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Beam Comparison - Headlamp


Battery Life vs. Beam Distance - the above graph shows how beam distance at the brightest setting degrades as battery life runs down. We use the ANSI FL-1 battery run-time spec, which says run-time for the high mode is finished when brightness degrades 90% from its initial value. The ANSI standard is more stringent than what headlamp manufacturers use. They consider high mode run-time still OK so long as there's enough battery to produce light as bright as a candle placed 2 meters away (0.25 lux). We think the manufacturer's approach is deceptive and misleads consumers to believe the high output mode produces a long-distance beam much longer than it actually does.

: we measured the maximum beam distance as 27 meters and the ANSI battery run time for the high setting as 4.2 hours.
: we measured the maximum beam distance as 56 meters and the ANSI battery run time for the high setting as 10.6 hours.

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