Short Description:

Available from e-Headlamps.com

The Streamlight Argo is the latest in a series of headlamps from Streamlight. This one is unique in that it uses a Luxeon Star side emitting LED for light and contains a pulse width modulation circuit which provides 3 separate levels of brightness as well as a blinking mode. The literature also indicates the use of a regulation circuit to maintain constant output throughout battery life.

The body of the Argo is polymer with a rubberized ring surrounding the bezel for impact protection. The illumination unit is attached to a forehead plate which is held on the head by a 3-point strap system of fabric elastic bands. Included in the package is a rubber hard-hat band as well. The back of the forehead plate has a recessed foam pad for comfort.

3 AAA batteries power the Argo, and are placed in a special carrier which is inserted just below the bezel. An LED battery status indicator is visible on the back of the headlamp.

Detailed Information:

The body of the Argo is made of a tough yellow polymer with the bezel on top and the battery compartment below. It is attached by a ratcheting hinge to the forehead plate which allows you to direct the light where you need it. On the back of the body is a battery level indicator which has 3 LEDs that illuminate when the light is on. Green indicates greater than 50% battery life available, yellow indicates 50% to 20% battery life available, and red indicates less than 20% battery life remaining.

On the light's right hand side is the battery compartment door which must be unscrewed to open. An O-ring rests in a groove on the body and is engaged by the door to prevent the entry of water.

The forehead plate provides attachment points for the 3-point elastic band support system and the two-point rubber hard-hat strap. Straps are easily removed from the plate as a result of gaps molded into the attachment points.

The bezel contains a partially textured silvered reflector and the circuitry to drive the Luxeon Star LED. The light is set to a permanent focus and provides a wide spot of light. Since the LED and circuitry is impervious to impact and the bulb should never fail, there should never be a need to open up the bezel. Of course, this means that opening the bezel is one of the first things I did. Inside is the very compact circuit and LED, with nothing unusual to report.

Output is listed in the following chart. Readings in parenthesis are for Comparison Chart use:

Light output was in the form of a smooth wide spot with some minor artifacts. Running the light on high will burn through 3 AAA batteries in about an hour while medium and low power will give you light for about 2.5 and 6.5 hours respectfully. Digital regulation circuitry should maintain constant or near constant brightness throughout the battery life. This has yet to be verified by this reviewer. I'll do a runtime plot as soon as I can.

The switch is a simple click switch. First click turns the light on full, second = 50% power, third = 25%, fourth is off. Pressing and holding the switch for 3 seconds turns on a bright blink mode which is turned off at the next press of the switch. Dimming is accomplished by "pulse width modulation" which means that the LED is blinked very very rapidly for different lengths of time depending upon the amount of dimming required. Some people may be able to detect this blinking, especially when moving the light rapidly.

Water resistance is good and it should be able to take a rainstorm without any problems. It is not intended for diving or intentional submersion.

The 3 AAA batteries required for operation need to be placed in a carrier for insertion into the headlamp. This allows you to carry spare, pre-loaded carriers for rapid battery changes. Previous carriers for Streamlight headlamps had two prongs sticking out of the end which could be a source of shorting if they were to contact a conductive surface. The carrier design has been changed so that the contacts are recessed in plastic holes which greatly reduces the chance of accidentally shorting out a loaded carrier.

Included in the package is the rubber hard hat strap for industrial use.

What I Liked: Water resistant, Variable output, Tough/impact resistant, Good output, Regulated, Relatively easy battery change, Spare battery carriers can be pre-loaded and carried with you, Lightweight, Comfortable

What I Didn't Like: Short battery life on "high" output mode

Other Things I Noticed: Nothing worth mentioning

Conclusions: A great little headlamp. Output is pretty darn good on "high" if you don't mind burning through batteries like crazy. 3 AAA batteries just aren't a great choice for powering a Luxeon Star, but they do keep the headlamp lightweight. I'd recommend using it in "medium" whenever possible. Switch it to "high" if you really need it, or to "low" if you need to conserve batteries. This will give you a more reasonable battery life in general. Personally I'd like to see the switch start at medium and then go to high and low in series. This is just my personal preference and I can certainly deal with having to click twice when I turn it on to get to medium output.

UPDATE: I recently received another Argo due to a criss-cross in communication. This second Argo has a slightly whiter beam in comparison to the original which has a slightly purple tint. This tinting difference is just another case of the "Luxeon Lottery". Also, the newer Argo has a gray button instead of a black one on top. I have no idea what the significance of this is, but operation is the same. I did discover that the newer Argo reads about 23% higher for overall output on the meter than the original one, so some more investigation may be in order.

Quick Facts Table: