PRO III TAC-FIRE HEADLAMP

Pro III Tac-Fire Headlamp, retail $349.99 (www.foxfury.com...)
Manufactured by FoxFury (www.foxfury.com)
Last updated 08-17-09




The FoxFury Pro III Tac-Fire Headlamp (hereinafter, probably just called a "headlamp") is a VERY bright, VERY sturdy LED headlamp. It has four white Cree XR-E three watt LEDs housed in a hefty plastic & aluminum illuminator head, powered by either three or six CR123A lithium cells. It has six modes (not including "off").

The battery pack is seperate from the head, and can be either be left where it is (so it goes on the back of your helmet while the illuminator head goes in front), or it can be belt-mounted.

The light has a beam width of 30°.

This headlamp is specifically designed to be mounted to fire and industrial helmets & hardhats without visors or faceshields on them; if you attempt to use it on your head without a helmet or hardhat, it tends to rather promptly slip down over your eyes because of its weight and because it does not have a third strap to go over the top of your head.


SIZE



To use the Pro III headlamp, first load it with batteries & fasten it to your helmet. Then choose any of the six modes (pressing & releasing the button on the top right of the illuminator head) as follows:
  • Mode 1: Press & release the button = Outer 2 LEDs
  • Mode 2: Press & release the button = Inner 2 LEDs
  • Mode 3: Press & release the button = All LEDs On (50% Intensity)
  • Mode 4: Press & release the button = All LEDs On (100% Intensity)
  • Mode 5: Press & release the button = All LEDs On Flashing (1Hz (1 flash per second))
  • Mode 6: Press & release the button = All LEDs On SOS (three long flashes, three short flashes, three long flashes — lather, rinse, repeat; just like it reads on the back of many shampoo bottles)
To turn it off; press the switch and hold it down for 3 seconds.
This works regardless of the mode you're in at the moment.

The battery pack can also be mounted to the belt or placed in a front pants pocket, but I have not yet figured out how to disengage it (the battery pack) from the elastic straps that keep it in its current configuration.

The illuminator head can be tilted up or down to suit your needs; a lever behind it can be pushed forward (toward the illuminator head) to significantly stiffen the swivel mechanism and help keep the illuminator head where you set it.


Photograph of the Pro III on a Phoam Head Phred.



To change the batteries in your headlamp, unsnap the four latches on the sides of the battery carrier, lift the back (the side without the strap) off, gently place it on the ground, and kick it into the garden so the hungry, hungry praying mantids will think it's something yummy for their insect tummies and subsequently strike at it...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

If necessary, remove and dispose of the CR123A cells from the compartment.

Place six new CR123A cells in the compartment, orienting them so their flat-ends (-) negatives face the springs for them in each compartment.

You may also place just three cells in; if you're low on CR123A cells, you can still get the headlamp to function properly in this configuration. When loading the headlamp with three cells instead of six, choose either the left or right side of the battery compartment and load the batteries in from the side working toward the center.

Place the back piece over the opening, and snap those four latches back on.
Aren't you glad you didn't kick that back piece into the garden with all those hungry, hungry praying mantids now?


Here is what a praying mantis looks like.
I found this guy on the morning of 09-08-06 clinging to the basket of my scooter.

Because the batteries are in a series/parallel configuration, you must be certain all six cells are new, of the same brand, and purchased at the same time. Failing to do so opens up the possibility that the good cells will discharge themselves through the weaker cells, leaving you with a headlamp that's deader than a doorknob (a $350 paperweight! ) when you go to use it next.

Advertised battery life is 4 to 8 hours (varies by mode) with 3 CR123A cells, and 8 to 16 hours (varies by mode) with 6 CR123A cells.

Unable to measure current usage due to how the product was constructed & how it functions.

I'm running a battery discharge analysis on the Pro III headlamp (in the 3-cell configuration).
Assuming I don't bump something and queer the test, the machine should poop out a chart on the afternoon of 09-22-07.
After 27 minutes at maximum intensity, temperature of the illuminator head measured 103°F (39.4°C), measured with a non-contact thermometer so the test in progress would not get ruined.


Here is the finished battery test.
Runs for exactly 2 hours (to 10% intensity) on three cells.



This headlamp is water-resistant and even submersible to 20 feet. As a test, I immersed it in water to see what would happen:

Here's proof that I really performed "The Toliet Test" on it.
After immersing it in ~12" of water at 74°F (23.3°C) for one minute, I dried the outside off with some store brand nasal tissue (functionally identical to Cleanax), no leakage was detected, and the product still functions properly.

