Lumintop HL3A Headlamp Review

The Lumintop HL3A Headlamp is an “FW-style” triple emitter headlamp. It runs on a single 18650. Read on for some testing!

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Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Lumintop HL3A Headlamp product page.

Versions

There’s just one body, but a few (at least?) emitter options. There are two emitter temperature options in the Cree XP-L HI emitter. Cool white (seen here) and Neutral white. Also available is a Luminus SST20 (4000K) and a Nichia 219c 4000K option.

Price

The MSRP is $54.95. It’s available at the LumintopOnline store. And here’s a 25% off coupon! TOPHF25

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Short Review

This is a great headlamp. If you need a headlamp with Anduril in an 18650 triple emitter format, then this is a good one!

Long Review

The Big Table

Lumintop HL3A
Emitter:	Cree XP-L HI (CW)
Price in USD at publication time:	$54.95 at LumintopOnline 25% off coupon! TOPHF25
Cell:	1×18650
Turbo Runtime	High Runtime
LVP?	Switch to Low
Switch Type:	E-Switch
Quiescent Current (A):	?
On-Board Charging?	No
Claimed Lumens (lm)	2800
Measured Lumens (at 30s)	683 (24.4% of claim)^
Candela per Lumen	4.6
Claimed Throw (m)	200
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s)	188lux @ 4.197m = 3312cd
Throw (Calculated) (m)	115.1 (57.6% of claim)^
All my Lumintop 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. Both these measurements appear very low because they’re taken at 30s. At startup, the light does hit the 2800 lumen claim, and no doubt also hits the throw measurement. But only at startup, and only for a few seconds.

What’s Included

• Lumintop HL3A Headlamp
• Pocket clip
• Headband
• Spare o-rings (2)
• Manual etc

Package and Manual

Build Quality and Disassembly

Pretty typical build quality from Lumintop, which is to say good. The design is sort of interesting but not all that unusual anymore. It’s very much a right-angle light.

The emitter and whatnot stick out dramatically from the body/cell tube.

The knurling is good, and different from more usual Lumintop lights – much more defined in this case.

Branding on the tailcap can be seen below.

The head can be removed for cell swaps, but it’s maybe not an ideal scenario….

The threads on the head are unanodized. This does mean that mechanical lockout isn’t really possible. Also, the cell tube is one piece – the very end of the tailcap does not come off.

The threads here are also quite long, so lots of twisting is required. They’re nice threads, though. square-cut, and smooth.

Both head and tail have a spring. There’s a magnet in the tail end.

The head comes off in a nice little compartmentalized flashlighty bit.

Size and Comps

• Size: 23.8 mm Ø head x 81 mm length x 23.5mm Ø tube.
• Weight: Approximately 54 g without cells

Retention and Carry

This is a “headlamp,” but as much as that, it’s a “right-angle light” because it works well either way. Works as well either way.

The headband is good, and of course, the best because it’s orange. Silicone and stretchy, so the light slips in easily.


The headband isn’t directional – the light will go in either way. That could suit right- or left-handed users.

Again, the head may be removed while in the headband, but it’s not really ideal to do it this way. Too much stretching on the stretchy parts. (Also, just generally cumbersome.)

There’s also a pocket clip. The friction-fit pocket clip is ok – it has come off during use once. It may not be used at the same time as the headband, though.

There’s also a lanyard hole in the tailcap.


AND a magnet! Which is very strong, and plenty strong to hold the light securely. I think if you have the right tools, you could remove the magnet (by removing the spring).

Power and Runtime

This is an 18650 light. Since the threads are unanodized and make electrical contact themselves, any type of 18650 should work fine. Since it’s an Anduril light, and thus has a FET for turbo, you’ll get better performance out of an unprotected 18650, with high discharge capability. I’ve tested here with the cell seen below, a Vapcell G26 2600mAh 18650.


A couple of runtimes are below. I did not calibrate the light for temperature settings, because I don’t think most users will, nor do I think most users should have to. So what you see is what you’ll get, and what you can expect.

Notably, the initial output IS what Lumintop claims, but at 30 seconds it’s stepped down dramatically (though, still not at the bottom of the step).

