Petzl NAO Headlamp

Comments about Petzl NAO Headlamp:

Reactive lighting can be very useful (sometimes I prefer the standard mode). Only mild drawback is during (ultrarunning) races at night, some relective course markings will cause the light to momentarily dim, but this is only a minor and very brief inconvenience. Really like the USB charging-- no messing with batteries! (switching out the energy source isn't too complicated, though one should of course read the manual). Was giften this, but well worth the price. Head to REI and check it out!

Comments about Petzl NAO Headlamp:

This product is as good as others have indicated. Two additional comments that may prove helpful:

1. When set to adjust the beam it is a really bad idea to use this light for road biking. If light from a vehicle or any other source strikes the sensor the lamp goes dim; not a good situation when wearing the lamp to be seen.

2. The lamp generates lots of heat. I would recommend disconnecting the battery if the lamp is placed in a pocket. I had the lamp in a coat pocket when my movement turned it on. I opened my pocket to discover that the lens of the lamp had melted.

Comments about Petzl NAO Headlamp:

Wow, that's all I can say, I literally had a nerd freak out when I first used this headlamp. I love to buy the latest and greatest and my motto is you pay for what you get so I like to buy the expensive stuff. So after watching the product video on the company's website and reading a couple reviews I thought I would give this product a try and I'm glad I did.

When I first got the head lamp it had enough charge to try it out real fast. It was night and I took it out to my back yard and WOW!!! I mean this thing was just amazing I literally felt as if I had a helicopter search light on my head! When I looked out into the distance where my back fence was (roughly 40 yards away) the light easily adjusted to spotlight mode and lit it up. I then looked up to a nearby tree and it lit all the way to the top of the tree no problem. I literally had to bring my family out into the cold rain to see the headlamp I was so impressed. I don't think I have ever seen any light shine that bright except on some huge flash light that you would never carry out backpacking anyways. I mean for how small it is and only having the two bulbs the light was just so intense and bright! I just was blown away by how bright it was. I even compared it to like a normal LED flash light I had that I thought was bright and after comparing its light to the head lamp there was no comparison, the flash light seemed a candle in comparison.

Also the reactive lighting feature is just phenomenal!!! It worked just as well as they made it sound and I was very happy. The only thing I can see that might be an issue however is that the other day I was out around my house when it was super cold and my breath was super foggy, like much more than normal and as it rose in front of the head lamp while I was standing still it caused the light to adjust and become dimmer since it was catching the reflection of the light off the steam from my breath. Granted you can turn the light on to a constant mode where it won't adjust causing this not to be an issue I still felt I should include the observation and could see it be an annoyance to someone if they were going to use it somewhere you're constantly going to be having foggy breath.

Comments about Petzl NAO Headlamp:

The Petzl NAO appears to have the very latest in LED and Li-ion technology. It's expensive, possibly in part because of the software features, but certainly because of the quality LED and battery it uses. I bought it for the LEDs, brightness rating, and battery, and don't care much about the software. The default settings work great for me.

So far, I've used it primarily for cycling, which oddly enough is not why I bought it. (I bought it to replace my former headlamp that always needed new batteries and was not bright).

The light is quite bright, I would say that the rated Lumens are accurate, it's easy to figure out (if you're even the most mildly patient), the ON/OFF switch is large and can easily be used with gloves/mittens, the USB charging is actually really nice since there's almost always a USB port around someplace. My wife actually has junked her own head lamp for walking the dogs and now will only use my NAO (I just bought her her own for Xmas). I haven't yet been able to use the headlamp while camping, but I assume that it's dynamic lighting capability wil be helpful in extending battery life. It's a really nice product.

Downsides? These are small and nit-picky issues, just wish-list kind of things: I wish the sizing cord were a lot longer, so I could fit it over a helmet or thick hats (it just barely fits as it is). I wish it had a more standard female mini-USB plug-in instead of a big male USB plug, because I usually have a mini-USB cable around for something else but rarely have a USB extension cord (though the NAO comes with one). The dynamic brightness can take some time to get used to, especially when biking (sometimes you'll get a weird strobing effect if you're moving under a tree when there's a street lamp nearby, or some similar situation). Now here's a really stupid downside; the headlamp is so bright that I've started using it for biking, and now I wish it were even brighter.

