This light is pushing the boundaries of output for a headlamp! 3,000 lumens?!? Crazy. Crazy hot too but what would you expect? I am very fond of L-shape headlamps and if you are playing that market you’ll want to check the Imalent HR70!



Link to manufacture product page: http://www.imalent.com/Item/Show.asp?m=2&d=208

Overview

Overall, this light is a powerhouse and a solid performer. To put out so much light from a tiny body, this the light gets and stays pretty hot. Other thoughts, the light could do with a 1 lumen mode and the magnetic charging cable easily misaligns.

Quick Specs

Features

1. An easy to carry light weight and compact aluminum headlight.

2. Utilizes one pcs of American CREE XHP70 2nd generation LED, with a lifespan of up to 50000 hours and a maximum output of 3000lumens

3. With the clip and magnetic tail cap, it can also be used as corner lamp, headlamp and hand held flashlight.

4. USB magnetically charged function.

5. Powered by one pcs 3000mAh high discharge performance 18650 Li ion battery(included).

6. Size: 103mm*26mm(head diameter)*21.3 mm(body diameter).

7. Net weight: 50g/100g(battery included).

8. High efficiency constant power circuit will maintains constant brightness.

9. Anti-reverse battery protection.

10. Combination of toughened ultra-clear mineral and anti-reflective coating glass.

11. Aerospace-grade aluminum alloy body.

12. Wear resistant Type III hard-anodized surface treatment.

13. IPX-8 standard waterproof (2 meters submersible).

14. 1.5m impact resistant.

15. Tail stand function.

Included

HR70 Headlamp

Headmount and strap

18650 cell rated at 3000 mAh

Magnetic charging cable (not pictured)

Pocket clip

Extra o-rings

Manual & paperwork (not pictured)

Options

There is only one option.

Price

Current price is about $60 USD (quite a deal) on Fasttech.com (see buy links at the very end of the review)

Look & Feel

Outside

The outside has the typical diamond knurling but the tail cap is a little different having vertical bars which give this the Imalent look. I really like that there are indicator lights next to the switch which many other L-shape headlamps just don’t have. Perhaps the switch could have been made larger similar to the Olight H2R and still have the indicators underneath showing through. There is a magnet in the tail cap which could be made a little stronger. Overall, very rounded and smooth features.

Inside

The light comes apart in three pieces so be sure to have the head on tight to complete the circuit. I found that the tail cap needs a bit of tight turn at the end to get the final contact. Positive end is in at the head and negative at the tail cap. The anode (positive) contact has a 2 extra bars which serve as the reverse polarity, so you won’t really be able to use flattop cells here. Threads have a fine square cut.

Accessories

The light comes with a pocket clip but does not seem very sturdy and comes off a little too easy, so is room from improvement here.

Optics

LED specs

The light has the CREE XHP70.2 which is rated at 3,000 lumens (spec sheet)

Beam Profile

Imalent does not advertise the angle of main LED but from what I’ve collected it seems to be a 100 total degrees spill with a faint 60 total degree spot. Overall, I really like the wide angle and soft transition between spill and spot.

The first rectangular graph is cut across the beam and helps a bit better to see what angle the spill starts at as usually it is quite a bit dimmer then the center. It’s quite possible that a very low lumen outer spill might not register using these methods. The percentage is a relative comparison to the brightest light recorded (generally, in the center).

The second, polar graph, is a simulation of the light along the beam.

Currently, these readings are strictly sensor recorded, and are not adjusted based on human perception of light but may be an interesting idea for the future.

Tint

The color of this light (left) is still on the cool side but more neutral than I had initially guessed. On the right is the Nichia 219b led in the Nitecore MT06MD penlight.

Imalent on left, Olight M2R (“neutral” version, more like warm) on the right.

Output Levels

The only feedback is that I would really like a 1 lumen mode.

Outdoor Beamshots

All the pictures below are taken with the light in TURBO.

