Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp

Comments about Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp:

I bought this lamp for Christmas and really thought it was a great buy. In the store all seemed great as I tried it on and cycled through all the different modes. Now that I have had it for a couple of months, there are two things that annoy me, potentially enough to return it.
The greatest issue to me is the casing of the headlamp is clear on the bottom and translucent all around. This looks cool, and I didn't notice this issue in the store (as it was light in the store and I could not tell). But when you are wearing the lamp, there is a pretty substantial amount of light that shines down in your face. Enough that my whole face is green (Pistachio colored headlamp). I kinda jacks up my vision a bit and seems like a total miss on the design.
The other, less serious issue, is if I want to dim the lamp I have to turn it off, then hope I can click the button quickly enough to get it to cycle to dim.
I really like this headlamp, enough I am trying to decide on putting some duct tape along the bottom to deflect the light, but that is not my job to do, I think Petzl should have caught that in R&D before sending out to the public.

Comments about Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp:

Based on the price, size, durability and function of this headlamp; it can't be beat. The single LED is plenty bright in both high and low modes. We have used these for backpacking through the woods after the sun goes down and camp is still far off, and these provide plenty of light for the march in such a small package. The long battery life is also a huge plus. After already using this lamp on 4 previous trips, I went on a 5-day trip that involved fishing at night, wood-gathering at night, and excursions to filter drinking water at night. I thought I had my spare AAAs packed with me, since I was sure the lamp would need them soon, but to my surprise, the lamp kept shining on. As it turns out, I had actually forgotten the spare batteries due to hasty packing. The lamp also stays in red LED mode (when selected) when you turn it off, so it is in red LED mode next time you turn it on. This is a great function that some other lamps don't have. It really doesn't make sense to have to cycle through all modes to get to the red LED mode, thus, blowing your (and your entire party's) night vision. Petzl thought of this in advance!

Comments about Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp:

Recently completed a fifty-five day expedition that included Denali, Hood, Rainier, Gannett and Granite.

We purchased the headlamps at the Seattle REI on our way to Rainier, the team wanted a headlamp with a night vision mode and better battery life. After two hundred and eighty-eight miles of round the clock climbing which included some technical early am alpine starts we were pleased with our purchase.

The Tikka is very comfortable, has great battery life, excellent illumination, and is lightweight but tough. The red led mode helped preserve vision especially on our Gannett Peak climb when we needed to read maps as we navigated our way over Bonney Pass in near darkness. Our headlamps were as essential as any piece of our core climbing and safety equipment and this headlamp performed flawlessly. I highly recommend the Tikka Plus.

Comments about Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp:

I decided to do a side by side comparison between Tikka Plus 2 and Black Diamond Spot headlamps. First, I used a set of brand new batteries,Rayovac, in both headlamps as I also wanted to test how good these batteries were. I let them run until they were completely drained out and recorded their time.

Ergonomics: I liked the Tikka better as it actually had a real handle and a hinge for opening and closing the battery compartment. The plastic on BD felt a bit cheaper but I thought they were of equal quality. To me, Tikka looked nicer with its smooth curves and edges over BD Spot.

Illumination: BD was very bright but it had an ugly dark spot/shadow in the middle of the circle and its color was yellowish. Tikka was definitely more white and its illumination was very smooth and even. I also noticed that when the battery was low, Tikka's outer circle was actually bigger than BD. Since these headlamps are non-regulated, their brightness levels go down as the batteries drain out. The red LED on the Tikka was bright and I liked the red strobe as it could be used as a safety signal in urban area (like cycling). Unfortunately, The red LED on BD was pretty much useless because it was so weak that you could barely see it even at full power. Worse still, at very low power, the red LED on BD was completely gone while that on the Tikka was still fully functional.

Button operation: I was disappointed at how awkward the BD button operation was when switching between different lights. When I turned off the main LED and turned it on again, it went into the small LED light not the main LED, Why BD? So I had to press it again in order to go back to the main LED. That didn't make sense to me and it was rather inconvenient. Also, to get to the red LED light on BD you had to cycle pass the small LED light and then pressed it for a brief seconds to activate the red LED. Tikka's operation was excellent. When I turned off the main LED and back again, I was back to the main LED, not the small LED. To activate the red LED light, I just pressed the button for a brief seconds and the red LED would come on (without having to cycle pass anything else).

Low battery indicator light: Tikka's low battery indicator light was very pleasing as it flashed at a slower pace, like every 2.5 seconds or so, so it didn't bother my eyes. BD however was blinking so fast that it became annoying.

Lock indicator: This function was nice if it was easy to use. Tikka didn't have this function but BD did. Unfortunately, I needed to cycle it pass the different steps to get to this function so it was a pain.

Battery run time: I tested both and Tikka lasted about 73 hrs while BD lasted 83 hrs or so. I found that when the battery was below 50%, lets say 30%, they became so weak that their illuminations didn't do much anymore. They were still on but not bright enough to see much to be useful.

If you are looking for a bright light, BD is very bright at 75 lumens. But considering the more user friendly and well thought out design of the Tikka, Im keeping the Tikka. I think there are better headlamps than BD Spot if you look around.

Comments about Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp:

I bought this headlamp prior to a deployment to Afghanistan. It worked perfectly over there and I am sure there isn't any kind of camping that in North America that can put it to any more of a test than it has already been through. Absolutely, I would recommend this to a friend.

Comments about Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp:

I run 5 miles to and from work on a trail that has no ambient light from streets or even the moon. This head lamp has proven VERY effective at illuminating the trail that I use. So effective in fact that, as I managed to lose mine this morning while stretching, I will be buying another tomorrow. The high beam is plenty to run by and the strobe makes me feel safer during the three street crossings I make when it is bright enough to not need light anymore. Overall, a great product.

Comments about Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp:

I've used this on a couple of hikes and just around the house (like searching for dog that felt like chasing a cat).

Anyhow, as with any headlamp, I expect it to at least function in that matter, to produce light and sit on my head. I'm not going to rate it well for doing that.

I've only given it an average rating because of two things:

1. It isn't as easy as some other headlamps to click while wearing gloves. It can be done and isn't difficult, it just isn't as easy as others.

2. Once you're on a setting for over a few seconds, you can't move into another setting without having to turn it off and cycle through the settings. Meaning, if I was on Medium, and wanted to go to the strobe, I'd have to turn it off, then turn it on and do the 3 clicks to the strobe. It would be nice if I was in Medium for an hour, then if all of sudden I needed the strobe, I could click into.

Hence, an average rating because it does what it needs to do.

However, the red light is awesome.

Comments about Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp:

Great headlamp. The red LED is perfect for inside the tent to save your night vision and not wake other people up. The 1 white LED is really bright with good battery life but it's not as wide as other beams. It's wide enough for me though.

Comments about Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp:

I bought this head-lamp for car camping but ended up using it for so much more. Its great for walking the dogs in the early morning walk. Packaged really nice as well, I like how it comes with the batteries.

Comments about Petzl Tikka Plus 2 LED Headlamp:

This is a great lamp. It adjusts nicely. It has 5 light patterns (3 white light, and 2 red light). That pretty much sold me on this lamp over the black diamond cosmo and the strobe/flashing feature. At $10 more, I believe it to be worth it. Plus the add-on's of a 3 point head harness, chest adapter, and a helmet adapter makes it pretty versatile to all types of mountaineering.