The H300 is a compact headlamp flashlight with a floody beam with excellent colour rendition, running on a single included 18650 battery.

1. Introduction
2. Manufacturer Specifications
3. Package Details
4. Build
5. User Interface
6. Circuit Measures
7. Emitter Measures
8. Beamshots
9. Testing Results
10. Runtimes
11. Pros and Cons
12. Overall Rating
13. Preliminary Conclusions
14. Acknowledgement

Introduction

Following on my review of the Skilhunt M300, I also have their 18650-based headlamp version on hand, the H300. This light uses the same magnetic charging dock as its larger sibling.

Also like that other light, you can select your own emitter from a good range of options. For the H300, you can select between CREE XHP50.2 Cool White 6500K, CREE XHP50.2 Neutral White 5000K, CREE XHP50.3 HI 6500K, CREE High CRI J2 90 CRI 5000K, and Nichia 144ART R9050 sm453 4500K.

Wow, that’s a lot of options. Although I was most interested in the Cree Hi CRI J2 90, I opted instead to go for the Nichia 144ART, to facilitate comparison to the Armytek Wizard C2 Pro Nichia that I previously reviewed. As always, when it comes to headlamps especially, I recommend people consider high CRI options whenever possible. But the advantage here is that you can select the emitter option that best suits your needs.

Let’s see how it compares in my testing.

Manufacturer Specifications

Note: as always, these are simply what the manufacturer provides – scroll down to see my actual testing results.

Feature	Specs
Maker	Skilhunt
Model	H300
Emitter	Nichia 144ART R9050
Tint	4500 K 90 CRI
Max Output (Lumens)	1,500
Min Output (Lumens)	0.5
Max Runtime	150+ hrs
Max Beam Intensity (cd)	4,500 cd
Max Beam Distance (m)	134 m
Constant Levels	7
Flashing	Strobe 1/2
Battery	1x18650
Weight (w/o battery)	54 g
Weight (with battery)	-
Length	104.7 mm
Head Diameter	25.2 mm
Body Diameter	-
Waterproof	IPX-8 1m

Package Details

The light comes in a fairly standard shelf-presentation style box, with a description of the features and characteristics printed on it. Inside is a professional looking package, with the cover tab under the the plastic tray holder. My sample came with an extra light carrying pouch in a small plastic bag.

Inside the box, I found:

• Skilhunt H300 flashlight
• Skilhunt BL-135 3500mAh 18650 battery (optional)
• Headband & mounting bracket
• Wrist lanyard
• Pocket clip
• USB magnetic charging dock
• 2 Spare O-rings
• Spare switch cover
• Manual

It’s a decent package, consistent with other lights of this class. It’s good that they included the pocket clip for carry (although it is the simple press-fit variety). This is a good set of extras.

Build

From left to right: Skilhunt 18650 (3500mAh), Wurkkos 21700 (5000mAh), Acebeam 21700 USB-C (5100mAh), Acebeam E70 Mini, Armytek Wizard C2 Pro Nichia, Acebeam E70, Armytek Wizard C2 Pro Max, Convoy S21E, Fenix E35 v3, Imalent MS03, Skilhunt H300, Skilhunt M300 V2, Wurkkos TS22.

The H300 is a very compact build, with lots of design elements to help with grip (although the concentric rings on the body and tailcap are not as sharp as the M300). The headband bracket seems to hold the light reasonably well. I like the inclusion of the pocket clip, in case you want to carry it as an angle-light clipped to you, bezel-up. I would say the overall size is pretty compact for a 18650 headlamp – definitely on the smaller size of ones I’ve handled.

There is a raised rubberized switch cover over the electronic switch (replaceable, thanks to the retaining ring). Underneath are a pair of red and blue LEDs, to signal various states of the light/battery. Switch feel is good, with a standard traverse/tactile feedback for an electronic switch.

There is a magnetic charging dock on the top of the head of the light (same charging cable as the M300). One nice thing about magnetic charging docks is that waterproofness is not a concern – the light looks quite spashable/dunkable (although note that I do not test for this in my reviews).

Tailstanding is very stable, thanks to the flat tailcap (there is a side cut-out to allow you thread the basic wrist lanyard through, if you wanted to carry it that way). Tailcap threads are square-cut and anodized, with good feel. I always recommend you keep a light stored locked out when not in use. Thanks to the anodized tailcap threads, you can do this easily by a simple twist of the tailcap.

There is a magnet in the tailcap, so you attached the light stably to any metal surface. A useful feature in worklight/headlamp model.

