Reviews > Lighting > Headlamps - LED > Princeton Tec Apex > Ralph Ditton > Field Report

At the Boarding House campsite there were two of us and I had the only light source, so my walking partner used my headlamp also to cook his dinner on the gas stove. I had cooked my evening meal whilst there was still light.
There was drizzle all afternoon with a light shower during the night. Temperatures in the evening ranged from a maximum of 10 C to a minimum of 6 C (50 F to 43 F). Humidity was approximately 95% and there was no wind at all during the night.
My friend used the hut to sleep in and I used a tent, so I needed the headlamp to find my way back to the tent after we had finished playing Yahtzee for the evening.
During the course of the evening playing Yahtzee, the headlamp was used for about four hours solid on the lower setting of the four Ultrabright LED's. I tilted the headlamp downwards approximately 80° so as to illuminate the playing area. I went through the various settings to find the best setting that did not blind or annoy my playing partner. The 3 Watt on high was too bright and interfered with his vision when I looked at him to talk. Basically I blinded him for a short time. The lower setting on the 3 Watt was no better. The higher setting on the four Ultra Bright was much more successful, we found that we did not need that much brightness to read the dice and it could still dazzle my partner's eyes when I looked up. The last setting of the lower setting on the four Ultra Bright was excellent as it did not interfere with my partner's vision when I looked up and it was a gentle light to see the playing area and read the dice.. It was also sufficient to locate a dice when it rolled off the table onto the dirt floor.
I did a little test to ascertain how useful the headlamp was for night walking. I walked some two hundred metres (660 ft), crossed over One Tree Bridge and returned, trying different settings. The best were the high settings on the 3 Watt and four Ultra Bright's. When I crossed over One Tree Bridge in one direction I used the high setting on the 3 Watt and on return the high four Ultra Bright. Both settings were excellent in lighting up the planks ,wire netting over the planks and the wire guide rails.

one tree bridge
The beams gave a good coverage of the ground and I was able to pick up details on the track that would  trip me up. The Bibbulmun Track markers reflected extremely well on all settings on both types of lights.
Back at the campsite, I tried to take a photo of the beam. Unfortunately the flash also came on. The photo will give some indication of the power of the high setting of the 3 Watt. The flash only illuminated the immediate front area.
high setting of 3 watt

I did an overnighter to Prickly Bark (S 31° 42. 800' E 115° 56. 981') on the Coastal Plain Trail on Friday 2nd June, 2006. It is the start of our winter.
Elevation is 83 m (272 ft) and temperatures from 4.30 pm to 9 am the next morning ranged from a low of 7 C (45 F) to a high of 11 C (52 F).
As an exercise, I paced out the distance that the beam set on various settings was useful, ie. pick up very good detail of track and obstacles laying on the track from a fixed point.
My pace, stepping out for a measurement is on average 840 mm (2 ft 9 in).
With the 3 Watt Maxbright on the " High" setting I could pace out 30 paces before useful detail was lost. On the "Low" setting it was 22 paces.
Using the 4 Ultrabright LED's I achieved 18 paces on the" High" setting and 7 paces on the "Low" setting.

Whilst playing Yahtzee with the headlamp on the setting of "High" for the 4 Ultrabright's, there was a power surge. The lights flickered on and off three times which caused me some concern and it also startled my  playing partner. What had happened (and it was confirmed with the literature at home) was that the batteries had run low and the Battery Power Meter had turned red. This was supposed to signal 20 minutes of burn time left. However, I continued to use the headlamp for another hour without any further flickering of light.
What I did notice was that when I switched between "High" and "Low" settings for the 3 Watt and 4 Ultrabright there was no difference in the lights brightness. It remained constant. This meant that the current-controlled circuit maintained a constant light output relative to the lower setting on both light sources.
In the switched off mode, the power meter blinks with a yellow light.
I again did my pace exercise and found that the maximum useful distance in all settings was 5 paces.
The batteries being used were 4 AA Alkaline (LR 6) and they were new when installed.
To date, I estimate that the batteries have had a total burn time, using all settings, over the testing period of between 17 to 20 hours. This is made up of the following:-

• Around the home: 5 to 6 hours.
• 3 nights in the field: 12 to 14 hours.

