LED Module

Have you ever bought new gear and as the friendly cashier was swiping your card had the sneaking suspicion that you were actually wasting your money? This is how graveyards of useless and inappropriate gear are born. I can only blame temporary insanity caused by the blinding shine and promise of flash new gear. :-(

So, after that preamble, here's my opinion of the Princeton Tec LED module:

I purchased this fine item so that I could take advantage of LED technology with my Princeton Tec Solo headlamp, which has served me very well over the years. The LED module may promise you excellent burn time, but the unfortunate down-side is that the light output is so pathetic that you'd struggle to tell your arse from your elbow on a full-moon night.

This was confirmed on a recent night-time outing into the hills, where I was downclimbing some reasonably technical and exposed terrain while powered by Princeton Tec LED module. As opposed to previous outings with other headlamp technology, this time I constantly had the feeling that I was only getting half the picture. This was not a LED vs. incandescent bulb issue, because I know the route I was on well and was merely trying to find hand- and footholds.

I have subsequently compared the light output of the Princeton Tec LED module with that of the Petzl Tikka, which has the same number of LEDs, and have been astonished at the difference. The Princeton Tec LED module seems only about half as bright!

This LED module is, by the way, the same one that is used in the Princeton Tec Matrix, so I would be equally suspicious of that headlamp.

Caveat emptor.

P.S. I have in the meantime "upgraded" to the Petzl Tikka and consigned the Princeton Tec LED module to that gear graveyard.

I bought this module to put in my Solo and it never worked, period. When I took it back to REI, both the store clerk and I tried it in several Solo's and then tried other modules in solo's and none of them worked either. There is some subtle difference between the solo and the matrix. From what I can tell this is a replacement element for the Matrix ( which you should never need... ) not an upgrade for the Solo. From the other review it sounds like that even if it does work, it doesn't work correctly.

I have since bought a Matrix and I am pretty happy with it.

I've been using this product for years now and couldn't disagree with the other two reviews more! I upgraded my PT Quest with this (making it essentially a PT Matrix). Unlike a lot of other LED lights on the market even today, this version features voltage control meaning that your light produces a nearly continuously bright beam over it's entire life. Also the voltage regulation means it more efficiently extracts power from your batteries extending battery life when compared with a more conventional LED unit. The downside to the voltage regulation is that, when the batteries finally drop below a usable level, the light goes from full brightness to nothing in under a minute. If you're on rope (as I was), this can be exciting!



I found the module to produce a uniform, even beam without bright spots or other annoying features. It's great for night hiking and around camp. Not quite sufficient for serious caving or night cycling, but you won't find a 2-AA headlamp that is in either case.



That said, this is definitely old technology as we're looking down the barrel of 2005. Much more powerful LEDs are now on the market with much smaller housings. The field is changing so fast at the moment that current LEDs are obsolete almost as soon as you can buy them. My current pick for general-purpose LED headlamp is the Petzl Tikka Plus; Petzl has learned several lessons from the PT Aurora and improved it's inexplicably popular Tikka into something which actually is good. But just wait! Christmas '05 will bring a whole new breed of lamps which will make the current generation look clunky and old by comparison.