Princeton Tec Apex 3 watt LED Headlamp

I have this headlamp and it is great. I don't know what the reviewer who wrote the scathing review about battery life is talking about. I use my APEX PRO on both spot and flood and it last many hours on a set of batteries (AA). Sturdy, good controls, easily cleaned, hard to get dirty, and bright enough to be useful (unlike many led headlamps). If I only had one headlamp this would be the one because it does it all. As useful as a flashlight in terms of brightness at less than 15 feet and hands free. I have smaller and lighter headlamps but they are also dim at less than arms length. Yes this headlamp is heavier and less comfortable than the lighter ones but it is bright enough and last a long time.

I've used the Princeton Tec Aurora (3 leds on 3 AAA batteries) for several years for camping, house wiring, running in the dark. It accidentally went through the wash last month so I took it apart, dried it out, and it works fine!
I needed a brighter headlamp for running so I tried the Apex. I've been using the included alkaline batteries mostly on the low, 3W led setting for two weeks (~4 hours total). The battery indicator is still green!. It fits comfortably and securely and I got used to the weight of it quickly.
This headlamp has a lifetime warranty, excellent documentation, and is brighter than I thought it would be. Oncoming vehicles actually switch off their high-beams and cross to the opposite lane when they encounter my bright light and that makes me feel safer.

I am an angler and frequently fish at night. The headlight is versatile, having 5 different lighting modes which allow rod,tackle and the immediate location illumination with good battery economy.

this is my first pro level headlamp.

I am currently using it for night time trail running. for that setting I am using the high setting 3 watt led. that lasts just under two hours on two AA batts. for running fire roads I use the high setting on the small LEDs and it works fine.

its only been used in dry weather thus far, so I cant comment on its waterproof qualities. the battery compartment seems to have a solid seal at the o-ring.

this is very well constructed and though it aint light, its comfortable to wear for a 1 1/2 hour run over a skull cap.

this is money well spent compared to the crap previously owned and discarded after failure. a thoughtful design and quality build.

the spot is bright enough that I might take it along on night bike rides as a backup if my main helmet light fails.
you wont bomb any trails with it but it will get you home at a decent pace.

fini

You may wonder why this headlamp is priced so high. First, the head lamp is built of high quality. The lamp, the belts, and the battery box all give you a solid feeling. This is in contrast with the headlamps that are more than half cheaper. Second, it has features that are often omitted in the cheaper ones. It has a regulated circuit that provides constant light (will say more about this later). It has a battery meter that displays battery capacity in 3 colors. It uses something called collimator that makes light into parallel rays. It accepts rechargeable batteries besides the more common alkaline ones. It has a heatsink attached to dissipate heat. In my opinion, these features are worth the money.

I use the head lamp for bridge fishing. The wide beam is bright enough to light up areas around me. I can easily spot things within 10 meters of range. This is usually how far I spread out the fishing rods and other things. When use it up close, I have no trouble tying knots, removing hooks from fish, and things that need close examination. The feature I like most is the focused beam. It shoots about 15 feet down the bridge on to a spot that's about 5 feet wide. Even at the low power mode, I can easily check out what fish is hooked or see where the current is flowing. These were impossible with two other headlamps that I owned.

Remember that nothing is perfect. If you are expecting long battery time, you might be disappointed. Unfortunately, one reviewer is correct. The regulated, constant light only lasts 1 hour for high-power narrow beam, 9 hours for low-power narrow beam, 8.5 hours for high-power wide beam (flood light), and 14 hours for low-power wide beam. After that, the light is not constant any more. It goes down as the batteries go down. They claim, for example, low flood light lasts 150 hours. But it ends at the point where there is only 0.25 lux at 2 meters and o.25 lux is equivalent to a full moon on a clear night. How long does the light remain useful after it is out of regulation is unknown. These numbers are on alkaline batteries. If you use NiMH or lithium batteries, you get more hours. On lithium batteries, the burn times are now 4.5, 12, 14, 50 hours respectively. They don't provide data on NiMH batteries, which I use. This seems never a problem for me. I usually use the narrow beam in low mode for minutes and the wide beam also in low for hours. These two modes are bright enough for my purposes and they last long enough to cover one fishing trip (i.e. one night).