This headlamp appears at least fairly durable, and it is!!! When I performed that terrible smack test on it (thirty whacks against a concrete porch floor: 5 smacks each against all four sides of the illuminator head and 10 smacks against the battery box (5 each against the front and rear corners), only very, very, very minor damage was found. There is some extremely minor gouging to the bare Metalweregarurumon - er - the bare Metallilymon - um that's not it either...the bare Metalvenommyotismon...er...uh...wait a sec here...THE BARE METAL (guess I've been watching too much Digimon again! Now I'm just making {vulgar term for poop} up!!! ) and some scuffing to the plastic portions on the sides of the illuminator head where it was struck. No optical or electrical malfunctions were detected.

The Pro III Tac-Fire meets NFPA Fire Resistant requirements — 500°F (260°C) for 30 minutes.

It comes with both a silicone and an elastic strap — you'll want to use only the silicone strap if you intend to use this headlamp while firefighting. This is because the elastic strap could burn or melt, while the silicone can take this abuse much more readily.

The case (body) of the illuminator head is made from 6061T-6 aluminum; CNC machined.

The cord connecting the illuminator head & the battery pack is 40" (101.6cm) in length.

The dimmer level appears to use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation), but the pulses are high enough in frequency that no flickering whatsoever is evident. PWM was not evident when I waved the headlamp around either. I had to use an oscilloscope to determine the presence of PWM.



Beam photograph on the test target at 12".
The following measurements were taken:

Mode 1 = Outer 2 LEDs: 839,000mcd
Mode 2 = Inner 2 LEDs: 1,161,000mcd
Mode 3 = All LEDs On (50% Intensity): 1,011,000mcd
Mode 4 = All LEDs On (100% Intensity): 1,660,000mcd

All measurements were taken on a Meterman LM631 light meter.
The beam is a wide oval shape, not circular. So these readings may be a bit on the low side.

To get a true indication of how much light is being generated would require a test instrument
called an "integrating sphere", and I neither own nor have access to one of these instruments.



Beam photograph on a wall at ~10 feet.

Those rectangular graphic things in the upper left quadrant of this photograph are marquees from:

Nintendo ''R-Type''
Super Tiger...er...uh...Konami ''Super Cobra''
Midway ''Omega Race''
Sega ''Star Trek''
Williams ''Joust''
Venture Line ''Looping''
Universal ''Mr. Do!'s Castle''
Jaleco ''Exerion''
Gremlin/Sega ''Astro Blaster''
Atari ''Tempest''
Gottlieb ''Q*bert''

upright coin-op arcade video games from the 1980s.

That graphic toward the right is:
A "BIG SCARY LASER" poster sent by www.megagreen.co.uk


And that clock to the right of the "Big Scary Laser" poster is an Infinity Optics Clock.


Spectrographic plot
Spectrographic analysis of the LEDs in this headlamp.



Spectrographic plot
Same as above; different spectrometer & software used.
USB2000 spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.


ProMetric analysis
Beam cross-sectional analysis.
Image made using the ProMetric System by Radiant Imaging.






TEST NOTES:
Test unit was sent by M.C. of FoxFury on 08-08-07, and was received at 2:42pm PDT on 09-20-07.

I don't have a spectrographic analysis on this web page because the person who loaned it to me needed it back for a demonstration; when I receive the spectrometer back, I'll perform a spectrographic analysis and remove that dreadful "Requires spectrographic analysis" icon from its listings on this website.

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


UPDATE: 10-10-07
Spectroscopy has now been performed.
The graph isn't rainbow-colored like many others because I'm currently using a PC2000-ISA spectrometer; the colored charts require one to run the Spectrasuite software, which only supports USB spectrometers - not ones on the ISA bus like this one. But some spectroscopy (pronounced "") is definitely better than none at all.


PROS:
Insanely bright!!!
Durable
Water-resistant - even submersible to 20 feet


CONS:
No third strap (not even as an accessory you can purchase) - that's what prevented me from rating it a full five stars


    MANUFACTURER: FoxFury
    PRODUCT TYPE: LED head/helmet lamp
    LAMP TYPE: White Cree XR-E LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 4
    BEAM TYPE: Medium oval spot w/wide corona
    SWITCH TYPE: Pushbutton on/mode change/off on illuminator head
    CASE MATERIAL: Aluminum; elastic strap, plastic battery carrier
    BEZEL: Aluminum; LEDs & reflectors protected by plastic window
    BATTERY: 6xCR123A cells
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
    WATER RESISTANT: Yes
    SUBMERSIBLE: Yes, to 20' (~6M)
    ACCESSORIES: 6xCR123A cells, belt strap for battery pack
    SIZE: 5.2" x 1.5" x 1.8" (13.2 cm x 3.8 cm x 4.6 cm)
    WEIGHT: 22.1 oz (627 g)
    WARRANTY: 1 year

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Star RatingStar Rating





Pro Outdoor Tac-Fire Headlamp * www.foxfury.com...






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