Princeton Tec Headlamps and Flashlights

What Princeton Tec makes for hunters and campers

Princeton Tec's own site sorts its lights into headlamps, helmet lights, handhelds, marker lights, finger lights and accessories, and then again into Tactical, Adventure and Industrial collections. This site lists the headlamps and the handheld flashlights. Helmet lights and marker lights aren't types this site covers, so they don't show up in the grid.

The headlamps fall into seven families:

• Quad: four LEDs, a wide flood beam, IPX7
• Byte and Fred: small, light AAA lamps with red modes
• Remix and Sync: a red-LED spot lamp and a dial-switched lamp
• Vizz: the IPX7 spot lamps, in white-and-red or full color
• Axis Li: the rechargeable one
• Snap 450 RW Solo: a head unit that comes off a magnetic base
• Apex Industrial: four AA cells and a hard-hat strap

The flashlights are a short list: the Amp, the League, the Sector 7 and an Industrial Rechargeable.

The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go. Most of its values come from Amazon listings, and the grid marks those. Where I quote a weight, a battery or a burn time below, it's from Princeton Tec's own product page, because that's the number the maker stands behind.

Lineup notes: the Princeton Tec headlamp families

Quad: four LEDs and a flood beam

The Quad is the old-school member of the family. The maker's Quad Tactical page describes four white LEDs, three flood modes on one big button, three AAA cells (alkaline or lithium), IPX7, and 96 g. The trick on the Tactical is a set of red, green and blue lenses that snap over the LEDs, so one lamp gives you white or a color.

A flood beam lights the area right in front of you, not the tree line. That's what you want for tying a tent fly or finding the zipper on a pack, and less what you want for spotting a reflector tack 60 yards up the trail. The Quad LED, Quad Tactical and Quad Tactical MPLS in the grid are versions of the same idea.

Byte and Fred: the light ones

The Byte is the smallest lamp here. Princeton Tec lists two AAA cells, 64 g (it also says 2.25 oz), a white spot with high and low, and high and low red beams for preserving night vision. The Byte Tactical is the same lamp in different colors.

The Fred runs on three AAA cells and weighs 78 g, per the maker, with three white LEDs and one red LED. Its two white modes are flood, its red has a high and a low, and the maker's longest white burn time is on the low flood. Both are IPX4, which Princeton Tec calls water resistant.

Renee asked why a lamp needs a name like Fred. I told her it's easier to yell across camp than "the Byte." She said that's not an answer. It's not.

Remix and Sync: red LEDs and a dial

The Remix puts three red LEDs next to one white LED, per the maker, with the red there "to preserve night vision while providing light for close-up tasks." The white is a spot beam only, with three steps. It runs on three AAA cells, weighs 83 g and carries IPX4. The Remix listing in the grid and the maker's current Remix page don't give the same top lumens, so go by the version named on the listing you buy.

The Sync is the one for gloves. Instead of a button sequence, you turn a dial on the side to move between modes. Princeton Tec's page lists a dual beam, a spot, two flood levels and one red mode, on three AAA cells, at 83 g and IPX4. In November, with liner gloves under shell gloves, a dial is easier to find than a small rubber button. (I learned that standing in a parking area near the Lehigh River, pressing the strap adjuster for a full minute. It was not the button.)

Vizz: the IPX7 spot lamps, white or color

The Vizz is the brand's main spot lamp. All three versions in the grid run on three AAA cells and weigh 92 g, per the maker, and all three are rated IPX7. Princeton Tec says that means the lamp "can withstand up to one meter of water."

• Vizz: white spot, plus red LEDs
• Vizz 550 RGB: white spot high and low, plus red, green and blue
• Vizz Tactical MPLS: white, red, green, blue and an infrared mode, per the maker's Vizz Tactical page

The maker's tables show what color costs and saves. On the Vizz 550 RGB, the colored modes put out single-digit lumens and run for tens of hours. The Vizz can also be locked "to prevent accidental activation," per Princeton Tec. That's the feature you'll thank on the second morning.

Axis Li: the rechargeable one

The Axis Li is the only rechargeable lamp in the current grid. Princeton Tec's page describes a sealed lithium-ion battery charged through a micro USB port, 81 g, and IPX4. It has a white flood, a white spot, a dual-beam mode that runs both, and two red modes.

"Sealed" matters. You can't drop three AAA cells into it at 4:30 a.m. if it's flat. You charge it, or you carry a second lamp.

Snap 450 RW Solo: a head that comes off

The Snap is a headlamp, a hand light and an area light in one, per the maker. Its head unit detaches from the base on a magnet and can stick to "any metal surface." Think truck fender while you change a tire, or the steel frame of a ladder stand while you sort gear on the platform.

Princeton Tec lists three AAA alkaline cells, a white spot with high and low, a red high, white and red strobe modes, IPX4 and 99 g. The listing says Made in USA too.

Apex Industrial: four AA cells and a hard-hat strap

The Apex is the heavy end of the family. The maker calls it "the most powerful of all our headlamps," lists four AA cells (alkaline or lithium, and it says rechargeable cells work too), IPX7, and 279 g. The Industrial kit comes with a rubber hard-hat strap, 3M Dual Lock and a standard nylon headstrap.

