INITIAL LIGHTS
3-IN-1 HEADLAMP

Initial Lights 3-In-1 Headlamp, retail £9.99 ($18.20)* (www.initiallights.co.uk...)
Manufactured by (Unknown)
Last updated 09-25-06

* IMPORTANT: Pricing is accurate as of 04-30-06. Please visit the Currency Calculator for the latest currency conversion rates from British pounds to US dollars.




This is a headlamp that features a Luxeon LED with two intensity levels, and two 5mm red LEDs that flash for a beacon mode.

It operates from three AAA cells held in a carriage inside.

The body is made of plastic, and it has a tri-point attachment system that can be adjusted to most head sizes.


SIZE



The headlamp comes almost ready to use right out of the package, as it comes with the batteries included and already installed. All I had to do was remove the battery door, tip out the battery carriage, remove the transparent insulating sleeve from the top of one of the cells (it protrudes quite prominently so it should be easy to see), reinsert the battery carriage, and replace the battery door.

Press the rubberised button on the right side of the headlamp until it clicks and then release your finger to turn the main beam on at low, press & release it the same way again to switch it to high mode, press & release it again to turn the two red flashing LEDs on, and finally, press & release it again to extinguish the product completely.

As it reads on the back of many shampee (or shampoo) bottles, "lather, rinse, repeat". In other words, pressing & releasing the button turns the main light to low mode.

The illuminator head is adjustable by swinging it down or up as needed; it is on a detent-equipped hinge with a fairly stiff action, so the headlamp should stay where you put it unless you hit it against something. The forehead plate has a foam rubber pad which rests against the forehead for comfort. The straps themselves are affixed to plastic loops with their centers open; this allows the straps to be removed for cleaning when necessary.


Photograph of headlamp as it is designed to be used.

This product also has two magnets on the back that allow you to "stick" it to any ferrous (magnetic) surface like iron, mild steel, nickel, or cobalt.



To change the batteries, unscrew the battery door approximately 1/8th of a turn until it stops, lift it off, throw it in the garbage can (dustbin), and take the bag to the outside garbage so the garbage man will haul it away next week...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

Tip the white plastic battery carriage out of the headlamp and into your hand. If necessary, remove and dispose of or recycle the used AAA cells from it.

Insert three new AAA cells into the carriage, orienting each cell so its flat end (-) negative faces the spring for it in each chamber.

Slide the now-full battery carriage back into the headlamp's body, turning it as necessary until it slides inside. The battery carriage is polarised, so it only fits in the body one way.
Finally, place the battery door back on, turn it until it goes down flush with the body, and give it a clockwise turn of ~1/8th of a turn until it stops turning.
Aren't you glad you didn't dispose of that battery door now?

Unable to measure current use due to how the product was constructed.



The headlamp appears reasonably durable. Due to its plastic construction, I will not administer the smack test on it.

It appears to be at least mildly weather-resistant, but it is not submersible. As a result, water, milk, diet Pepsi, coffee, urine, root beer, or other liquids could get in it. So please try not to drop it in creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes, oceansides, docksides, puddles of giraffe pee, glasses of milk, slush piles, mud puddles, tubs, root beer floats, toilet bowls, cisterns, sinks, cups of coffee, fishtanks, dog water dishes, old yucky wet mops, wall-mounted porcelain urinators, or other places where water or water-like liquids might be found. A little rain or snow probably wouldn't hurt it though, so you need not be too concerned about using it in moderately bad weather.

If it fell in water and you suspect it got flooded, disassemble it as you would for a battery change, dump out the water if necessary, and set the parts in a warm dry place for a day or so just to be sure it's completely dry inside before you reassemble and use it again.

If it fell into seawater, got thrown into a glass of milk, fell in a root beer float, or if somebody or something peed on it, douche all the parts out with fresh water before setting them out to dry. You don't want your headlamp to smell like seaweed, sour milk, or piss when you go to use it next. Besides, salt (from seawater or urination), lactic acid (from moo juice), or sugar (from root beer & ice cream) can't be very good for the insides.

The light output by the main LED of this headlamp is a slightly but noticeably bluish-white, but there are no pink, yellow, purple, or "rotten porpoise urine" green tints to it. Not in the hotspot, not in the corona either.


Photograph of the front of the unit, showing the two 5mm red LEDs below the large, circular main lamp.



Beam photograph (white LED) on the test target at 12".
Measures 175,000mcd (low) and 320,000mcd (high) on a Meterman LM631 light meter.



Beam photograph (red LEDs) on the test target at 12".


Spectrographic plot
Spectrometer plot of the white LED in this headlamp.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrometer plot of the red LEDs in this headlamp.
I was not able to get the peak higher, because the red LEDs blink.
Ocean Optics USB2000 Spectrometer on loan from TWO-CUBED.



Beam photograph (white LED) on a wall at ~15'.

Those rectangular graphic things near the bottom are marquees from:
Cinematronics ''Star Castle''
Gremlin/Sega ''Astro Blaster''
Jaleco ''Exerion''
Venture Line ''Looping''
Sega ''Hang-On''
Williams ''Stargate''
Sega ''Star Trek''
Nintendo ''R-Type''
upright coin-op arcade video games from the 1980s.

And that red star thing on the wall is from an American DJ Laser Widow.


Quicktime movie (.mov extension) showing headlamp's red LEDs blinking.
It is approximately 1.3 megabytes (1,649,672 bytes); dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than five minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide it in other formats, so please do not ask.



TEST NOTES:
Test units of this headlamp plus four other torches were sent by www.initiallights.co.uk and were received on 04-26-06.

Product was made in China. A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.


UPDATE: 00-00-00



PROS:



CONS:



    MANUFACTURER: Unknown
    PRODUCT TYPE: Multifunction LED headlamp
    LAMP TYPE: 1W Luxeon LED, 5mm red LEDs
    No. OF LAMPS: 3
    BEAM TYPE: Medium spot w/dim corona
    SWITCH TYPE: Rubberised pushbutton on/mode change/off on side of product
    CASE MATERIAL: Plastic
    BEZEL: Rubber; LED & reflector protected by plastic window
    BATTERY: 3xAAA cells
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
    WATER RESISTANT: Yes; weather-resistant at minimum
    SUBMERSIBLE: No
    ACCESSORIES: 3xAAA cells
    WARRANTY: Unknown/not stated

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Star Rating





Initial Lights 3-In-1 Headlamp * http://www.initiallights.co.uk...






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