Just arrived complete w/2xCR2032 batts. Initial observations.
1. interesting packaging
2. very small light – PTScout size.
3. protective case has nice closure retainer – a round rubber band, of sorts.
4. case is too large & i won’t be using it.
5. i will be cutting and resewing head band as it’s apparently sized for use with a helmet.
6. swivel joint is multi-directional and very easy to operate. this i don’t like as single axis articulation makes more sense (to me at least) if the light is primarily used as a headlamp with the included elastic band. however, for those that may want to mount the e+LITE onto pack straps (from the side of the strap using the capbrim clip) or other vertically oriented mount points, the multi-axis swivel ball joint will allow the e+LITE to be oriented so that even while attached to a vertically oriented mount point, the e+LITE can be made to direct its light downward. also, it can be mounted on the top (instead of the bottom) of a waist belt to prevent it from more easily falling off or being knocked off and then rotated to direct its light down instead of merely forward or up. In this sense, the multi-axis swivel ball joint is a clever design concept.
7. cap-brim clip appears far more robust than the PTScout’s cap-brim clip
8. switch is NOT the cleanest and easiest to operate (i’m guessing it’s probably downright difficult with gloves on, but this would prob. only apply to the “LOCK” position – however, it’s pretty easy, when attempting to just switch the light OFF, to go from LO-Wht position THROUGH OFF and into LOCK; now, a glove might need to come off to operate the switch). also, the switch requires two fingers to operate. The right thumb is used to stabilize the right side of the light while the right index finger simultaneously operates (rotates to the right) the switch. Failure to stabilize the light with the thumb will cause the lamp body to rotate on its multi-axis swivel ball joint. To turn the switch the opposite direction, the finger position must be changed to prevent the light from rotating in the opposite direction. Poor ergonomic design, IMHO – NOT KISS (keep-it-short-and-simple). Much better would have been a button on the face of the headlamp positioned over the battery box area. Then a single finger (any finger) could have operated the light’s control. The forehead (if being used as a headlamp with the strap and the light was not oriented down) would have reacted the force of pressing the button. Mounted elsewhere (cap-brim, pack straps, waist belt, etc) and with the light directed down, then a finger and a thumb would most likely still be required, but at least a single finger position would have sufficed in all cases w/o the need to shift finger positions to fully operate the light’s switch.
9. HI mode is VERY bright.
10. LO mode is MUCH dimmer (yet hrs of light output are NOT too much different; not sure why; perhaps it’s just a function of the newer 80% brighter white LEDs; perhaps it’s the use of Li coin cell batts and their characteristic discharge curves – i just don’t know – curious)
11. RED LED mode is very nice also, but i won’t use it much out in the bush as it’s generally too dark in my neck of the woods to see w/o a light, so, to my way of thinking, there’s no need to preserve one’s dark adaptation.
12. i’d prefer that the WHITE flashing mode and RED flashing mode were left off of the light as they just provide two more switch positions that will (hopefully) never be used. Why a red flashing mode? Serve as a bicycle tail light? If in an emergency situation, i would guess that the white flashing light would be seen a greater distance away, so why the red flashing mode?
IN SUMMARY
it’s a very nice light. IMHO, it raises the bar for small lights in its class. The PTec Scout has been surpassed despite the Scout’s nicer switch. Can’t wait to see how PTec responds. This can only be good b/c the Scout II or whatever PTec decides to call it should raise the bar even higher.
Why do i say that the e+LITE has surpassed the Scout for small UL multi-LED Li coin cell powered headlamps?
0) First off, i’m not sure that the Scout had any legitimate competitor b/f the e+LITE. Other UL Li coin cell powered lights were either only single LEDs or used larger AAA batts. Any that i am familiar with that had both multi-LEDs and were powered by Li coin cells batts were “Cap-brim” lights which could only be clipped to a hat/cap brim and generally had only a single mode/level of light output.
1) Compared to the Scout, the e+LITE is FAR brighter (3 newer higher output white LEDs vs. 2 older less bright white LEDs) – no comparison using my Scout with fresh batts (ok, i tested it compared to both of my PTScouts) – on high output, the e+LITE blew away the Scout set on hi, due to the newer 80% brighter white LEDs. Petzl claims 3x the distance/”throw” from the e+LITE vs. the Princeton Tec’s claims for “throw” for the Scout.
2) The Mfr claimed “burn” times for the e+LITE (due to its newer brighter output white LEDs) are better with the e+LITE using only 2xCR2032 batts than the Scout using 4xCR2032 batts. So, the light is also less expensive to operate when batts need to be replaced. The Scout claims 12hrs on “hi”; 24hrs on “med”; 48hrs on “low”. The e+LITE claims 35hrs on a MUCH BRIGHTER “hi” and 45hrs on “low” which is nearly as long as the Scout on low, but the Scout uses four batts instead of just two. We just need to hope that both PTec and Petzl are using the same lower limit for light output or “cutoff” brightness when establishing their claimed burn times.
How can this be? Since for any given batt voltage, the e+LITE’s newer 80% brighter LEDs produce more light, the minimum amount of light used for determining “burn” times will be produced from a somewhat lower voltage by the newer 80% brighter LEDs. Hence, they effectively “burn” longer.
NOW FOR THE IMPORTANT PART
i cancelled my pending orders for the e+LITE elsewhere (once i rcv’d shipping notification from Karst Sports) as no one else that i know of seems to have them yet, though they should have them by today or in the next few days.
you can get them for ~$30 each (full sugg. retail price) from Karst Sports – Karst told me in a telcon that they are the largest Petzl dealer in the USofA. They are going to get the vast majority of the units shipped to the US. They are getting, IIRC from my telcon, 50,000 units. Karst deals with the military, police departments, SAR organizations and often fulfills single orders for thousands of Petzl items. However, i’ve dealt with them for over three years and they always come through on my “nickle and dime” tiny orders.
