BD Spot vs. Zenix IQ vs. Tikka XP

own TikkaXP & ZenixIQ. no experience with Spot.

b/t the two i’ve used – go with the TikkaXP.

while i have owned many BD headlamps (i’d be ashamed to say how many i still own) and think highly of certain aspects of them (so much so, i’ve given a number of them, both new and used, away as gifts to varioius friends – i won’t give “junk” to friends), i have lately become more and more disenchanted with BD headlamps, particularly for one important reason, viz. batt life.

my guess is that the Spot might employ similar “IQ” circuitry to that found in the ZenixIQ and VectraIQ. this is based, perhaps erroneously, on a “loose” interpretation of the following quote: “the sleek Spot has intelligent circuitry”. now, perhaps, this means nothing more than three brightness levels. in fact, given the context of the quote, this might be the best way to interpret this. however, i am not sure. marketing/advertising info may not always desire to be as specific/clear as we might like. BD’s IQ circuitry appears in both the VectraIQ and ZenixIQ to be far too “agressive” in stepping down the maximum brightness output level the user can select. yes, you can cycle through all of the modes and eventually get back to “hi” output, thus fooling the IQ circuitry – for a few more minutes. i do this when the IQ circuitry only allows the headlamp to turn on in “med” output due to the batt voltage. however, this “cycling trick” is a nuisance. i have taken the batts out of both the VectraIQ and ZenixIQ when the IQ circuitry would no longer allow “hi” output as part of initial “turn on” and measured the voltage. plenty of “snot” left. in both cases, all cells, in each headlamp, were still above 1.25v. since i had at first used the ZenixIQ, i thought it was the fault/design of the “boost” converter (steps up voltage) in the ZenixIQ. however, when i experienced the same thing with the VectraIQ (using its own brand, spankin’ new batts – not the used ZenixIQ batts), i conclude that perhaps it a design “feature” of the I.Q. circuitry. perhaps this seemingly over agressive “control” is an attempt to lengthen batt life, since BD has been criticized for overestimating batt life? neither headlamp ever showed a “yellow” batt life indicator. they went directly from “green” to “red”. they must have been in use during the “yellow” phase. this means, to me, that the “yellow” phase is short in duration.

however, even without the interference of the IQ circuitry, i feel BD, perhaps more than other Mfr’s, overestimates their “burn” times. i truly hope the Spot breaks that pattern. all mfr’s seem to overestimate. for unregulated “burn” times, i figure a 1/2 to 3/4 reduction of the mfr. times – esp. if alk. batts are used due to their non-linear decay curve.

i tested the ZenixIQ twice, using new batts both times. i was so disappointed with its “burn” times, that i know that i won’t be using it again. under 10h of use both times (could not have been more based upon the number of days and the length of time used each day), using a variety of lighting modes – mostly the two superbrights on med and low, occasionally on high, plus intermittent use of the hyperbright LED, mostly on med, occasionally on hi. however, the various lighting modes and adjustable intensities are really nice though. the hyperbright was used for prob. 1-2 hrs at most, mostly on med. please, take these numbers with a grain of salt. i didn’t keep careful records.

the TikkaXP boost mode is very nice, though i rarely use it. the flip-up diffuser is great for task/proximity lighting and might be considered a must if any reflective surfaces are close by. the Spot doesn’t appear to have such and the ZenixIQ definitely doesn’t. ZenixIQ does however have the two superbright LEDs. they can be run on “lo” o.p., thus eliminating the need for a diffuser.

don’t forget the PT Eos as a candidate. i really like it. however, the TikkaXP is starting to edge closer, even though it’s unregulated. i really find the boost mode and that flip-up diffuser quite handy

all-in-all, depending upon your uses, you might find (as do i) 3 or 4 AA powered headlamps to be more useful than AAA powered headlamps. it really depends upon how impt. batt life is to you. sometimes that extra wt. of a AA powered headlamp is worth it.

the MyoXP is really not too much heavier than the AAA powered headlamps. ok, it’s 6oz (w/alk batts) vs. 3.4oz (alk. batts, again) for the TikkaXP. to save a little wt. remove the thin top “bucket” strap and use Li batts. it’s really much brighter than the ZenixIQ and TikkaXP. on “hi” (not boost) the MyoXP appears to be as bright as the TikkaXP on boost. on boost the MyoXP’s light output is only surpassed (among “poplular” Mfr’s of backpacking headlamps) by the PT Apex (a significantly heavier headlamp – just under 10oz).

since i do a lot of wee hrs of the mornin’ hiking, i often use a more powerful headlamp than i’d recommend others use for more typical UL backpacking chores/uses.

bottom line: TikkaXP or Eos, perhaps MyoXP if you want more light or longer “burn” times and are willing to live with ~2.5oz more wt.

i’m very absent-minded, so i can’t promise, but this afternoon, i’ll try to remember to do a side-by-side of the Eos, TikkaXP, and BD ZenixIQ in my darkened basement (~40′ max distance) to check for brightness and pattern (diameter of spot) and report back.

ok. early work day for me. so, i managed to perform the side-by-side early. oh..b/f i forget any prev. mention of a “flip-up” diffuser in my earlier post as far as the TikkaXP is concerned should be “slide-over” (the MyoXP has a flip-up diffuser – was experiencing a “senior moment”.).

