Princeton Tec EOS1
:.Review

Ok, so I admit, I'm a light freak (been called worse!)... No not weight wise, lights as in the things that shine and make it bright when its dark... This review was previously done for another site, I've edited it so as to relate it more in the context of biking. I know, its quite a long read, treat it as bedtime reading, print it out for toilet reading, or you can skip all of it (the agony), and just go read the conclusion right at the end if you want... I will attempt to not be so long winded next time, I promise... I'll try... I'll see... Of course, comments (constructive or otherwise) are welcome, as are questions.

Here goes :

(Image is 'loaned' from another site, will update with my own pic as soon as I get a digicam...)

PRINCETON TEC EOS

Description of light: The PrincetonTec EOS is described as a 1 Watt LED current regulated Headlamp.

Type(s) of Led: 1x 1Watt Luxeon Star Led (White).

First impressions:

Small, sturdy and solidly built. That’s all I can think of when I first laid my hands on it (the light, what'd you think i was talking about?).

The elastic cloth strap feels very nice and soft, with almost like a suede/velvet feel to it. It is also fairly thick in width, and seems to be made of good quality material. The strap threads to the light on a separate hard plastic piece, which acts as the ‘base’, which in turn rests on your forehead when worn. There are a couple of slots in the base piece for you to remove the strap easily should you decide to remove it and wash it (trust me, you will need to! :-P). Also, when the strap goes through the slots here, the part of the light that actually rests on your forehead is the strap itself, not the base, so this greatly increases the comfort of wearing the light, especially over extended hours. Apart from that, the ‘base’ piece also acts as a pivot piece to hold the light in place, as the light itself can be tilted up to about 90 degrees downwards for you to point the light where you want it to.

Battery:

The EOS uses 3AAA batteries, and 3 Duracell alkalines came pre-installed in mine. To access the battery compartment, there is a screw on the top back of the light that holds it in place. The screw head is fairly thick, and protrudes a little so you can use your fingers to unscrew it if you’re strong enough. Actually, the buckle on the head strap works just as well too. They have cleverly designed it so that one side of the buckle is flatter (thinner) and you can insert it into the slot in the screw to open the battery cover.

Now that we’ve worked out how to open the darn thing, you should be able to access the battery compartment to remove or replace the batteries! On the door of the battery compartment there is a thin rubber o-ring surrounding it, which when closed properly, would provide a certain amount of water resistance. After all, the light is advertised as “Waterproof to 1 Metre”, which I have no qualms in believing… so far.

Functions:

Using the light is simple, 1st click gives you High (100%), 2nd gives you Medium (50%), 3rd click gives you Low (25%) and the 4th click produces what I would call an ‘Emergency light’, which blinks continuously. The 5th click, well… guess what, turns the light off. However, once you get to the desired mode, leave the light on for more than 4 seconds or so, then clicking the switch again will turn it off immediately.

The runtime according to the manufacturer’s specifications are as follows:
Mode Runtime (Hours)
High 2.0 + 4.5
Medium 9.5 + 3
Low 44.0 + 16

The first figure shows the number of hours the light will run on regulated mode, followed by number of hours of usable light. So for example on high, it will run 2 hours constant brightness (regulated) before dropping ‘out of regulation’ and will run at a dimmer output for another 4.5 hours with the output gradually dimming till zero. These are, of course manufacturer specifications, but according to my personal usage and also some other reviewers, the runtime is quite realistic. However, the figures do not indicate how long it’ll last on the Emergency mode, but I’m guessing pretty long…

Other mentionables:

On the Princeton Tec website, there are accessories for the EOS as well, in particular for attaching the light to your bike. Unfortunately, upon enquiring, they do not sell the bike attachment separately. That means you have to buy either the headlamp or the bike lamp. Essentially, they are the same, except for the clip or the cloth strap.

Personally, I have the headlamp version, which I have used countless times for biking/hiking/camping. When I do want to use it for biking, I get a strip of Velcro and strap it onto my helmet, and it works well enough.

Biking:

On the road: It works well enough to light up about 3-5 metres ahead of you, provided that there is no ‘light pollution’ (street lamps, etc) around. I would normally strap it to my helmet, but one can also wear it as a headlamp to fit right under the front of the helmet, either way its good enough not just to see, but to be seen by drivers, or other bikers. Just look in the direction and the light do the rest.

Off (the) road: I would say that its just sufficient for biking off road at night, provided that you aren’t planning on flying down those downhills as you would normally during the day. Too much spot and not enough sidespill, as I’ve mentioned, so might have to strain your eyes a bit to spot your lines in the trail. But will definitely be better and brighter than the China-made 3 led headlamps!!

Conclusions:

Overall, it is a very well made headlamp. Wearing it and using it for its intended purpose (headlamp… duh….) is indeed very comfortable, mostly due to its weight (or lack of) and the thick, soft strap. The brightness levels are very good, especially on High, although the runtime of 2 hours regulated leaves more to be desired. I would imagine that using the light on Medium most of the time would be more than sufficient, occasionally switching over to High mode for spotting further distances. On Low its great for close up tasks especially for navigating a campsite, reading, moving about in a tent, etc...

To sum up, I would give the EOS a 4.5 stars out of 5, 0.5 short of a perfect 5 stars - only because the beam gives too much spot and not as much ‘sidespill’. When hiking, biking or running on the trail, its good to have sufficient sidespill to see what’s around the spotted area that you’re pointing the light at. Apart from that, I love the light for its weight and brightness. This is a must have for campers/bikers/hikers alike. Good stuff from Princeton Tec!!

-Stanawi

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