Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby JR-Orion » May 4, 2011 3:27 pm

Nice review, thanks. I've been looking to upgrade my backup light and will check out the Fenix. Heck, sounds like it is brighter than my main light (Petzel Spelios).

For what it's worth, the new Eneloops are rated at 1500 recharges instead of 1000. Quite impressive either way, if you ask me. More info on the 1500 models vs the 1000 here-

http://www.eneloop.info/home/the-new-im ... eloop.html
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby pub » May 4, 2011 6:32 pm

JR-Orion wrote:For what it's worth, the new Eneloops are rated at 1500 recharges instead of 1000. Quite impressive either way, if you ask me. More info on the 1500 models vs the 1000 here- http://www.eneloop.info/home/the-new-im ... eloop.html

Thanks for the info. My question is it's worth; will the price increase for the new model?
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby Marduke » May 4, 2011 9:33 pm

pub wrote:
JR-Orion wrote:For what it's worth, the new Eneloops are rated at 1500 recharges instead of 1000. Quite impressive either way, if you ask me. More info on the 1500 models vs the 1000 here- http://www.eneloop.info/home/the-new-im ... eloop.html

Thanks for the info. My question is it's worth; will the price increase for the new model?


Same price
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby JR-Orion » Aug 26, 2011 1:24 pm

So I finally go to get a HP10 and they were in the middle of switching over to the HP11. Since Amazon was still selling the 10, I decided to go with the tried and true older model. The HP10 was $60 and had 70 reviews and a 4.7 out of 5 star total rating. The new HP11 only had two reviews, a 5 star and a 1 star. We'll see how it does.
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby YuccaPatrol » Aug 26, 2011 8:47 pm

I'm sitting here playing with my Fenix HP-10 tonight as i set up a new helmet for loaner use. Until now, I've only tested this headlamp in the backyard and carried it in my pack as a backup. Before tonight, I never paid much attention to it other than the fact that I was impressed with the brightness of the spot beam it has. But it is lacking flood pretty significantly. To simulate what you are likely to see with this mounted on a helmet, flatten your hands and place your thumbs on your temples with your fingers pointing upwards. This comes pretty close to matching the beam pattern of the HP10. You lose a significant amount of peripheral vision, but the trade off is that you get a really nice spot beam.

To provide a bit of flood light for lighting up my immediate area, I mounted a Zebralight H50 under the Fenix. The Zebralight is nothing but flood light and so these two lights compliment each other really well. I'll have to try some of the creative diffuser solutions people have come up with the get a bit more flood out of the HP-10
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby JR-Orion » Sep 16, 2011 9:26 am

Mounted the HP10 above my Duo14 and stepped outside last night. Wow at the spot when sent to max (225 lumens). That light is bright, and really shines far. Very impressive. The flood is a little on the low side though. Looks like it should be enough to light your feet and navigate by.

The HP10 light pattern is really different from the 14 LED array I've been using for two years. Since the HP10 is fairly small, I currently have both mounted. Flip on the 14 and the 10 and I'll have the best of both worlds (flood and spot).

Heading out for a cave trip this weekend, so we'll see how my new HP10 does.
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby Chads93GT » Sep 16, 2011 9:32 am

Ever since the HP20 came out, I had the HP20 mounted on top and the HP10 mounted below. The HP20 is much brighter than the 10, but the 10 has never failed me. The HP11's that my friends have are now the best of both, the felxible and large head unit of the 20, with the power buttons on it like the 10, and a better battery case than both (the 10 is hard to open with muddy hands). I trashed out 1 hp10 though from use, the selector button went bad, but its never went bad from water. You will enjoy the light, but the diffuser that you can get for the 10 is a piece of junk and a waste of time. It wears out and geos bad after a few uses.
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby JR-Orion » Sep 16, 2011 9:39 am

Yeah, I was kind of torn on going with the old HP10 or the new HP11. I'll be trying the light out at Coldwater Cave, so my 10 will probably getting splashed and dripped on. Will only get fully submerged if I trip or locate an unexpected deep spot. :) What have you heard on the waterproof abilities of the 10 vs the 11?

