Light and Bright - The Princeton Tec Scout Only Lacks Extended Battery Life
Written: Sep 01 '05
Product Rating:
Pros: Very light and compact, Can be clipped on almost anything
Cons: Lack of extended battery life reduces usefulness for some activities
The Bottom Line: Between its small size and ability to clip onto almost anything, the Scout is handy to have around, but its short battery life does limit its usefulness
jps246's Full Review: Princeton Tec Scout Led Headlamp
If you’re looking for an inexpensive and inconspicuous new headlamp, you should check out Princeton Tec’s Scout LED Headlamp. This small headlamp offers the powerful, bright white light of two LEDs and the ability to be clipped onto almost anything. Thus the Scout can go from being on its strap, to being clipped to your hat in almost no time.
It makes it a very handy little headlamp that provides a lot of versatility for different situations. The best part is that you’ll find the Scout for around $20 in most outdoor gear stores.
The only real drawback I can see on the Scout is the somewhat short battery life. This is not a headlamp you’re going to want to take night hiking – as you’ll be replacing the batteries after each night of use. Instead, the Scout is a perfect lamp to have with you when backpacking and just need short durations of illumination at night.
Headlamp Basics
When you open up your Scout, it looks like most other LED headlamps out there. The lamp itself is quite small (about 2 ½ inches wide, 2 inches high and a little over an inch thick) and only weighs in at 1.6 ounces. The lamp consists of two LEDs, one placed directly over the other, along with a small body hosting the 4 coin cell batteries that run the headlamp. The lamp is attached to a stretchable and adjustable strap. Because the lamp is so light, there’s no need for the over the head strap familiar on other larger headlamps. This makes the Sport quick and easy to put on and take off.
The niftiest feature of the Scout though isn’t its bright LED technology, or its lightweight nature – it’s the fact that the Scout can be removed from its strap and clipped onto almost anything. The clip is also hinged, so the direction of the beam can be changed once you’ve clipped the lamp onto whatever you’re using (it can also be adjusted while you have the lamp on the strap).
There are three levels of brightness for the Scout, which as you probably guessed it are high, medium and low. The high setting produces an intense white light that should be able to brighten up even the darkest places. With the medium setting you cut some of the brightness out, but most people should be comfortable walking around using this setting. On the low setting, there is light, but the bright area does not extend nearly as far and it would be difficult to walk far with the Scout on this setting. It’s best if you just need a bit of light, but don’t want to light up the night.
The Scout is waterproof and shockproof. The LEDs themselves are pretty much indestructible when it comes to normal use. They aren’t affected by shocks or impacts and should never need to be replaced. This makes the Scout very durable – I wouldn’t drive over it – but under normal conditions, this lamp should last for a very long time.
Battery life in the Scout is decent for something this size and with such small batteries. You can expect about 5 hours of use for each set of batteries that you put into the Scout. Generally I’ve found it will last through several camping trips – as I only tend to use a headlamp around camp and am not walking for long distances with the headlamp on. If you used it for nighttime hiking, you would be replacing the batteries after almost every night of using it – depending upon the length of the hike.
Experiences
I always seem to be able to find the presents for friends and family that I will eventually end up using. I had gotten the Scout for my partner because he needed some sort of headlamp for the times when we were out camping. I didn’t want to get him anything too expensive or complicated, as he wouldn’t be using it much and all we needed was light to see around camp.
So while earning more of a dividend at REI, I found the Scout and thought that it would be perfect for him. It was small, light and was more than bright enough for what he needed. Plus he wouldn’t be night hiking and the somewhat short battery life wouldn’t be an issue for him.
That’s how it started – now the Scout always seems to be in my backpack, even when the boyfriend isn’t around. It hasn’t replaced my headlamp, but I do carry it a lot on daytrips when there’s a chance I’ll be stuck in the dark and on camping trips because I find it really hand to clip onto the tent while sleeping – so when you wake up at night and need light – it’s easy to reach up and flick it on. You don’t have to shuffle and ruffle through everything looking for the light you had put next to your sleeping bag.
The biggest drawback really is the battery life – but it is to be expected with such a small lamp that uses such small batteries. If you want to go light – you’ll have to deal with the limited battery life. As it is – I can make it through several trips before the batteries need to be replaced, so for me, it was an acceptable trade-off. If you’re looking for battery life, definitely look at a different lamp – but if you want to be as light as possible, the Scout is a worthy contender.
Final Thoughts
If you are more focused on lightness than on battery life, the Princeton Tec Scout headlamp is definitely worth considering. What it lacks in extended battery life, it makes up in small size and light weight. If you are more concerned with an extended battery life, then you really should look elsewhere.
The Scout offers the handy feature of detaching from its strap and being able to clip onto almost anything – this is the main reason I end up taking it with me on almost every camping trip.
Overall I’ve been happy with the Scout. Our use is mostly limited to short duration use around camp, thus the shorter battery life of the Scout hasn’t been much of an issue. When you’re only using the light for maybe ½ an hour or so each night – the length of time the lamp will work on a single set of batteries can be spread out quite well.
I’d recommend the Scout for anyone who is looking for a lightweight and versatile headlamp, but not for someone who is looking for a lamp with extended battery life. Between its small size and the ability to clip onto almost anything, the Scout is a handy lamp to have around, but its short battery life does limit its usefulness when it comes to nighttime hiking or other extended nighttime use.
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