Fenix HP35R 4000 Lumen USB-C Rechargeable Headlamp, with Spotlight, Floodlight and red Light for Search and Rescue, Outdoor use, Emergencies, and More

An HR35R Review by a User Who Wore Out Its Predecessor, the HR30R v2 After 14 months of 10-hour workdays in color inspection, often in hazardous environmental conditions. --- Pluses of the HR35R: ** Best headlamp to date for real daily, serious job use [without building it yourself], with no serious competition. ** Awesome color rendering, at least in this year's model. ** Disciplined beam that exactly—and, more importantly, efficiently—matches the human eye's cones and rods. This makes the beam seem much, much brighter and finally allows us to get a full working day at serious brightness without stopping to change the batteries, even if you work over 12 or 13 hours, as I sometimes do. (Typically, 10 hours of runtime is needed.) ** Great battery source, which is state-of-the-art. ** 7.2V battery that allows a 92–95% efficient buck driver, unlike the standard 3.7V which can only become a 70% efficient CC driver of single-cell lights—meaning hours and hours of more runtime just because of the 20% driver juice savings. ** Comfortable enough and balanced on the head, which can't be said of any single-cell right-angle light. ** The chosen setting for spot and flood is well-tuned to avoid killing runtime while adding just enough flood to boost the deep warm colors and a tiny bit of brighter feeling. The spot already has lots of wide spill on its own. ** The battery pack cord is a standard 2.5x5mm and easy to make inexpensively. ** Fenix allegedly offers a 1-year warranty. ** It and its HR30R predecessor are the only headlamps with a shaped and disciplined flood—bright enough and with enough battery to back up the insane juice needed for flood. This makes the HR35R and its predecessor, the HR30R v2 (2S1850), the first flood headlamps I’ve used beyond walking to the bathroom since I started using LED headlamps in 2005. ** This headlamp has a rear back-of-the-head red light and would make the ultimate bike light for sure! ** No fire hazard with this year’s model’s flood, unlike the HR30R v2, whose TIR lenses burned into my bedsheets twice after I forgot to turn off the high flood and set it face-down while I ran into the bathroom for only a minute. No such danger in the HR35R. ** They don’t mention AR glass or high CRI, but it appears to have both features. ** Unlike the HR30R v2, the HR35R has a noticeable proximity sensor for turbo mode, which throttles if the light is too close—avoiding blinding and preventing accidental fires from the intense hotspot. ** Obviously, it’s well-built and thought out, with efficient drivers, heat sinking, glass lenses, etc. ** I verified the lux and lumens listed on the spec sheets. And so, I still trust the Fenix lux and lumen ratings, if not their disastrously incorrect spec sheet runtimes (at least on their 7.2V lights in the past few years). ** Oh, did I mention the disciplined beam, the beautiful color, and finally having a full bright workday without having to stop, clean up, travel to the base area, and change the battery? LOL. --- Downsides (that I hate to mention, because of the importance of the upsides): ** I really miss the separate control of the flood and spot that its predecessor had. This allowed more useful settings like a double low or mid flood plus low spot for runtime and better flood, as well as other mixing settings for better flood applications. ** Fenix should offer buyers a discounted option to buy a backup battery pack, even though the medium setting is 2x brighter than its predecessor and will get you through the day, unlike the HR30R v2. ** They should also offer a pack that fits our own 21700s, like the HR30R pack. ** You will either get years out of it or use it constantly and get your money back many times while wearing it out in something like 15 months. But, I didn’t get any response from Fenix for spare parts or service requests on the HR30R v2 and had to fix it myself. I used electronics not made for the light, as I wore out the rotary switch and cord of the predecessor in about 14 months—or a bit over 2,000 hours of job use—past the 1-year warranty period. ** Warning: The stated runtimes are wrong and mathematically impossible (since LEDs are 200 lumens per watt when underdriven <350mA 3.5V/175 LPW when 700mA 3.7V driven, and closer to 140 LPW, at best, when driven above 