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Reviews > Lighting > Headlamps - LED > Streamlight Enduro > Test Report by Sheila MorrisseySTREAMLIGHT ENDURO HEADLAMP
Initial Report - October 15, 2007 Field Report - January 11, 2008 Long-Term Report - February 5, 2008  Photo from Streamlight website. Initial Report: October 15, 2007 TESTER BIOGRAPHY Name: Sheila Morrissey Age: 27 Gender: Female Height: 5 ft 8 in (1.7 m) Weight: 155 lb (70 kg) Email Address: geosheila(at)yahoo(dot)com City, State, Country: Goleta, California, USA BACKPACKING BACKGROUND I have been backpacking since 2005. Most of my trips have been from one to three nights in length on trails in the Sierra Nevada or Los Padres National Forest. My pack typically weighs around 25 lb (11 kg), including consumables. PRODUCT INFORMATION Manufacturer: Streamlight Model: Enduro Year of Manufacture: 2005 Manufacturer’s Website: http://www.streamlight.com Listed Power: 6 lumens (low mode) or 14.5 lumens (high mode) Listed Burn Time: 24 h (low mode) or 6 h (high mode) Listed Weight: 2.75 oz (78.5 g) with two AAA batteries and head strap Measured Weight: 2.8 oz (79.3 g) with two AAA batteries and head strap Listed Lens Diameter: 1.3 in (3.3 cm) Measured Lens Diameter: 1.19 in (3 cm) Listed Headlight Width: 2.25 in (5.7 cm) Measured Headlight Width: 2.25 in (5.7 cm) Listed Maximum Headlight Depth: 1.6 in (4.1 cm) Measured Maximum Headlight Depth: 1.75 in (4.4 cm) MSRP: N/A PRODUCT DESCRIPTION The Enduro is a LED headlamp with high- and low-beam options. The focus of the headlamp is in the 100+ ft (30+ m) range. It is powered by two AAA batteries (two Energizer batteries were included in the headlamp packaging). The battery compartment is located immediately behind the light, to be worn on the forehead. Long rubber and elastic headbands tighten over the top and around the sides of the user's head. The headlamp is O-ring-sealed and waterproof. A rubber button switch at the top of the light is pushed to change the light to low mode, high mode, and to turn it off. The lamp can be angled straight ahead, straight down, or securely adjusted to any position in between. INITIAL IMPRESSIONS The Enduro's battery pack is right on my forehead, which I like. I am uncomfortable with some other headlamps that have loose wires connecting a lamp on my forehead to a battery pack behind my head. What's especially great about Enduro's battery pack and lamp combination is that it feels very light on my forehead. Turning the light on requires considerable pressure on the button and I cannot turn it on while wearing mittens. The head straps are very comfortable when tightened to my head. They are also very long and I can easily adjust them to fit over a beanie or even a hard hat. Field Report: January 11, 2008 FIELD CONDITIONS I used the Streamlight Enduro headlamp on a three-day backpacking trip on Catalina Island. I camped near sea level each night. Temperatures ranged from 55 to 65 F (13 to 18 C). Conditions were clear and breezy. FIELD RESULTS This is the most comfortable headlamp I have used. Whether I wear it directly on my head or over a beanie, the lamp and straps are always comfortable. The lamp has light padding on the back to cushion the weight of it against my forehead. The straps are wide and don't catch on my hair. They can also be easily adjusted, even while wearing the headlamp. I still really like having the battery pack right on the front with the light so that there aren't wires running from a light in front to a battery pack behind my head. The comfort and fit of this lamp are perfect.  So far, I don't think the function of the headlamp is quite as perfect. The headlamp works very well for objects that are very close, but does not work well for illuminating objects more than a few feet away. The first time I put on the headlamp, I used it on its low mode to find my way to the toilet. I safely walked up a hill and didn't fall in the pit. On the way down, however, I couldn't see far enough ahead of me to avoid a long, one-footed slide down the dirt slope. Switching to high mode was a little better, but I was still struggling to see very far ahead. Annoyingly, I have to press the button twice to get to the high mode. I would have preferred a sliding switch for the two beam options (high and low), rather than having to press the button once for low mode, twice for high mode and a third time to turn it off. Adjusting the beam up or down is easy and the lamp holds its position. Despite the convenience of the hands-free headlamp, the light turned out not to be very useful when I had to pluck more than 50 jumping cholla spines from my legs. I had to switch to using a brighter, but less convenient, handheld penlight. Over the course of my backpacking trip, plus the few times I've used the headlamp around the house, I think I may have used it for a total of about four hours, split evenly between the high and low modes. I haven't yet noticed the headlamp dimming and haven't had to change the batteries. Long-Term Report: February 5, 2008 CONDITIONS I used the Enduro headlamp on a two-day backpacking trip in Los Padres National Forest. I camped at an elevation of about 4,500 ft (1,370 m) and the nighttime temperature was around 35 F (2 C). There was no precipitation. I also used it on a second two-day trip in the Los Padres National Forest. I camped at an elevation of about 2,000 ft (600 m) and the nighttime temperature was about 40 F (4 C). There was light rain. In addition, I brought the Enduro headlamp along for creek sampling during storms. The temperature was around 45 F (7 C) during two evenings of work and about 35 F (2 C) during one early morning's work. The elevation was near 100 ft (30 m). TEST RESULTS Performance I finally found the perfect use for this light: playing Scrabble by the campfire. Otherwise, I wasn't thrilled with this light and would would rate its performance as just okay. Certainly having any sort of light is helpful in the dark, but this headlamp isn't particularly bright and the beam only reaches about 10 ft (3 m). Because of this short range, I'm only likely to want to continue using this headlamp for cooking, reading or playing games. I'm not certain that it would be worth it for me to carry this headlamp on my future backpacking trips when I'll probably also want to take another brighter light. The light that I would prefer to carry is actually a penlight by the same company. Comfort I still think this is a very comfortable headlamp. The light and battery casing don't feel heavy on my forehead. I can also easily adjust the angle of the light, which securely clicks into place when I adjust it. The straps are easily shorted and lengthened, with a huge range in lengths. The straps are thick, so the elastic feels secure, but not uncomfortably tight. Ease of Use I find that headlamps in general are convenient because they don't require that I hold onto the light. I can also easily strap a headlamp to my backpack by stringing a backpack strap through the headlamp strap.  Putting batteries in this light (the one time that I put batteries in it) was easy enough and seemed rather intuitive to me. Turning the light on and switching between low and high modes is done easily with a push of the button. What I found inconvenient was was the way that the light turns on, switches between modes and turns off. I would much prefer separate buttons or a sliding switch for the high and low modes. I didn't like having to scroll through the low mode to get to the high mode, or to move through the high mode in order to turn the light off. This was the same annoyance I dealt with during the field-testing stage. Waterproofness Yep, seems it pretty waterproof! I used it during storms both while backpacking and working and it doesn't look like any water got inside the light and battery casing. This is a great feature of the headlamp because it was great not to have to worry about whether the light would still work when I was out in the rain. Durability The brightness of the light hasn't seem to diminish since I first put in the batteries. I've now probably had the light on for a total of about eight hours, most often in the high mode. The light itself and the straps are still in great shape. REMARKS This concludes my Test Series. Thank you to Streamlight and BackpackGearTest.org for providing me with the opportunity to test the Enduro headlamp. Read more reviews of Streamlight gear Read more gear reviews by Sheila Morrissey Reviews > Lighting > Headlamps - LED > Streamlight Enduro > Test Report by Sheila Morrissey | ||||