8 Headlamp Cordon and Review

Headlamps used to be huge entanglements of wires and specialty batteries that appealed to cave dwellers and miners. Now, small, efficient LEDs make these handsfree lights useful admin tools for everything from reading in your rack to roadside vehicle repairs.

Weight, balance, runtime, battery availability and beam shape and color are all points to consider when choosing your headlamp. From bargain bin to top shelf, here’s sample of 8 contenders that you should have on the top of your list.

Hit the jump for reviews with lots of photos of each light with beamshots.

All weights are measured by GearScout with batteries and straps.

Petzl Tactikka XP $58 ($65 w/Adapt kit)  97g, 3xAAA
GEARSCOUT APPROVED

Petzl has one of the most mature headlamp lines in the outdoor industry, Petzl took a lot of tips from the .mil types to get the Tactikka XP right. It’s tight, bright stock beam is enough to replace a handheld. Slide the built-in diffuser over the main LED and you’re GTG for close-up work. It comes with clear, red, green and blue diffusers. 3 output levels, plus flash and boost give you the option of burning bright or husbanding your battery. You won’t be left in the dark thanks to a dedicated LED battery level indicator on the side.

On high, it put out 12 hours of usable light. Nice touches include gaskets on the captive battery cover and storage for a 2nd lens on the strap. What sets the XP apart from the others in the test is the Adapt kit that lets you mount the light on helmets, PALS, even vehicle interiors. Bought with the light for $65, it’s called the Tactikka XP Adapt, or it can be bought on it’s own for about $15. None of the other lights offer this kind of mounting versatility. The only downside we could find relates to the angle-adjustment teeth. Pivoting the head makes a clicking noise loud enough to wake a roommate.

Black Diamond Spot $40, 88g, 3xAAA
Want to a good spot light with a decent wide angle option? Black Diamond took the multi LED path on the Spot. They backed up a 1 watt LED with 3 offset LEDs for area lighting. Not bad, in theory. The wide beam still has lots of reflections and a heavy concentration of brightness in the middle, making it a little hard on the eyes for reading. The high beam had the longest throw of the tested lights. It lasted 6 hours with another 3 ramping down till it flashed it’s warning and gave up. It’s middle of the road for weight and comfort. Battery changes are easy on the finger nails, use the base to cam off the back. The spot loses points for it’s lack of o-rings, flimsy feeling plastic, and the convex lens that screams to be scratched.

Surefire Minimus $TBD, 97g, 1xCR123 – Shipping Sept. 2009
Top of the heap for durability and simplicity, the Minimus will be Surefire’s first headlamp when released this fall. It’s got a clean, wide beam that lights up the outdoors like a streetlight and a room like a bare 50 watt bulb. This is one light that offers enough beam to make night mountain biking almost comfortable. Twist the knurled barrel end to bring the light from off up to 100 lumens for about 2 hours. No fumbling for small buttons or remember button sequences. The head twists 360 degrees to protect the lens from harm or to angle upward for overhead work. It ran for 2 hours at full power, then 8 more as it ramped to down to nothing.

On the downside, for a light that will surely be between $120-140, it should be flawless. It isn’t. The company’s freshman headlamp needs a retention cable for the battery cover. This will be clear the first night you drop the small, black, weightless endcap in the back of a bouncing vehicle. It also comes on at 2 lumens, a bit bright for stealthy bedside maneuvers. More serious, our sample had a severe prismatic halo at the beams edge that projected a distracting bright line in the wearers peripheral vision.

Mammut TX Lite $50, 75g, 3xAAA
The Swiss newcomer to headlamps hit a homerun with it’s TX1. It’s little brother is the second lightest in the group and has a few innovations. It’s the only one in the group with a manual lockout switch. Instead of using 2 LEDs for spot and wide coverage, it uses a single two stage optic that to gives a good spot with a lot of side spill. It’s still a pretty narrow beam, equivalent to the BD Spot 1-watt LED in shape, but about 90% as bright. There are three brightness levels, the third accessed by an annoyingly long press on the single button.

The Achilles heel of the light is it’s battery door. The only way to get it off is using an edged tool or sturdy thumbnail. Neither are great choices for a battery swap out in the cold. Further, once it’s off, there’s nothing attaching it to the body of the light. On the upside, our test light ran for 5 hours on medium, then another 4 days at twilight level. Aside from the minor battery door issues, it’s a fine light that will appeal to the light and fast guys.

Zebra H30-Q5 $50 60g, 1xCR123
The H30 is the smallest and lightest in the group. Peerless for close work and indoor movement, its beam is nearly as wide as your field of vision. It’s so diffuse that it offer’s no reach or definition of objects beyond 15 meters. Mounting options include a rubber headlamp housing, a slip-in clip, and hanging lanyard. It even comes with the option for a glow-in-the-dark power button.

Three levels of brightness keep the light running for a while. The highest setting is a power-pig, shutting the light down in 2.5 hours. Though, the circuitry squeezed a few more hours out of the battery on lower settings. A slight twist of the battery cap and it’s locked out for travel. Just be careful when changing batts. Like the Minimus, and TX Lite, there’s nothing retaining the separated battery cover.

Energizer 7 LED $23, 93g, 3xAAA

If you break or lose stuff, a $50 headlamp might be a bit much to worry about. Check out this little brute for $20. It’s simple for sure, but simple in a crude, vice elegant, way. The one control button cycles monotonously through all 4 settings back to off all the time. Just to turn it off from red, you’ll have to cycle through the other 3 white light settings. The switch itself is big and takes some effort to fully depress. Battery changes are a cinch with a couple of hasps on the sides and a cover retention strap. There’s even a gasket to keep the batteries dry.

The headband is once of the thinnest, but it does the job. The business end is manga monster looking beast. Two red, 2 low level wide and 3 focused LEDS cover should cover from wide to spot. With all those LED sticking out, the lenses sit proud of the lamps lower rim and wash back into your eyes, which is a major problem. Runtime was 6 hours at full intensity, then tapering off barely twilight brightness for another 36 hours. Can’t beat that for $18 at Home Depot.

Energizer Trailfinder Micro $30, 89g, 1xAA

The only rear-mounted battery we tested, the Trailfinder Micro stands out with it’s perfect balance and bomb squad looks. The exposed wires may look cool, but the light get owned by the first low-hanging tree-branch you come across. But, for exercise out on the street, the low profile design and balanced front-back weight works well. It’s got two buttons, one runs a set of red LEDs, the other the main LED. Hold the main button down and the light ramps down to 6% of max power. The beam is fairly narrow, good for navigating outdoors, but still broad enough for close work. Complaints? flimsy velcro holding the strap adjustments and the the light always turns on at max brightness. Runtimes as advertised, 2 hours on max, forever on low.

Streamlight  Enduro $26, 79g, 2xAAA
You get comfort and economy with the Enduro. The removable top strap helps keep it steady, but it’s not really needed on a light this lightweight unless you’re jogging. O-rings will keep out dust and water in the field. The unsophisticated lamp burned 15 hours before it gave up. It carried full power for a four hours, then ramped down a bit and winked out 11 hours later. It has two barely distinguishable brightness levels. The beam pattern was ugly and resembled a Boy Scout flashlight from the 80s. Its not the brightest, nor the longest burning, but it’s cheap and does come in Realtree patterns.