REVIEWER INFORMATION
Name:  Thomas Lindemuth
Age:  39
Gender:  Male
Email address:  tlindemu(at)ix(dot)netcom(dot)com
Location: Oakland, California  USA

 

Backpacking experience:  I've camped my whole life, and backpacked occasionally starting at age 12.  After a break, I've picked it up again starting about three years ago, and I am currently introducing my sons to the joys of camping.  When not backpacking I enjoy day hikes, and make a regular practice of hiking the trails near my home.  I tend towards heavyweight backpacking (tent rather than tarp, for example), but I am experimenting with ways of lightening my load.  I generally camp in the mountainous regions of California.  I am a destination backpacker, not a through-hiker.  I enjoy hiking in, setting up base camp, and exploring what is nearby.

 

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Product Name:  Princeton Tec Corona LED Headlamp
Year of Manufacture:  2004
Manufacturer:  Princeton Tec
Manufacturer's Website:  http://www.princetontec.com

 

 

Light Source (manufacturer's spec):
•  8 Super Bright White L.E.D.'s

 

Weight (manufacturer's spec):
•  8 oz (227 g) with alkaline batteries

 

Weight (as measured):
•  8.2 oz (232 g) with alkaline batteries

 

Size (as measured):
•  Battery pack:  2-3/4 in (7 cm) x 2-3/4 in (7 cm) x 1 in (2.5 cm)
•  Lamp housing:  2 in (5 cm) ovoid x 1-1/4 in (3 cm) thick
•  Straps: 1 in (2.5 cm) wide elastic webbing; approx. 25 in (64 cm) maximum circumference (unstretched)

 

Batteries:
•  3 AA Alkaline or Lithium (3 Duracell alkalines supplied in package)

 

Battery Life (manufacturer's spec):
•  8 LEDs: High 30 hours, Low 36 hours
•  5 LEDs: High 38 hours, Low 45 hours
•  3 LEDs: High 46 hours, Low 55 hours
•  1 LED:  High 55 hours, Low 70 hours

 

Features (from box):
•  Current Regulated For Maximum Brightness and Run Time
•  Designed To Work With Alkaline or Lithium Batteries
•  8 Super Bright White L.E.D.s
•  Select betweeen 4 Brightness Levels (8, 5, 3, or 1 L.E.D.)
•  Lifetime Warranty
•  Water Resistant 1

 

MSRP: $49.99 US 

 

FIELD IMPRESSIONS
The Princeton Tec Corona headlamp is easy to use, bright, not too heavy (though not the lightest solution either), and has a terrific battery life.  It does not throw light over a long distance the way I am used to with incandescent lights, but considering the other advantages of LED technology, in general I'll make the trade.  The executive summary is that I am quite happy with the Corona. 

 

So far I have used the Princeton Tec Corona in the following ways:
•  A 3 day trip during mid-August to Del Valle Reservoir in Livermore, California, USA.  This was during the new moon, which I took advantage of for evaluating the light output;
•  A weekend in the Santa Cruz mountains of California (under coastal redwoods);
•  Hiking home after sunset several times on the local trails;
•  Miscellaneous activities around the house such as reading in bed, household repairs, and various tests for this report.

 

In all cases weather was mild and dry, temperatures of 70 to 90 F (21 to 32 C).  There was nothing that posed a particular environmental challenge to the light.  Such are autumns in the San Francisco Greater Bay Area.  I hope to get in some winter use in both rain and snow conditions later this season.

 

One thing that I surprised myself with is how handy I find the Corona around the house.  I had gone into the test thinking of a headlamp as a highly specialized backpacking item.  However I also have ended up using it at home constantly.  I replaced some aging light fixtures in my basement, and the Corona was a godsend.  I really like having both hands free, especially when working above my head. I also use the Corona for reading in bed, many nights out of the week.  The long battery life and adjustable light output make it a fine reading lamp for me.

 

FIT AND COMFORT
The elastic band material is soft and comfortable.  Headstrap adjustments are very easy to do, both on and off the head -- and there are no loose strap ends to stick out.  The adjusters stay put just fine during use, but they are easy to readjust to fit another head (which is good, because my son always wants to use it).

 

However, there are a few things that take some minor getting used to.  The battery pack and lamp housing are concave to fit the curve of the head, but I was nonetheless definitely aware that there were hard plastic shells clamped to the front and back of my skull.  It actually got worse the first two or three times I wore the Corona for extended periods, but eventually my scalp stopped objecting. (Since I spent a lot of time fiddling with it for the purpose of this report, I was probably being hypersensitive, anyway.)  The important thing is that it is comfortable to wear, now that I am used to how it feels.

 

For me, the upper headband segment is indeed a necessity.  Some weight-conscious hikers like to remove the overhead strap for weight savings, and considering that the Corona weighs 8 ounces (227 g), every little bit might help -- provided it doesn't mess up the fit, that is.  I experimented with this by leaving the top band very slack.  Without the over-the-top suspension, the main strap tends to either slide down, or when adjusted tighter, drag my eyebrows into a scowl of Neanderthal proportions.  However, the upper headband suspends the weight of the lamp over the top of my head, so the main band only has to hold the light steady, which can be done with lighter tension on the strap (and my scalp).  For me, it definitely works better with the top strap than without.

 

I did discover that the light, if adjusted on the loose side, can slip off my head if I look skyward.  The resulting drop onto pavement did not do any damage to the light, other than a tiny blemish on one corner of the battery pack.  I did, however, decide to adjust the tension just a bit tighter around the head, and I haven't had a recurrence.

