TEST: The Acid HPA 1300 is a compact helmet lamp from Cube. The system with 1300 lm is characterized by great flexibility. You can find out here how the lamp performs on the trails at night.
Test of the Acid HPA 1300 - all information & data on the helmet lamp at a glance
With the Acid HPA 1300, an amazingly comprehensive and well thought-out helmet lamp set comes into the house. Instead of developing new connectors, Acid – the component brand from Cube – relies on the tried and tested: The lamp itself is equipped with the GoPro mount and can be used with any existing brackets and adapters. The adapter for the helmet mount and the battery have a common X-Lock adapter. Here too there is great flexibility and system openness. The helmet lamp and the accessories are well made, but not found in the high-end sector. This is expressed, for example, by small noses in the plastic parts. The lamp body itself is made of aluminum and features large but elegant cooling fins.
The use of the battery is also flexible: it can be attached to the helmet using the second helmet holder included. Alternatively, it can be attached to the extension cord in a backpack or hip bag. In addition, the battery charge indicator can be used as a rear light with different modes if the battery is attached to the helmet. However, this is not StVZO-compliant.
data sheet
| luminosity | 1300 lm |
| light modes | 7 (1300lm, 400lm, 150lm, 80lm, Flash, SOS, Alpine Distress Signal) |
| Lighting time | 1,5 hrs, 3,5 hrs, 11 hrs, 34 hrs, 6 hrs, 13 hrs, 105 hrs |
| Charging time | Unspecified |
| charging connector | Charger 2A |
| Mounting options & adapters | Helmet, Head Strap, GoPro, X-Lock |
| performance battery | 3400 mAh |
| battery | 59,95 € |
| Remote Control | Ja |
| Weight lamp & bracket | 74 g |
| Weight battery & bracket | 140 g |
| Cable length lamp | 24 cm |
| Battery cable length | 10 cm |
| Cable length extension | 90 cm |
| StVZO approval | No |
| Color temperature | 6500 K |
| Price | 179,95 € |
What's in the box
The Acid HPA 1300 comes neatly packed in a high-quality storage bag with a cardboard sleeve. The following scope of delivery is included:
- Acid HPA 1300 helmet lamp
- Battery 3400 mAh
- Helmet mount lamp
- Helmet mount battery
- Extension cord 90 cm
- HEADBAND
- Bluetooth remote control
- Charger 2A
- Clear, easy-to-understand operating instructions
Accessories & Extension
The HPA 1300 set is already quite extensive and flexible in itself. An additional helmet mount set (2 pieces) is available for €24,95. You can get a replacement battery for a fair €59,95. There is a rod holder set (2 pieces) for mounting on the handlebars for €14,95. Otherwise, all set parts of the HPA 1300 can be bought individually if something should break. Unfortunately, Acid does not offer a repair service, but the lamp head is also available separately.
Test: The Acid HPA 1300 in trail use
assembly and fastening
The helmet mount of the Acid HPA 1300 with X-Lock adapter is very compact and doesn't interfere in any way with daily use. It is attached to the helmet using Velcro strips and/or adhesive pads. The lamp head itself is placed at an angle of about 45° and rotated into the holder. This requires some practice overhead, but then works quite well. Thanks to the GoPro mount, the inclination can be changed and locked at any time without tools. Overall, the combination of the two adapter standards turns out to be very practical - at the same time the system is very open to other applications. The battery could be attached to the helmet in the same way as the lamp head. This also works well – but for our test we drove with the battery in our backpack.
Service
The operation of the HPA 1300 is very intuitive: the buttons are used to switch through three different brightness levels. The fourth level - ultra low - is only activated by pressing it for at least three seconds. The button itself is integrated flat into the body of the lamp head. Accordingly, it is not always easy to find the haptics – the problem increases especially with gloves. In addition, the pressure point of the button could be more defined, because switching to the next brightness level doesn't always work.
The same problems arise for the included Bluetooth remote control. But this is nice and compact and usually finds space between the brake lever and handle. Thanks to a simple click mechanism, the remote control can be easily removed and its holder remain on the handlebars. The operation is pleasant: the helmet lamp has three emergency light levels, but these can only be called up by pressing the button for at least five seconds. This saves you from having to click through these modes that you will hopefully never need.
On the battery, the user can query the battery status quite precisely by simply pressing a button and activate the rear light functions if it is mounted on a helmet.
battery & runtime
With 1,5 hours at full power (1300 lm), the runtime of the 3400 mAh battery is good and sufficient for many tours. The middle level with 400 lm results in a running time of 3,5 hours. In the low level with 150 lm, the running time is 11 hours. If you really want to save battery charge, there is also the ultra-low level, which can be activated by pressing the button for three seconds. This has a running time of 80 hours at 34 lm. The button on the lamp head lights up blue when the battery level is over 20%. If the battery level falls below 20%, it lights up red. Below 10% the button flashes red. If the battery level falls below 5%, the helmet lamp automatically switches to ultra-low mode - this can then no longer be switched. If you lose sight of the battery charge, you still have an emergency light for a certain time.
Incidentally, this color scheme would also be desirable for the remote control – it would give you a simple overview of the battery status on the go.
Weight & Trail Use
The bracket and lamp head weigh only 74 g. This means that the system is barely perceptible and does not interfere in any way. Even the additional 140 g of the battery is hardly a problem when mounted on a helmet. In the backpack, the battery is practically imperceptible. Overall, the system convinces with its simplicity, with the exception of operation: As already mentioned, changing between the brightness levels does not always work ideally for haptic reasons and the lack of a defined pressure point. In addition, the light is dimmed when changing between the brightness levels. An abrupt change here could provide more feedback.
The light field of the Acid HPA 1300
The light field of the HPA 1300 is very good on the trail. The focus on the center is well chosen, the transition to the edge area is soft and wide enough. On fast descents, however, it is noticeable that the helmet lamp only has 1300 lm. We felt comfortable on our test rails up to around 20 km/h - the light output is too low above that. The middle level with 400 lm is just about right for uphill flow on trails. Slow uphills on forest roads can be driven with 150 lm in the low setting. In contrast, the ultra-low level with 80 lm is already quite dark and strains the eyes quite a bit in the long run. A bit of tunnel vision sets in at the two low levels, since the surroundings no longer get much light. The gradation of the light levels cannot be changed, but is well chosen.
The direct comparison between full and minimum performance pushes the camera technology to its limits: the difference in brightness is so great that the camera displays the lowest brightness level as very dark. The 80 lm of this level are just about acceptable to use for a leisurely climb and save battery charge.
The light levels in direct comparison