Power

Battery

The light comes with a 3000 mAh (which I can verify), 15A, 18650 cell! Reviewing the manual, there is not much discussion of power requirements but luckily the battery they’ve included indicates the 15A requirement specific to high performance 18650’s. If you need to get extras look for “high drain” types. You can run the light in any but TURBO on a regular 18650, but if you have a protected cell, as soon as you double click the light, the over-current protection is likely to kick in and shut down the battery and may need to be resuscitated by a battery charger.

Indicators

There are 2 separate indicator lights (green and red) on the top of the head. When the light is turned on one of the 2 indicator lights will turn on and remain on while the main led is on. If the light is green, the battery voltage is above 3.2V and red if below 3.2V. While charging the red light will glow and turn green when full. The 2 leds is a nice touch for any color blind people but this may not be as helpful in the dark; perhaps a blinking red could have been used instead of having both be a constant on.

Charging

The built in-charging charges the battery in about 3h 55m. Total capacity is verified as 3000 mAh.

Performance

Runtimes

The initial turbo lasts for only 2min before dropping down about 32% output (~1000 lumens) for pretty much the remaining time as claimed in the temperature regulation portion of the manual (see next section).

Temperature

A max body temp of 170.0°F and out-the-front temp of 189.5°F was observed for starting in TURBO. When the body temperature reaches 120°F for the first time the light output is reduced from 100% (3000 lumens) to about 30% (1000 lumens) which results in a temporary cool down but the temperature continues to rise to well beyond the 120°F mark. This first half is reflected in the user manual “when the flashlight body internal temperature reaches 50 degrees Celsius [~120 in F], it will automatically reduce the brightness to 1000lm …”.

PWM Check

There appears to be no significant PWM on any constant mode, but there is a funny little duty cycle that can be seen as a wavy line.



For comparison, the second graph shows PWM varying from 0 to 120 lx on the LOW mode on the Nitecore R25 flashlight.

Strobes

Strobe frequency is about 18hz.

Flashing/Beacon

There is no flashling/beacon mode.

Performance Notes

I measured the light output in relative LUX and I have not spent time yet to calibrated for lumens or factored % of max output. The charts I’ve provided, while are literally quantitative, I suggest using as a qualitative reference for how the output may behave over time; typically lights aren’t left on this long and the max output can be reset.

It’s worth to note that the runtime table provided by Nitecore states, “Runtime for TURBO [and] HIGH is calculated based on theoretical arithmetic.” so there isn’t physically reproducible in my tests.

PWM check using a 50 millisecond test period with a sampling rate of 3,000 times per second.

Temperature measurement condition is at room temp and currently no fan cooling.

I am still very new at doing these types of measurements so I am no authority on on this subject, but please let me know if things don’t look right or you see anything that I could do to improve for next time.

BATTERIES USED FOR TEST

The standard included battery was used for all testing.

User interface

The light uses a single-stage electronic switch which operates the light. The head also has two little indicator lights, one green and one red. There are 2 different lockout methods, unscrewing the tail cap a little for ‘physical’ lockout, and there is an electronic lockout. The awesome thing is that the 2 different lockout methods are not mutually exclusive, you can use them both together, for added safety. It makes me a little nervous when trying to perform the shortcut to low, fearing I’ll not be fast enough and the light will go into turbo instead.

Conclusions

Highlights

Brightest headlamp I’ve seen

Has true 2-stage lockout

UI has shortcuts to Low and Turbo

Has a battery indicator

Comes with a battery

Great body styling

Decent optics

Comments

Lowest output is 30 lumens

Proprietary charging cable is finicky

Pocket clip is a little flimsy

Gets very hot, well above 120 °F

Has strobe and SOS but no beacon or flashing mode

Battery indicator stays on as long as the primary light is on

Does not work with flattop cells

Purchase

The current price for the light is about $60 USD and if you appreciated my review and would like to support me, feel free to check out this product on FastTech.com using my affiliate link (does not cost you more, they give me very small % of their profit):

FastTech Link: http://shrsl.com/12fho

Notes

Disclaimers:

CivilGear Reviews received this product for testing and providing an honest review.

CivilGear Reviews was not paid for writing this review.

CivilGear Reviews is a participant in the FastTech.com Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to FastTech.com

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