# New Princeton Tec Vizz



## Tuna (Feb 28, 2013)

While checking out REI online I stumbled on a new Princeton Tec headlamp. Here are the specs...•Single 150-lumen Maxbright LED throws a bright white beamup to 90m on high; 2 white 5mm LEDs output 30 lumens and reach up to 23m onhigh
•Also includes 2 red LEDs that output 15 lumens and reach upto 20m.; red LEDs minimize the impact on your night vision
•White 5mm LEDs are dimmable so you can balance light outputand battery life to meet your needs
•3 AAA batteries (included) provide 110 hrs. of burn timefor the Maxbright LED; using the 5mm white LEDs, the batteries provide 160 hrs.of operation
•Switch to the red LEDs and the batteries will last for 150hrs.
•Regulated circuitry ensures consistent power output overthe lifespan of the batteries
•Large push-button switch is easy to operate with gloves on
•The Princeton Tec Vizz headlamp has an IPX7 rating(protected against water immersion down to 1m for 30 min.)
-Seems interesting but not crazy how it looks. Reminds me of the energizer headlamps.


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## rojos (Feb 28, 2013)

I wonder if this means that the Eos is going to be discontinued.

150 lumens from 3xAAA and a Rebel ES... going to be interesting to see how long it can sustain that.


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## WDR65 (Mar 3, 2013)

I hope it has better throw than the Remix. I've been waiting for a new higher end AAA headlamp from PT and I can only hope that its pretty decent. I've always like the EOS but prefer having two different beam shapes and gravitated toward Black Diamond headlamps for most of my lighter weight uses when I don't use an Apex.


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## WDR65 (Apr 6, 2013)

Update: Finally bit the bullet and ordered one of these. It appears to be well built like the rest of my Princeton Tec products and its a bit lighter and more compact than an EOS. The red leds are bright and you can actually use them to navigate with in total darkness unlike the ones on Black Diamond Storm. The secondary white leds have good output and decent throw which again makes them more useful than my Storm. They are an angry blue tint but that doesn't matter much in actual use to me. The secondary leds have adjustable output and come on in the lowest setting which many people will find desirable. The primary white led is not adjustable in output but has good throw with some spill and appears to be fairly close to the 150 lumen output claimed by PT. 

All in all I'm impressed. It appears to be the best one of the multiple beam type AAA headlamps that I've owned yet. While I'll still use an Apex for most things having a compact high output headlamp with several beam shapes comes in handy sometimes.


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## Hooked on Fenix (Apr 6, 2013)

So the light has adjustable brightness for the dimmer and possibly more inefficient l.e.d.s up to 30 lumens but has no adjustment from 30 to 150 lumens on the better, more efficient l.e.d.. That is a dealbreaker for me. The sweet spot for nighthiking is 20 to 60 lumens. Sometimes I can get away with 20-30 lumens under certain conditions, but I think they could have at least put in a 50 lumen low for the main light. I would have preferred the main l.e.d. to have the dimmer and the secondary l.e.d.s to just have one setting (although adjustable red l.e.d.s have their uses). I like having a 20 to 30 lumen medium on headlights, but usually the high on those headlights has a 50-100 lumen high. This headlight needs a second fixed setting for the main l.e.d. if no dimmer.


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## d1337 (Apr 7, 2013)

I bit the bullet as well. I am really disappointed. I think my old PT EOS is a much better light. The Vizz feels cheap especially for a $50 headlamp. It is brighter on high but the beam is not very smooth on high and is awful on low. I thought the interface would be better than the EOS but it is much worse. I am actually disappointed enough that I am going to return it today.


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## rojos (Apr 7, 2013)

It seems like Princeton Tec hasn't done anything right since the Eos.


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## cave dave (Apr 8, 2013)

The PT website leads one to believe their are two settings to the Main LED and that they are both current regulated. 

I have to say on the Apex I never liked the 5mm LED's and would have rather just had a dimmer setting to the "power" led.


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## WDR65 (Apr 8, 2013)

Judging by the comments I'm in the minority here. I still prefer the throwy flood of 5mm led's and having 2 distinctly different beam shapes. While the UI is a little screwy I haven't found a recent manufacture headlamp that's any better. That includes my Black Diamond Spot's and Storm as well as my PT Remix and Byte. The Apex still has one of my favorite UI's with the dual switches. 

As for the build quality, the casing is solid and appears to be very tough, its tougher than my other PT's aside from the EOS's that I used to have. I'm going to keep mine and use it for a while. I'll make some more observations at a later date.


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## Woods Walker (Apr 11, 2013)

Why not just update the EOS. Oh well.


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## Hooked on Fenix (Apr 14, 2013)

Woods Walker said:


> Why not just update the EOS. Oh well.



+1. I think they could easily update the EOS with a Cree XP-E2 l.e.d. to keep a similar beam pattern as the Rebel version.


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## Bolster (Oct 21, 2013)

For real?...165 lumens for 110 hours on 3AAA, WITH regulation?

I'm seeing this specification repeated everywhere online I look...

Has this been verified?


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## Bolster (Oct 22, 2013)

Looking into this further, it appears that PT is strongly trying to imply this 3AAA light will do 165 lumens for 110 hours, stating it is "...equipped with regulated circuitry..." on their website. REI's description says: "...regulated circuitry ensures consistent power output over the lifespan of the batteries..." But the following review clearly states the 110 hour runtime is UNregulated. 

http://www.flashlightuniversity.com/princeton-tec-vizz-headlamp-review/

If you go back and re-read the PT description, you'll notice how careful they are to avoid telling us how long the 165 lumens actually lasts. But the implication is, it lasts 110 hours. Marketing-speak!

Regardless, the "165 for 110" is all over the internet by now. Reviewers and owners bragging about its unbelievable runtime on high.


