# New: Fenix HL05, headlamp feeded by 2 CR2032 batteries



## kj75 (Aug 19, 2015)

Official released:

http://www.fenixlight.com/ProductMore.aspx?id=1184&tid=27&cid=2#

















Multifunctional "backpack" light! 
Wish it would be a usb-rechargeale....


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## Chaitanya (Aug 19, 2015)

for usb rechargeable the size of the light might have gone up. still its a good light and might be perfect for attaching to backpack and have it in blinking mode as a warning light for the vehicle speeding by.


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## Lynx_Arc (Aug 19, 2015)

For a headlamp 8 lumens is almost useless in too many cases and knowing fenix it probably costs too much for the dismal output. This would probably be categorized as useful with night vision. I have several cheap headlamps that run off of 2 coin cells (2016 or 2032) with 1 5mm LED and I'm guessing the output is about the same in lumens and I don't use them at all since I've got them. If they could make one with 15-20 lumens output on high and around 5 lumens (or less on low) perhaps it would be more useful.


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## KDM (Aug 19, 2015)

Interested if it's less than $20


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## more_vampires (Aug 19, 2015)

Lynx_Arc said:


> For a headlamp 8 lumens is almost useless in too many cases and knowing fenix it probably costs too much for the dismal output. This would probably be categorized as useful with night vision. I have several cheap headlamps that run off of 2 coin cells (2016 or 2032) with 1 5mm LED and I'm guessing the output is about the same in lumens and I don't use them at all since I've got them. If they could make one with 15-20 lumens output on high and around 5 lumens (or less on low) perhaps it would be more useful.


Problem is CR2032 has between 190 and 225 mah. Can't get blood from a turnip.


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## insanefred (Aug 19, 2015)

Oh stop it you guys, always complaining that fenix isn't releasing lights with moonlight mode and when they do you just point and laugh at it! :devil: :hahaha:


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## more_vampires (Aug 19, 2015)

Hey, I'm not complaining! That light looks like a vampire to me. Bet it's direct drive/limit resistor. We could run it on a breakout pack, I'm almost certain.

Cr2032 x 2 = 6v = aax4 pack. 

We could also rig it with CR2016x2 + small ball of aluminum foil. Hmm.

Think I'm buying a couple of these, can share 2032 with my illuminated crossbow sight.


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## hazza (Aug 19, 2015)

My feeling is that this is more about being seen than seeing. I've used an improvised similar thing for running before, so may go for this!


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## KeepingItLight (Aug 19, 2015)

insanefred said:


> Oh stop it you guys, always complaining that fenix isn't releasing lights with moonlight mode and when they do you just point and laugh at it! :devil: :hahaha:




Okay, you make a good point, but can this puppy tail stand?!! Fenix _never_ makes headlamps that tail stand!


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## more_vampires (Aug 19, 2015)

Lol, just lay it flat on the table!


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## Labrador72 (Aug 19, 2015)

I already like it - something to look forward to next Christmas!


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## Burgess (Aug 20, 2015)

When Fenix says High mode is 
8 Lumens, and lasts 50 Hours . . . . .


I'm gonna' guess this is to ANY 
remaining output ! ! !


Certainly not REGULATED,
to maintain 8 Lumens !


Still --

Looks interesting,
if I can buy one for $ 20 US.


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## 100eyes (Aug 20, 2015)

I personally don't see myself making room for this in a backpack over a regular headlamp... 1xAA headlamps are my favorite.


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## Lynx_Arc (Aug 20, 2015)

Burgess said:


> When Fenix says High mode is
> 8 Lumens, and lasts 50 Hours . . . . .
> 
> 
> ...



I didn't check but if it is in ANSI lumens then it can run down to as low as 10% or 0.8 lumens throughout the runtime before timing ends.


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## RobertM (Aug 22, 2015)

While I normally loathe coin cell lights, this might be a good, inexpensive emergency light to keep in the car. I always have at least 2 EDC flashlights with me, but since I don't ever EDC a headlight, this would be useful for side-of-the-road needs. Plus, at $15, I wouldn't feel bad just throwing it in the car and forgetting about it.