There are tailsprings in both the tailcap and head, so flat-top cells will also work just find (and the battery should be held in place fairly securely).

Anodizing is a flat black in matte finish, and looks to be good quality on my sample with no damage or issues. Skilhunt reports it is type III (hard anodized), and I see no reason to doubt that.

Inside, my sample came with the optional Skilhunt-branded button-top 3500mAh 18650 battery.

The common M300/H300 USB charging dock also comes with blue and red LEDs, to signal charging status. The magnet has a reasonably strong pull (not as heavy as some), and locks into place easily.

My H300 came with the Nichia 144ART emitter, and features a heavily textured optic. This produces a nice and even flood light, with a brighter centre. Scroll down to my Emitter Measures section to see how my sample performs.

The bezel is like the switch retaining ring, allowing you access to the optic and emitter.

Note that despite the charging dock on the top of the head, you can still headstand stably.

User Interface

The H300 uses the latest version of the Skilhunt user interface (UI), just the M300, and has a reasonably good number of modes and features. You get two Low modes, three Regular modes (two Med modes, one High mode), two Turbo modes, and three Strobe modes – organized into those four mode sets.

One comment to make up front – the mode level labels are different from most lights in that the lower number for a given level is actually the higher output (so, for example, T1 is brighter than T2). That means the constant output modes, in sequence, are: L2 > L1, M2 > M1 > H, and T2 > T1.

The manual doesn’t describe the three strobe modes, but for sake of this review I will refer to them as S3 = Strobe, S2 = SOS, and S1 = Beacon.

Let me break down the full interface for you:

From OFF:

• Press-and-hold: Turns On in memorized Low mode (L2 or L1).
• Single-click: Turns On in memorized Regular mode (M2, M1, or H).
• Double-click: Turns On in memorized Turbo mode (T2 or T1).
• Triple-click: Turns on in memorized strobe mode (S3, S2, or S1).
• 4 clicks: Activates the electronic Lockout mode.
  • Press-and-hold for momentary Moonlight (i.e., lowest Low, L2)
  • While in lockout, the switch indicator light will flash red every second, but that can be toggled off/on with a double-click.

From ON:

• Press-and-hold: Cycle to the next level within the current mode level set (constant output modes only, doesn’t work for Strobe).
• Single-click: Turns Off.
• Double-click: Jumps to the memorized Turbo level (from Regular modes only), or back to Regular modes if already in Turbo (note this doesn’t work from Low modes or Strobe modes)
• Triple-click: Jumps to the memorized Strobe mode (from Regular or Turbo), or back to most recent Regular or Turbo if already in Strobe mode.

Strobe modes:

• Triple-click: Turns On in memorized Strobe mode.
• Double-click: Cycles through the Strobe modes in sequence:
  • S3 – Strobe
  • S2 – SOS
  • S1 – Beacon

Mode memory:

Yes, each mode set retains its own memory for the last level selected in that mode set.

Shortcuts:

• To Low (L2 or L1): Press-and-hold from Off.
• To Turbo (T2 or T1): Double-click from Off or when On in Regular mode.
• To Strobe (S1, S2, or S3): Triple-click from Off or when On in Regular or Turbo mode.

Low voltage warning:

When the battery is running very low (<3.0V according to the manual), the switch indicator light will flash red, and the main emitter will flash every couple of seconds. the light will shut off at 2.7V according to the manual.

Lock-out mode: 

• 4 clicks from Off: Activates the electronic Lockout mode.
• Physical lockout is also possible by simply unscrewing the tailcap.

Battery indicator:

Yes. The LED under the switch indicates the battery status for the first ~5 secs after turning on:

• Solid Blue: >80% Battery power remaining.
• Flashing Blue: 50-80% Battery power remaining.
• Solid Red: 20-50% Battery power remaining
• Flashing Red: <20% Battery power remaining.

These are identical to the M300, and seem reasonable to me.

Video Overview:

Please see the video below, which walks you through the common UI and build features of this light and its M300 V2 sibling:

Reviewer Comments:

Like many of the recent lights I’ve reviewed, I find this UI to be very reasonable, and relatively versatile. Of course, you are never going to please everyone with any given UI (e.g., I would like to see double-click reliably jumping to Turbo, and have the Low modes as part of a regular sequence without having to go through off first). But these are really quibbles, the light does reasonably well.

One small thing I would like is the ability to independently turn on the the blue switch indicator, to serve as an additional “moonlight mode”. This is something the Anduril-based lights allow (if implemented, like on the Sofirn IF25A), and some other new UIs (like the Wurkkos TS22).