Brightness:
in terms of the brightest “spot”, all three headlamps on “hi” (not boost) are approx. (to my eye) equal in brightness.

the XP on boost appears 50%-100% brighter than the Eos and ZenizIQ do when they’re on “hi”. it is really very, very bright.

“Spot size”:
the Eos has the smallest bright “spot”. rather small actually when cp. to the other two – even too small once the diffs are viewed “side-by-side”. around the central spot is a wide ring of light, several times the diameter of the central spot. this ring does not appear to be even half as bright as the central spot. the Eos spot is rather sharply demarcated, as is the surrounding ring, and anything outside of the central spot is noticeably less bright (very sharp drop-off), outside of the ring, it is quite dark. no artifacts/interference pattern.

the TikkaXP has a nice sized larger spot (prob. 2x the dia of the Eos at a similar distance) with a somewhat less sharp drop-off from the central spot. very nice beam pattern. no artifacts/interference pattern.

the ZenixIQ has the largest central bright spot. it is really rather generous. very nice for brightly illuminating a larger area. even though a larger area, it is just as bright as the other two (all on “hi” output – not boost) throughout this large central spot. my ZenixIQ (others too???, i.e. is it a production problem with mine, or a design issue common to all) suffers from some artifacts outside of the central spot, viz. an interference pattern that produces alternating rings of darker and brighter light.

Jason, i have ordered a BD Spot – thanks for alerting me to its existence. it should arrive later in the week (prob. thurs or fri). i’ll post back again after i try it out.

for right now, IMHO, the TikkaXP is the way to go. it’s even a tad lighter than the Eos. having tried it side-by-side with the Eos, i’m leaning even more towards the XP (the diffuser and the BOOST mode are real pluses – if only it were regulated, it would be a “no-brainer”. i really like regulated o.p.).

i am NOT thrilled with the batt life of any of these headlamps – ESPECIALLY the ZenixIQ.

oh…i should say, as i have in some much older posts, that any of these headlamps can be used on Med. o.p. for hiking indistinct, leaf-covered trails with no moon/star light. lo-contrast, faded, indistinct blazes on tree trunks can be seen 30′ ahead on trees when Med. o.p. (output) is used. this increases batt life. IME (in my exper.), “hi” o.p. is rarely needed.

BTW, i am “down-hill” to 100, so my low-light vision, while still good for someone my age (genetics+non-smoker+good diet+no eye related problems other than myopia/near sightedeness), is undoubtedly no where near as good as a 25yr old having average or better-than-avg. low-light vision. i only mention this so that you can better “gauge” my comments on viewing distance (viz., the “blaze” comment).

Thanks for the analysis. I was not aware of the “intelligent” circuitry issues with BD. I own a Tikka and a BD Polar Star, neither of which has those designs. I am just looking to take advantage of the longest burn time per set of batteries with brightness and lightness being bonuses.

Anybody else have any experience with the IQ circuitry?

Jason,

i focused on one aspect of BD’s IQ circuitry. the other, which i didn’t mention works very well. it “remembers” the last mode (but not the last intensity setting for that mode) you were in, when the lamp is switched off for (i forget the exact number of seconds) several or 10 seconds or so.

>>”longest burn time per set of batteries”
go with AA batts if you can afford 2.5-3oz greater wt. in the headlamp. MyoXP is excellent at ~6oz (alk batts) and PT Apex is even better, but is quite a bit heavier – just under 10oz (w/alk. batts). there are others to consider, but for AA model headlamps, the MyoXP is perhaps the lightest and the Apex and MyoXP are the 1st and 2nd best performing, respectively, IME.

it’s not just the capacity of AA vs. AAA batts (~2.3x greater total batt. capacity), but at high current draws (esp. in warmer weather), think 1W Luxeon type LEDs here, batts heat up. this increases the internal resistance of the batts & hence they drop more voltage, resulting in poorer performance – both life and unregulated intensity (reg. units will drop out of reg. sooner also). this is why “Cavers” switch their lights off at rest stops, and often alternate between their two primary (three sources in total usually) light sources every 15-30minutes (giving at least a 10min rest) to allow their batts to cool. obviously, AA batts being larger don’t heat up as quickly as AAA batts, so are a little less prone to this overheating.