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## martinaee (Aug 22, 2015)

This seems all signal/emergency light and not "headlamp" at all. Does it not have a white blink mode? That seems kind of strange that they left that out but have a red blink mode.

I agree... normally coin cells are annoying, but considering you can get them super cheap on Amazon and this light is so small I kind of like it. It's kind of like the E01 of blinkies for bikers/hikers.

I wonder how bright the red appears in real life. If it's spread out by diffusion it's not going to be that effective, but if it basically has the red emitter exposed the less than 1 lumen might still be pretty effective as a beacon.


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## liteningbug (Aug 24, 2015)

I though this was going to be perfect at first glance as a light to keep stashed for a power outage. It has all the modes you really need for that--when the ambient light everywhere is gone, the moonlight modes really come into their own, and long battery life is king. It's a headlamp which is very useful as you'll likely be needing to use your hands for other things, and it's cheap enough to buy a number of them without breaking the bank.

Then I saw the user interface. :shakehead Why oh WHY must Fenix continually put their brightest modes first in non-tactical lights? That moonlight mode is useless to me if the 8 lumen mode has already blasted my eyes.

May still pick one up but I expect the annoyance of having to cover the dang lens every time I want to turn it on to a lower mode, and having to remember to do so, is going to be a deal-breaker for me. You almost hit a home run with this one Fenix.


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## more_vampires (Aug 24, 2015)

liteningbug said:


> Then I saw the user interface. :shakehead Why oh WHY must Fenix continually put their brightest modes first in non-tactical lights? That moonlight mode is useless to me if the 8 lumen mode has already blasted my eyes.
> 
> May still pick one up but I expect the annoyance of having to cover the dang lens every time I want to turn it on to a lower mode, and having to remember to do so, is going to be a deal-breaker for me. You almost hit a home run with this one Fenix.


I was planning on modding it anyway. Interface is not a deal breaker for me. I was going to buy a couple, expecting to trash at least once before I get one modded correctly. Cheap enough to do that.


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## liteningbug (Aug 25, 2015)

more_vampires said:


> I was planning on modding it anyway. Interface is not a deal breaker for me. I was going to buy a couple, expecting to trash at least once before I get one modded correctly. Cheap enough to do that.



Sounds legit. I've not begun walking the path of modding yet myself, so interface ends up being one of my biggest factors in light selection.


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## Lynx_Arc (Aug 25, 2015)

more_vampires said:


> Problem is CR2032 has between 190 and 225 mah. Can't get blood from a turnip.


If you have an emitter that is 100 lumens/watt efficiency then to get 20 lumens you need 0.2 watts, which at 5v is only 40ma and at that rate you could get 4-5 hours of runtime (more if not regulated as it drops to 10 lumens or less after 2-3 hours. The fact it rates it at 50 hours at 8 lumens gives me the idea that at twice that output you should at least get 10 hours of "similar" runtime.


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## Woods Walker (Aug 25, 2015)

It seemed inexpensive. I might get one for a larger PSK.


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## Mr Floppy (Aug 26, 2015)

So how low can you drain a cr2032? In a couple of similar lights that uses 2xcr2032 I only get a day. Of course that could be the quality of the cells I get


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## Lynx_Arc (Aug 26, 2015)

Mr Floppy said:


> So how low can you drain a cr2032? In a couple of similar lights that uses 2xcr2032 I only get a day. Of course that could be the quality of the cells I get



I've drained them pretty low. I think the bigger question is how low can they be drained and still give out useful light and part of that answer is related to how efficient an LED is in its ability to output light at very low power levels and for the most part most of the 2032 based lights I've seen use 5mm LEDs in them which aren't at the top in efficiency. I'm really not sure which LED gives you the most output at very low power levels perhaps something like a Cree XP-E2.


