Petzl  Tikka Headlamp

Petzl really nailed it with this headlamp. I’ve been using Petzl for a lot of years now and this is the best I think they’ve ever done. The red light is bright and focused and the other lights are wide and very bright. They also added a much needed lock so it doesn’t turn on when stowed in your pack. All in all I couldn’t be happier with this light. Im going to get one or two more to keep around. I’ve used other brands and Petzl has always been best in class.

A comparison between the Tikka 350 and my old Energizer Vision 300 is the best review I could do here. Quick summary: buy the Petzl if you have to have a hard core climbing brand with minimalist styling, buy the Energizer if you want something easier to use at half the price. The Petzl Tikka 350 (Lumens) Headlamp is a premium product in terms of cost, form, fit & finish, and tech styling. My old Energizer Vision 300 lumen headlamp doesn't look as good, cost half as much, is easier to use, and has an extra feature I value a lot: a green light mode. I still can't get the Tikka to operate correctly even half the time due to it's confusing and non-intuitive single button system that's programmed to do different things depending on how long it's pressed and what it's last state was. Sometimes you turn it off when you want to increase the brightness or switch to red, and sometimes it wouldn't turn on (pressing too long? too short?). By comparison, the Energizer with two buttons is 100% simple and repeatable - press the on/off labelled button to control the white light, press the 2nd button to cycle through red, flashing red, green options. Petzl could have programmed the single button to cycle linearly through each of it's options. While they did include two useful features, a lock to prevent draining the batteries, and battery indicator, the usability issue was still a deal breaker for me. A headlamp is frequently used at the end of a long tiring day and should never be this hard to use!