if you must save wt (not an unreasonable thing to do by any means), go with the TikkaXP – you won’t regret it.

furthermore, if you only need a headlamp for setting up camp or other in-camp chores, middle-of-the-night nature calls, etc., that is, if you are not doing any nightime hiking, then a less expensive headlamp like the Zipka or Zipka+, or the Tikka or Tikka+, PT Aurora or Scout, BD Nightray, or StreamLite ClipMate or Septor is really all that you need. in fact, a single LED Photon Freedom Microlight (with “clip”) or PT Eclipse/Impulse (2nd generation version – i keep on forgettin’ which model is the 2nd gen) would suffice nicely.

if you don’t need to hike at night, the advantage of these headlamps, which only use 5mm LEDs, is LONG (in most cases) batt life, and lighter wt. they all use AAA batts or Li coin cells. the ones using Li coin cells offer less usuable batt life, but at ~0.5oz each, you could carry more than one, plus a set of spare batts, and still be at ~1.5oz.

not sure where you are hiking, or the state/condition of your low-light vision, but if you’re not under heavy tree cover or on challenging terrain, then on nights with moon & stars visible, you might be able to hike w/o using a hi-powered headlamp – one of these 5mm LED models (or in some cases no headlamp) would suffice.

i’ll still get back to you, here in this Thread, after i rcv. the BD Spot.

if you’re interested, i have a ZenixIQ and/or maybe a BD Spot, i’ll be able to sell you cheap.

Thanks again Paul for sharing your insight. I mostly use the headlamp for a combination of hiking, camp chores and reading. I run an outdoor program for teens that involves 13 days, a resupply , then another 13 days. So, battrey life and weight are both essential elements. Most students are using Tikkas or BD zenix and are doing fine, I usually use my tikka without bringing extra batteries, but its brightness leaves a little to be desired ate times. Mostly I’m satisfied. I just wanted to know about ‘new’ technologies.

Thanks.

FYI, i find the tikka+/zipka+ on max. o.p. (new batts) noticeably brighter than the original tikka/zipka (new batts). with new batts (first 30min or so of use on max. o.p.), i can see blazes on trees up to 15-20 feet away (under tree cover; no moon or stars; so dark, can’t see my hand in front of my face).

BD Spot arrived yesterday. Tried it today. Obviously, can’t comment on batt. life.

Performed side-by-side w/Eos, TikkaXP, and BD Spot. I’ll try not to repeat any comments fr/above post.

Spot reminds me a lot of the ZenixIQ (described in a prev. post in this Thread). It operates in a very similar fashion to the ZenixIQ. The only real divergences here fr/BD standard are 1) batts in front, and 2) the button is on the TOP instead of the BOTTOM as in other BD headlamps.

Comments below pertain to “hi” output of the 1W LED for all headlamps (not “boost” on TikkaXP).

The 1W output has a central “spot” – smaller than the TikkaXP, but larger than the Eos. This central “spot” is brighter than the Eos’s smaller central “spot”, but NOT as bright as the TikkaXP. It is, however, a pure bright light with no slight yellow as exists the TikkaXP.

It has a large slightly darker large “ring” around it. This ring is maybe at least 3x brighter than the TikkaXP ring around the center spot. It is perhaps not quite as large in diameter as the TikkaXP, though it is still quite large sized. Due its much brighter ring, the BD Spot provides more illumination outside of the central “spot” than does the TikkaXP. Very nice indeed. The TikkaXP has a very sharp drop-off by comparision (though not as sharp as the Eos). The overall BD Spot 1W projection is to be preferred over the TikkaXP, but the TikkaXP’s central “spot” is brighter on “hi”. On “boost” there is no comparison. TikkaXP wins hands down, both for the central “spot” and for the overall output.

The 3x5mm LEDs have a nice bright (w/new batts), white flood of light. On “hi” they provide quite a bit of light out to 20-25 feet (indoors – less light will be reflected back outdoor, so perhaps 15′ is more reasonable outdoors).

The BD Spot has those 3 5mm LEDs for longer batt life. These like the 1W LED can be operated in 4 modes (half-pushes of the single button cycle through the modes): hi=>med=>lo=>hi-flash=>back to hi…

BD’s “claimed” times are obviously for “lo” output and even then are probably measured down to a virtually unusable 1 or 2 lux. based upon experience with other claims by both BD and other Mfr’s, i’ll take a 75% reduction for what i would consider usable light. this would bring the times more in line with the PT Eos. this would make sense as they are both powered by 3xAAA batts.

Jason, assuming batt life is reasonable, go with either the BD Spot (greater field of good illumination AND flexibility of 1W or 3x5mm LEDs with varying intensity to increase batt life) or the TikkaXP (if you really need the brightest illumination – my assumption, since i couldn’t test out beyond 40′ in my basement, is that the brighter central “spot” will equate to longer “throw”).