All in all, great lamp. Like I said, I own two now.

Comments about Petzl NAO Headlamp:

this headlamp is absolutely amazing!! very bright and the battery last very well.

Comments about Petzl NAO Headlamp:

The first one I received would not charge, however REI had a replacement headlamp out to me in only 2 days!

This headlamp is unlike any others. I was looking for a headlamp that could quickly and easily change from wide to focused beam and this does it better than anything out there. It's extremely bright, but will dim down automatically when not needed.
It's customization is also quite amazing. You can adjust it to perfectly suite your needs.
It is a bit pricey, but if I have it for a few years I think it'll pay for itself.

Comments about Petzl NAO Headlamp:

I read about this light and hinted about it for a birthday present, but didn't expect to see it because it's pretty pricey. When I actually got it as a birthday gift I was pretty excited. That quickly faded when I realized it doesn't work. After trying a few different types of USB chargers, it was obvious the battery pack is faulty. (It does not come with a USB charger, by the way. Not a big deal, but a bit annoying. For the price I feel like they could have given you a way to charge it.) Since the lithium battery that it came with didn't work, I tried to get it to power on with AAA batteries. (The battery pack does allow AAA battery use as well.) The way the AAA batteries go into the pack is poorly designed, flimsy, and kind of fragile. Seems like an afterthought in the design... I wouldn't have been happy with that aspect of it, even if it did work... This is a minor complaint though because the lithium battery is going to be your primary power source. Anyway.. it didn't work with the AAA batteries either. Total bummer. Not sure if I'm going to exchange it for another one. I've read other bad reviews about the light not working right out of the box. This is a new product, and I feel like perhaps they rushed it to market with some bugs in the manufacturing process. I need a light that works when I am depending on it.

Comments about Petzl NAO Headlamp:

I have used many flashlights and headlamps over the years. The Petzl NAO Headlamp is incredible. You can download a Petzl OS Software (both available for PC and Mac) that allows you to load on to your NAO up to 4 different Profiles, each consisting of Reactive and Constant Profiles. You decide which Profile your NAO becomes immediately active after programming. At the same time, you are able to charge up your Battery. Once you are outside, if you look down to your feet, the light immediately adjusts lowering the light for objects close to you, then as you look away the light intensifies into a wider beam, and continues as you look far away the light gets brighter to a spot light. I really enjoy using my Petzl NAO Headlamp!!! Great Product!

Comments about Petzl NAO Headlamp:

I found this headlamp simple to use and to setup. I have never had any problems charging it. The only trick that I noticed is that none of the pamphlets let you know you actualy have to open the battery compartment and plug in the battery prior to trying to charge.

Comments about Petzl NAO Headlamp:

This headlamp absolutely hits it out of the park for me. I, frankly, can't compare it to anything else because it exists in a league all its own.

Very basically, the marketing info is true - it delivers the right light, at the right time, in the right amount. The pre-loaded "behaviors" (Petzl calls them profiles) work really well, and you can customize them (after a few weeks of use, I have, because I found some situations where I'd like to tweak how it behaves, and the software lets you base new profiles on existing ones and just make the small adjustments as required).

This adaptive system not only makes the light more functional, but makes the battery last much longer.

I love the "cradle" style strap (comes with a top strap, I use it since my primary activity is trail running where there's a lot of jostling, but could get by without it), the battery is great in terms of stamina and you can also use AAAs in a jam (you lose the cool features, but great as a backup when you're out there for extended periods without charging or spare batteries, which you can buy and keep on hand).

Some people have mentioned it being complex, but I actually find it opposite, it's incredibly intuitive, it's only ONE lever you move to access all the functions, and the pictographical manual is really easy to interpret (at least it was for me) - pictures and diagrams, not words, up and running in minutes.