# Rayovac 1AA: Version 2?



## JNieporte (Jun 7, 2012)

The Rayovac single AA headlight (Sportsman Extreme 1 Watt, model SE1WHLT-BA to be specific) has been a staple in CandlePowerForums for quite a few years. I never owned one, but what I did get is the same model from the same brand, now advertised as 62 lumens (the original is rated at 45 lumens). See here on Rayovac's website... http://www.rayovac.com/Products/Lights/Outdoor/LED-1-Watt-1AA-Headlight.aspx

I'm not posting this to be a review; rather, I want to see if there are any differences between this (updated?) version and the 45-lumen version of the same headlight. While the box and Rayovac's image both list the headlight at 62 lumens, all descriptions on-line (including Rayovac's) indicate that there are 45 lumens at work. Like I said, I never owned the 45-lumen version, so I can't compare them head-on. I will say that against my other 45-lumen lights, this is brighter. Compared to my 60-lumen lights, it looks about right.

Here are some photos of the new model if you want to compare.






Back...





With the included AA battery. The captive battery door is also seen lying next to the light. I tried showing as much of the strap as possible here, both sides. The strap isn't a "flow through" design; each side of the strap has a sewn slot for the mount. The adjustment piece is on the left side. There is no overhead strap...





The head mount has the Rayovac logo and a little hiking dude on it. You can also see the switch here...






Speaking of the switch, it turns the light on in the following sequence: red, blue, white Luxeon, off.

The tilting mechanism...





The battery door screws on the right side (if you're wearing the headlight) and is retained by a rubber "string". The arrow shown points to the "close" position. The 1/4 turn lock-out trick still works here...





The underside has a groove for your thumb to sit when operating the light...





It works (along with the one on the top) pretty well for guiding your fingers in the dark...





The diffuser will snap into place over the white Luxeon LED...





Over the red and blue 5mm LEDs...





Or will just sit there (not snap) in between them...





Now, it's not night so I can't do any beamshots, but I can post images of the lights when on.
First, the 1-watt Luxeon. Regular...





And diffused...





The red 5mm LEDs (they're the top two LEDs in the series of three).
Regular...





Diffused...





The blue 5mm LED (the bottom LED in the series).
Regular...





Diffused...





Overall, I really like the light. The price has stayed the same, but I'm not sure how it compares to the older model. Any input? If not, then I hope to at least "remind" people how nice this light is for $20.


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## Blue72 (Jun 7, 2012)

glad to see it made a comeback. It was a great light.

I love the throw for the amount of lumens it had and the diffuser makes a nice "wall of light"

My only gripe is that the runtime was only about 2-3 hours then it would abruptly turn off. I always wished they replaced the Blue 5mm LED with a white one, so you had a lower power white light for longer runtime.


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## florinache (Jun 8, 2012)

I have a CT Lumex http://www.climbingtechnology.it/en-US/climbing/lamps.html?idproduct=530 that looks identical.
It has two white 5mm leds and a red one. 
Here's a review: http://othra.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/test-climbing-technology-lumex/


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## Blue72 (Jun 8, 2012)

wow apparntley this model gets around,........how much is the CT Lumex

Apparantly Browning has a version of this lamp but charges 3x the price as rayovac, I guess because it has the browning name


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## turboBB (Jun 8, 2012)

@OP, thx for the review!!


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## Bolster (Jun 9, 2012)

Nice "not a review." Can you speak to the tint? Cool tint? Etc? 

Also would like to know the beam spread with the diffuser on. If you stand 1 yard from a wall, how wide is the beam spread with diffuser? 

It would seem this light would be competitive with the Irix Icon II, no? 

Not a fan of that tilting mechanism tho. 

Thanks


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## JNieporte (Jun 9, 2012)

Bolster said:


> Nice "not a review." Can you speak to the tint? Cool tint? Etc?


I'd say it's a cool tint.



> Also would like to know the beam spread with the diffuser on. If you stand 1 yard from a wall, how wide is the beam spread with diffuser?


