Zebralights - How Tough Are They?

[Brian]

*****

 

[huntsman22]

You won't have any complaints...... good gear.

 

[nflesher]

I have two and love them both. The headlamp is tough as nails so far and has been beat up a good bit with no issues. The little flashlight is probably one of the best things I ever bought for hunting, working, and general use. The thing is bright and gets used a lot. I highly recommend them.

 

[huntsman22]

I lost a headlight 2 years ago during antelope season. Found it this fall during first deer season. The headband was bleached out, but still elastic. The rubber lightholder deallie was a little cracked, but still sound. The battery was dead. As soon as I slapped a new batt in, everything worked like new. I liked the headlight so much, that when I lost it I bought 2 replacements and 2 flashlights. Sold off all my Surefire stuff......

 

[Lockster]

2 years sitting in the elements is a decent amount of time, they are great gear, i've got three

 

[FreeRange]

Not sure if they're supposed to be waterproof but I was wearing one on my head paddling my kayak out through big surf in the dark and rolled it and ended up swimming a few hundred yards. Thought it was a goner but it survived a lot of dunks. Not to mention 3 years in the field and at work crawling around it attics. Love mine.

 

[bowtech3dhunter]

They are a great little light. VERY bright. My only complaint about them is battery life. Even with a lithium batteries they don't last long.

 

[jeffpg]

I like mine and it appears to be plenty tough, but the battery life is not good at all.

The exact same battery in my Fenix will last a whole, whole lot longer and the Fenix has a built in charger. Durability seems to be good on both.

I like the Zebra, but I love the Fenix.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[stratofisher]

Mine has been rock solid. Battery life is pretty long as long as you have it on a lower setting than super bright. I never run on the super bright.

 

[N2TRKYS]

My only complaint is you have to have the thing on a brighter setting to be able to see while walking through the woods. Of course, that kills the battery.

 

[MontanaMarine]

I've got one of the H600w II. Uses the 18650 battery. Love it. On the lower powers it is plenty bright, lasts a long time, and doesn't care how cold it is.

 

[Lockster]

I've got one of the H600w II. Uses the 18650 battery. Love it. On the lower powers it is plenty bright, lasts a long time, and doesn't care how cold it is.

Yup, great light.

I really resisted the rechargable littium headlight as I prefer to have everything run on AA but it is a damn fine light and I can't recall when I've chewed through its battery on a trip so long as I don't go silly with the highest setting.

 

[stratofisher]

Anyone use a field recharger for 18650 battery. Was curious about solar panel and battery pack. I recharge some other electronics with the pack. Just not sure if it would work for an 18650.

 

[Lockster]

I got a single battery recharger that does 18650 lithium, AA NMH as well as AAA. It charges via USB, is ultra small and can be powered by my battery pack in the field.

 

[colonel00]

I have kind of resorted to the solar recharging as only for periphery items. I'll just carry an extra 18650 for my Zebralight which I consider primary gear. That said, I usually bring two headlamps. One Princeton Tec one that has a red LED for around camp and I always keep the Zebralight in my pack. I've just had issues in the past where I'm in a hurry to leave camp in the morning and somehow leave my headlamp only to really need it later. It's redundant but there are some things I'd rather have redundancy on than not have at all.

 

[Lockster]

I put headlamp on the redundancy list too, my H600 goes in my pack and is my camp light but my H52 sits in my emergency belt kit that is on my belt whenever I'm in the field.

 

[rbljack]

I got a single battery recharger that does 18650 lithium, AA NMH as well as AAA. It charges via USB, is ultra small and can be powered by my battery pack in the field.

Can you include more info on this charger you are using...thanks!

 

[Lockster]

Sure, I couldn't remember the details so I just dragged it out of my pack.

it is the Klarus CH1, it can charge lithium batteries between 10440 and 26650. Will also do Ni-MH from AAA-C sized.

it is the only one that I could find at the time that :

charged from USB port
charged Li-ion
charged Ni-MH

Its only about 2 inches long and has led lights to indicate if it is charging and when it is full.

It also had another feature listed that I have never used, but apparently you can use charged batteries in it as a tiny power bank, so if you had a charged 18650 for example and you needed to charge your phone you could potentially do so using the phones charger cable plugged into the USB port on the battery charger, it just offers a few more options I guess.

ETA: review

KLARUS CH1, smart charger with power bank function

 

[cornfedkiller]

My only complaint is you have to have the thing on a brighter setting to be able to see while walking through the woods. Of course, that kills the battery.

Which light do you have? I have the H600Fw, and when walking in the timber in the dark, I generally have mine on either the 28 lumen setting (I think that's what I have my M2 set to?) and thats rated at 66 hours.

At the very most, I use the 61 lumen setting and that has a runtime of 30 hours.