Black Diamond  Sprinter USB Headlamp

I use this for running -- both road and trail. Pretty much does it all. Adjustable front with a one touch for max brightness. And it is dang bright at max. The rear has flashing red to let people see you from behind. This can be turned off for trail running although you have to do it manually each time. Over the head strap keeps everything in place. Comes with a micro-USB cable to charge the built in battery. A bit heavier than simpler ones but gives you everything you will ever need.

I am generally pleased with the build quality of this light, but it suffers a number of design flaws which knock an otherwise excellent light down to only three stars. I own a number of other Black Diamond headlamps, including an older generation of this light (2014 model). I'm a year-round bicyclist and have this headlamp attached to my helmet using velcro. It works well for this application. Previously, i've used the 2014 Sprinter model, and the 200 lumen 2012 Black Diamond Icon on my helmet. The Icon always felt heavy on the helmet, but both models of the Sprinter are light enough not to be noticeable. Pros: This model of the Sprinter improves upon the 2014 model in four ways: It's brighter, has a much brighter taillight, no longer uses a charging cradle, and has added a battery "fuel gauge" indicator LED -- all welcome improvements, the reasons for my upgrading from the 2014 model, and the reasons why i've decided not to return the light in spite of its user experience failings. Cons: This model has four serious design flaws. Firstly, the rubber rain flap covering the side-located USB charging port is cut to hinge at the bottom, meaning it opens from the top. This is the opposite from what it should be because water flow follows gravity. If the flap isn't closed snuggly, or if something has brushed against it, partially opening it up, rain is invited into the USB port. Had the flap been hinged at the top, water is much less likely to find its way into the charging port, even if it isn't closed properly. This is a significant design flaw which the user must keep in mind. Secondly, the light doesn't remember the mode last used by the user. This is a problem with all my Black Diamond headlamps, not just the Sprinter. In virtually all use cases i can imagine, one is far more likely to want to resume using the headlamp in the last mode used, rather than some pre-selected factory-default mode. If i've dimmed the light, i probably want it to return to the same brightness level the next time. If i was using it in flashing mode, i probably want it to be in flashing mode the next time i use it again. If the headlamp returned to the last mode used, the next two cons would be completely eliminated… Thirdly, to enter flashing mode (which bicyclists and joggers alike are likely to want most, if their goal is to be visible to motorists) requires a triple click to activate. In the 2014 model, only a double click was required. This is significant as that third click is much more difficult to achieve if you're wearing gloves. A far better user experience would be created if it would return to flashing mode, if that was used previously, when the headlamp is turned on. Toggling between flashing and steady on should be done by a double click, for ease of use with gloves. Fourthly, the headlamp only illuminates at 75% (steady-on) as default when turned on. No doubt this is done to extend battery life, but i can think of no real-world use case where this behavior is a desirable default behavior. To go to maximum, one needs to move to the side button to ramp up to maximum (alternatively, one could hold the power switch down for three seconds, and it would jump to maximum, and immediately begin to dim; can be tricky to get maximum brightness this way). Either way, it's cumbersome and requires some mental attention (which is fine if you're sitting at home, but not in most real-world use scenarios like jogging or bicycling, where one's attention is better focused on the trail or road). The side toggle button is useful to switch between two different illumination settings, but where it fails is the 75% default. It would be much better if this light remembered the last setting used, and returned the light to that level the next time, and used the side switch to toggle to 100% and back. That would be much more user friendly -- and far safer -- for the jogger or bicyclist. My experience with this model has been that when i need to switch from flashing to steady-on mode, i'm needing to respond quickly to changing road conditions; extra fiddling to obtain maximum brightness, for the most part, hasn't been an option. The net effect for me is that this headlamp is really a 98 lumen headlamp, not a 130. Finally, the rear button (controlling the rear red LEDs) is recessed and very difficult to engage *without* gloves. The battery fuel gauge LED is located near the very bright rear LEDs, so can be difficult to see. Rarely am i able to turn off the rear LEDs in time to get a good look at the gauge LED before it goes out. Poor design. This button would also vex anyone who doesn’t like the default flashing mode. Once again, would be better if it remembered the last mode the user set and used that as default. Would also be good if the rear LEDs stayed off until the gauge LED goes out. A nice added safety feature would be to add flashing amber sidelights to the battery pack.