Allowing momentary L2 when in the electronic lockout is a nice touch. But as always, I recommend locking out the light at the tailcap when not in use.

Circuit Measures

Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM):

L2:

M2:

H:

T2:

T1:

There is no sign of PWM on any level – the circuit appears to be fully current-controlled. This is also no sign of high-frequency noise at any level. This is refreshing – although PWM is very rare nowadays, it is not uncommon to see some (visually-undetectable) circuit noise.

Strobes:

S3 – Strobe:

S3 Strobe alternates between 6 Hz and 14 Hz strobes (1 sec for 6Hz, 3 secs for 14 Hz).

S2 – SOS:

S2 is a SOS mode.

S1 – Beacon:

S3 is a 1hz slow signalling strobe.

Charging:

The magnetic charging dock switches from blue (when power is supplied) to solid red when connected and charging the H300. Switches back to solid blue when the charging is complete.

In my testing, resting voltage of the cell was ~4.12V at termination. This is lower than typical, but is easier on the cell. Note that the charging dock won’t initiate a charge cycle if the cell is above 4.0V resting, just like the Armytek charging dock.

Resting voltage <3.0V

Resting voltage >3.0V

The M300 doesn’t really have a two-stage charging feature, but it does start off at a lower charge rate when the cell is heavily depleted <3V (1.58A shown above, rises to 1.64A within a minute or so).

Standby / Parasitic Drain:

I measured the standby current as 29 uA. This is an extremely low standby drain, and will not appreciably affect the light (i.e., it would take just under 14 years to fully drain the included cell). Regardless, I always recommend you lockout the light when not in use – either by electronic lockout, or better yet physically by twisting the tailcap.

Emitter Measures

In this section, I directly measure key emitter characteristics of my sample in terms of colour temperature, tint, and colour rendition. Please see my Emitter Measures page to learn more about what these terms mean, and how I am measuring them. As tint in particular can shift across levels, I typically stick with the highest stably regulated level for all my reported measures.

As explained on that page, since I am using an inexpensive uncalibrated device, you can only make relative comparisons across my reviews (i.e., don’t take these numbers as absolutely accurate values, but as relatively consistent across lights in my testing).

H300 on H (Hi):

The key measures above are the colour temperature of ~4350K, and a very slight negative tint shift (-0.0022 Duv) to orange at this temperature. For CRI (Ra), I measured a combined score of 93 – very respectable for Hi CRI.

These values are very consistent with the rated specs for the Nichia 144ART emitter on my sample, and match my visual experience of this light. Like many enthusiasts, I prefer a negative tint shift on a neutral white emitter.

Beamshots

All outdoor beamshots are taken on my Canon PowerShot S5 IS at f/2.7, 0.5 secs exposure, ISO 400, daylight white balance. The bend in the road is approximately 40 meters (~45 yards) from the camera. Learn more about my outdoor beamshots here (scroll down for the floody light position used in this review).

Click on any thumbnail image below to open a full size image in a new window. You can then easily compare beams by switching between tabs.

As expected, the beam pattern is very similar to the Armytek Wizard C2 Pro Nichia, although the H300’s optic is perhaps a touch less floody overall.

Testing Results

My summary tables are generally reported in a manner consistent with the ANSI FL-1 standard for flashlight testing. In addition to the links above, please see my output measures page for more background.

All my output numbers are based on my home-made lightbox setup. As explained on that methodology page, I have devised a method for converting my lightbox relative output values to estimated lumens. My Peak Intensity/Beam Distance are directly measured with a NIST-certified Extech EA31 lightmeter.