-edit- sounds like you beat the hell out of your 10 in some river caves, and it did well with all that water, right?
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby Chads93GT » Sep 16, 2011 12:07 pm

Yes, most of us went to the 10's due to the failure rate of the apex while surveying in rivers. As far as I know, the 11 is just as waterproof. The 20 is waterproof as well, its just not a practical caving head lamp, some of us simply made it work. none of the guys with 10's that i know have had one fail due to water.
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby Mudduck » Sep 16, 2011 12:08 pm

I've beat the crap out of mine. As a test once, I left it 3feet underwater in a stream on my property for a few days , no problems whatsoever
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby JR-Orion » Sep 22, 2011 2:34 pm

Little review of my new HP10-

The spotlight is insane. Quite bright and boy does it ever reach way out there into the distance. I was bringing up the rear and it was really neat to be able to see that far down the passage. The light has four modes, I ran it in a mix of 225 lumens (2.5 hours runtime according to the specs) and 120 lumens (7.5 hours). Mostly 120 as 2.5 hours just isn't long enough to be useful. Still, I'm glad that the 225 option is there if you want to check up a dome or way down a side passage.

The flood / spill is not as good as what I'm used to (Duo 14). When I ran the HP10 alone, the light didn't hit my feet as well as I'd like. The light circle from the flood has a sharp, distinct cutoff, if that makes sense. In fact I got a bit of tunnel vision- everything outside of the flood circle is dark. As opposed to the Duo 14 which just spills out all over.

The small buttons on the HP10 are not easy to hit with 5mm wetsuit gloves on. Probably less of an issue for people wearing normal caving gloves.

Running the Duo 14 and the HP10 at once turned out to be amazing. The best of both worlds. Epic spotlight and really nice flood / spill.

I bought the 10 to be one of my backup lights, but in big passage, running both at once is pretty sweet. And if my 14 dies underground and I do have to use the 10 to continue the trip, the flood might not be as good as I like, but it will get the job done. I'm a happy customer.
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby Cody JW » Sep 22, 2011 3:12 pm

JR, If you already have The Duo and the 14 insert for the same $$$ you could of got a Custom Duo insert and have the spot ( over 300 Lumen) and glow at the same time and still have the 14 insert on the other side. This insert has two bulbs that run at the same time and screws into the halogen side of The Duo . The reflector base has a cut out that will allow you to still use the 14 or 8 or 5 insert on the other side. I have the CD1003 and love it, spot and glow at the same time and is just as efficient as The HP-10. I also have The HP-10 and just use it on pits where light around my feet is not important. The spot on The HP-10 is hard to beat for the same or similar money.
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby JR-Orion » Sep 28, 2011 3:03 pm

I've always meant to get one of those Custom Duo inserts, and probably will eventually. Might as well put something useful on the halogen side. :) But in this case I needed a totally separate helment mounted light to use as a backup.
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby Chads93GT » Nov 3, 2011 7:39 pm

New thoughts on the HP10 and HP20.

Ever since I bought the HP20 and hard mounted it to my helmet, with the hp10 mounted underneath, I was hoping lighter weight lights that were just as bomb proof would come out.

At the tag fall cave in I removed my HP20 from my helmet and put it on my wife's for the Wilkson HOllow Horror Hole. Before we were even out of the daylight the hp20 was shorting out on here. The orange and blue buttons on the cord were lit up, but the head unit itself was flickering off and on. I found out that moving the wire going into the battery pack was causing a short, which was knocking out the head lamp. $100, and im pissed.

Recently I talked and posted about photos I took in the Rimstone River Cave System in Perry County, Missouri, and how well the new Spark 500 lumen lamp held up. I still had my hP10 hard mounted at this time. A week later after not paying attention to the helmet or the hp10, i noticed the inside of the lense was fogged up with condensation, and in recent weeks, the selector switch on the HP10 quit working.

I just sent them both back to 4sevens as that is where I bought them. They are going to fix them under warranty; however, I responded to that email saying that if the inside of the hp10 is corroded that i would take a hp11 in exchange, since they dont make the hp10 anymore. I also said that I use the lamps caving and that the hp20 is a horrible caving head lamp. I said I would take the $30 loss and take a hp11 in exchange instead of a new hp20 as well. WE will see how that turns out. I still plan on buying the new 750l zebra light so I wouldnt even be using the hp11s personally but it will be nice to have kick ass spares for non cavers that I take on the brutal 5 mile door to door trips in missouri every so often.
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Re: Thoughts on the Fenix Hp-10

Postby DeanWiseman » Nov 3, 2011 8:37 pm

Chads93GT wrote:I still plan on buying the new 750l zebra light so I wouldnt even be using the hp11s personally but it will be nice to have kick ass spares for non cavers that I take on the brutal 5 mile door to door trips in missouri every so often.


Thanks for the info. I have my money down on an H600... but now it's just "On Backorder." No date. :down:
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