ACEBEAM H30 A super bright headlamp with many great features! Check it out!
Recently I attended IWA 2024 in Germany and whilst there, one of my tasks was to look for innovation and cool products which I could bring to the channel in future reviews. There were many lighting manufacturer's present, among these, the big names etc but I was looking for something new, I mean really new and which could handle the pace of my activities.
I came across the manufacturer ACEBEAM. ACEBEAM is part of the Shenzhen Zenbon Technology Co. LTD.
The H30 headlamp revamped for 2024 , immediately caught my eye, lets have a quick look at it:
For those concerned about packing, plastic have been kept to an absolutely minimum. The main box is made from a sturdy cardboard which seems easily able to be used as a storage box and not some flimsy cardboard materials.
The next thing that my eyes fell upon was the "Number 5" in the top right hand corner. That's right, a FIVE YEAR warranty!
Ok so what does the "fine print actually say? (image below)
The warranty states that if a problem develops (it is defective) within the first 15 days of usage then the headlamp will be replaced. If a problem develops with 60 months after purchase the light will be repaired but there is a charge for replacement parts. Note there are two spare O-rings, they are both of the same dimensions. These 2 O-rings are for the battery seal and and charging port seal. The sealing ports appear to give a generous cover over these O-rings and this is important for the stated water proof rating of IP68 (ie 2m submersion-in this case they do not state a duration however, my experience this is usually around 30 minutes.)
What are the options? Yes, there are several options for this H30 model!
(refer to image below). As you can see, I requested for my "customised model", that the auxiliary LEDs would be RED and a 365nm* Nichia 276A UV LED.
(*more on this later-wait for my field review). The other requirement I was after was for a main LED which was NOT a super cool color temperature but one of around 5000K instead of 6500K because I want a light which is better suited for caving and provide less stress to my eyes and those of others during long trips underground.
For example: if you have ever been caving (way back in the day but somewhat limited now) using a carbide light you will have noticed that the warm temperature of the acetylene flame is very easy on the eyes, the higher the color temperature the more harsh it is to look at for long duration. This is not a problem when using the light outside with a Kelvin rating of 6500K because there will always be some ambient light no matter how dark but in a cave you will only be looking at this high temperature LED.
So, from this company and this particular model, one can "Customise" their headlamp within 2 choices for the main lamp (CREE XHP 70.2 5000K LED) and 3 choices for the auxiliary LEDs (see image below).
The product selection is clearly marked upon the packaging.
Construction Materials
ACEBEAM state that they are machining these bodies from "Durable aerospace grade aluminium" . Ok so this could be anything in the range of the following "aerospace" grades:
2024; 2014; 5052; 6061; 7050; 7068 and 7075 possessing strength equivalent to steel. So you can take your pick here LOL but generally many manufacturers use 7075.
Now all of that being said, the lamp itself is rated for a 1m drop test.
How about the manuals, were they easy to read and understand?
Some technical parameters (shown below)
What accessories are included?
A plastic battery adaptor in order to use a 18650 battery.
The 18650 adaptor is a great idea for maximising the versatility of this H30 headlamp.
An elastic headband with a shape conforming plastic and silicone headpiece/mount to enable the light to be moved through 180 degrees is included. The silicone inserts provide a "sticky" gripping surface for helmet mounting (eg Petzl or any modern climbing helmet etc.).
There is a spare lamp mounting bracket (this is good). The headband also feature highly reflective 3M type (not saying it is 3m but it does the same thing) reflective material with the words ACEBEAM -ok nothing wrong with some advertising LOL!
Very tough silicone type rubber rings holding the actual headlamp to the strap.
Some Practical Aspects at a Glance
The fact that the light is rated at IP68 tells me (in fact I'm only interested in lights which have this minimum standard for adventure activities), that it should be good when used for caving as the run time at 120 lumens (which in reality is very bright for caving) is over 23 hours- this is a "LOW" setting.
This is a continuous run time and in my experience on caving trips of up to 24 hours underground, one simply does not have their primary light sources on continuously for the whole trip duration (only beginner cavers tend to do this). So in actual fact one has a pretty damn good "burn time" with this lamp using the supplied 5000mAH battery.
The ACEBEAM H30 can also function as a power bank and that's a good idea in this world where we seem to be tied to electrical devices 24/7. A special dual function USB cable is supplied in order to allow for this but any USBC-USBC cable would also work. The supplied cable will allow standard Type A to USBC charging (see image below).