At one yard, with the diffuser, the white light is about 58" from the edge of the "hot spot" to the other. There's still about 4" of dimmer light outside this on each side.



> It would seem this light would be competitive with the Irix Icon II, no?


Don't have an Irix II. It seems that it would be.



> Not a fan of that tilting mechanism tho.


Neither am I. It's the same thing as the two-for-$5 headlight at Home Depot.


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## f22shift (Jun 13, 2012)

wow, i remember this headlamp. i have the original somewhere on a shelf. i really like the utility of the light. i actually sawed it open and swapped the led to an ssc one to bump up the output and have a better tint. Then swapped the blue one for a simple white led that pulled so little energy(great for sucking a battery dry). 
Too bad the housing isn't better it does have some nice potential.
if anyone decides to saw it open i would recommend a hobby saw which is supposedly very thin taking out the least material. That'll make it easier to reglue together.

hmm, i would try swapping a xml led and maybe try a uv led or a blinking led. that would be fun.


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## Bolster (Jun 13, 2012)

JNieporte said:


> At one yard, with the diffuser, the white light is about 58" from the edge of the "hot spot" to the other. There's still about 4" of dimmer light outside this on each side..



That's unusual. Usually inexpensive lights have narrow beams but if I calc'd this correctly you're seeing a nearly 80-degree spread once you drop the diffuser into place, about the same spread as a Zebralight H501. That would be a very usable work light. Now I have to check this out.

Where did you find for $20? The OLD version's on Amazon for over $30!


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## JNieporte (Jun 13, 2012)

Bolster said:


> ...Where did you find for $20? The OLD version's on Amazon for over $30!



Amazon. Right here (it costs $22.62 right now)...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007T1KYUE/?tag=cpf0b6-20


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## Blindasabat (Jun 13, 2012)

I emailed Climbing Technologies about the Lumex with the white 5mm LEDs. No distribution in North America. I found it in only one English (British) website : joe-brown.com, but it is 52gbp total including 30gbp shipping to the US! That is $82 shipped. Anybody know where to get one for less than half that?


florinache said:


> I have a CT Lumex http://www.climbingtechnology.it/en-US/climbing/lamps.html?idproduct=530 that looks identical.
> It has two white 5mm leds and a red one.
> Here's a review: http://othra.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/test-climbing-technology-lumex/


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## Blue72 (Jun 14, 2012)

Blindasabat said:


> I emailed Climbing Technologies about the Lumex with the white 5mm LEDs. No distribution in North America. I found it in only one English (British) website : joe-brown.com, but it is 52gbp total including 30gbp shipping to the US! That is $82 shipped. Anybody know where to get one for less than half that?



Uk eBay??


The ct headlamp sound awesome


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## Lynx_Arc (Jun 14, 2012)

Blindasabat said:


> I emailed Climbing Technologies about the Lumex with the white 5mm LEDs. No distribution in North America. I found it in only one English (British) website : joe-brown.com, but it is 52gbp total including 30gbp shipping to the US! That is $82 shipped. Anybody know where to get one for less than half that?


I found a place called thebowline.com that sells the same headlamp for ~24 Euro I think?
Another place is Joe-Brown.com for ~27 GBP I think


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## florinache (Jun 15, 2012)

Blindasabat said:


> I emailed Climbing Technologies about the Lumex with the white 5mm LEDs. No distribution in North America. I found it in only one English (British) website : joe-brown.com, but it is 52gbp total including 30gbp shipping to the US! That is $82 shipped. Anybody know where to get one for less than half that?



Why would you want such a headlamp? For two hours of about 60 lumens? The white leds, when they're both on are dimmer than only one, the red light is too bright for night vision preservation, and the tilting mechanism is too loose, the lamp will bounce and modify its position. I keep it in my drawer, for an eventual power cut.


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## Lynx_Arc (Jun 15, 2012)

florinache said:


> Why would you want such a headlamp? For two hours of about 60 lumens? The white leds, when they're both on are dimmer than only one, the red light is too bright for night vision preservation, and the tilting mechanism is too loose, the lamp will bounce and modify its position. I keep it in my drawer, for an eventual power cut.


