Princeton Tec Fuel Headlamp - 2009 Version
Test Series by Hollis Easter
Initial Report - 22 September 2009
The Princeton Tec Fuel (2009) is an updated version of the company's LED-based battery-powered headlamp of the same name.
Reviewer Information:
 The author
Name: Hollis Easter
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Height: 6'0" (1.8 m)
Weight: 205 lb (93 kg)
Email address: backpackgeartest[a@t)holliseaster(dah.t]com
City, State, Country: Potsdam, New York, USA
Backpacking Background: I started hiking as a child in the Adirondack Mountains
of New York. As a teenager, I hiked my way to an Eagle Scout award. I
love winter climbing, and long days through rough terrain abound. The
peaks have become my year-round friends. I also love climbing rock and ice.
I am a midweight backpacker: I don't carry unnecessary gear, but neither
do I cut the edges from my maps. I hike in all seasons, at altitudes from
sea level to 5,300 ft (1,600 m), and in temperatures from -30 F (-34 C) to 100 F (38 C).
Product Information:
Manufacturer: Princeton Tec
Year of manufacture: 2009
URL: www.princetontec.com
Listed weight (inc. batteries): 2.75 oz (78 g)
Measured weight: 2.8 oz (80 g)
Listed brightness: 43 lumens
Listed burn times: 50/90/146 hours
Listed light distances: 130/92/66 ft (39/28/20 m)
Color: Grey/Green (also available in Grey/Black and Grey/Pink)
MSRP: $26.99 US
Product features (from manufacturer materials):
- Water resistant
- Hinged mounting bracket
- Four modes (high, medium, low, flashing beacon)
- Efficient LEDs give long battery life
- Four 5mm LEDs are bright and still efficient
Princeton Tec offers a somewhat confusing warranty on the Fuel. They specify that the warranty lasts five years, but then add "Princeton Tec warrants this product to be free from defects in workmanship and materials under normal use for as long as you own this product." They also agree to repair or replace defective parts, and offer a replacement product "less allowance for use of the product" if the headlamp has to be repaired unsuccessfully three times within the warranty period.
If that was confusing, I empathize.
Initial Report - 22 September 2009:
 Back of the FuelPrinceton Tec has long been known for its high-quality lights for outdoor purposes, and the "new" Fuel is one of its latest forays into the field of lightweight headlamps for hiking and climbing. The original Fuel came out several years ago and was quite successful; Princeton Tec has chosen to update the design this year. They've added an LED, increased burn time, and kept the weight the same. What's not to like?
I'm testing the "new" Fuel, which isn't up on the Princeton Tec website yet. As such, manufacturer specifications for things like brightness and burn time will not match those listed on the site as of mid-September, 2009.
The Fuel is an impressively light headlamp that packs a lot of power into its diminutive size. I've had three headlamps that use LEDs, and the technology is new enough that I see significant improvement with each upgrade. The Fuel is bright, pretty light, and boasts an impressive burn time (although we'll see how long it lasts). I care about brightness and burn time because I'll be using the headlamp during winter climbing season, when I often spend hours hiking in the pre-dawn and post-dusk darkness. Good lighting is essential, and it's important to have a light that can throw out some extra lumens when needed.
The Fuel comes in two parts: the headlamp assembly and an adjustable elastic headband. It's easy to join or separate the parts, which is good since I like to wash the headbands periodically. The headband is easily adjusted using a ladderlock-style buckle that doubles as the opener for the battery door.
 Battery doorThe actual headlamp has an L-shaped green plastic base that connects to the headband and positions the lamp assembly. The actual battery pack and LEDs are housed in the grey plastic section. The rotation mechanism is actually pretty neat here: the grey part rotates easily, snapping into hidden detents. I measured its deflection at 25° upwards and 65° downward, which gives plenty of adjustability. It's easy to set the angle, but not so easy that I'm concerned about it bouncing out of place.
The Fuel is comfortable to wear, and it was easy to adjust the headband to fit my 24 in (61 cm) head. It sits quite close to my forehead, which keeps it from bouncing around too much. One thing I love so far: there's no glare in my eyes when I'm wearing the light. One of my other lamps spilled light into my eyes, which was irritating.
The headband's buckle can be used to open the hinged battery door, although I found that a US dime worked just as well. Battery markings were fairly clear inside, although I found it difficult to correctly orient the batteries in the dark (which I'd need to do if my batteries had died). I notice that there is no gasket sealing the battery door; in fact, there's a joint between some parts of the lamp assembly that admits air when I blow on it. I can only conclude that the Fuel isn't designed to have a sealed battery compartment. This raises some concerns about its water resistance.
The Fuel is initially quite hard to turn on, which has good and bad points. It sometimes takes me a few attempts to get it on, but this also leads me to feel confident that it won't get turned on in my pack by accident. I also note that Princeton Tec has designed the Fuel with ridges around the switch so it will be harder to activate unintentionally.
Pressing the power switch sets the Fuel to "high" mode, and subsequent presses step it through "medium", "low", and "flashing" modes before returning to "high". To turn it off, I just wait a few seconds before pressing the power switch. Simple and effective, and it doesn't require a ton of dexterity (relevant because I'll be wearing gloves).
The beam seems bright enough to be useful, even when it's on "low". It's always hard to convey relative light levels, but I've included photographs to describe them. Each picture was a six-second exposure with light levels set in darkness.
  Low beam and medium beam intensity  High beam and flashing beam intensity
I'm looking forward to using the Fuel. It's light, small enough to fit in my pockets, and seems bright and Fuel-efficient when it comes to batteries. Sounds good!
| Likes: | Dislikes: |
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- Light weight
- Bright, but not too bright
- Long advertised burn time
- Doesn't turn on accidentally
- Good switch design
- Wide adjustment range
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- Batteries hard to install in darkness
- Some concerns about water resistance
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This concludes my Initial Report. The Field Report will be appended to this report in approximately two months. Please check back then for further information.
Field Report - still testing:
To be completed approximately two months after the Initial Report date.
Long-Term Report - still testing:
To be completed approximately four months after the Initial Report date.
I thank BackpackGearTest.org and Princeton Tec for allowing me to test the new Fuel headlamp.
Read more reviews of Princeton Tec gear
Read more gear reviews by Hollis Easter
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