Extreme Lights : XPh3A Headlight

[TheJ]

I guess I have a problem. I like big lights and I cannot lie. For no particular reason other than to feed a habit I tend to buy bike and head lights. Today I’m talking about head lights though.

 

This one:

 

The ultimate headlight for night riding or running.

 

 

Bought my first one in 2004 for Trans Baviaans. It was a Petzl Tikka Plus (No.1), pretty decent for those days. It uses 4 what I believe are called 5mm LED’s, along with 3x AAA batteries. These days I call them keyring LEDs. They are essentially useless for seeing where you want to go compared to what we’ve become used to the last few years.

 

No.2 on the list is a Chinese cheapie that I ordered in. It works decently. That is when it decides to work and the batteries all make contact. It uses 3 AA batteries which are mounted in a battery box behind your head. The head can be angled like pretty much all head lights, but a half decent bump will make it loose its angle easily. Not really a good choice for off-road running or riding.

 

No.3 served me a good few years. This was when we started seeing “proper” LED’s on the market like what Cree produces. This is a Fenix HP10. It was launched in 2009 and is still a brilliant light. It uses 4x AA batteries mounted in a battery box behind your head. It has a bright spot and a decent flood. The setting you would use would be the 120 Lumen setting @ 7.5 hours. Enough to see you through the night. The problem with this light is the battery box. With the head unit cable-tied to the front of your helmet, you had to put the battery box in a separate little pouch and cable tie that to the rear of your helmet to make the weight balance out just right. AA rechargeable batteries weigh around 31g a piece. 4 of those are 124g… and if you have that on your head you DO feel it. What I always did was use AA -> AAA battery adapters so that I could rather use AAA batteries in it. They weigh less than half of what AA’s weight and on your head it is noticeable. Sure, runtimes are halved as well but it was enough as insurance to get your to Bergplaas in the event of having bad legs and not getting to your big lights at Bergplaas in daylight still. At that CP, I would swop out the batteries for proper AA’s to see you to the finish.

 

 

No.4 was a recent purchase. Also a Chinese light and pretty decent. Very similar to the Fenix, with the only real difference being that it doesn’t throw a bright spot with a spill on the sides, it just throws light and you can focus it as you please. Batteries, same as the Fenix, 4x AA’s behind your head.

 

Then last week I bought a pair of Extreme Lights XPh3A headlights (wife also rides so I have 2x of each headlight). Out of the box I was sceptical to be honest, they are small, in the same league as my old Petzl – and also uses 3x AAA batteries.

 

 

The XPh3A is shipped with Duracell batteries which themselves aren’t cheap. Good start. I believe Duracells to have better internal chemistry with less resistance than for instance Eveready batteries, which makes them better overall in powering electronics.

 

 

Accessing the battery compartment is super easy. Just crack it open and you have plenty space to work with.

The strap is lengthy which is a bonus if you have to run it around the circumference of a helmet. Some of my other lights squashes my head if I wear them without a helmet.

 

The light itself claims to produce over 160 lumens and can do that for 30 hours. That is amazing, honestly. These 3x AAA batteries could see you through two Baviaans rides, back to back. And, with more light than what my Fenix provides.

 

The light has a very bright hot spot with enough spill to make it possible to see track on both sides. My first opinion when I tested the light the first time was that you probably could do the entire Baviaans, just with this head light if that is all you had. As mentioned, all lights can be angled. This ons as well, and it will stay in place.

 

My advice for anyone doing Baviaans in two weeks, put your orders in quickly… This is really a nice piece of kit. Weight wise it is very light, and produces a generous amount of light. When night riding you DO need a helmet light, no excuses. Trail side repairs are much easier when you can see what you are doing. Also, when going around corners we tend to look where we are going - and your bike light won't help much. As a weight-weenie this light ticks all the boxes for me.  

 

I’m impressed.