I'm not going to rehash all of the stuff on their web site as it's easier if you just go there and check it out. I merely wanted to give you some ideas of what I consider important for this headlamp. Another feature I like is that they make a big deal about using constant current rather than PWM (pulse width modulation) to control the brightness etc. PWM can in some instances make it a pain for videography when using such lights and or one can see flickering if under certain circumstances- better to be regulating the current IMHO.
They say that at 4000 lumens it will run for 2 hours however, this will be totally dependent upon the ambient temperature and how often the circuitry needs to adjust the brightness to prevent the H30 lamp from overheating.
Speaking of heat management, I noted that the body has been very interestingly milled in a sort of asymmetric design where the region closest to the LEDs is thicker wall diameter.
Speaking of temperature, the ACEBEAM H30 is rated from -20C to 65C! So whilst we could easily stand -20C (with the right mindset and clothes approaching the South Col on Everest- we would be hard pressed to get to 65C without dropping dead.
The front port of the main lamp is constructed from toughened glass, NOT plastic- can't beat that.
Plus I like the "orange peel" type reflector.
Now what is the business end? In my case (remember I said this H30 from ACEBEAM is slight customisable)
If you're into aesthetics, then the H30 lamp housing has been hard anodized (Type III, they state in the manual) and the ACEBEAM H30 can be locked out to prevent accidental activation from within a pack (6s hold down for the orange switch). The "key stroke"/button pressing/holding time is 6 seconds to lock and 6 seconds to unlock. This duration in my opinion is good because shorter durations can be achieved accidentally from within a pack.
Some marketing on potential (see image below) user applications: I'll be investigating these in the forthcoming serious video (as apposed to the "preview video" coming soon.
Red light battery charging.
Charging time for their supplied ACEBEAM 5000mAH rated 21700 battery was of course over 1 hour using a 2A USB mains charger (completely normal for a 5000 mAh 21700 battery from basically flat status).
Green light showing fully charged battery status.
STICK AROUND!
BCT
Preview!!!! Caving test**
Ok initial findings after caving with my new ACEBEAM H30
Did it pass or fail the 2m water test?
Yes and No.
Whilst this light performed flawlessly for all functions, at the end of the day when we removed the cap covering the charging port, there was a very small amount of water inside of the cap. The only way water could have got on the threads was to pass via the O-ring seal.
We carefully examined both metal sealing surfaces and they were perfectly made. The next thing we examined was the O-ring itself and found that there could have been the tiniest defect within the moulding section.
Seen here:
Why did I say NO?
Because there were zero signs of water having entered the light whilst it was submerged at 170cm precisely for just under 2 minutes and the light itself was functioning totally normally for ALL functions for the next 3.5 hours of caving and filming underground. In fact the light was functioning totally normally even when we returned home. It was not until I removed the cap the next day that I detected that a very small amount of water had entered the inside of the charging port.
ALL lights purporting to be IP68 rated to 2m have at their weakest point any seals whether these are: permanent seals or those meant to be changed by the user, such as battery cover O-rings or charging port O-rings. The cheapest of components within the design and structure of such lighting apparatus. The manufacture of such components are subject to faults and thus if "mission critical" such as is the case for caving applications and or diving applications/mining applications, then the system will have a high probability of failure during adverse but not over excessive operating conditions.
We have now changed out this O-ring and will re-test the light down to 170cm for just under 2 minutes and see if this indeed the problem and report back.
Stay tuned.
** Here at @BushCampingTools we go to great extremes to thoroughly test out manufacturer's equipment and as such when a product is listed by a manufacturer as being IP68 (an international standard) we aim to really prove this. So in the interests of "fairness" I'm not yet prepared to "fail" this product as the installed O-ring may have been the problem (there could be another slight issue but i must conduct further tests).
Finally, I'd like to point out the ACEBEAM H30 performed flawlessly in an extremely harsh environment-you will no doubt see this footage of some extreme caving. So if it's just an O-ring then let's not be ridiculously harsh as O-rings are vital for diving lights as well and i ask; how many of you actually check the O-ring/s on your brand new dive light BEFORE diving with it for the first time?
How about caving photography? Q: How is the 4000 Lumen Turbo-Max setting for stills photography? Camera ISO setting 200.
A: Pretty damn good I'd say!
This image taken from a fairly large cavern. The 5000K light shows good rendition of natural colours. There has been zero photoshop filters or color corrections applied.
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