1 amp 3.7V). The spec sheet is only correct for the low runtime and the lumens and lux, which you can trust. However, for both the HR30R and the HR35R, figure roughly half the runtime of the spec sheet (6.66 hr on high, 13.5 hr on mid). For the HR35R, expect 12 hr on mid spot and flood. Fenix did not do any runtime testing again—unlike myself—and is electricity-illiterate. (The battery pack is 5,000mAh at 7.4V, not 10,000mAh at 7.4V, which is the source of the Chinese math mistake that Fenix has no desire to fix, since the spec sheet incorrect longer runtimes sell more lights.) ** The real runtime math: The battery pack may be called 10,000mAh on the box for better comparison with other lights, but in reality, it’s 5,000mAh, or 4,800 (times 90% driver efficiency) at the 7.2V configuration (which is a superior voltage for driver efficiency). For example, the 350-lumen setting, at 7.2V, uses 2 watts or 350mA for each 5,000mAh cell (in reality, 4,750mAh ÷ 350 = 13.5 hr on the mid setting of 2 watts of 350 lumens output). It will be 6.66 hours on high (4,750 ÷ 720mA draw on each of the two cells at the same time). I wrote many letters about the incorrect runtime on the HR30R v2 spec sheet, but apparently, they didn’t forward my letters or voicemails up the management chain to the top—or else, Fenix decided to continue the error, just to sell more lights. --- Other comparisons to last year’s HR30R v2: ** Last year’s HR30R had a horrible spot CRI and temperature, while the HR35R is beautiful and apparently high CRI (color perception is 95% in the center of the eye’s vision). ** I had to change the batteries every day and constantly switch to the lower amperage settings when using last year’s HR30R v2 for work. I found that I hated doing this so much—even though I carried 2 cells dangerously in my tool belt—that I ended up working for hours on the moon mode rather than stopping what I was toiling at. --- My review’s Star rating considerations: ** It’s a 5-star work light, and I hate to discount it even a single star, especially after doing head-to-head comparisons with other headlamps and flashlights—where it stomped other 5-star lights in brightness per watt and color rendering, just for starters. However, it might, in theory, be demoted 1 star for the false runtime claims—not to mention my experience with the lack of post-1-year service and parts for the HR30R. Moreover, they need to offer new HR35R buyers a discounted option for some kind of extra battery pack, as they now leave users on their own if they have range anxiety and want a backup pack for any reason. As a result, either a 5-star or a 4-star rating is appropriate. I am editing back to 5 stars after doing head-to-head comparisons at work! They deserve 5 stars for the design details and improvements in this year’s model—for example, the safety proximity sensor for the turbo mode, the high CRI, the better beam pattern, which finally allows a 12-hour constant-current runtime at an awesome lux up to 2.5 meters from the inspected surface without dropping below 1,000 lux, while offering ample lumen output. --- Other notes: ** The battery pack from the HR30 works on the HR35R. ** They also give us an extra cord we can cut and make into our own 2S1850. ** This uses a standard 12V AC plug size. ** I am all about 1000lux at 2 meters for 10 hour workdays, for optimal set and forget work headlamp use. The HR30R and HR35R converted me from being a spot-only person (due to runtime and lux considerations of previous models) to using the flood for brief periods—like non-visually-intensive tasks such as folding laundry or double-checking my work with a different, albeit less battery-efficient, type of lighting. ** While the HR35R has a beautiful, strong, useful flood, I do miss the separate spot and flood control for certain applications. This is the only thing I miss at least once a day, for about 15 minutes when I get home and moving around the house. ** If you are not interested in runtime, super visual acuity, and are only a flood person due to the type of work you do, I would recommend the HR30R instead of the HR35R due to the separate flood and spot control. But if you need a mix during the day, stick to the HR35R, since the HR30R v2’s spot has horrible tint and less efficient shaping—resulting in only 6.66 hours of runtime, versus the HR35R’s 12–13.5 hours of better beam discipline, keeping the same intensity at half the milliamps.

