UKH

Silva's new Free head torches create a new concept: modularity. Buy one of the Free models, then swop different light units and batteries around to create the perfect set-up for your activity.

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Have always been impressed with Silva ever since my brother worked for them. Exceptional light quality. I hadn't noticed how yellow BD and Petzl where until I used one.

Cool idea for sure, but the battery life for head use leaves much to be desired no? 

For sure, but (I know you'd never guess) I'm not a runner and the times I use a head torch are limited to dog walking, exiting Scottish crags in the winter and bouldering in the dark. Most of these activities are 4 hours or less so ye, battery life has never been my biggest deciding factor in buying a head torch tbh.

Perhaps if I was planning a multi day trip etc I would think about it more it's never crossed my mine!!

£400 for 4 hours battery life whether it's white or yellow light, who give a fu*k at those prices!!!

For any hiking or climbing purposes you wouldn't need to be running it at 1200 lumens for more than a few seconds at a time. That four hours is only relevant if you're using it for things like downhill mountain biking or search & rescue.

The specs are actually quite impressive. The 24.1 Wh battery version weighs in about the same as my Zebralight with an 18650 battery, and has about double the battery capacity (quick back of an envelope calculation). That's enough for days of normal hill use at sensible one or two hundred lumen light levels.

The price is quite impressive too though.

The Zebralight is ipx8 rather than ipx5 rated though

That was the thing that struck me.  I guess it's difficult to achieve with the modular thing, but I'd want better than ipx5 for that kind of money.

We're getting a 1200 + 2000 lumen headlamp and a 14.4 + 36Wh battery in for review, so bear with whilst I put them through their paces.

We've got a few performance headlamps (or headtorches, or whatever you want to call them) in for review at the moment and my hope is to produce a Group Test of each side by side. This would include the Silva FREE, Petzl NAO RL and Black Diamond Distance 1500. Having used the other two it should make for quite an interesting read, because each is actually quite different in terms of its focus. 

Spoiler alert: none of them are cheap (NAO RL = £150 / Distance 1500 = £180). If you're after something less expensive options abound, but perhaps unsurprisingly they're not the top of the range ones that kick out 1200+ lumens...

You have Dacia and you have Ferrari.

Both drive. One is a considerably nicer experience.

Potato potato.

Exactly that. 

We'll continue to do what we've always done too and review products across the board, from budget through to premium. It just happens that three premium products happen to have arrived at the same time. No doubt something similar will happen with budget models next year!! 

To be fair Lupine lights have always been modular with the ability to interchange any of the lamp modules (within a series) with any of the battery systems, cables or mounts... Saying this is the worlds first is just pure BS.

£150+ leaves plenty of wiggle room for 'less expensive' though, you're not just talking about the real cheapies there!

I recently bought a Fenix HM65R (and paid less than £100 for it).  It ticks the "1200+ lumens" box and I'd say it easily ticks the "top of the range" box too: it's ipx8 waterproof and the build quality seems very impressive.  There's no sensor, no bluetooth connectivity or any of that malarky, but those who regard those things as gimmicks and prefer simplicity of operation will see that as a strength not a weakness.  I understand why it won't be in a forthcoming group test, but it would be interesting to see how it stacks up against the rather more expensive offerings from Silva, Petzl & BD.

Yeah for sure, but even the low power mode and a 36Wh battery is quoted as 4.5 hours burn time. In contrast a Petzl lamp will do 7 hours in the medium mode, which as you say, is plenty bright enough for typical use. 

It's inline with other bespoke good batteries - all of which will outperform 18650s. 

Seems like a cool lamp, I'm just struggling to see the specific use purpose Silva had in mind beyond SAR and bikes. Maybe that's it.

I'll give Fenix another nudge and see what they come back with, but the last time we were in touch they came back with a negative response, and there's not much we can do if that's the case, which is a shame as they sound like a great brand with decent products.

Except it doesn't. The turbo mode is 1000lm for about 30 mins, which then drops to 500 for 3.5 hours. Still impressive, especially given the small battery, but not 1200+ lm

I didn't know about this bit.  Moot in my case as I'm very unlikely to use the 'turbo mode' for more than a few seconds at a time.

The torch has two LEDS, one of which the manufacturer claims puts out a maximum of 1000 lumens and the other 400 lumens, simultaneously if you want. 

You can choose your own criteria for what ticks the "1200+ lumens" box, the devil is in the details and it's all a bit academic anyway when it comes to how good a torch is for whatever practical purpose you're going to put it to.  But for what it's worth 1000+400 is a bit over 1200 in my book.

I'm not "choosing my own criteria", I'm simply stating what the graph on the product page on Fenix website says. The 1000 lumens is both LEDs combined I think, and an any case, lumens don't work in an A+B kind of way. 

But as you say, somewhat academic. But as an academic I like to consider these things Still seems like the Fenix is a great lamp, just a bit misleading to compare it to this Silva one on a brightness front (whether you need that extra luminance is of course another question!)

The graph on Silva's website suggests it's trail running, orienteering, cross country skiing/skiing, road biking, gravel biking, mtb and downhill.

From a UKC/UKH review perspective I'll predominantly be focussing on its usage whilst running, because that's (primarily) what it's designed for, although I'll no doubt cover its relevance to hillwalkers, climbers and mountaineers.

No, UKC could buy a Fenix out of petty cash and see how it stacks up.  If it impresses you have served the UKC mountaineering community two fold; firstly we get a (hopefully) unbiased review confirming that a brand cavers swear by (and some Scottish search and rescue teams have been impressed by) is up there with the common choices/brands and secondly if it knocks those on either price or performance it gives them a nudge to improve; again to all our benefit.

A little request can you get some spectacle wearers to review the models and report back if the light housing is far enough away from the fore head to prevent reflection from the rims of glasses……a common bug bear, for us old blind gits!

1200 lumins! What's with all this light pollution on the hills which reward us usually with dark skies. I'm staying in mid-Wales thus week and love seeing all the night sky for once.

I've had 2 Fenix for caving. Lasted a year maybe.

Splashed out on a Rude Nora in 2019. Still going strong no faults.

I'm trying to get involved in fewer pointless arguments on here lately, but since you take academic pride in being correct you might want to double check both of those facts above. 

Is this the product page in question?

https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-hm65-rechargeable-headlamp

The graph is labelled "Spotlight Runtime Chart".  The spotlight being a maximum of 1000 lumens, and the floodlight a further 400.  To get to that chart you have to scroll down past the 'Specification' bit, the first line of which reads: "Max Lumens: 1400"

Also I believe luminous flux, in lumens, is a scalar quantity which does indeed add up like that.
(Luminous intensity, in candela, would not since that depends on the beam shape.)

Is this your field of expertise, academically speaking?

for that sort of price you can get a Rude Nora, Phaethon or even one of the "lower" spec Scurions - all dive rated let alone IPX 5

I've just been notified that the burn time table we'd been sent was incorrect. I've replaced it with the following and included it within this post, for those who're interested.

Is the Rude Nora a good headlamp for running? Bolt it to my head?

If it's any relevance the Silva headlamps I own have been very good, and the best I've owned thou' I've only bought cheaper models

I really need a head torch called Rude Nora even if I have to tap some threads into my forehead  

I love my zebralight H600! 18650 batteries are cheap and last a long time and it's easy to carry spares. Mine broke after 10 years of use and they repaired it for free, I just had to pay postage. Tbh I'm pretty sure they just sent me out a new torch as it came back minus all the scratches.