I think the Eos (very nice dual regulated-then-unregulated operation) has been surpassed by both the TikkaXP (too bad it’s unregulated) and the BD Spot – assuming reasonabl batt life. if it’s like my experience with two sets of batts in the ZenixIQ – see prev. post, then i’d forget the BD Spot – only time will tell on this point).

hope this info helps you.

sadly, my initial high hopes for the BD Spot have been dashed due to its rather poor batt life.

batt life was very poor IMHO. keep in mind light perception is highly subjective and low light vision is dependent upon a number of physical factors – age being one of them. so that you can better gauge this “age-factor”, it’s “down-hill” to a 100 for me.

on one set of batts, 1W MED was used at most a third of the time, and 1W LO used for perhaps another third of the time, followed by the 3x5mm LEDs used on MED and LO output for the remaining time. even avoiding 1W HI mode and 3x5mm HI modes, well under 10 hrs of total reasonable use was the result. i didn’t time it, but 10 hrs is a more than generous estimate of the batt life. i didn’t measure the start-of-life batt voltage of these “fresh” batts that came with the headlamp, and i don’t recall the expiration date on the batts. the batts couldn’t have been that old since i ordered the headlamp soon after they became available. if all i want to do is see well enough to tie my shoe laces, then batt life should be considered to be longer, but i can use any generation of Photon Microlight for that purpose. when this testing was done, the weather had not yet turned cold, so cold and alk. batts are not the issue. sorry, for not updating this Thread sooner with this info.

even use of the 3 5mm LEDs on MED and LO output modes seemed (i didn’t time it precisely) to give sub-standard batt life. on one set of fresh batts (initial batt voltage was slightly over 1.6v on each cell), operated ONLY on 3x5mm MED and LO modes, less than 20 hrs of usable light was obtained. this is based upon using the light daily for a couple of hours in a dimly lit area of my basement’s workshop. i purposely did not use the direct overhead fluourescent lights in order to assess the capabilities of the BD Spot for task lighting. after ~20 hrs, the light became rather dim – more than a glow, but not very useful for minor tasks more than half an arm length’s away (and i have very short arms!!!). i found myself bringing my head rather close to my work.

the tasks attempted, amongst other things, i used the 5mm LEDs of the BD Spot headlamp for building electronic projects or component level troubleshooting of electronic devices, repair of household appliances, and working under an automobile or in its engine bay (instead of “drop” lights). yeah…i know…a real geek…or so i’ve been called. (my wife says i look like Rick Moranis in that scene from “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” when he pops up with that contraption on his head).

i’ve also come to dislike very much the BD on-off-on-off sequencing, often followed by one or more half-presses. too much button pressing to get to where i want to go. perhaps it’s the “ON-OFF…” aspect that i don’t like? i prefer a timed press-and-hold to turn off a light – this also eliminates some button presses when cycling through lighting modes on some headlamps. obviously, this is only a personal preference which may be quite acceptable for others and so shouldn’t really be considered to be too strong a criticism as it may not apply to all. just as far as i’m concerned, all that button pressing gets old rather quickly.

giving it more thought, now that i have some experience with batt life, i probably won’t be using the BD Spot very often, preferring its two main competitors (viz. the PT Eos, and the Petzl TikkaXP). it sure does have a bunch of operating modes though if that is something that is important.

i take back my prev. statements that the Eos has been surpassed by the BD Spot. in a way it has surpassed the Eos (lightwise and featurewise), but the BD Spot’s batt life relegates it to third place behind the TikkaXP and the Eos.

while i own a bunch of BD headlamps, my preferences have switched over to Petzl and especially PrincetonTec for some well thought out headlamp designs.

right now in this “class”, i.e. 3AAA 1W headlamps, the TikkaXP rules – ya gotta love that BOOST mode and the light diffuser for task lighting.

Hey Paul, this is very interesting, thanks for putting your time into this post. I have a Tikka XP, which I’m very happy with… I always figured that the Boost mode was using about 1w of power, and the 3 other modes were significantly less…. but after reading your post, it sounds like high would be approaching it’s rating of 1w, and boost is overdriving it, do you think that is accurate? I know with LEDs you can crank up the voltage and get more output than rated, at the expense of LED life…which would explain the 30 second boost limit. If that is the case, thats some very intelligent engineering on Petzls part… the 30 second limit and momentary switch for boost always irritated me, but now I think I see why it’s setup that way!

Rob

I spoke with Tikka tech support, and he confirmed the Tikka XP, in boost mode, does overdrive the LED.. he was unsure of to what extent, but the advertising says “50% more light”, I’d assume it’s around 1.5 watts with full batteries. He also mentioned that they chose non-current regulated because it has a longer duration of usable light output, and this probably won’t change anytime soon on their compact series of lights.

Rob