High steps down too, and to around the same output as Turbo. The shutoff voltage on this run was 2.97V (I’ll have to add that back to the graph, sorry).

Modes and Currents

Mode	Mode Claimed Output (lm)	Claimed Runtime	Measured Lumens	Tailcap Amps
1	–	–	683	7.5 [FET]
2	–	–	455	2.46
3	–	–	606	1.49
4	–	–	355	0.87
5	–	–	179	0.42
6	–	–	84	0.21
7	–	–	33	0.08
8	–	–	–	0.02

Pulse Width Modulation

There’s PWM on all modes but the top two, but that’s no surprise for Anduril.

Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.
Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.

User Interface and Operation

This is an Anduril light. There’s a metal button e-switch on one end. I didn’t measure, but I’d expect this button to be the same size and shape and everything as the FW3A, etc., buttons.
The button itself is metal (with that rubber cover under it), and has a very minimal amount of travel (1mm or less). Despite being a very big switch, it’s possible to actuate from anywhere on the surface – even the tiniest fingernail on the very edge will still work.

Anduril is well documented here. So this is mostly going to be a copy and paste from other posts.

Here’s a user interface table anyway!

State	Action	Result
Off	Hold	On (Low)
Off	Click	On (Mode Memory)
Off	Click 2x	Highest Hybrid Mode
Off	Click 3x	Blinkie Mode Group
Off	Click 4x	Lockout
Off	Click 5x	Momentary
Off	Click 6x	Muggle
Off	Click, Click, Hold	Strobe Group (Mode Memory Strobe)
Strobe Group	Click 2x	Strobe Cycle (Candle > Bike Flasher > Party Strobe > Tactical Strobe > Lightning Storm)
Blinkie Mode Group	Click 2x	Blinke Cycle (Sunset > Beacon > TempCheck > BattCheck)
On	Click 3x	Switch between Stepped and Smooth Ramp
On	Click 4x	Ramp Configuration
TempCheck	Click 4x	Thermal Configuration
Beacon	Click 4x	Beacon Configuration
Lockout	Click 4x	Off
Strobe Group	Click	Off
(Basically) On	Click	Off
Candle	Click 3x	30 minute timer to off
Strobe Group	Hold	Heighten selected mode (Make faster or brighter)
Strobe Group	Click, Hold	Lessen selected mode (Make slower or dimmer)
On	Click 2x	FET Turbo
Ramp Configuration	[Wait for Single flash] Click N time for level N.	Selection of the “Low” you like best by clicking 1, 2, 3, etc. where 1, 2, 3, etc are different levels of low.
Ramp Configuration	[Wait for Second flash] Click N time for 1+Turbo-N.	Selection of the “Ceiling” you like best by clicking 1, 2, 3, etc. where 1, 2, 3, etc are different Ceiling levels.
Ramp Configuration	[Wait for Third flash] Click for how many steps you want in Stepped mode.	Sets Number of Steps.
Thermal Configuration	[Wait for First flash] Click for N times for N degrees C.	Displays Current Temperature.
Thermal Configuration	[Wait for Second flash] Click for N times for 30C + N.	Sets Temperature Limit.
Beacon Configuration	[Wait for First flash] Click for N times N seconds per flash	Sets Beacon Speed.

LED and Beam

The emitters here are three Cree XP-L HI. I love this emitter in general, but the temperature here is cool white, which is not my favorite.

The TIR optic is described as “standard,” which likely just means it’s a Carclo optic but does not state which degree it is (narrow, medium, or flood).

Beamshots

These beamshots always have the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level, and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.

 

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

I keep the test flashlight on the left and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

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

Conclusion

What I like

• Good headlamp version of the FW series of lights
• Extreme output at startup
• Good build quality (it’s on par or better than usual Lumintops, I think).
• Anduril is very configurable

What I don’t like

• This one is CW (but NW should be available)
• Difficulty removing the head while in the headband
• Clip and headband can’t be used at the same time

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Notes

• This light was provided by Lumintop for review. I was not paid to write this review.
• This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
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