 

EASE OF OPERATION
I've found that it is quite easy to select the right light level:  a few quick clicks of the right-hand button to select the right number of LEDs, then one click of the left button to choose current regulated "dim mode."  I prefer dim mode on general principles.  It doesn't take too many hours on high power to drain the batteries to the point that full power mode is indistinguishable from dim mode anyway, so I've developed the habit of going straight for the current regulation, so the batteries will last as long as possible. 

 

I have thus far found no use for flashing mode (and, assuming that it is meant as an emergency signal, I hope to never find one).  Be that as it may, going to flash-mode is as easy as selecting any of the other power modes.

 

I have not had the opportunity to try the light under winter conditions yet this season.  However, I did experiment with wearing winter gloves and found that I can manipulate both buttons without taking the gloves off.  The strap adjusters are a bit tricky to operate with heavy gloves on, but it can be accomplished.  Most of the time I adjust the straps once and leave it for the rest of the evening.

 

LIGHT OUTPUT
Headlamps seem to have some peculiarities to the way they light up the world.  Some of these are things that are intrinsic to headlamps in general. 

 

First, at high output, the light from the Corona is so bright that it illuminates the particles of dust in the air near to the light.  Because the light is also close to my eyes, this produces a bit of glare, similar to driving in fog with high-beams on.  In dusty environments I find that it works better to use dim mode, or to reduce the number of LEDs lit.

 

Second, people have a natural tendency to look at each other while conversing.  When wearing headlamps, they end up shining their headlamps into each other's eyes.  Again, this isn't specific to the Corona, and is cured with practice.

 

Now I'll consider light characteristics of the Corona itself, meaning the overall brightness and pattern.  The Corona puts out a lot of light, but it does so in a broad flood pattern.  The upside is that short- to medium-range tasks get very even lighting.  The downside is that the lamp does not throw a focused beam very far.  For example, one night I tried illuminating some deer in a meadow at a distance of about 75 feet (23 m).  The Corona did not throw enough light to show detail at that distance, while a focusable two-AA-cell incandescent light did better.

 

When the light is set to 1 LED, the light pattern is somewhat uneven. It has a distinct blue center, a yellowish cast around the edges, and a blue, er, corona.  (Not to say that this is a problem; were this not a test report, I probably wouldn't even mention it.)  Lighting more LEDs makes the light pattern smoother, though full power mode produces a more pronounced hot spot in the center of the beam.  I tend to read with 3 or 5 LEDs lit (for smoothness), in dim mode (for a less noticeable hot spot).  For camp chores or night hiking, the 8-LEDs/dim mode is what I like best: lots of light, and smooth too, but not so bright that dust in the air glares in my eyes.

 

BATTERY LIFE
Battery life is just amazing, though I am still not certain what is meant by the various battery life numbers found in the manual and on the box.  I tried simply leaving the light on high power with all 8 LEDs lit.  After 6 days, the lamp still lights, albeit dimly.  It produces enough light to read by or to illuminate a dark room enough to navigate without tripping.  Hiking with so little light might be problematic, but it still makes for a good emergency reserve, so the likelihood of being left utterly in the dark is pretty slim.  Again, this is after 144 hours -- nearly 5 times the 30 hours of run time claimed on the box.  I don't clearly understand what the 30 hours on the box really means, except perhaps that the folks at Princeton Tec consider 'usable light' to be brighter than I would demand on my own.

 

My experience of the light output over the life of the battery is as follows (this was using all 8 LEDs at full power):
•  0 minutes:  very bright; I can read a clock at 30 feet (9 m), or light up a tree at twice that distance.  Looking directly at the LEDs is blindingly bright, just short of painful.  Switching to dim mode produces a distinct reduction in light output.
•  30 minutes: this is the rated time to first dimming as per the manual.  Short of using a light meter (which I don't have), I can't detect any difference in brightness compared to fresh batteries.  The difference between high power and dim mode is quite distinct.
•  1 hour:  still no noticeable dimming.
•  2 hours: slight dimming detectable to my eyes; however, there is still a noticeable difference between high-power and dim mode.
•  3 hours: distinctly dimmer than at start. High power is faintly brighter than dim mode.
•  4 hours: changing between high power and dim mode produces no discernable change in the light.  However, this is (as near as I can tell) just as bright as dim mode on fully charged batteries.
•  5 hours - 144 hours: a steady, slow decrease in light output to the eventual level noted, adequate for reading.
•  8 days:  light is finally (!) too dim to do anything very useful (though still far better than pitch-black).

 

BATTERY INSTALLATION
I have accomplished battery replacement in complete darkness with no problems.  The most difficult part is getting the battery compartment open, as the latch that holds it closed is quite stiff.  Once it is pried open, the batteries can be inserted by feel.  The flat end of the battery goes against the coil-spring terminal for each cell, and in the event that any cells go in backwards, the light simply fails to light, due to the polarity protection physically built into the case.  Simply reverse the offending cells, and all is well again.

 

 

Hands-free light is a boon when trying to do tasks that require both hands, like cooking or putting up a tent after dark (or crouched under the desk, reattaching that darn parallel cable to the back of the PC).  While there are certain minor idiosyncrasies to using a headlamp, the gain in utility when it really counts by far beats the alternatives.

 

Things I like about the Princeton Tec Corona:
1)  Very bright, at least at medium and close range.
2)  Fits better than my homemade attempts.
3)  Apparently sturdy; shows good quality of components and manufacture.
4)  Beats heck out of holding a Mini-Mag in my teeth while doing camp chores.