# The New Olight H1R Nova headlamp



## rookiedaddy (Jan 18, 2017)

Thanks to my local Olight distributor, received a unit of H1R Nova Neutral White and a unit of H1R Nova Cool White for testing and review.






Like my 2 months old H1 review, let me start by saying if you really really really wanted a Olight branded headlamp, you won't go wrong with the Neutral White version. And now, it's even more so with this new H1R Nova headlamp Neutral White. Let me explain... 
I'm not sure if other H1R Neutral White's tint is the same as the unit I received, but if this is not tint lottery, then you can expect the H1R's XM-L2 Neutral White LED to render the color as good as Lumintop IYP365 with Nichia 219BT Neutral White LED. (well, either that, or yours truly won the tint lottery).

The Q&A section:
*What about the Cool White? *
Hah! I'm glad you ask... or did you? While H1R Neutral White tint is better, the H1R Cool White tint is worse, just imagine those 3D objects being rendered flat... that's the H1R Cool White.

_*Why are you so bias towards Neutral White? I think Cool White is better.*_
It's a gene thing, I was coded genetically to be bias towards incandescent tint. 

_*Does it work with Olight Micro-Dok III? The one included with S10R III or S30R III?*_
Yes. It works with Olight Micro-Dok III.

_*What is the difference between H1R and H1 besides H1R being rechargeable?*_
There are a few differences:
- H1R is brighter, 100 lumens brighter in Turbo mode
- No more nice pouch included in H1R
- H1R cost more (as at January 2017)
- A Magnetic Charging Cable (MCC) is included in H1R
- A customized 650mAh RCR123 battery is included in H1R
- H1R headband rubber holder is softer

_*Can I use other batteries in this H1R?*_
Well, sure you can. 
Any genuinely good quality primary CR123A batteries will work in H1R Nova (e.g. Energizer, SureFire, Sanyo, Panasonic, Olight, etc.)
Any quality RCR123 LiIon battery will also work in H1R Nova (e.g. Fenix, KeepPower, AW, etc.), but you won't be able to recharge in the light using MCC or Micro-Dok III.
You need the Olight customized ORB-163C06 or ORB-163C05 to recharge in H1R Nova.

_*I have problem with my AW/AW IMR/Olight ORB-163P06/KeepPower RCR123, H1R almost always instantly step-down (or turns off) when I double-click to go to Turbo mode, but you said it works with these cell? Do you really know what are you talking about?
*_Well, if you have that problem, there are 99% chance that it's the battery problem and 1% your H1R had develop a short somewhere...
Like us human being, batteries aged. When we (human and batteries) get older, we can no longer perform as well as when we were younger... although we human being sometime uses those "performance enhancement drug", but there are no such thing for batteries. So recycle your aged batteries and get some new batteries to play... I mean use...

_*Can I recharge the included ORB-163C06 battery in an external charger?*_
Yes, you can.

_*600 lumens for 3 minutes and then step-down to 180 lumens for the rest of the runtime?! This is absurd! This is really just a 180 lumens light being marketed as 600 lumens!!!*_
Well, at least Olight is being honest with it by indicating the expected runtime and step-down, take a look at the back of the package here...





_*Are you sure that 100 lumens increase in Turbo mode not just some random numbers thrown up by Olight?*_
hmmm... maybe... but why not check it out yourself, following are couple of white-wall hunting beamshot...

H1R (left) vs H1 (right), both cool white, Turbo mode, Exp: 1/100 sec





and H1R (left) vs H1 (right), both neutral white, Turbo mode, Exp: 1/100 sec





and finally, H1R vs H1, Cool White vs Neutral White, High mode 180 lumens





OK, enough with the Q&A, let's have some unboxing pictures...

Upon opening the top cover, you are greeted by the usual big font READ ME





It's actually a pull out card with some information about how to remove the H1R Nova from the package





Next, we are asked to pull out the H1R





and here they are, both Cool White and Neutral White H1R Nova headlamp





opening the box, you will find the headband and the MCC (Magnetic Charging Cable) stuffed inside





removing everything from the package and you'll find...