This thing is awesome. If you can afford it, buy it. You won't be disappointed. I bought this for night time walks looking for our livestock and I am blown away by how bright it gets but then it also stays that bright with very little fade. The battery takes quite a while to charge, but I have used mine several times now and it is still showing full bars. The knob and button function work excellent. No cycling through a bunch of settings to get where you want. Very easy and intuitive.

Brightest headlamp I’ve ever used! This thing basically turns night in to day! several settings means you can dial in the exact amount of light and focus it where you want.

Edit: after using this light I can say that I am disappointed with the way they are now advertising the maximum spotlight runtime. This light still “steps down” presumably based on temp after a few minutes of usage. I was incorrect and based my review on trying out the light when I first got it and not from actual usage. I’m disappointed now that I know better. I wish there was a light like this that would run on spot until the battery died and get away from this “turbo” junk that always quits at the most inopportune moment. I should have read the fine print first. I have been reluctant to step up to a larger headlamp that had a separate battery compartment wired in the way this one is set up out of fear of it being too bulky or heavy. This light only weighs a pound and is significantly brighter than any other single 18650 powered headlamp I’ve ever used. I specifically use this light for navigating a hunting boat in the morning before sunrise. Maximum travel time is approximately 20 minutes, and I always got annoyed with a headlamp that advertised a high turbo output that only lasted a minute or two. This light outputs its maximum intensity for the full battery life. This specification is what put me over the top to go ahead and purchase, and I have not been disappointed so far. I haven’t attempted to measure the maximum distance, but using the light at my front yard and home, I could see the color of the leaves in the tree line 200 yards in front of my house.

For years I messed around with cheap headlamps, and even some I would consider not cheap (<$50) but still relatively affordable. Finally I bit the bullet and decided to invest in this bad boy photon cannon. Oh night, where have you gone??? I am building a house and needed a way to stay productive with the much shorter daylight hours, and I am thrilled with this headlamp. The different combinations of light beam (spot vs flood vs combined) are excellent. I can easily frame at night and clearly see my materials and tools. And the headlamp construction is such that I don't have to worry about dirt, rain, or any other elements damaging the light. Of course there is more mass than a typical cheap headlamp, but I find the adjustable headband to be comfortable and honestly I forget that it is on my head even after several hours of use. The battery recharges reasonably fast and has a very helpful charge indicator light. I did also invest in a small pelican hard case to store and transport the headlamp so that I can chuck it in the truck and not worry about scratching the lens. 10/10 recommend this light if you want a quality headlamp that will get the job done!

I purchased the FENIX HP35R headlamp less than two months ago and could not be more disappointed. After only a few uses, the battery stopped holding a charge. I charged it overnight several times, and it now won’t power on at all. For a product that costs over $260, this is completely unacceptable. What makes the situation worse is the lack of support. There is no direct customer service number, and the company provides no meaningful way to get assistance. When I contacted FENIX directly, they redirected me to the wholesale seller, and I still have not received any response regarding a refund or replacement. This headlamp has become completely useless, and based on my experience, I cannot recommend this product to anyone. There are many other reliable headlamps on the market with better performance and far better reputations. I strongly suggest staying away from this one.

What an awesome headlamp. It lights up the night better than a street light

This headlamp is almost like having the sun at night. The highest setting on the flood, direct beam, or combination of the two illuminates a significant field of view in front, to the sides, and even a portion slightly behind your field of view. The battery pack holds a charge for several hours. The lowest settings also give you just enough light to see but not enough to be invasive or make you too visible of you want to use it for hunting situations when walking to a location in the dark. Unfortunately, this does not have a red-light setting for the front beam; hence the 4-star rating. The rear battery pack does have the option to have the very small four-dot light bar illuminate as red, but that's probably more for a search and rescue feature so that those behind you can track your location if they are following. Just make sure to turn this off if you don't want that feature functioning. It is a bit heavy on the head because of the battery pack, but that's the tradeoff for a long-lasting battery. The middle strap does help prevent sagging, and the straps are adjustable for head size. The glass light cover seems a bit fragile. It hasn't broken, but I've been extra cautious when storing it by wrapping a small towel around it and then putting it in a small dry bag. This is not an inexpensive headlamp, but the quality is excellent and you get what you pay for.