User Review: Princeton Tec Apex

Princeton Tec Apex
Above: The current Apex, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed October 17, 2006 by johnmsea

Rating:
Price Paid: $67.99

The mfg chart on the package borders on false advertising. I knew that when I bought it. Luckily I had done much research and knew what I was getting and why. I wanted a headlamp that had the "potential" to generate a lot of light. I didn't need 56 meters of bright light all the time, but I wanted the ability just in case I was caught and needed the extra power. 90% of the time I'll be using this on the lowest setting (4-LEDs / low setting)

The other reviewers are correct. Having the 3 watt LED on the highest level (according to the INSIDE brochure) will last for 1 hour (REI's tests put this at 1.5 hours) NOT 72 hours as the chart on the OUTSIDE suggests. The 72 hours for the 3 watt LED factors in the amount of time it will display ANY light after the REGULATED battery time is over. My unofficial interpretation of REGULATED is the time which the bulb is burning hot enough to require the built-in regulator to keep a lid on the output to keep the 3 watt LED from burning itself up. After this regulated time is up (again unoffically in my opinion) the battery is exhausted enough that the batteries are no longer providing enough power to power the bulb anywhere close to full power. Then the bulb burns for an additonal time roughly at the brightness of a full moon. The total of this regulated (VERY HIGH) output time plus the unregulated (VERY LOW) output time totals 72 hours.

That is how the mfg gets to a total of 72 hours. The 3 watt LED setting is on HIGH for the 72 hours, BUT the 56 meters is reached only during the first 1.5 hours (if you use REI's test results) and the remainder of the time (70.5 hours??) the 3 watt LED (still on the HIGH setting) is only putting out the light equivalent of a full moon.

So here is the INSIDE chart. It gives times for both Alkaline and Lithium batteries, for the 3 WATT LED on High and on Low. It also gives the same statistics for the 4 "Ultrabright" 1-watt LEDs. It's interesting to note for Lithium batteries that the Overall burn time GOES DOWN for Lithium compare to Alkaline, but the Regulated time goes up. So for the higher cost of Lithium you can have more light at the highest level possible, but the overall battery life goes down. I'm not sure that's meaningful. I don't think I'd keep the same batteries when the light drops to the light equivalent of a full moon. To me that's an absolute emergency reserve and nothing I'd CHOOSE to employ.

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3 watt LED (called Maxbright)
High setting - Alkaline batteries
-Output distance (meters)
56
-Overall Burn Time (hours)
72
-Regulated Burn Time (light outpt of sufficient strenght to be useful)
1
Low setting-Alkaline batteries
-Output distance (meters)
38
-Overall Burn Time (hours)
96
-Regulated Burn Time (light outpt of sufficient strength to be useful)
9
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4-LEDs(called Ultrabright)
High setting - Alkaline batteries
-Output distance (meters)
23
-Overall Burn Time (hours)
100
-Regulated Burn Time (light outpt of sufficient strength to be useful)
8.5
Low setting-Alkaline batteries
-Output distance (meters)
13
-Overall Burn Time (hours)
150
-Regulated Burn Time (light outpt of sufficient strength to be useful)
14
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3 watt LED (called Maxbright)
High setting - Lithium batteries
-Output distance (meters)
56
-Overall Burn Time (hours)
24
-Regulated Burn Time (light outpt of sufficient strength to be useful)
4.5
Low setting-Lithium batteries
-Output distance (meters)
38
-Overall Burn Time (hours)
36
-Regulated Burn Time (light outpt of sufficient strength to be useful)
12
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4 LEDs(called Ultrabright)
High setting - Lithium batteries
-Output distance (meters)
23
-Overall Burn Time (hours)
76
-Regulated Burn Time (light outpt of sufficient strength to be useful)
14
Low setting-Lithium batteries
-Output distance (meters)
13
-Overall Burn Time (hours)
108
-Regulated Burn Time (light outpt of sufficient strength to be useful)
50
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