- 1 unit of H1R Nova headlamp
- 1 unit of black headband
- 1 unit of MCC (the USB charger)
- 1 unit of user manual in various language
- 1 unit of brown-color pouch

remove MCC from headband




this is the standard Magnetic Charging Cable (MCC) that's included in Olight rechargeable light since 2016, a small LED indicator light at the magnetic contact side will light up *RED *when charging, *GREEN *when finish charging or not charging and/or battery do not need charging). Now, that's the normal MCC light-up condition that Olight tells you in the user manual, what they didn't tell you is there is a third color indicator, *ORANGE*, that indicates the contact between the MCC and the recharging tailcap is poor (that, or some secret handshaking Olight do not want to disclose)! To get it to recharge, rotate the light around to find a good contact, if it still light up *ORANGE*, switch on the light and mode switch it to Turbo, then switch it off, all while MCC is still connecting to the light, you will find that it will recharge as normal, *RED *indicator will comes on.

a few pictures of the H1R

























when first removing the tailcap, you should see a yellow plastic battery insulator inset




remove it before use. notice the battery direction indicator inside the battery tube on the left?





here is a clearer picture of it, serves as a reminder that the battery button (positive contact) should be facing the tailcap side.

from the 2 pictures above, you can see that the battery model is ORB-163C06, a totally different battery from the ORB-163C05 that's included with Olight S1R/Turbo S.
Due to both ORB-163C06 and ORB-163C05 using similar color wrapping, it's easy to mistaken one from another.
This 650mAh ORB-163C06 that's included in H1R Nova is *NOT an IMR battery*. It's basically the same battery as the ORB-163P06 LiIon RCR123 with Olight customizing it to be able to recharge in H1R Nova (and S10R III).
Below is a table that gives you an idea of the differences between these batteries:





battery positive terminal, with negative contact ring surrounding the button top





head negative contact spring




the tailcap button contact is slightly recessed against the negative contact ring, serves as physical polarity protection there.

and finally, comparing to S1R and H1









see the green arrow, length of H1R tailcap is the longest among the three. If you are using S1R tailcap on H1 Nova now, don't, you will compromise the waterproof-ness of the light as you are exposing the oring...





Conclusion:
Fit and finish (or built and construction) is pretty good, typical of Olight S/Baton series, or in this case, H-series, these are meant for civilian primary EDC, indoor and outdoor use. Not advisable to bring it scuba diving and definitely not your tactical light (although good as a secondary backup light for LE/Mil personnel).
The trade-off between convenient of recharging versus longer runtime using primary CR123A is something that you will need to put some thoughts into with your intended usage pattern. In any case, yours truly highly recommends to carry at least a spare primary CR123A with you for that longer runtime.
Olight has indicate that they are considering the plan to release a recharging upgrade kit for the H1 Nova, that's good news for users who already have the H1 Nova depending on the cost of the upgrade kit. However, there are no release date given so we will have to wait and see.


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## proceed5 (Jan 18, 2017)

Thank you for your time & effort to share with us your findings.

p/s. I have been using my salvaged S1R tail caps on my H1 and S1 without any issues. Off course I have no any intention of dunking my cross-breed-H1 into a pail of water and so the exposed o-ring is fine with me. 

thanks again.


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## Beacon of Light (Jan 18, 2017)

Where to buy online or in the US and how much are these? No moonlight mode so this is probably a pass for me. Can you use the Olight battery in other lights or will it short out in a regular CR123 light like a Zebralight H32?


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## rookiedaddy (Jan 18, 2017)

proceed5 said:


> ...
> p/s. I have been using my salvaged S1R tail caps on my H1 and S1 without any issues. Off course I have no any intention of dunking my cross-breed-H1 into a pail of water and so the exposed o-ring is fine with me.
> ...


thank you for the kind words Sir. just a suggestion, perhaps you would consider to thread a few layers of teflon tape onto the H1 o-ring area to improve the water-tightness and to protect the o-ring when using the S1R tailcap? Seeing that the H1 o-ring is expose to the element, it may torn or degrade the o-ring prematurely.
Glad to hear you do not have any issues.



Beacon of Light said:


> Where to buy online or in the US and how much are these? No moonlight mode so this is probably a pass for me. Can you use the Olight battery in other lights or will it short out in a regular CR123 light like a Zebralight H32?


If you are not using the battery in Olight rechargeable flashlight, then there is minimal applicable use case to get the Olight ORB-163C06 and/or ORB-163C05 rechargeable RCR123 battery. You can usually get higher capacity RCR123 from other manufacturers. 
I do not have Zebralight H32 to help confirm the fitment of Olight customized rechargeable battery. However, if your flashlight positive contact is a solid button, it should be fine. But I do not recommend to use these rechargeable battery in lights that uses spring as positive contact (where the spring will touch the button top of the Olight ORB-163C06/ORB-163C05 battery), as there is a possibility of shorts when the contact spring is compressed when tightening.

for US-based reseller, here are 3...
- Olightstore
- Going-gear
- BatteryJunction

hope this helps.


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## proceed5 (Jan 18, 2017)

Beacon of Light said:


> No moonlight mode so this is probably a pass for me. Can you use the Olight battery in other lights or will it short out in a regular CR123 light like a Zebralight H32?