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## more_vampires (Aug 26, 2015)

Mr Floppy said:


> So how low can you drain a cr2032? In a couple of similar lights that uses 2xcr2032 I only get a day. Of course that could be the quality of the cells I get


Something to consider it that most cr2032 and cr2016 lights are limit resistor (optional) direct drive. The old LRI Photon 2 was cr2016x2 with no resistor at all. The legs of the 5mm were pinched by squeezing the housing, super simple.

The significance of the direct drive is that it gives a diminishing output over the discharge curve, stretching things out. Not necessarily how LOW you draw the cells, but HOW the cells are drawn. Also, as we interfere during the process, we can change how things are working. Once the light is "broken out" with an external pack, we gain significantly more control of how low we can go and what we can do. In a dd/lim resistor setup, we can even add an aux resistor inside the external pack and vampire say 4 cells instead of 2. As the pack depletes below the nominal voltage of 2 cells, we can pull the temporary resistor. This would permit vamping the cells "twice as hard."

Another thing to consider that br and cr 2032 and 2016 aren't capable of pushing much current. As such, the voltage will sag and we can be much sloppier with the value of the limit resistor and still have it work. A concern is when we move to an external breakout pack we no longer have this inherent cr20XX limitation and we might cook something without an aux resistor in the circuit to drop some voltage and limit current.

I love this stuff.


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## rookiedaddy (Oct 2, 2015)

sharing a couple of HL05 pics:







Neutral/Warm white LED










Pretty sturdy clip















Part of the head-band clip is used as battery compartment opener, turn it counter clockwise to unlock, you may need to turn/twist past the marked "unlock" symbol to pop the cover as the oring underneath the cover may prevent the cover from "popping up".





2 x CR2032 as the power source











still testing the runtime, but suffice to say it not "regulated". This have diminishing output. after 24 hours, <50% of its full brightness (if you trust my "eyeball sphere", that is) :nana:


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## Kestrel (Oct 2, 2015)

I like this product, looks to be a good minimalist design.
Might be perfect to stash in a car as suggested or a BOB.
Thanks for the info,

Edit: My Petzl Zipka did this sort of duty years ago (before it died); does anybody recall what the output of that headlamp was? (I think I had the first-gen version, w/ 3x 5mm LED's.)
This does look to be a good update of that concept.

Edit#2: $15 w/ free shipping from fleabay, good stocking stuffers for friends perhaps.


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## Labrador72 (Oct 2, 2015)

Hi Kestrel, I just got the HL05 two days ago. I haven't used it much but I can say it looks and feels like a solid backup headlamp so far.


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## lampeDépêche (Oct 3, 2015)

Labrador72 said:


> Hi Kestrel, I just got the HL05 two days ago. I haven't used it much but I can say it looks and feels like a solid backup headlamp so far.



Dear Labrador72,

Can you tell me about the beam profile on the red LED? I would like it to be a narrow thrower instead of a wide flooder.

This light shows many many signs of having been "inspired" by the Petzl e+LITE. That's a very good little unit, also powered by 2 2032s, also with white and red LED. (And a plastic piece on the head-strap that lets you open the battery-case, and a wire clip on the back that lets you put it on a hat-bill or pocket, and many, many other features that they ripped off from Petzl).

Petzl made a bad choice when they updated the e+LITE: they switched from a throwy clear red LED that was usable for reading at night, to a floody red LED (they made the lens milky white) which means that it is useless for reading even with dark-adapted eyes. I suppose it gives rough orientation inside a dark tent, but nothing more.

If Fenix followed Petzl in using a floody or diffuse red LED, then they copied one too many features. Hope they did not.


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## Labrador72 (Oct 3, 2015)

Hi lampeDepeche, I'm afrad the red - and white - lights on the HL05 are rather on the floody end of the spectrum. That is due to the the font plastic cover which basically diffuses the light. I can compare it with my 2010 Petzl e+Lite, it's the older version with the headband rather than the elastic - I just need to find where I placed it. I'll try reading with the red light tonight and let you know how it works.


