effects. At ~$19, no big loss if it does, either.


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## sandbasser (Nov 6, 2007)

BlackDecker said:


> Yes, the ROV is regulated... it will run at full brightness then *conk* just go out.
> 
> I've used L91 Lithiums in mine with no ill effects. At ~$19, no big loss if it does, either.



I've had mine for a few weels now... I use it for reading in bed mostly. It works great for that although the 2 hour run-time is pretty short. For the past week (on a road trip to Oregon) I've been using eneloops and have been very pleased. It does 'conk out' rather abruptly but I've learned that the red and blue leds still work after the bright white one conks. That gives me more than enough light to stumble into the bathroom to change to a fresh eneloop. (When I go backpacking in the future I'll probably use L91s just because they're a few grams lighter.)

The longer I have this light the more I like it. In fact, I'll probably buy a couple of extras 'just in case'...


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## kbrd (Nov 10, 2007)

This is my favorite light for hiking right now.


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## El_Canyon (Nov 13, 2007)

I used the light frequently during a weekend backpacking trip. It worked quite well and I just got used to having to cycle through the light modes to turn it off. An EOS-style switch function would be great, of course, but it is not proving to be a dealbreaker for me.

Anyone know if the red & blue LEDs are regulated as well as the main Luxeon?


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## MorePower (Nov 13, 2007)

BlackDecker said:


> Yes, the ROV is regulated... it will run at full brightness then *conk* just go out.
> 
> I've used L91 Lithiums in mine with no ill effects. At ~$19, no big loss if it does, either.



It's not completely flat regulation, but it's pretty good. Here's a runtime I did using an alkaline cell. NiMH will generate a flatter curve.







I used a Quickbeam-esque milk carton setup.


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## hopkins (Nov 16, 2007)

While I was testing the runtime of my new Rayovac 1AA with a
Energizer 2500mah battery ( got 3 hrs on the 1watt Lux ) noticed the 
warm spot next to the switch mentioned by others.

So I put the headlamp into a bowl and balanced an icecube on top of it to for cooling during the runtime test. I've read that LED life times are shortened if the heatsinking is'nt up to the task to dump heat overboard.

For a mod I was thinking about a simple way to heatsink the 1watt Lux.
Maybe a properly sized/bent strip of copper or aluminum could be inserted
thru a slit cut in the case. Heatsink paste of course for the contact area, then epoxy the slit closed to hold it in contact with the back of the 1watt Lux and to close any gaps to regain watertightness. Bent so it was conformal to the outside curves. Sure. Could be done I think.


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## tron1974 (Jul 10, 2008)

Not to resurrect an old thread, but these are currently being clearanced out at the stores in my area. I would think this would be national.


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## light_emitting_dude (Jul 11, 2008)

Thanks for the heads up. I will check tomorrow. I really like these lights and wouldn't mind getting a few more.


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## Blue72 (Jul 11, 2008)

tron1974 said:


> Not to resurrect an old thread, but these are currently being clearanced out at the stores in my area. I would think this would be national.


 
Where did you notice this


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## Marduke (Jul 12, 2008)

dd61999 said:


> Where did you notice this



I posted it here
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=180705

Many WalMarts have them marked down to $15


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## tron1974 (Jul 12, 2008)

dd61999 said:


> Where did you notice this



Rochester, NY Walmart's.


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## GassHogg (Jul 16, 2008)

I was at wally world saturday and the flashlight section was curisouly empty. I asked the sporting goods associate what was going on. He said that wal-mart was doing a reset of their flashlights and they were doing away with the RayOVac Sportsman Xtreme line and also the LED [email protected]. 
They had them discounted. I picked up a 3D [email protected] and a 3 watt sportsman xtreme. You might want to check out your nearest walmart.


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## BlackDecker (Jul 18, 2008)

Thanks for the heads up.... going to check my local Wal-Mart today.


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## Ayeaux (Jul 26, 2008)

I found some at a Mobile, AL wal-mart for $9.00 on clearance. I couldn't pass it up since our family is going camping in a few weeks and I don't have a headlamp.


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