Hi Beacon_of_light,
There is a Moon light mode and as per the description printed on the product's box the "moon"light is 2 lumens.
Cheers


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## Beacon of Light (Jan 18, 2017)

surely you jest as 2 lumens is nowhere's near what many people here would call a moonlight mode. For at least 10 years moonlight mode has meant sub 1 lumen. A proper moonlight mode is about .2 lumens.


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## Tachead (Jan 19, 2017)

proceed5 said:


> Hi Beacon_of_light,
> There is a Moon light mode and as per the description printed on the product's box the "moon"light is 2 lumens.
> Cheers


That is nowhere near a moonlight mode and I am not sure why they call it that. 2 lumens is a low mode and is quite bright to light adapted eyes. A real moonlight mode, as defined by most, is a sub lumen mode(sub 1 lumen) and is generally very sub lumen(0.01-0.2 lumen). Many other top headlamp manufacturers offer real moonlight modes and they are very useful for late night uses. It's too bad that Olight didn't follow suit. At least their S1 and S1R have a 0.5 lumen mode but, that is still a bit bright for some when it comes to a moonlight mode. 

Thanks for the review maukka👍


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## rookiedaddy (Jan 29, 2017)

Just finished a low mode 2-lumen runtime test.
Starting Voltage: *4.22V*
Ending Voltage: *2.85V* (3.2V after rest)
Runtime: *~6.8 days*

Manufacturer's claim: 6 days

Note that H1R terminates at end of runtime test via battery protection, you need to either attached the charger (or Micro-Dok) or probe the battery terminals (not recommended) to reset. Loosen and tighten the tailcap won't reset it with my test unit. :shrug:


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## Tachead (Jan 29, 2017)

rookiedaddy said:


> Just finished a low mode 2-lumen runtime test.
> Starting Voltage: *4.22V*
> Ending Voltage: *2.85V* (3.2V after rest)
> Runtime: *~6.8 days*
> ...


So the H1R not only charges at way too high of a rate for 16340's(750mA) but, it also overcharges the cells to 4.22V? It's also a little disappointing/disconcerting it doesn't have a low voltage cutoff too. At least their runtime estimates seem accurate I suppose.


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## vestureofblood (Jan 30, 2017)

Thanks for the review rookiedaddy. I like the side by side color shots. I think the camera makes cools look slightly more blue than they feel in real life on their own, but the neutral color ones look spot on. Nice job.

With rookies permission I am posting a link for my review here as well rather than starting a new thread 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Btjw_egoiw


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## rookiedaddy (Feb 1, 2017)

@vestureofblood, thanks for the kind words and thank you for sharing your video. :twothumbs


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## snakyjake (Feb 14, 2017)

Will a LiFePO4 (LFP) battery get recharged in the light?
Or what exactly is "customized" about the battery/charger that would prevent LFP batteries from getting charged?


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## lampeDépêche (Feb 14, 2017)

snakyjake said:


> Will a LiFePO4 (LFP) battery get recharged in the light?
> Or what exactly is "customized" about the battery/charger that would prevent LFP batteries from getting charged?



The chemistry is not the problem; it's the location of the contacts on the battery. 
Most ordinary cells have the positive contact at one end (the button end) and the negative contact at the other (the flat end).

In order to charge through the tail-cap, these Olights use a battery that has a secondary negative contact on the button end, in the shape of a ring. 

So the tailcap has a central contact for the + button, and a concentric ring for the - ring that surrounds it. You can see it in the photo labeled:

"battery positive terminal, with negative contact ring surrounding the button top"

If your LiFEPO4 battery had the right negative contact ring around the button top, then I believe it could charge in the light. But it won't, because the design is proprietary to Olight.


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## rookiedaddy (Feb 14, 2017)

thanks lampeDépêche :twothumbs

here is the same picture referenced by lampeDépêche with labelled.





and look at the tailcap on the right side of below picture




the middle button is slightly recessed for the battery button top contact, while the gold plated metal ring is to contact the negative contact ring at the battery.

frankly, I wish Olight would just comply to using micro-USB or even better, the USB Type-C connector for recharging... 

edit: btw, video from shot-show 2017 of Armytek new rechargeable light shows that they might be using similar recharging interface too... we shall wait and see then...


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## PiperBob (Feb 14, 2017)

When you turn it on, what brightness mode is it in?


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## Tachead (Feb 14, 2017)

rookiedaddy said:


> thanks lampeDépêche :twothumbs
> 
> here is the same picture referenced by lampeDépêche with labelled.
> 
> ...



