I used the SEO 5 on and of for 5 years just some house work still looks in great condition but I just change the batteries and it does not work. I wonder what I can do..as I liked it while it worked. No light working

Next thing to fail on the lamp will be the strip that supplies power to the led ,mine failed and is less than 3years old and was looked after pretty well whilst I was using the lamp.

RUBBISH LAMP. Bought 2 & 1 soon failed, just no go.

These headlamps are designed, not unlike near all electronic devices to fail. Just buy anuther one they think. Get stuffed. I'm not playing your stupid games. Led lenser is rubbish after a couple of months

This is overpriced garbage plastic, mine broke, can't turn on, it just quick flashes and turns off.. Stupid Ledlenser scammers give back my money!

Just got one of these lights and am surprised by the comments here. Mine came with a 7 year guarantee. Do you think LED LENSER fixed the issues described here? Time will tell

The ONE and only (in my opinion, after using it for about 2y, alternating with a olight h17r, l&m stella and a chinese with xhp50 own moded) design flaw it's locking system of batteries compartment. The SEO5 got 3 modes on white led: Full, Variable (i bet you have no idea about that mode) and Strobe. That's all, definitely NOT 5 modes on bright white led. The switch had a BLOCK mode for situation when headlight is transported in backpack, to not start by his own, that's the function which is TOO SMART for many of those which claim switch failure. But again.. Adrian, if after ONE YEAR of using it.. you didn't learn AT LEAST the number of modes that headtorch had.. it's sad and your review value is less than ZERO mate, that's the truth. You just try to throw some mud on that producer.. Why?.. probably you were paid by other producer.. olight or no matter which one.

I have used SEO3 which have the same problem, I like to point out after 5 years of using the switch was acting weird, with the fresh batteries. it won't turn on, after a cup of trying pull out the batteries and reinstall, it's may or may not turn on. If it turns on the light was flicker a little bit which may be because of the contact on the switch or dust from the batteries compartment, since the peace of plastic was broken.

I have had my SEO5 about 2-3 years. The switch on and off don't work any more. Thank you for this video!

Thank You for good review! They are selling very cheap now - probably trying to get rid of Stock. I'm NOT buying!

I have had similar experiences with Led Lenser. In my case my local retailer gave me my money back. Would never purchase another Led Lenser product. Nothing but a hassle and one certainly can't rely on them to perform . Went to Petzl for headlamps and to date have had no reliability issues. For hand held have several Coast now and 6 or more years later have had only one fail which was replaced by the retailer at no cost. They also come with a 10 year warranty (or did at the time of my purchase - not sure if this is still the case)

Wow, I have two of these, one of them is 5+ years old and was heavily used as my main trail running headlamp through the bush for a couple of years. I never experienced any looseness of the tilt or focus mechanisms, and I'm yet to break one of the battery covers. I use it with rechargeable batteries and so they get recharged and replaced often. This light does have one or two minor flaws but I think you must have received a particularly bad example. It's still my go-to torch if I'm going out into the bush after 5 years. Your button does look to have an intermittent problem. After a couple years I did have a problem with one of my switch buttons but it was replaced by my local Led Lenser distributor with no questions asked. I had been running for hours through the rain at night so maybe water got into mine I don't know. I also didn't have any receipt.

