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Detailed
Information:
The Lighting Pro Technology's HL2 Headlamp has a really
great regulator circuit and generally good output and
functionality. Obviously a lot of thought and effort
has been put into the internals. Externally it appears
as though all of the great design work has been placed
into a very plain-Jane headlamp. Solid function and
simplicity was obviously the most important design criteria
in this headlamp.
Starting at the back, the battery compartment is made
of a relatively durable yellow plastic of unknown type.
It is curved to rest against the back of a hard-hat
or a user's head. On top is a thumbscrew which is grooved
to accept a screwdriver or coin. Unscrewing the thumbscrew
will release the back and base of the battery compartment
to reveal 6 AA batteries in series mounted upside-down
with the contact springs at the top.
The contact springs are at the top so if a vertical
downward shock occurs the batteries will not break contact.
Replacing the batteries is easy since they are all inserted
in the same direction. The thumbscrew cannot be lost
as it is held in place by a retaining mechanism. The
entire battery pack is held to the rubber hard-hat strap
by an elastic band with a wide loop for the rubber strap.
The pack is retained in the elastic strap by the cord
at the top on one side. Presumably the pack would be
held tightly against a hard-hat and the lip running
around the hard-hat would prevent the battery pack from
slipping down and out of the elastic loop. Since I do
not have a hard-hat I cannot test this.
Moving around toward the front, we find a thick cable
that attaches the head of the light to the power pack.
The cord has stress relievers at the primary connection
point and grommets to protect the wire where it is inserted
into the head and battery pack. The quick release cord
has a sealed male and female connector that simply pops
apart. The connector itself is very well made and provides
a solid contact point.
At the front of the light we find a forehead
plate with a rubber pad and the connectors for the rubber
strap. This is connected to the front of the headlamp
by a chrome plated bolt and wing nut at a pivot point.
Here the headlamp can be adjusted vertically for convenience
and the connection can be easily tightened when necessary.
The switch on top is a simple pushbutton covered with
a rubber boot that is glued in place. Pressing in and
holding for about one second turns the headlamp on at
whatever level it was last at. Do the same to turn it
off. When the light is turned on, the illumination level
"ramps up" to the setting it was last on.
This protects the bulb from the initial surge of voltage
that could blow a cold lamp. To change levels of brightness,
a quick click will move you to the next level. There
are 4 brightness levels in all and each will provide
less light but longer battery life.
The bezel is sealed by a large O-ring from the lens
end and is adjustable for focus by twisting the large
black ring around the head of the light. The reflector
is attached to the lens and lens ring and is silvered
plastic. The reflector is slightly textured to help
smooth out rings and holes in the beam resulting from
focusing the beam to a flood pattern. Removing the bezel
reveals a spare bulb behind the reflector and the minuscule
regulator circuit and switch. The manufacturer reports
that the light will function reliably with the bezel
filled with fresh water, although it should be dried
out as soon as possible if this situation is ever encountered
in the field.
The light pattern produced ranges from an extremely
narrow beam to a nice wide focus. Unfortunately the
wide focus does have the "rings and holes"
that are common to focusable lights. Output is listed
in the following chart. The light was focused to its
tightest beam for "throw" readings. Readings
in paranthesis are for Comparison
Chart use:
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Light Level
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Overall Output
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Throw
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High
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775 (7.75)
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2475 (49.74)
|
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Medium
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468 (4.68)
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1414 (37.60)
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Low
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278 (2.78)
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884 (29.73)
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Very Low
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116 (1.16)
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398 (19.94)
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What I Liked: Water resistant, Tough/impact
resistant, Fully regulated (non-dimming light), long
battery life, Bright, Easy battery change, Simple and
effective
What I Didn't Like: Battery compartment
not watertight, but it should shed water pretty well,
Retention of battery pack by the elastic strap is a
little questionable.
Other Things I Noticed: It seems
as though this headlamp has either undergone design
revision after the plastic molds were made or the internals
were retrofitted into an existing headlamp based upon
the labels molded into the body (on-off near the switch)
and after-the-fact machining work done to the inside
of the head.
Conclusions: A simple, straightforward
external design with a really fantastic regulator circuit,
dimming capability, and matching bulb.
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