Princeton Tec flashlights

Princeton Tec's handhelds in the grid run from a pocket light to a light you carry by a handle. The maker's pages give each one a lifetime warranty and a Made in USA label.

Amp: the pocket light

The Amp runs on two AAA cells and weighs 57 g, per the maker, with one white spot mode. Princeton Tec rates it IPX8. Its current page sells it with a snap-on "Light Diffusing Cone" that turns it into a marker or a hanging tent light. Check whether the listing you buy includes the cone. A carabiner loop on the tail doubles as a bottle opener, which at deer camp is the feature that gets used.

League: four AA cells and an angled head

The League takes four AA alkaline cells and weighs 203 g, per its page. Its head is angled 12 degrees, so your wrist stays straight while you aim. The toggle switch is glove-friendly and locks for transport. Princeton Tec says it's waterproof to 100 meters, an IPX8 claim.

Sector 7: the spotlight on C cells

The Sector 7 is the big one: eight C cells and 1,075 g, per the maker. A trigger gives momentary light on a half pull and constant light on a full pull, and it locks out for transport. On its low spot, the maker lists 88 hours. That's a light for the truck or the boat, not the pack.

Industrial Rechargeable

Its listing calls it a rechargeable flashlight and gives little else. I couldn't match it to a current page on Princeton Tec's site, so check the listing for the battery and charger before you buy.

Flashlights across brands are on the handheld spotlight page. The best camping flashlight list and the best hunting flashlight list sort them by their own rules.

How to choose within the Princeton Tec lineup

Battery first

Inside this brand, battery type sorts the grid fastest:

• AAA: Quad, Byte, Fred, Remix, Sync, Vizz, Snap
• AA: Apex Industrial
• Sealed rechargeable: Axis Li
• Flashlights: AAA (Amp), AA (League), C cells (Sector 7)

AAA lamps let you carry spares in a shirt pocket and swap them in the dark. The Axis saves you buying cells but needs a charge before each trip. The rechargeable headlamp page and the headlamps page cover the trade across brands.

Then pick by the mode you'll live in

My one opinion on this page: buy by the mode you'll use most, not by the top number on the box. Here's the reason, from the maker's own tables. On the Vizz 550 RGB, the 550-lumen spot runs about 2.5 hours, and the low spot runs about 75 hours. On the Snap, the high spot runs 6 hours, and the low runs 100. The headline lumens and the headline burn time come from different modes.

Most camp chores are close: boots, a cooler latch, a tree-stand strap. Look at the low and red modes first.

Then red, or more colors

Red is on nearly every lamp in the grid. The National Park Service explains why it's worth having: a few seconds of bright light breaks down the chemical your eyes use for night vision, and that chemical takes 20 to 40 minutes to build back up. Deep red light doesn't break it down, and a dim red is best.

If you want green or blue too, look at the Vizz 550 RGB, the Vizz Tactical MPLS or the Quad Tactical lenses. The red light headlamp page has the across-brand view.

Then the water rating

Princeton Tec uses two ratings here. On the Remix page it says IPX4 means "protected from splashing water and rain." On the Vizz pages it says IPX7 means the lamp can withstand up to one meter of water. A lamp that lives on your head in drizzle is fine at IPX4. A lamp that might end up in a creek crossing or a flooded boat bottom wants IPX7: the Quad, Vizz or Apex.

Then weight and control

The maker's weights run from 64 g on the Byte to 279 g on the Apex, with most of the AAA lamps between 78 and 99 g. Light lamps are easier on a long walk and under a hat. Then check the control: one big button on the Quad, a dial on the Sync, a lockout on the Vizz. Pick the one you can work with gloves on, in the dark, without taking the lamp off.

Care and setup the maker's pages point to

Some quick habits, all from what Princeton Tec lists:

• Use the battery the page names: the Quad, Byte, Vizz 550 RGB and Apex pages say alkaline or lithium; the Fred, Sync, Remix and Snap pages list alkaline
• Lock the Vizz before it goes in a pack
• Charge the Axis Li through its micro USB port before the trip, not the morning of
• Pull AAA cells from a lamp you're storing until next season

For the rechargeable Axis, the U.S. Fire Administration says not to charge lithium-ion batteries below 32°F or above 105°F, and to stop using a battery that smells, swells, leaks or gets hot. Bring it inside the cabin to charge.

Princeton Tec facts

From Princeton Tec's own site:

• Founded: 1975, per the "EST. 1975" mark and the company description on its home page
• Ownership: described as a third-generation, family-owned manufacturer
• Location: Pennsauken, New Jersey
• Where made: the home page calls its lights USA-made, and the Quad Tactical, Byte, Fred, Remix, Sync, Vizz, Snap and Apex Industrial pages each say Made in USA
• Warranty: lifetime, per the spec table on each product page; claims go through the support team with proof of purchase and a photo

The best headlamp list compares across brands, and the brand catalog has the rest of the headlamp makers.

Lock it, pocket three spare AAA cells, and put it back on the same nail in the cabin. Walt will still borrow it.