The plastic holding hook (to keep the battery compartment tightly closed) broke on mine as well. It was after maybe 8 battery changes. It did look flimsy when I first saw it. I took great care when changing batteries. It was clearly going to break. The question was when not if. It was a few months for me with very light use. There is no doubt it is a design flaw. It's really so basic. Bend a piece of thin plastic enough times and it will eventually break. Create a groove at the point of movement for flexibility and it will happen even faster. Surely an alternative design can be created. A solution that does not involve bending plastic on a groove. Maybe a circle or a rectangle made of RUBBER that is fixed to the body or switch and it wraps around a wide post on the battery door pulling it to the unit and its rubber seal. The problem with the looseness of the focus barrel and the tilting mecanism could be due to imprecise measurements during production which would be the Chinese manufacturer’s fault. My SE05 was bought in May 2015 and is slightly different to yours in the video (the focus barrel is silver and the head band has a different pattern of grey and white). After 3 1/2 years of very light use, I don’t have a problem with looseness. The barrel is still pretty tight. So maybe the looseness problem is linked to batches. That being said, I don’t use the headlamp for jogging. With all the vibrations, maybe it would loosen after time. The conductive tape band is probably a part that will go with time as it gets moved in and out. However, in terms of design, I can’t think of a better link. The button which is probably the most used movable part does feel like it will stop working at some point. I thought it was faulty about a year ago so stopped using it. I had a look at it today and with fresh batteries it seems to work fine. The missing holding hook isn’t too much of a problem when wearing it as the tension from the headband presses the lamp against the forehead and keeps the battery door closed. So it is useable although not properly sealed for rain. The terms of the warranty seem to be five years with proof of purchase to sort out with the local distributor. Postage sending the unit to them is at the owner’s cost. So in my case, would a replacement with another unit that has the same piece of plastic that is going to break again worth the cost? No. If the design was updated to use rubber rather than plastic, then yes. If the control button stops working then I will definitely be sending it for replacement. It is such a shame. Because beyond the 2 or 3 design issues, it is actually an excellent headlamp. It is very small, surprisingly lightweight, with beautiful, powerful, crisp, focusable and dimmable light. It takes standard batteries which means you can carry a spare set, or several if for example you’re at a music festival for a week. This is more convenient than having a unit that needs to be connected to a power source and you have to wait for hours for it to recharge. The main reason I bought the SE05 was because of the quality and control of light for its very modest form factor and weight. On those criteria, it is the best for me. Yes there are more powerful, bulky, heavy and rechargeable models from LED Lenser and other brands. I researched it over a couple of weeks when choosing what to buy. I was looking for a small unit I could carry in my pocket or add to my camera bag. Handy for seeing what you are doing at night, but actually very exciting as a source of light during long exposure photography. For me, the beautiful light for such a small unit is what did it for me. To conclude, if you are considering buying a SE05, expect to have moving plastic parts break and maybe go loose in a matter of months. So probably best to steer clear, especially if you are going to use it for active sport. If you are happy to use what will become a defective and imperfect lamp, then you will be able to enjoy some great light (as long as it doesn’t rain). However if LED Lenser update the design with a couple of necessary improvements, then yes, absolutely, buy it without hesitation. It will be worth every penny. About the price, it is worth shopping around. The official site lists the SE05 for £54.95 but I see it available for around £38 in the UK.

thanks mate. It is a really really helpful video.

No idea why 7 people gave a thumbs down. This was a good review.

H14 lenser is far superior to this, one can remote mount the tiltable, zoomable light from its holder to anything. Has all the light modes and also a centre strap for over the top of the head/helmet. battery pack is a bit bulkier due to 4 X AA. but this can be mounted on your belt or whatever. have had mine for 4 yrs now with frequent use. no problems.

I have the same problems. Is not the switch fault,is the conductive tape band behind the moving lens head. Is interrupted from many openings of the moving head.Not a good head light. Is made for moderate use to once a year use.Dont buy.

With a little tesa tape u should be able to fix the first two problems u talked about. Still bad situation to be in. Sorry mate.

I was keen on buying this because I like the brand and it seems like a moderately expensive torch but hearing you describe all the shitty inconveniences has me not wanting to buy it now. Thanks for the video mate

Overrated,over priced.

my SEO5, the switch break down

I totally agree with you. I have the SEO7R headlamp and it has the same design flaws. The battery cover plastic holding hook is from very hard and fragile plastic and it barely lasted 2 months. It broke off, but I kept using the lamp with the cover not firmly closed. After of just one year of use the switch stopped working unless I had the led completely rotated down. I contacted the local (Greece) representative who sent it for repair to Led Lenser in Germany. After 40 days Led Lenser replaced it with a new one since they judged the old one was beyond repair but the local representative demanded me to pay them 15 euros as shipment expenses in order to give me the new one, despite it being in valid warranty. And now the new one has the same problems after 1 year and 3 months... :-(

DO NOT BUY! droped it from ~1m to ice and broke.... :\

Thank you for the honest review. I agree with you......poor quality but the package says German engineered BUT of course....assembled in China! After 2 years with very limited use, my switch does not work anymore. Expensive junk.

I never had any problem with the lens or focus wheel moving when running, this is a fantastic headlight overall imo

i Also bought this, I lasted 1 month.

Ужасно не грамотно сделано. Дешёвая пластмасса,болтающий зум,и шлейф ломается буквально через пару месяцев пользования.

finally a video showing the downsides of this lamp. thank you very much. all other videos are like "oh, look at this lamp, it's so fuckin awesome!". suprisingly enough, i will still buy it, but not use it for jogging :-) so again, thanks for this review.

5 year warranty dude. Just contact LED Lenser.

hi. as I dont know how else to contact you: the other video with the MX5 unplugged , is it already sold ? how much do you want to sell it for ? an answer would be nice, thank you ... answer in English or German only please ... thank you.