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Reviews > Lighting > Headlamps - LED > Princeton Tec Quad > Roger Caffin > Initial Report
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Reviewer Details
| Reviewer: | Roger Caffin |
| Age: | 61 |
| Gender: | M |
| Weight: | 63 kg (139 lb) |
| Height: | 167 cm (67") |
| Email address: | r dot [surname] at acm dot org |
| Home: | Sydney, Australia |
I started bushwalking at 14 and took up rock climbing at University with the girl who became my wife and my permanent walking partner. Ski touring and canyoning followed. Winter and summer, we prefer long hard trips by ourselves: about a week in Australia, up to two months in Europe/UK. We prefer fast and light in unfrequented trackless country. We would be out walking and skiing for at least three months a year. We have now moved to lightweight gear, much to our backs' relief. I designed and made much of our lightweight gear myself.
I am also the maintainer of the Australian aus.bushwalking FAQ web site www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/.
Product Information
| Manufacturer: | Princeton Tec | |
| Manufacturer URL: | www.princetontec.com/ | |
| Year of manufacture: | assumed 2006 | |
| Country of manufacture: | China | |
| Colour: | Blue & Yellow housing, black and grey headband | |
| Batteries: | 3 AAA, any sort | |
| Listed weight: | 96 g (3.39 oz) | |
| Actual weight: | 96 g (3.39 oz) | |
| MSRP: | na |
Product Claims
Initial Impressions
The headlamp arrived in a plastic clam-shell package as shown above, complete with 3 Duracell AAA batteries and a sheet of instructions. I got around to opening it during dinner, after just returning from a snow trip.
The clam shell package looked sealed, but wasn't. I was able to open it up and extract the headlamp and the batteries. A quick look at the headlamp showed a screw head at the back which seemed the obvious place for the batteries. I undid it with my thumbnail in a slightly awkward manner to access the battery compartment. Only later when I actually read the instructions did I realise that opening the battery compartment can be easier than this! The correct manner is to hinge the headlamp down from the back-plate and use the buckle on the headband as a screwdriver. Ah well, males don't read instructions ...
Inserting the batteries was easy, with embossed orientation signs quite visible. I slipped the batteries in place and did up the backshell. As I did so, I noticed that the shell is sealed with a thin O-ring around the edge. I assume this O-ring is what lets Princeton Tec claim some degree of waterproofness. I did the screw up 'gently': why use force.
With the batteries loaded (and the instructions still unread!), I looked over the headlamp for a switch. A flexible orange cover-section at the top of the headlamp seemed the obvious thing to press, so I did. The headlamp came on - success! I poked the orange switch cover again, and the brightness dropped a bit. So I poked it again and the brightness dropped further. Fair enough: it claims a 4-mode switch. I went for the 4th setting, and was rewarded by a bright flashing light in my eyes. I quickly hit the switch again and the light went out. I can confirm that in flash mode the light is very bright!
I then pulled the headlamp onto my head to see what it felt like. Er ... a bit tight. I took it off and slid some of the elastic webbing through the obvious buckle and tried again. After about two more tweaks I had it about how I wanted it. The elastic has a padded surface, so it felt quite comfortable. I gave the top of the headlamp a downward tug and found that it does tilt with respect to the backplate which goes against my head, and the tilt comes in discrete steps. Quite a firm tug is needed to change the tilt. There is a little series of steps in the housing at the back which register with a bump on the backshell for this. It seems a stable arrangement.
However, even though the Quad is one of the lightest in the Princeton Tec range at 96 g (3.36 oz), the weight of the headlamp and three AAA batteries at the front still seems a little high. There is no strap over the top of my head to support the weight, and there is no weight at the back for balance. The Quad feels significantly 'heavier' than the fully regulated LED headlamps I have made, which have top straps, balance the weight between the front and back, and only weigh 55 g (1.94 oz). I shall have to see how I like the change in weight and weight distribution.
Now this is just the Initial Report, before any real testing, but I have to mention that I slipped outside after dinner and tried out the 3 light settings. Not to actually measure the range against what is quoted, just to see how bright they seemed. Well, they do all seem quite bright. I could see some reduction in brightness as I went through the three settings from High to Low, but it did seem that the Low brightness was too close to the High brightness. I tried the flash mode as well, but quickly turned that off. I don't think I am going to like that one.
Finally I got around to reading the instructions (in English, French and German). Yes, there were things in there which I didn't know about. A single, double or triple click will turn the headlamp on to the obvious setting. Fortunately I found that a single click more than 2 seconds after the last click will simply turn the headlamp off: I do not have to go through the full cycle. This seems good ergonomics to me.
I found that the printed instructions make some confusing claims about battery life. For instance, the Low setting is claimed to have an overall burn time of 150 hours, but a regulated/constant burn time of only 24 hours. There are similar variations for the other settings. This seems a bit weird: the difference between 'regulated' and 'overall' seems to imply that the regulation is not very effective. (This comment is made with 30+ years experience in designing electronics systems, including designing regulated power supplies for miniature headlamps.) I will have to investigate this further.
Planned Testing
Most of the testing will be done on walking trips of course. Unfortunately the headlamp arrived the day after we went off on a long snow trip, but there will be plenty more trips over the next two months. In addition I expect to try the headlamp out around the house and farm.
Things I will be looking at include the following:
