It's finally happened.
One guy is like... yay, your last video of all time- Thumbs down.
And Northwales is like gosh another H2R review- thumbs down.
No no...
Well the 2nd statement is accurate.
Going Gear .com sent me both tints of the new 18650 powered Olight H2R headlamp.
Yay...
The H2R headlamp comes in two tints neutral and cool, spits out a 2300 lumen burst mode,
and uses Olights awesome USB magnetic tailcap recharge dongle.
It's constructed out of aluminum, has a TIR optic that gives you most of the light in
front of you with a nice falloff of light in your peripherals, and uses a high quality
Cree XHP-50 emitter which is capable of a ton of light.
Now you might be think, this sounds a lot like the Armytek Wizard USB you reviewed a
few months ago- you'd be right!
Except this is brighter, and has a slightly more straightforward User Interface.
Both the Neutral and Cool white version come with the exact same stuff which is, the lamp,
a pocket clip, a 18650 battery, USB cable, the headband, and an EVVA pad, which allows
you to replace the magnet in the headband, so it doesn't interfere with your tinfoil
hat.
You need to supply your own usb charging block though.
The pocket clip looks like this... people always ask about this, so here it is...
I don't find much use for these personally on a headlamp, but it might make a good right
angle light.
Then there's the headband.
It is pretty cool and easy to use... it's got the strap that goes around your head and
a stabilizing top strap, both adjustable.
And the headlamp can be removed easily..
like this... it's magnetic... to it snaps in easy and you put the silicone strap to
secure it... easy as eff.
You can remove tghe magnet...
put you'll have to peel off the pad on the back of the mount and replace the magnet with
the foam insert and reapply the new EVVA pad.
Ok output levels, my figures and Olights are there, and since both lights feature slightly
different outputs, here are the figures for both.
First is moonlight.
Moonlight does use PWM that I could detect with my eyes.
No other modes I could detected it on.
Then low.
The mid.
Then High.
Then Turbo.... note that Turbo does step down fast because the small lamp heats up fast.
Think of it as a quick burst mode to see down the trail or to surprise a Sasquatch.
Ok the User Interface.
Make sure you put in the battery with the positive end facing the tailcap, which is
different from most lights.
Ok press and hold to get to moonlight.
Cool release... then press and hold to scroll through low mid high and low mif high and
it loops.
To get to turbo double click from on or off.
The H2R has mode memory for all modes, with an exception.
SOS isn't saved... sorry seamen... and high and turbo are only saved for 10 minutes...
after 10 minutes you get back to medium.
Moon is saved into mode memory... and to get to SOS, because someowhere someone was saying
he said there was SOS, how do you get to it... triple click from on or off.
You can also lock out the light electronically by press and holding the button from off for
2 seconds... then it only does moonlight momentarily to unlock press and hold for more than 2 seconds...
moonlight will blink and you'll be fine.
You can always do the better mechanical lockout by turning it on, and giving the tailcap a
slight twist to break contact, screw it down all the way to use it again.
This is the best way to do it.
Runtimes.
For this test I used the included Olight 3000 mah batteries, since they come in the package.
But feel free to use your own for runtime tests.
Ok Turbo.
Turbo is regulated as a super duper short lived burst mode.
And both lights only last 1 minute on this mode before stepping down?
2000 lumens is a ton of light for something this small?
so it generates big heat.
It steps down to by about 2/3 on each light?
Runtimes are pretty steady after the stepdown although the cool white seems to step down
a bit more after that- you?re looking somewhere in the 500-700 lumen range then?
Cool white version ends first at 1 hour and 30 minutes both lights start blinking about
once a minute or slightly more telling you to change the battery before the light just
stops coming out.
Warm right runs longer and less bright of course and light cuts off at 1 hour 59 minutes.
Ok now Turbo with my lux meter using the cool white version so you can see the brightness
drop off.
After the 1st minute you get a 65% drop in brightness... which matches Olights spec pretty
well.
It does a very slight drop over the next hour and 30 ish minutes of about 5 ish percent.
It ends it's runtime at about 30% of it's initial brightness if my math is correct.
I am an idiot so it may not be...
That falls well within the FL1 standards which state it needs to drop below 10% of it's initial
brightness to qualify.
