I was
running from work to my local gym tonight and realised that it was so dark as I
ran across an unlit field, that I thought it's about time to get my headlamp out!
For
the last two years I've been running on and off to get fit, tone up and
generally get to places without having a carbon footprint (eg running to the gym or home instead of driving). This time
last year I got fed up of having to run slowly when off road due to fear of
tripping over so I did some research, asked around at work and finally decided
to buy the Petzl Tikka XP 2
Headlamp in a girly
iris colour (even though others can't see the colour in the dark!) This
cost me about £35 and proved to be pretty useful.
The
headlamp has five modes (economical, max and strobe white, and max and
strobe red which are all activated with a single soft touch button) however I
only need to use the maximum white when running off road. Although saying that I
could use it over my cycle helmet on strobe mode as an additional front or back
light (ideal if one of my bike lights fail). Over the front of the light window
there is a little shutter which gives the option of dispersed light which is
useful when running along the road to prevent blinding passing drivers!
The
white light is ridiculously bright (80 lumens) which is around 68 meters of bright
white light! There are three AAA batteries which seem to last as I used it
plenty last winter and tried it today and there still seems to be plenty of
power (no red low battery LED showing).
There are three solid
batteries powering this headlamp so it isn't the lightest of headlamps and can feel uncomfortable to begin with.
When I first used the headlamp it took me a few minutes to get used to the
weight and pressure on my head but I soon got used to the feeling and once in a
running frame of mind all I could think of was; why hadn't I bought this months
ago, I can now see in the dark!!!
The
thick iris and white elasticated headband/strap is comfortable and obviously
adjustable, it also has a whistle built into the fastening for emergencies,
which you will hopefully never need. Having only used this over the last winter
the strap hasn't started to lose it's elasticity yet, but when it does
start to go there are replacement straps for £5 which is far cheaper than
replacing the whole unit.
I
would recommend this for anyone running off road or on partially lit streets
during the winter or nights especially when it's wet as it's waterproof. But
first I would suggest trying one on in a store before ordering online as it may be too
heavy for some women.
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