These figures are way short of the advertised burn time.
I predominately used the "High" setting on the 4 Ultrabright Led's and the advertised burn time is 100 hours.

At home the following day after using the headlamp, and still using the same batteries, the Battery Power Meter was blinking red.
I switched between the various settings and did notice a brightness and dullness on the "high" and "low" settings. The Battery Power Meter was a constant red colour.
The following photos show the illumination achieved at home with the Battery Power Meter showing a constant red colour.

3 Watt on high
The range of the bright spot was about 12 paces.


3 Watt on low
The same spot on low.


Ultrabright on high
The area illuminated was approximately 7 paces away.

The photo taken of the ultrabright on low was black, only showing a very faint glow at the headlight source. I have decided not to include it as it would not achieve anything. However, I could just see to make out objects but not their detail.

Test  Plan to date
I can read quite comfortably sitting inside my tent with the headlamp on my head. The best setting that I found to read a book was Ultrabright "high". Ultrabright "low" was also useful, however I use glasses to read so I much preferred the higher setting. The 3 Watt was far too bright for me at that close range to use for reading.

I have fitted the central headband and it was very easy to adjust for a comfort fit. Overall, the headbands are comfortable but the wraparound headband does tend to press the arms of my glasses against my head when wearing a beanie. The arms of the glasses do cause a pressure point that becomes a bit tender and I have to remove them for a short time. The area is just above the ears where the arms bend to go behind the ears.
When wearing the beanie, I place the headlamp over the top of the beanie.
I do not have to adjust the headbands when wearing the headlamp with and without a beanie as the headbands are able to stretch due to their elastic nature.

I find that the weight of the battery pack at the rear and lamp in the font give a good balance. I have not experienced any slipping down by the battery pack as it is the slightly heavier unit. Also the elasticized headband gives a very good firm fit to prevent slipping down when walking. I have not run with the unit on at night and nor do I intend to do so as it would be dangerous on a bush track.

An examination of the interior of the battery pack shows that no moisture or condensation has got inside. The contacts show no sign of rust or corrosion.
In addition, the light unit also showed no signs of moisture on the surface of the collimator/reflector behind the lens.

Operating the headlamp switches is very easy, just push the pad and the light adjusts to the next setting. To go through the range to find the best illumination required at the time, I just kept on pressing, sometimes going through the options twice before deciding on the best one. The only problem that I have is trying to remember which switch pads operates the 3 Watt and Ultrabrights. With a choice of two, I pick the wrong one first about 90% of the time.

When I have returned from a nature call very early in the morning and other campers were asleep in the hut, I found that the headlamp gave out too much sideways light illuminating the other campers. Thereafter, I used a small hand held LED torch with a narrow beam.

For cooking on a gas stove at night, I found that the best setting was the "high" setting on the Ultrabright as it gave a very good wide beam illuminating the stove and pot and items on the table that I required during the cooking like a knife, tongs, oil, chopped up onion and a crushed garlic clove just to name a few things. It was also an excellent setting to examine the progress of the food being cooked.

Summary
To date I am very impressed with the Apex Led Headlamp and the big bonus is being able to switch between four settings to find an appropriate setting for the moment. There is a fifth, but that is for an emergency and to date I have not had to use it for that purpose. Due to its blinking I found that I could not use it for any task around the campsite.
The only area of concern is the manufacturer's claims of battery life. I have found that I am way short, but I am still getting light out of the batteries though not as bright as when the batteries were newer. I plan to run these batteries dead and measure the time it takes to achieve this.
As an aside, two days after using the headlamp, I turned it on and the Battery Power  Meter started off green and after approximately twenty seconds it changed to a yellow orange. When I turned the lamp head around looking at the Battery Power Meter when it was on the highest setting of the Ultrabrights, I noticed that at  certain angles I had half red and half yellow orange showing. This combination changed from a vertical position to a horizontal to an oblique, depending which way I tilted it. Most interesting. I do not have an answer for it.

Thank you Princeton Tec and BackPackGearTest for allowing me to test this headlamp.  

 

Reviews > Lighting > Headlamps - LED > Princeton Tec Apex > Ralph Ditton > Field Report