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## Kestrel (Oct 22, 2015)

Well, just ordered a pair of these, will report back.
For $15 each (shipped), I don't think I can go wrong for backup/emergency headlamps in our two daypacks - shouldn't take up much room.


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## herman30 (Oct 24, 2015)

Me, personally, see this one as a very good flashlight to attach to my backpck (to the PALS grid) to act as a rearlight when bicycling in the dark.


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## Tac Gunner (Oct 24, 2015)

herman30 said:


> Me, personally, see this one as a very good flashlight to attach to my backpck (to the PALS grid) to act as a rearlight when bicycling in the dark.



That's similar to what I want to use it for but I am going to mount it to the back of my HL35 headband. Waiting to see if it turns up as a Christmas gift before I order one lol.


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## hazza (Oct 26, 2015)

herman30 said:


> Me, personally, see this one as a very good flashlight to attach to my backpck (to the PALS grid) to act as a rearlight when bicycling in the dark.



That was my intention too, just to use it to be seen. Mine arrived today and I was immediately impressed. I have another similar little market light, but that's quite chunky, this one is nice and thin. I may well get a second one to keep as a backup light!


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## kensington (Oct 29, 2015)

Perhaps as a headlamp for a first aid kit? Mostly close up work?


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## kj75 (Oct 29, 2015)

> Perhaps as a headlamp for a first aid kit? Mostly close up work?



Yes, it is IMO. Good tint and its not blinding.


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## Kestrel (Oct 30, 2015)

*Mini review:*

2 units rec'd, one evaluated so far. Will probably check out the second one this weekend.


Output looks to be quite usable, 'High' is very good for general reading use (i.e. without night-adapted vision), 'low' seems to be OK for this as well.
'Low' would certainly be appropriate for reading with night-adapted vision, and red might be usable for this as well. More on this in a later update.
PWM on 'low' and 'red'; however it is a rather fast cycle and cannot be ascertained during normal use - this includes fast reading.
PWM is also utilized during 'red flashing'. This is slightly disappointing IMO - for this sort of feature I would prefer as bright of a red as possible. I think that maximum visibility is needed for this particular usage more than longer runtimes would be.
Tint is perfect at ~4500K with this unit I'm guessing; warmer than a (rare) 5000K Malkoff but ever so slightly cooler than my ~4000K Surefire Minimus Vision.
Beam quality is *outstanding*, a smooth wide flood with no artifacts at all, even at the edges. The flood is so wide that I wouldn't hold out much hope for general campsite usage though, even with night-adapted vision.
The degree of flood on 'red' is identical to the "normal" flood - there are two emitters for each feature, all of which are mounted with radial symmetry in the single optic.
The tactile feel of rotating the indexed 'angle' mechanism is wonderful; IMO this is a difficult thing to get right but they did it. 
It ships with a battery isolation insert / nonconductive layer which of course needs to be removed prior to the first use. I'm wondering if there is a parasitic drain from an electronic switch or if the switch is just a basic clicky - I confess to not being very knowledgeable on such matters.
My only major issue: the housing doesn't seem to provide quite enough pressure on the cells & electrical contacts and every once in a while the unit exhibits minor flickering output related to having only a marginal electrical connection (although this isn't noticeable if I'm not looking for it). I find that to get maximum output I sometimes have to apply finger pressure on the housing to improve the connectivity. I am hoping the other unit will not be like this, but am thinking of inserting a very thin piece of metal into the battery compartment to put pressure on the cell stack & improve the circuit.

*Conclusions:
*

An excellent reading headlamp for the price. ($15 shipped)
I am very partial to neutral-tinted, wide floody beams and it certainly hits that mark. 
If the occasional connection issue gets worse with age and can't be corrected, it could be a deal-breaker. However, perhaps all of the headlamps in this price point may have this sort of issue? :thinking:
Most certainly will not replace my SF Minimus Vision for general camp duties (nor would it be expected to, at ~1/8 of the cost), but would be perfect for usage in a tent or keeping in a daypack / survival kit.


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## more_vampires (Oct 30, 2015)

Thanks, K.



