Princeton tec APEX (quick review added)

[jzmtl]

So I finally decided to bite the bullet and get a headlight. After some research, I decided on Princeton Tec APEX due to it's dual beam, full regulation, Nimh compatibility, great heatsinking (can't say the same about petzl) and one of the best UI on market.

Within the hour I got home, I transplanted a SSC P4 U2SVOH emitter in place of the old luxeon (note newest version already have SSCP4 but of unknown bin). Man this thing is bright! Definately not the typical dim headlight people are familiar with. The floody 5mm are great for close up work, and anytime you need distance a single click will give you the main beam, which I'm guessing is at least 120 lumens out front.

Another great thing is I can wear this light under my toque in cold weather, cover the batter pack inside to keep warm.

I'll post some pics if I decide to write up a review for flashlight forum.

[donvito]

That does look good. I for one still have my old (7 years or so) petz tikka plus with the old LEDs (there has been an upgrade done), and I love it. It's still ticking, but I might be long due for an upgrade and princeton tec lights have been in my spot light for quite a while. Be careful using the light around campfires with your buddies around. Everyone always complains that I blind them with my tikka, but your light can definitely burn some retinas.

[NutSAK]

Good choice!  I love my SSC modded EOS headlamps, and the APEX would be even more versatile.

[jzmtl]

It's a very nice looking headlight, comes in orange, black, and camo I believe. The one I picked up is orange. The color is really down to personal preference, because of its design, camo and black will not be any steathier than orange, you'll see why shortly.

Pretty stock photo


Crappy my photo


As you can see, it has a main power LED, and 4 5mm LED. What great about this headlight’s UI is unlike most other headlights, it’s not necessary to click through all of them to get to the mode you want. There are two electronic clickies under the light, each control one of the LED. Power LED cycles through hi and lo, hold down button to turn off. 5mm LED cycle through hi, lo, and blink, hold down button to turn off. Turn on one automatically turn off the other, so it’s not possible to have both power LED and 5mm LED on at the same time. The little LED below power LED is the power level indicator. It lights up when headlight is on, and go from green to yellow to red as battery runs down. When the headlight is turned off, it continues to blink every 6 seconds or so as a locator signal for 24 hours. Aside from this, when the light drop out of regulation whatever LED you have on also blink a couple of times to let you know.

Princeton tec claims 5mm LED used are from nichia, no bin is specified. Power LED is either Luxeon or SSC P4, depends on if it’s old stock. Mine came with luxeon, but I swapped in a U2SVOH bin SSC P4.

The headlight is powered by 4 AA batteries. Alkaline, Nimh, and lithium (NOT lithium ion rechargeable) can be used, and the headlight is fully regulated on all three chemistries. All 4 batteries reside in the battery tray, which is sealed by a rubber o ring. Princeton Tec specified time in regulation is pretty much spot on with alkaline cells. With Nimh you are looking at over 3 hours in regulation with main LED on high, compare to 1 hour with alkaline.



On back of head unit is the most substantial heat sink I’ve ever seen on any LED light, it’s basically an aluminum CPU head sink residing in a plastic cage, you probably can’t get any better heat management than this.



The whole unit sits on head comfortably. You can get away with not using the top strap if you don’t move around, but if you do it’s necessary. The whole thing does weight quite a bit, and while it’s still very comfortable walking around with it, you can definitely feel the weight if you jump/run around with it.

Onto some beamshots. Keep in mind large manufacturers like Princeton Tec doesn’t specify tint bin when purchasing LED so what you get will vary. Also the below photos are taken with DAYLIGHT color balance, so the 5mm LED appears to be bluer than perceived during use. However you can also see how nice the U2SVOH SSC is. Exposure and aperture are locked between photos.

The 5mm LED are quite floody, while main LED is more throwy (although still less so than most handheld flashlights). All 4 modes are quite bright actually, 5mm low is enough to move around. There is no true low mode on this light, any of them will blow your night adapted vision right out of the water.

Control


5mm low


5mm high


main LED low


main LED high


That’s all the outdoor photo I’m going to take for now, as you can see it’s already snowing, so it’s cold out.

[NutSAK]

Did you keep the optic in there with the SSC?  The Khatod reflectors work perfectly in there if you prefer a wider beam.

[jzmtl]

Yes I kept the original optic. I don't have any lying around so couldn't try it, and photonfanatic has a minimum order so I'll have to wait till I need more emitters.

[NutSAK]

PM sent...

[jzmtl]

Got it, thanks!

[Neil]

Thanks for the review, that's an excellent looking light. 

I'm still pretty chuffed with the modded headlamp I got from Terry.  I'm less than impressed with him forcing me to spend forty quid on a Nitecore D10 though

Neil

[NutSAK]

Ah, you got one?  How about a brief review?

[Leatherman123]

Terry, when are you going to submit the Leatherman flashlight reviews?

[Neil]

Ah, you got one?  How about a brief review?

Its paid for, just waiting for it to arrive; hopefully, Tuesday 
It'd better be good 

Neil