Fenix HM65R Headlamp Review

The Fenix HM65R headlamp has dual emitters and USB-C charging, which is a nice bonus.  Read on for more thoughts and testing!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Fenix HM65R Headlamp product page.

Versions

There’s only one version of the HM65R.

Price

MSRP is listed at $120, but the street price looks to be around $94.95.

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Short Review

I like this light.  It’s comfortable and has good output from both emitters.  I like that they can be used concurrently or separately.  USB-C charging is nice.  I also like that the whole light device can be disconnected from the headband fairly easily.

Long Review

The Big Table

Fenix HM65R
Emitter:	Cree XM-L2 U2 white, XP-G2 R5 neutral white LED
Price in USD at publication time:	$94.95
Cell:	1×18650
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Warning
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (A):	0.00001
On-Board Charging?	Yes
Chargetime
Power off Charge Port with no Cell?	Yes, one mode for each emitter, with or without cell.
Claimed Lumens (lm)	1400 (1000 from throw, 400 from flood)
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	974 (69.4% of claim)^
Claimed Throw (m)	163
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	280lux @ 4.307m = 5194cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	144.1 (88.4% of claim)^
Item provided for review by:	Fenix
All my Fenix reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer:  Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.

What’s Included

• Fenix HM65R Headlamp with strap (attached)
• Fenix ARB-18-3500 18650
• Spare o-ring
• Charge cable (USB to USB-C)
• Manual and paperwork

Package and Manual

This light has standard Fenix color on the package, but the package itself is plastic – unlike the other Fenix lights I’ve reviewed recently.

Also unlike the others, this little battery indicator must be broken off, it can’t just slide off.

The manual is good.  Plenty of pics, etc.

 

Build Quality and Disassembly

There won’t be much disassembly of this light, so this is more of a build quality and general commentary on using the light.

Generally build quality is very good.  I like the headband quite a bit.  More on the headband later, though.

Both of the tailcaps seen below have knurling for grip, but only one of them unscrews.  That’s not a problem except it’d be fine to have only one knurled, to differentiate them and make it easy to know which end to unscrew.  Another point on unscrewing the tailcap – it’s difficult, due to how close the headband, etc is to the cap.  Hard to grip in there to unscrew it.

 

The end that does unscrew is very much labeled, though.

The plastic housing has a bit of a cover, which shields the switches when the light is in the fully pushed-back position.  This could be useful.  It only half-covers the switches, though.  They’re still accessible.

On the back of the body is the charge port.  There are no other features here and no extra heat sinking.

The switches are labeled with flood and throw icons.

Below you can see how covered the switches are by the plastic Fenix logo.

And this is how far the light will rotate downward.

The tailcap threads are short, so don’t require a ton of twisting, but the plastic base for the headmount does get in the way.

Also to note in the photo below: it’s possible to remove the light from the strap.  But kind of specific:  Remove the tailcap, then that little o-ring.  Then the light will slide off the plastic collar.  The other end keeps the collar, and there’s a little part that slides off of the headmount.  Then the light can be used separately from the strap.  From the photo below, the light retains the plastic collar on the left, which includes a bit of a foot of sorts.  Unfortunately, the light can’t be positioned with this in a way that it’ll stay at some certain angle- that part rotates freely when disconnected from the strap.

There’s a spring on the tailcap end.

The positive end has only a button.

The body is silkscreened with (among other things) a logo indicating cell orientation.  The positive terminal of the cell goes into the light.

Size and Comps

Officially:

Length: 80.5mm
Width: 55mm
Height: 40mm

Weight: 97g excluding battery

This isn’t a big light, and it rides well on the headband.  Despite coming off the strap fairly well, I doubt it’s one that you’ll carry in your pocket, though.  It’s really very use-specific.  It’s a headlamp.

And here’s the light beside my custom engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light.  I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.

And here’s the light beside my custom engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light.  I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.

Retention and Carry

The main thing this light is is a headlamp.  There’s a band around the head, and one over, which I don’t believe is removable.  The forehead strap has some grippy parts that keep it in place, and the over-the-head part is fairly adjustable.

I wore this light fairly extensively, and found it to be very comfortable.  The strap is soft and stretchy.  I did not run in it, and I wouldn’t be inclined to call it a running headlamp.

Power and Runtime

The HM65R is powered by a single 18650 cell, and one is included in the package.  It’s a 3500mAh button top 18650.