> *PWM on 'low' and 'red'*


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## Kestrel (Oct 31, 2015)

Update:

It is an electronic switch.
I really must pre-load the cell stack to minimize the contact resistance, I'm often not getting maximum output for each mode.
While 'low' is sufficient for dark-adapted reading, 'red' is just too dim unless I hold the book unusually close. It is a shame that the red mode exhibits PWM, it would be nicer if 'red' had higher output.
The unit detaches from the headband and can clip to a front pocket, rather handy and a nice feature. 
There are some modest beam artifacts from the red LEDs only.

Not a bad little unit, really. It would have been nice if 'red' was implemented a little better tho.


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## Kestrel (Nov 1, 2015)

Update #2:

Retaining the black plastic film / insert that isolates the two cells from each other for shipping ...

_and_ placing it on the very end of the cell stack (i.e. right under the battery cover before reassembly ...

Makes an _ocean_ of difference for the connectivity issue that I reported earlier. I did A-B comparisons with both of my HL05's and it completely solved the issue. _Highly_ recommended.


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## Burgess (Nov 2, 2015)

Excellent !
:thumbsup:



Tell us, please . . . .

How difficult would it be to change the Batteries ?


( 2 x CR2032 )


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## Kestrel (Nov 2, 2015)

Burgess said:


> [...] How difficult would it be to change the Batteries ?
> ( 2 x CR2032 )


I found that I needed a sharp knife point to pry the back cover off, even after rotating it with a coin etc; definitely a tight fit.

Or are you volunteering to hotrod it with 3x CR2016? lol


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## more_vampires (Nov 2, 2015)

> Or are you volunteering to hotrod it with 3x CR2016? lol


Hmmm. Vinh boosted the Nitecore Tube, wonder if he'll do it with the Fenix HL05? 

I don't care if it's only 10 lumens more!


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## kensington (Nov 3, 2015)

Kestrel said:


> I found that I needed a sharp knife point to pry the back cover off, even after rotating it with a coin etc; definitely a tight fit.


FYI, the end plastic piece on the headband has a perfect edge made specifically for removing the battery cover, keep turning past what you think is the end and the cover will pop right off. Really rather nice.


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## Kestrel (Nov 3, 2015)

kensington said:


> [...] keep turning past what you think is the end and the cover will pop right off. Really rather nice.


You're exactly right, thanks for pointing that out. :huh:


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## Tixx (Dec 10, 2015)

Bought one for me and my son to play with. Inexpensive and such. I did not expect to love them! Good tint, useable light for looking under hood of car at night. Good for reading. Good for emergency kit. Smaller than I thought they would be (good as well). Pretty surprised I like them so much! But I do!


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## Swedpat (Oct 31, 2016)

I have considered this light for a while but recently I ordered it. I ordered 2 of them, one for me and one as a gift to a friend. 
Personal impression: 

Pros: 

*very simple, lightweight and small makes it a good light for backpacking, or just carrying in a jacket pocket.
*Very nice neutral-warm tint!
*possible to use attached on a pocket or a rucksack

Cons:

*Noticeable PWM at the low and red mode.
*CR2032s are available for low price but I think AAA had been better(ok; I know the size)
*available outputs rather low, useful mainly for close up tasks(apart from that you can be seen at more distance)


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## geokite (Nov 7, 2016)

Got one for backpacking. Replaced the strap with thin bungee cord to save some weight and space. Good as a primary hl that does not get used much. I also carry a H32w sans the strap.

Steve


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## BloodLust (Mar 8, 2017)

I have the blue one and thinking if it will replace the Princeton Tec Pilot as the backup light on my HL21 headlamp.

Since a lot are considering and/or have bought this light as emergency gear headlamp, does it have parasitic drain since it's hold to turn on/off?
I wouldn't want to keep it in my bugout bag and it wouldn't have any juice when needed.
Right now I have a cheap 2x 2032 Energizer headlamp clipped to the BOB. Single mode and takes a hard click to turn it on. Button cells are cheap here.


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