Now high, expect High to run a little longer than Turbo because it?s basically the same
without the high drain burst mode.
Both lights run at a pretty continuous brightness for the duration of the runtime And both begin
to blink several minutes before they cut out?
Ending voltage for the batteries on all of these tests was about 2.86- 3.05 volts.
Remember a safe voltage for a lithium ion battery to discharge to is usually above 2.5
volts.
Both lights run within a minute of each other?
neutral white cuts out at 2 hours 25 minutes and cool white cuts off at 2 hours 26 minutes.
Now medium.
Sorry I did not put the lux meter in the frame this time because I was testing both lights?
I will incorporate it into future reviews though?
Both lights run continuously for over 9 hours and both cut off about 10 minutes apart with
the neutral white version at 9 hours 31 minutes and the cool white version at 9 hours
and 41 minutes.
Charging.
Charging is a breeze... while you can use other batteries in this light you can only
charge the included battery in the light...
you can also charge the included battery on a separate charger... but if you want to know
how long it takes to charge the included battery in the light here you go.
When it's charging obviously the light is red...
it's green when fully charged.
This charge test was done right after the medium runtime test when the batteries were
at 2.86 volts.
One finishes charging at 4 hours and 36 minutes, and the other finishes charging at 4 hours
59 minutes.
I have no idea which is which, and I really don't care.
Beamshots.
Here are the headlamps we'll be comparing.
You remember the H1R right...
we'll watch that video for a bit more in depth discussion on optics.
You'll see the weights above the headlamps with batteries and headbands.
First is the H2R in cool white, it has a honey com TIR optic so it has a nice amount of spot
and spill, this is my favorite type of headlamp optic.
The cool white is not my favorite tint, thats reserved for the H2R neutral white tint...
which is nice to me... it's creamy with a hint of orange, it's slightly warm... not
as warm as fire or a lanterns tint, but not a cool blue either...
Now the Armytek Wizard USB in a Warm Tint... which is sort of similar to the neutral Olight
H2R.
Just a tad brighter, although not much in a real world difference.
Back to the Cool white H2R which is quite a bit brighter than the Armytek wizard...
and the brightest headlamp I own by quite a bit.
Think of it as a good headlamp with a high burst mode but more sustained brightness under
750 lumens.
Now the Cool white H1R...
If you need a lighter weight lamp then thats a good choice... if you want runtimes and
higher outputs the H2R is a good choice.
We'll leave the H2R up for another few seconds...
now the Spark SG6 with a bare emitter type of optic.. the beam doesn't travel far but
it's about as wide and even as you can get- that type of optic is better at closer ranges...
and Going Gear used to have 2 left a few days ago for only $43 which is a steal- they're
probably gone now... check out my review from a few years ago... just the H2R for another
second or two then the Armytek Tiara A1 Pro with a lithium ion battery.
A nice warm tint.. and a great headlamp too.
Ok... let's compare those other lamps to the Neutral.
First up is the Armytek Wizard Pro one more time I'll just leave this up for a few seconds...
remember this is a turbo mode test comparing the highest output of the lamps...
Now the Olight for a few seconds before going to the H1R that one I reviewed a while back,
with the same USB charging system.
Cool white tint, but a different cree XM-L2 emitter.
Now back to the H2R in neutral.
Leaving that up for a few seconds before moving onto the Spark SG6, what was that two years
ago now.
I don't like to toot my own horn, but I shot that one on the 4th of July and had fun shooting
off bottle rockets like an idiot- one of my favorite reviews I've done...
Ok... so the H2R is a killer headlamp.
It has a super easy to use charging system...
available in a cool or neutral tint.
I like the Neutral tint a lot.
The UI isn't overly complicated.
The light does need a proprietary battery for the USB charging to work- so if that makes
you mad- well I ain't got nuthin for ya man.
The H2R is waterproof to IPx-8 standards meaning and drop proof to 1.5 meters.
Meaning shallow submersion and using in the outdoor weather is fine... rain snow foam
parties...
If you like this review watch my other reviews, subscribe, comment, give it a thumbs up, the
H2Rs were provided by Going Gear .com for review, so buy them there if you want to.
Thanks for watching.