There are primarily two mass-market brands that dominate the LED headlamp market in the big-box camping stores (REI, MEC, MooseJaw.com, Backcountry.com, Amazon, etc): Petzl and Black Diamond, although any brand of headlamp will outlast you, unless you really abuse your equipment. I have a Tikka XP from 1992, that is still going strong. The three key areas where headlamps have improved in recent years, beyond the typical weight reduction attempts, are:
1) dimming technologies (that improve battery life), and advances in
2) LED brightness, along with
3) weather/water-resistance
MARCH 2017: I’ve also started considering the Fenix brand of headlamps as they are offered in 1 x AA and 2 x AAA form factors — using fewer batteries and weight less.
Of course, the primary purpose behind a headlamp is to free up your hands. Pretty much all the mass-market headlamps now use 3 x AAA batteries. The newest craze is USB-rechargeable (but that assumes you now bring a USB charger or a folding solar charger PLUS the cable with you — for longer trips).
Instead, I prefer to stick with readily replaceable batteries. I use the very convenient Store-A-Cell battery holder/carrier/caddy by PowerPax and simply bring spares. The 6 x AAA glow-in-the dark version is what I carry for all my camping trips. Recently they’ve introduced a 4 x AAA version if you don’t need to carry as many batteries. You should try to standardize on AA or AAA size batteries for all your electronics.
I’ve been partial to the Zipka Plus over the years, because it is so light weight, and by using the re-tractable head strap, you can strap it to your wrist. Recently, I’ve switched to the Black Diamond SPOT headlamp (shown in the featured picture above), simply because the newer LED in the SPOT is much brighter than my Zipka Plus (from 2007). The SPOT also has a red LED for night vision, is very simple to operate, even with gloves on. It is currently the best rated headlamp on the market for the under $40 price-point.
MAY 2019: In my foray of looking for the best headlamp, I believe I’ve come across the best priced solution for my purposes — the single AA powered ThruNite TH20 (in neutral white), for under $30USD/$40CAD. I absolutely love this headlamp compared to all previous headlamps I’ve owned primarily because it runs on a single AA battery in an unbreakable aircraft-grade machined aluminum shell, and is super-simple to operate. The headlamp is easily removable from the head strap to become a flashlight and has a very nice big on/off button that controls an “infinite” brightness adjustment (moonlight=0.5lumens to 250 lumens in turbo mode) which produces an excellent flood/beam pattern for camping purposes. The headlamp uses a well designed reflector with a 2014-engineered Cree XP-L (V6) diode. The headlamp comes with replaceable o-rings and is waterproof to 2 meters. If you want more brightness, you can swap the AA battery for a 14500 750mA Li-ion rechargeable battery to produce up to a 520 lumen blast of light in turbo mode, so you can see that 1/2 mile ahead of you on your midnight walk down the trail, blind other campers across the lake, or send SOS signals to the moon. It does not have a red LED for night vision, but I’ve always found this option under-used during camping, unless you are star-gazing. I do have the small Nite Ize Moonlit LED Micro Swivel Lantern in Red, that I use inside my hammock or tent, if I need red light.
Practically speaking, at a campsite you only really need about 25-30 lumens (think 30 birthday candles worth) of brightness to do most tasks — like washing up, reading in a tent, and visiting the thunderbox during the night. So any of today’s headlamps (or flashlights) are over-kill in terms of the brightness you need. This means any light you choose will last a very very long time (upwards of almost 2 weeks on a fresh set of batteries) if you operate the flashlight on the more practical lower brightness settings. Too much light is harsh on your eyes during the evening, and is annoying as heck to everyone else you decide to face head on. By using only a single AA battery to power your primary light needs, you’ve reduced the need to carry so many spare batteries, and you know that you cannot mix up a used battery with a new one. Just remember to unscrew the cap by 1/4 turn when you pack the TH20 away in your pack, so the push button doesn’t accidentally get turned on.
JAN 2019: On the topic of lighting — I was on a camping trip recently where there was a fire ban, so we used a general purpose lantern to mimic a campfire at night.
I’ve used my fair-share of lanterns over of the years, and by far the best lantern I’ve used to date which impressed me and I now recommend to everyone, is the $20 Goal Zero Crush Light Solar Powered Lantern (available from pretty much any outdoor retailer, or Amazon). Not only is it compact (about 6″ in diameter) and solar/USB rechargeable, but it has a flicker mode that emulates a candle (and in this case a campfire). Its even sufficiently waterproof to be used upside down as an emergency bowl if you forgot yours, or need a spare at the site.
But by far the biggest selling feature for me was the quality of light. Unlike many LED lanterns out there that produce a cheap and harsh blue-tinged light, this Goal Zero product uses a very nice LED that is yellow tinged, like an incandescent light bulb, which is easier on the eyes in the evening. Expect a solid 4-5 hours of light in medium mode, and more than 10+ hours in low mode — more than enough for the evening. Also, the lantern crushes down or or folds flat to a very portable form factor when packing up, and can be recharged from a Portable Power Bank over-night, if necessary. Keep in mind that you only need about 5 lumens of light (low power mode on most flashlights/headlamps/lanterns) to see sufficiently in a 10 foot radius, when performing tasks. At 5 lumens, all lighting devices running on a battery will last at least 10 to 12 hours to get you through the night.
In general, you want to pack two forms of light in a bugout bag; one for general purpose AREA lighting, and another that you can carry with you and is localized to the task you are performing.