You do realize you can tighten up the bolt on the hinge and then the tilting mechanism will be a lot stiffer. You have to pop the small plastic cap off the side where the plastic battery cap retainer attaches and use a phillips screwdriver. I use my headlamp a lot and wish it had a 5mm white LED mode even though it is a lot less than 60 lumens and has about 2 hours runtime the ease of changing the battery and lightweight makes it superior to any headlamp using AAs in its price range. Of course I only paid about $10 for mine compared to other 1AA headlamps costing 3-7 times as much.


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## Bolster (Jun 15, 2012)

Lynx_Arc said:


> superior to any headlamp using AAs in its price range



Superior to an Irix Icon II? That's in the same price range. 50 lumen / 2:20 hrs, AND has variable output.


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## Blue72 (Jun 15, 2012)

Bolster said:


> Superior to an Irix Icon II? That's in the same price range. 50 lumen / 2:20 hrs, AND has variable output.



well its all a matter of preference

the optic they use on the main led provides great throw considering how little lumens it has, than when you add the diffuser, you have a great wall of light (that I think you would greatly appreciate) The red light is very bright but its great for the outdoors to navigate with. Most other redlights gets absorbed in a outdoor environment. Once again the diffusser tones the red led down as well when stationary. However its still to bright for indoor use and the blue light is completely useless. This the reason I am so interested in the ct lumex

the variable output of the icon is cool. but I think the flood/throw capability of this light is cooler!


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## florinache (Jun 15, 2012)

Lynx_Arc said:


> You do realize you can tighten up the bolt on the hinge and then the tilting mechanism will be a lot stiffer. You have to pop the small plastic cap off the side where the plastic battery cap retainer attaches and use a phillips screwdriver. I use my headlamp a lot and wish it had a 5mm white LED mode even though it is a lot less than 60 lumens and has about 2 hours runtime the ease of changing the battery and lightweight makes it superior to any headlamp using AAs in its price range. Of course I only paid about $10 for mine compared to other 1AA headlamps costing 3-7 times as much.



Thanks for the tip, *Lynx_Arc*  Now it's stiffer.
I'm curios why two white leds if they give less light when both are working...


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## Lynx_Arc (Jun 15, 2012)

florinache said:


> Thanks for the tip, *Lynx_Arc*  Now it's stiffer.
> I'm curios why two white leds if they give less light when both are working...


It is possible that there is limits to the design to accommodate the change from 2 red to 2 white such that it only allows a certain amount of power and using one LED keeps the voltage higher than 2 does. BTW my Rayovac broke the hinge ratchet thing but I like it better without the noise and easier to adjust smoothly.


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## florinache (Feb 14, 2013)

So I opened by sawing the CT lumex.
Here's what's inside:










And the housing (looks worse than in reality  





The main emitter is a Luxeon Rebel 0100, driven at 158ma and 2.87V (new alkaline). The irony is that I opened it up to see if I can change it with a spare Rebel that I have (0080), wich actually has a lower lumen rate an a slightly warmer tint 

What's interesting is the fact that on the CT package they say it has 80lm, and in reality it's about 45. (100lm at 350ma). Assuming another 10-15% is lost through the lens, we have about 35-40 lumens of cold light. (30 with Nimh- 128ma). 

And at 680ma current off the battery, after 2h30' it goes off (the voltage drops?) , leaving in fact half of the batt full. Or half empty  If you press quick enough the buttons, you'll have some more minutes of blueish light from the 5mm led, which also works on 3v ( 2.8 when both are on)

So I'm a little disappointed. If I change the led with a xp-g or xm-l (the spot is almost double in width with the xm-l), i'll only get 20 lumens more. But definitely a better tint. A bit too much trouble for that maybe.


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## Sarratt (Feb 14, 2013)

I have two of these ...... thank you Floinache for doing the work ----- they are what they are


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