There’s really only one “short” runtime, and that’s the highest output of the throwy emitter.  It’s claimed as 2 hours, and that seems to be for only the throw.  I performed a runtime with both running on their highest mode.  Even then the output falls quite short of the 1000 lumen claim.  (The 1000 lumen claim is for just the throw emitter, I measured 974 total, using both emitters, which should be 1400 lumens total.)  Temperature faulted during this (and the other) run, but it was at a point when the temperature had already settled anyway.

When the voltage gets low while running the throw emitter (or both) the throw emitter switches off and the flood emitter switches to low.

This was a long runtime, and the light still never shut off.

The light does have an LVP warning.  Between the switches is a blue voltage indicator.  When the voltage hits 2.9, the warning begins.  The light does eventually shut off, but lower than I’d like (2.4ish V on bench power.)

Charging

The HM65R also has built-in charging.  This is via USB-C.

A cable is included – USB to USB-C.

The charge graph looks good – the CC phase is over 1.2A consistently, so charging will be fairly quick for the 3500mAh cell.

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
Turbo (Spotlight)	1000	4h		2.48
High (Spotlight)	400	22h		0.67
Med (Spotlight)	130	42h		0.20
Low (Spotlight)	50	97h		0.10
High (Floodlight)	400	21h		0.90
Med (Floodlight)	130	50h		0.22
Low (Floodlight)	8	300h		0.04
Highest (Floodlight+Spotlight)	1400	–		3.44

Pulse Width Modulation

No PWM is noticed on any mode.  First is the throw emitter.  (Low to Turbo)

And then the flood emitter.  The ripple seen on the higher two modes isn’t PWM, and can’t be seen by my eye.

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor.  Also, here’s the light with the worst PWM I could find.  I’m adding multiple timescales, so it’ll be easier to compare to the test light.  Unfortunately, the PWM on this light is so bad that it doesn’t even work with my normal scale, which is 50 microseconds (50us). 10ms.  5ms.  2ms.  1ms.  0.5ms.  0.2ms.  In a display faster than 0.2ms or so, the on/off cycle is more than one screen, so it’d just (very incorrectly) look like a flat line.  I wrote more about this Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight and explained a little about PWM too.

User Interface and Operation

There are two switches on the HM65R.  They’re built into the top of the light and share a rubber cover.  They have icons, which of course can’t be seen when wearing the light, and are indistinguishable by feel.  When the light is on your head, the rightmost button is throw, and the leftmost is flood.  The emitter is directly below the corresponding switch.

These switches operate in the same way – it’s practically like having two lights on one headlamp.  So consider that for the table below.  It’s one table but essentially the same result for the emitter corresponding to that switch.

Here’s the UI table!

State	Action	Result
Off	Hold	On (Medium, unless the light was on very recently, then Mode memory)
On	Hold	Off
On	Click	Mode advance (LMH or LMHT)
Off	Hold 5s	On (Medium, or mode memory) then lockout (indicated by 4 blinks of flood)
Lockout	Hold both 3s	4 blinks of flood, then low of flood
Off	Click	Battery indicator^

^ Battery is indicated by the 4 blue LED between the switches:
4 on = 100%-81%
3 on = 80%-61%
2 on = 60%-41%
1 on = 40%-21%
1 flashing = 20%-0%

There are no strobes, beacons, etc.

LED and Beam

There are two emitters here.  The emitter in the bigger opening below is the throw emitter and is a Cree XM-L2 U2.  The temperature isn’t mentioned, but it’s clearly cool (or cooler) white.

On the right below is the flood emitter, behind a dimpled TIR.  This is a Cree XP-G2 R5, and again no temperature is mentioned.  It’s much warmer than the throw, though.

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

Here are CRI and CCT reports for all the white modes and also two red modes.  The CCT hits around 6000K while the CRI is relatively low, at 68 or so.

Beamshots

These beamshots are always with the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.  First the 4-mode throw emitter.

Then the 3 mode flood emitter.

And finally a mix of the two.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Random Comparisons and Competitive Options…

Here’s a link to a relevantly filtered page on parametrek.com.  I use that site a lot!  The only other comparable light looks to be a JETBeam – the HR30.  That’s a light with just one emitter, though.  This Fenix is very compelling!

Conclusion

What I like

• USB-C charging
• Full package including cell
• Comfortable as a headlamp

What I don’t like

• Hard to unscrew tailcap
• UI seems underdeveloped

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Notes

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