Petzl Core

I'll stay with Princeton Tec headlamps with KNOWN performance and regulated circuit reliability.

That's awesome Jonathan! You're absolutely correct, the regulated and rechargeable option availability is ideal for fall/winter trail running when you're getting out multiple times in a week in the dark hours of early morning or evening. It's quite easy to go through a handful of standard non-rechargeable batteries every week or so otherwise. I own the Black Diamond Icon for trailrunning and still need to invest in the NRG pack, which now seems lightyears behind the Petzl Core available for your Tikka.

Eric, I'm not sure what your issue is with Petzl, last I checked they invented the headlamp and have been leading the industry in regulated output lighting and programmable options. The MYO RXP is a very clear example of Petzl's "performance and reliability" you speak of, the MYO RXP can run full blast at 140 lumens or all the way down to a energy miser setting of 8 lumens all at the turn of a switch, add full regulation and programming, and a comfortable headlamp designed for bouncing through an entire night of trail running and I'd say you have yourself a highly evolved industry leading headlamp.

Well, it's finally available, eh? I guess I can take "lithium batteries" of my To Do list for tomorrow. That's perfect timing. Thanks for the update.

Thanks for posting this Jonathan. The Zipka +2 is my favorite running light so far…I'm using it ~3-4 days a week now so this is a huge improvement. I be getting one ASAP.

hey Eric,
I will hand it to you that my PT EOS R is great, but until they come up with a solution like this I will keep it for hiking only. This Tikka setup looks pretty great for those that use their headlamps mutiple times a week.

I agree Craig, I have been using the new Tikka 2 for about a year now and the small close to the head profile is great for running. Much lighter and more stable than my EOS. Also like that it lights up my entire field of vision. Combined with a powerful flashlight for distance it is a great setup.

So I took my Tikka2 with Core battery attachment out last night for an hour long trail run and it was great. The battery addition does not change the profile of the light (i.e. no bouce) and I was able to program the light to hold a regulated beam for 5 hours giving me a 28 foot 180 degree full range of vision. I was easily able to run my local leaf covered technical terrain. Thinking this mod is going to be huge with runners. Especially since you can easily unsnap the rechargable battery and add regular AAA's during long night time runs if need be. This light solves 3 issues I always had with my EOS.

1) no bounce
2) full range of vision rather than a spotlight
3) rechargable

"Especially since you can easily unsnap the rechargable battery and add regular AAA's during long night time runs if need be."

I think it's worthwhile to point out that you can also take the Core off regulated mode and still use the rechargeable pack on unregulated mode. I picked up the Core last Friday and have been using it for short evening walks. I haven't used it enough to really comment on it yet, except I had no troubles getting it into the headlamp and running.

Bumping this thread because I'm hoping that I can get some real world knowledge of of the core battery. I like the idea of a regulated lamp and correct me if I'm wrong, but the downside is that the overall battery life is shorter.

I'm wondering how much shorter is battery life compared to regular alkalines?

Is light output (brightness) affected?

Do you lose level functions (high,low) when using the software to dial in burn times and intensity?

I will be using the core with the XP 2 in 60-80 degree temperatures.

Thanks.

I can answer a couple of your questions.

Brightness at 100% is comparable to other batteries, the output of course, depending on how you've programmed it. In the field there's simply no functional difference between, say, 70% and 100% so the control you gain with the Core is welcome. BTW, alkalines are the poorest choice for the stock XP2—NiMH perform better, as do disposable lithiums.

High and low modes are programmed separately within wide output ranges, so two modes are retained using the Core. Red mode is not programmable but is also retained.

Hope this helps,

Rick

"Do you lose level functions (high,low) when using the software to dial in burn times and intensity?"

no, when you dial in the burn times you still get hi and low options. Also if you need long lasting output you can always turn the regulated mode off and get standard Tikka burn times.

"BTW, alkalines are the poorest choice for the stock XP2—NiMH perform better, as do disposable lithiums"

This statement confuses me and is exactly why I am asking these questions. I was under the impression that from full capacity till when the headlamp shuts off because of not enough juice, alkalines last the longest. Under the same circumstances lithium disposables would not last as long as the alkalines, but have a flatter discharge curve. So after three or so hours of use, the lithium would be brighter than the alkaline, but would not have as much time left before the light shuts off on its own. That sound right?

Here is a graph from the Petzl site that seems to illustrate that.

BLUE-Alkaline battery
GREEN_1.5 V lithium battery
RED_3 V lithium battery (watch-style, etc.)

I'm not clear on what battery the red curve indicates. Our test results with alkaline, lithium disposable and NiMH are in the article graph, here. The alkaline and NiMH traces don't cross until after four hours and lithium, over five.

http://backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/petzl_tikka_xp2_plus2_led_headlamp_reviews.html

Cheers,

Rick

Rick-

I don't think the graph was specific to the XP2. Here is the link where it came from if you are interested.

http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/headlamps/batteries

Thanks for the info you have provided. I think I am starting to understand that the initial reduced brightness "limitations" of lithium are minimal since alkalines will catch up to them shortly and then continue to decline steadily. I cannot see the graph on the paid page, but you mention that the lines do not cross till after 5 hours for the lithium. That should be good enough for short trips at least. I wonder if the CORE (used un-programmed) and disposable lithiums have a similar curve.

Thanks again.