A few years ago I thought to get one of these for hikes, night photography, and simply having a lightweight flashlight in my camera bag or for when the power goes out. I read up on them, found Petzl to be the best, and yet the complaints were that the Petzl model at the time had only one brightness setting, didn't tilt, wasn't water resistant, and had no red filter. A year later Petzl came out with this model, and everything had been fixed to perfection.

Needless to say, I got one and loved it. For those new to LED headlamps, what's great about them is they leave your hands free and you never have to think about aiming the light. If the power's out, and you're tying your shoes and then looking under a cupboard and carrying out blankets, the light is always right where you need it.

Also, for walking at night, a flashlight will light up just a pizza-size spot in the middle of the road, but this headlamp casts a wide swath of light completely across a small road, so you don't have to scan for fallen limbs or porcupines - everything is lit up evenly and it's much easier finding your way about.

The only downside to having the lamp right over your eyes is when it's foggy or snowing, since it lights up everything right in front of your face. But simply take it in hand, as a very light flashlight, or attach it to your belt, and all is well again. In fact, it works so that you can press the button in for when you want to check something, and then let it go and it'll go off. Much better than clicking through the four brightness settings time and again.

So I loved using this headlamp, and then I accidentally dropped it in salt water when kayaking. Not recommended. The directions actually say you can wash it out with fresh water and dry it, but I didn't get to it for a couple of days, and it had of course corroded.

Well, I had to order a new one, and what do you know - it came with a little sticker on it that says, "New LED Technology, +80%." What was this about?

I dug out the specs, and sure enough, they boosted the reach from 17m (at Maximum brightness) to 32m. And not only that, but they extended the battery life at Maximum from 80 to 100 hrs. In short, the Maximum setting on my old one is now the Economical setting and lasts twice as long. You can really see the difference - the Maximum setting lights up a yard and the red filter is now bright enough to hike by, when before it was best for reading or up-close work.

Way to go, Petzl. 5 stars

This is a great headlamp. I bought this light primarily to do turtle watching since the leatherback turtles do not see the colour red. However, I soon other uses for it, like hiking and reading star maps without losing my night vision for star gazing.

The four LEDs are great. The three light settings are great since you can choose the right amount of light for the situation. The emergency flashing light feature is great if you get into trouble and need to attract attention to where you are.

I especially like the fact that the red filter is attached to the light and can pivot into place when you need it. Won't be losing any more filters from now on. The head band is adjustable and made of a comfortable material so you can keep it on for long periods.

Overall this is a great light and comes with batteries. 5 stars

I've been using this lamp for some pretty tough situations for almost a year, and I only replaced the batteries last week. It has survived three extended field exercises, and the band is elastic enough to fit easily over both an old style kevlar helmet or the new ACH. I recommend it highly. 5 stars

I bought this headlight to use on a 11 day yacht delivery ocean sail. I used it to get around the cabin at night when others were sleeping and I had to get up for my watch or was returning from my watch. I also used it on deck at night to shine on the sails, etc.
I found the Petzl to be very durable. Over the course of the 11 days it got sprayed and soaked with salt water regularly and it constantly got banged around when I was moving about in the cabin. It withstood the abuse without any problems and it was clearly the best headlamp among the ones used by my crewmates.
The redlight filter was crucial and very easy to use and the white light was strong enough to go pretty far when used on deck. The different levels of light intensity also came in very handy when trying to do something below deck without waking up everybody else which required only minimal visibility. 5 stars

I used this for my early morning (2am) hike on Mt Whitney. It was pretty good going by brightness level. Fitting was also good. I think the battery life is long compared with some of the others, as I saw many hikers who battery died after 4-5 hours and were following me on the hike. Hope my review helps you in buying this product. 5 stars