The 18650 versions are already available. And, they don't appear to require a proprietary battery.

https://www.armytek.com/products/flashlights/multi-flashlights/armytek-wizard-pro-magnet-usb-18650/


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## rookiedaddy (Feb 15, 2017)

PiperBob said:


> When you turn it on, what brightness mode is it in?


It will turn on in the last used mode except for Turbo and High.
For moon, low, med, the mode will be memorized.
For Turbo and High, mode will only be memorized for 10 minutes, after which, it will revert to med mode.



Tachead said:


> The 18650 versions are already available. And, they don't appear to require a proprietary battery.
> https://www.armytek.com/products/flashlights/multi-flashlights/armytek-wizard-pro-magnet-usb-18650/


thanks for the heads-up and link. no proprietary battery == :twothumbs
eagerly waiting for some reviews...


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## hahoo (May 14, 2017)

Tachead said:


> So the H1R not only charges at way too high of a rate for 16340's(750mA) but, it also overcharges the cells to 4.22V? It's also a little disappointing/disconcerting it doesn't have a low voltage cutoff too. At least their runtime estimates seem accurate I suppose.



:tired::shakehead


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## Genzod (May 14, 2017)

rookiedaddy said:


> thanks lampeDépêche :twothumbs



I apologize if it has already been said, but I cringe at the thought of how easy it might be to discharge this battery.  Is it protected from rapid discharge?

(I left the emoticon in so he could finish his popcorn. He didn't seem to be quite through yet.)


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## rookiedaddy (May 18, 2017)

Genzod said:


> ...but I cringe at the thought of how easy it might be to discharge this battery.  Is it protected from rapid discharge?


well yes... but the problem with this ORB-163C06 is sometimes the protection circuit kicks in too early too fast... 



Genzod said:


> (I left the emoticon in so he could finish his popcorn. He didn't seem to be quite through yet.)


oh.. yes, the drama continues with the coming release of the H2R Nova... :devil:


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## luis0321 (May 31, 2017)

Why weren't the modes built like the S2 Baton where turning it on in moon light or turbo doesn't affect memory? That way you have quick access to moonlight, turbo, and which ever else you choose? Right now if you turn it on on either moonlight or turbo it stays there when you switch it off and on again. Doesn't make sense.


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## butmrpdf (Jun 14, 2017)

Can the customised RCR123A battery that comes with the H1R be charged in a wall mount RCR123A charger?

Asking since my magnetic cable charger broke.. now only works intermittently


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## rookiedaddy (Jun 15, 2017)

butmrpdf said:


> Can the customised RCR123A battery that comes with the H1R be charged in a wall mount RCR123A charger?
> Asking since my magnetic cable charger broke.. now only works intermittently


you mean something like below?





yeah... it works with any cradle charger with charge rate of 0.5A and below. 

Just fyi, if you happen to also own the Olight UC magnetic USB Charger, you are strongly advise *against* using that Olight UC charger to charge these customized Olight battery due to high possibility of shorting.


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## butmrpdf (Jun 16, 2017)

rookiedaddy said:


> you mean something like below?
> 
> 
> 
> yeah... it works with any cradle charger with charge rate of 0.5A and below. Just fyi, if you happen to also own the Olight UC magnetic USB Charger, you are strongly advise *against* using that Olight UC charger to charge these customized Olight battery due to high possibility of shorting.


Thanks for the cautionary note 

I have ordered the xtar vc4 which is still in the mail but looks essentially the same as the one in the picture. So no chances of shorting the olight battery on the xtar? Or there's something I need to be careful about while placing the battery in the charging cradle? (The button top is the positive and the black ring surrounding it is the negative, which I should make sure doesn't come in contact with the positive charger pin, right?)

I don't know much about batteries but I admire how potent the lithium ions are


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## rookiedaddy (Jun 16, 2017)

butmrpdf said:


> ...So no chances of shorting the olight battery on the xtar?


unlikely to short... see below picture the same 163C06 battery charging in XTAR VC4... use slot 2 or slot 3 for charging at 0.5A or below... 







butmrpdf said:


> Or there's something I need to be careful about while placing the battery in the charging cradle? (The button top is the positive and the black ring surrounding it is the negative, which I should make sure doesn't come in contact with the positive charger pin, right?)


yes, you are right. here is a picture of the contacts, view from the battery button top...




hope this helps.


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## Mr Baz (Jun 16, 2017)

With most chargers the custom batteries work fine, you just have to watch you don't use one with raised contact points that might meet both contacts (not found one yet that does). The flat custom ones are a no no ie the 26650 for chargers, even they are protected so it won't blow up just kicks the circuit in. You can't use the universal magnetic charger with either custom battery type


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