H300 Testing Results

Mode	Spec Lumens	Estimated Lumens @0sec	Estimated Lumens @30 secs	Beam Intensity @0sec	Beam Intensity @30secs	Beam Distance @30secs	PWM/Strobe Freq	Noise Freq	Charging Current <3V	Charging Current >3V	Parasitic Drain	Weight w/o Battery	Weight with Battery	CCT (K)	Duv	CRI
L2	1	0.35	0.35	-	-	-	No	No	1.55 A	1.65 A	29 uA	55 g	106 g	-	-	-
L1	4	2.7	2.7	-	-	-	No	No	1.55 A	1.65 A	29 uA	55 g	106 g	-	-	-
M2	25	21	21	-	-	-	No	No	1.55 A	1.65 A	29 uA	55 g	106 g	-	-	-
M1	115	135	135	-	-	-	No	No	1.55 A	1.65 A	29 uA	55 g	106 g	-	-	-
H	330	365	360	-	-	-	No	No	1.55 A	1.65 A	29 uA	55 g	106 g	4,355	-0.0022	93
T2	860	990	970	-	-	-	No	No	1.55 A	1.65 A	29 uA	55 g	106 g	-	-	-
T1	1,500	1,850	1,750	5,250 cd	4,940 cd	141 m	No	No	1.55 A	1.65 A	29 uA	55 g	106 g	-	-	-
S3	-	-	-	-	-	-	1 Hz	No	1.55 A	1.65 A	29 uA	55 g	106 g	-	-	-
S2	-	-	-	-	-	-	SOS	No	1.55 A	1.65 A	29 uA	55 g	106 g	-	-	-
S1	-	-	-	-	-	-	6-14 Hz	No	1.55 A	1.65 A	29 uA	55 g	106 g	-	-	-

Like with the M300, I am finding generally good concordance of published specs with what my lightbox reports – although I’m measuring somewhat higher output on the high through Turbo modes on my sample.

And once again, my NIST-calibrated luxmeter also reports slightly higher beam distance measures as well, showing these results are consistent. An impressive showing!

I’m also impressed to see a true “moonlight” low mode (L2) here, which clocked in around 0.35 lumens in my testing. Yay!

To view and download full testing results for all modern lights in my testing, check out my Database page.

Runtimes

As always, my runtimes are done under a small cooling fan, for safety and consistency. To learn more about how to interpret runtime graphs, see my runtimes methodology page.

Skilhunt shows both excellent output/runtime efficiency and regulation, consistent with a top-quality current-controlled driver.

As you can see above, the Nichia 144ART-equipped H300 performs very comparably to the Nichia 144AR-equipped Armytek Wizard C2 Pro Nichia. The initial output and step-down levels are very comparable, as are the runtimes. If you do an area-under-the-curve analysis, the Armytek model seems to have a very slight edge in terms of overall output/runtime efficiency, but it is pretty inconsequential (and could simply be due to variation in emitter output bins). For all intents and purposes, I would find these models equivalent. It really comes down to which build/UI you prefer. For example, I note the Armytek is slightly heavier and longer (by ~8g and ~7mm). But again, there is not a big functional difference between them.

To better show the Turbo step-down pattern on T1/T2, here is a blow-up view of those first few mins:

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
The light shows excellent current-controlled efficiency across all levels.	User interface is fairly sophisticated, and reasonable for the class, but it does have some small quirks and limitations.
Circuit shows excellent regulation, with stable runtimes and reasonable step-down levels and duration.	Magnetic charging dock performance is good but won't initiate a charge >4.0V resting, and terminates @~4.12V resting.
Great overall range of output levels, with a true Moonlight mode.
Textured optic provides an extremely floody beam, with no real hotspot.
Very compact build with good quality and decent feel.
Includes a bidirectional pocket clip, in addition to headband

Overall Rating

Preliminary Conclusions

The H300 is another great performer from Skilhunt. As with the M300, it has a high quality feel, good design and some nice stylistic touches. Switch feel is good, and the user interface is very reasonable for the class. The charging dock worked well in my testing, consistent with others who use this magnetic design (e.g., Armytek). The headband works well, and I find this to be to a particularly comfortable 1×18650 headlamp (i.e., it is a bit lighter than some others).

The H300’s circuit shows a great range of levels, and features excellent output/runtime efficiency and regulation. In these regards, it is virtually identical to the Armytek Wizard C2 Pro Nichia (which I also awarded 5-stars). I suppose that isn’t too surprising, since I opted for basically the same emitter here. But one of the great advantages of Skilhunt is that you can select from a quite a number of emitters – it is good to have so many options.

The overall build of the two lights is comparable, although the H300 is a bit smaller and lighter. That makes it more comfortable as a headlamp, but also means it steps down a bit faster on its Turbo mode (due to the lower thermal mass). Beam patterns are fairly comparable too – very even and floody, with a great tint and high CRI (with the Nichia 144ART). And as always, it’s great to see the <1 lumen Moonlight mode here.

There is really not much to critique here, it really is a great all-around headlamp/worklight. Another very strong option to consider – highly recommended!

Acknowledgement

The H300 was supplied by Skilhunt for review. As always, all opinions are my own and the light received the same rigourous and objective testing as all other lights that I have reviewed. At the time of review, this light retails for ~$95 USD with discounts (~$125 CDN).