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## carrot (Oct 22, 2013)

This sort of marketing has gone around for ages in the headlamps industry. Runtime is always measured to something like 1 lux at 1 meter. Even then I feel like Princeton Tec is worse at this since their ratings still seem grossly overrated. 

I'm just glad that Princeton Tec has finally released a (seemingly) decent headlamp for a change. 

The EOS and Quad are nice but getting long in the tooth and the Remix and Fuel are pretty much universally panned.


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## Bolster (Oct 22, 2013)

True, Carrot, but in this case you have an otherwise respectable company claiming "regulated" in a way that strongly implies, well, regulation. I'd not seen that level of duplicity before. So I think this goes beyond the normal stretching of performance. 

My concern is, backpackers are buying this light believing they are going to get 165 for 110 hours on 3AAA. Some of those folks will be sitting in the (near) dark after the first few hours, wondering what happened. 

PT used to be relatively clear about what you got by way of brightness, and for how long. The VIZZ, on the other hand, seems shrouded in market-speak gobbledygook, and I'm alarmed at the number of people (not here at CPF) believing the hype.


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## carrot (Oct 22, 2013)

Bolster, you'll be happy to know there's a pretty good discussion on the Vizz right now over at Backpacking Light. Unusually detailed for a forum that usually settles on the Petzl E+Lite or Zebralight and calls it "the best headlamp ever"

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi...display.html?forum_thread_id=83059&startat=80


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## rojos (Oct 24, 2013)

carrot said:


> Bolster, you'll be happy to know there's a pretty good discussion on the Vizz right now over at Backpacking Light. Unusually detailed for a forum that usually settles on the Petzl E+Lite or Zebralight and calls it "the best headlamp ever"
> 
> http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi...display.html?forum_thread_id=83059&startat=80



Looks like Bolster found an outlet for his headlamp knowledge outside of CPF.


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## Stevie (Dec 13, 2013)

I don't really get on with PT headlamps. I was sucked in by the original marketing claims of the older 60 lumen Apex, it wasn't until I discovered this great forum that I learned what I'd actually bought. It then developed a problem and I returned it. I then bought an Eos (this time I understood the outputs and runtimes), but I was unlucky with the Rebel LED as one side of the beam was a cool blue, the other side was the typical warm yellow. I thought it was an issue with the front lens, until I disassembled the light and found that the LED itself was emitting half blue, half yellow. Was not impressed. I would put the low end Petzls above Princetontec products myself, IMO PT products are cheaply made, over-priced and over-hyped with the already mentioned marketing speak. These days, if I want a light, then it must be ANSI rated for clarity.


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## tubed (Dec 13, 2013)

To anyone who owns this -
I have a friend who sails and is asking for recommendation.
For night sailing you need really low lumen settings.
The website lists the "low" as 15 lumens and dosen't say if you can dim the red LEDs.
Even red LEDs can ruin night vision if too high -
So my question:
How low can it go?


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## 01foreman400 (Dec 22, 2013)

I bought one for my dad for Christmas. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## woodfluter (Mar 12, 2014)

Bought a Vizz earlier today (OK, now it's yesterday) from REI and will be returning it.

Looked good on paper. Although I was put off by the obviously misleading runtime claims; and yes, PT seems to be getting worse about that. There was an honest explanation with the EOS and some other earlier lights but far from that here. In this case, it seems to go beyond spin into the realm of the deliberately misleading.

I use headlamps mostly upside-down, around my neck. In the store it looked like the range of tilt adjustment might be enough, and a bit more than the other PT and BD offerings. But in practice, just a bit shy of being able to angle it upward (that's downward for headwear) far enough to use for walking. Would need to attach something to add tilt angle. My Petzl XP2 is fine in that regard.

Around the head, the 5mm LEDs put out an uneven, ringy bluish light; and as if that's not bad enough, something about the clear plastic outer lens creates a very bright narrow ring outside the completely black ring beyond the beam itself. So the effect is like wearing brightly lit shiny metal eyeglasses - and I don't ordinarily wear glasses. Extremely distracting, simply bad design and completely un-necessary. The designers *had* to have seen this.

On the neck or around the head:

(1) The interface is just too fussy. Regardless of how they describe it, in reality this light comes on in red mode, and you have to click to get to the others. 

(2) Coming on at the lowest adjustable level with the 5mm LEDs is OK, but not so great without level memory if you are turning the thing off and on frequently. Unless you're going to use the high output emitter, you'll have to click twice and then hold for ramping every danged time. And sometimes overshoot into ramp down. What a pain if you mainly use medium and need to shut it off often.

(3) The 5mm beam is not nearly diffused enough for me.

(4) The red LEDs seemed like one of the best things about the light. At least they put out sufficient light for hiking, something I occasionally do with red.* But they are also ringy, almost all spot when I'd vastly prefer diffused, and not being able to dim them means they are just too bright for close use.

(5) The high-output LED can't be dimmed. Considering efficiency, that's the one that should be dimmable. Also it is simply too bright to be very usable to me - too much illumination for most hiking, far too bright for use close up. It's only use is spotting things or making out a route at a distance, which is why I also carry a handheld spot-weighted light anyway. Now I did like the beam color, but since I'd seldom use it due to excessive brightness, really doesn't count for much.

On top of all that, it went off and failed to respond on several occasions until I whacked it against my hand. Although the battery contacts looked secure.

Sorry, but I'm sort of over PT at this point. 


* Re comments from some about dim white being just as effective for preserving night vision, this might be nearly true for me until my eyes are fully dark adapted. After that it is quite a different story! I can see my surroundings much better, while white means I can often see little except what's in the light beam. Tradeoffs for sure. But there's times I actually prefer to navigate by red.


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