SingFire SF-555
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆
Summary:
| Battery: | 1 or 2x 18650 |
| Switch: | Electronic switch (top of light) |
| Modes: | 4: 1x XM-L, 2x XP-E, XM-L & 2x XP-E, Strobe (All 3 LED) |
| Memory: | Always starts with XM-L |
| LED Type: | 1x XM-L, 2x XP-E (Cool White) |
| Lens: | Glass (XML) and Glass TIR (XP-E) |
| Reflector: | Aluminum (Smooth) |
| Price: | $37.70 |
| Provided by: | MyLED |
Pros:
Comfortable fit for long periods of time
No visible/audible PWM
Good switch location
2x 18650 allows for good runtime.
Good, usable flood at close range with a reasonable throw at medium range (~50-75 yards)
Cons:
Way too much plastic.
Poor thermal management
Blueish tint XM-L
Sub-par machining for the price
Price
The UI:
The E-switch scrolls through modes.
One press turns the XM-L on.
The next press turns the two XP-E on.
The next press turns the XM-L and both XP-E LEDs on.
The next press turns on strobe which includes all 3 LEDs.
The final press turns the headlight off.
Pictures:
The headlight arrived inside a bubble mailer, and inside a rather large generic headlamp product box with cutout foam inside.
Here you can see a mismatch of the color on the headlight. The lighter black is plastic as is the black material surrounding the switch on top. The lighter black surrounds a fully aluminum head. All the bezels are aluminum. The cable running back to the battery carrier is kept neat by two plastic holders on the headband.
Underneath you can see the angle adjustment mechanism. Plastic notches click into place when adjusting the angle. These are fairly sturdy, they should hold up to a decent amount of adjusting.
90 degree range of motion.
Mouse over/Mouse out:
The back of the battery carrier. The translucent white lights up with a red led when the light is on.
Here is the part of the carrier that rests against the back of one's head while wearing. The cover is rubber and the actual carrier is plastic. The cells are in parallel.
Mouse over to see under the cover.
Here is the piece that will rest against your forehead. It is a bit awkward at first as it sits on one's eyebrows, but it allows you to comfortably wear the triple headed light by distributing the weight across a larger area.
Breakdown:
It comes apart easily. A screw fastens the heads to the headband. 4 Screws secure the switch/wire housing to the XML head.
Popping it apart... wires... wires everywhere.
Definitely nothing I've seen in a light before.
Moving on to the far less complex front. :)
2 TIRs and a smooth aluminum reflector.
Bit of a bummer here. The large ~25mm xml star sits on a ~3mm ledge inside the head.
The XP-E emitter.
Underneath the XP-E.. hole cut in the center of a small aluminum shelf that rests on a 1mm ledge. No paste/glue between the star and aluminum shelf.
Beamshots:
SingFire SF-555
All 3 LEDs, XM-L, 2x XP-E
I wanted to show some stock 18650 XM lights with relatively similar reflector widths against the SF-555's triple LED.
Conclusion:
It's an okay headlight. Per the listing I was expecting 3 xml, which I think would have made for a better light (1 Throwy mode with xml behind the smooth reflector and 1 great flood mode with 2xml behind TIRs). As it is having two very throwy XP-E emitters hampered by TIR lenses makes them add just a little bit of brightness to the overall light.
I've taken it out on two night fishing trips so far. After about 4-5 hours I can definitely feel the weight of the light. The corona around the hotspot of the xml is very large, consuming most of the spill. This makes for a very useful beam for retying rigs and such at close range, while still having a decent throw to see things in the 50-75 yard range.
Overall, I rate the SingFire SF-555 a 3 out of 5.