Recommendation for headlamp outdoor climbing?

Hey everyone, I'm looking to buy my first headlight for outdoor climbing to wear on the trail and place on my helmet when climbing outdoors. I know there's a few option, I primarily sport climb here in Southern California. What would be the best head lamp from Petzl or Black Diamond or whoever to buy from. Wich one would you recommend?. 

I like Fenix. HM50R. Long battery life, rechargeable, and can be very bright when needed. 

Whichever brand you go with, highly recommend getting one of the rechargeable options. Costs a bit more upfront but in the long run you don't have the spend money on batteries. It is also nice having it topped off at full power at the start of each trip.

Sofirn HS40 Rechargeable Headlamp with Magnetic tailcap (sofirnlight.com) if you want a big bright rechargeable light. 

or

Sofirn HS10 USB C Rechargeable Mini 16340 Headlamp, 1100lm LH351D 90CRI Angle Headlight Flashlight TIR Optics with Magnet Tail (sofirnlight.com) if you want a lightweight functional rechargeable light. 

You can get extra rechargeable batteries for either of these. Incredibly cheap for the quality/utility. All I use any more. 

Search on Reddit for best headlamps and make sure they’re helmet compatible. IMO black diamond or Petzl are not headlamp companies. They are outsourcing their headlamps to a Chinese company and then applying a markup. Get one from Fenix like the other commenter suggested. I believe Nitecore also often comes up on the Reddit threads.

FWIW I use a Fenix HM70R, it’s amazingly bright and works very long very well in low temps for ice climbing. It has a red light mode. It’s awesome.

Personally, I like the Petzl Actik Core, which is rechargeable. I gave up on Black Diamond headlamps about 5 years ago, as I found them unreliable, they burned up battery life too quickly and the interface was horrible to use. I’d owned 4 or 5 different BD models over the previous 10-15 years. BD replaced the last one under warranty, but I still had a crappy headlamp that I hated using, so I bought a Petzl.

Most people who have used a lot of different headlamps and buy Fenix swear by them. I would certainly look into this brand.

The new Petzl Swift RL is worth checking out. For alpine climbing it's reactive lighting is hard to beat. And the new version has a red light mode and USB-C. I think Dub is right that BD and Petzl's lower/middle end headlamps are middling. But the upper end of Petzl's lineup competes well with Fenix IMO.

Another solid option is BioLite.  I have an 800 lumen that is great and is popular in the long distance trail running crowds.  I’ve never climbed at night with it but it’s brighter and has more functions than my BD and Petzl lamps. 

Although I haven’t tried any of the fancy flashlight specific brands, BD’s cosmo 350 rechargeable works well for me. It’s plenty bright, fits on my helmet and has gotten me down many rappels in the dark. 

I’d also suggest to get a second rechargeable headlamp and carry it in your pack. In comes in handy if you forget to charge your main one or if your partners forget theirs.

Ray Murphy wrote:

I’d also suggest to get a second rechargeable headlamp and carry it in your pack. In comes in handy if you forget to charge your main one

Or get a headlamp that uses a removable, rechargeable battery like many of the Petzl or Fenix models, and carry a spare battery.

Another vote for Fenix. I think I have the HM65r, but the 60r has red, flood and spot, if I remember correctly. I carry that plus a Petzl bindi (?) that often comes in handy when my partner’s headlamp is dead, or I don’t expect to need a headlamp but want to carry one just in case. 

Fenix.

super happy with Petzl IKO core:  https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Headlamps/IKO-CORE

use it for everything, hiking, trail running, climbing.  fits over a BD Vapor helmet, super light weight, 3 setting.  highest one is a friggin spot light at night. easy to swap out CORE batteries or use AAA.  you can wrap it around a nalgene in camp.  the little storage bag also works as a great tent light at night.

For a lightweight but fully usable (and cheap!) headlamp i can wholeheartedly recommend the nitecore nu25 ul.
For a more beefy one the Petzl RL series is a very nice to have innovation (im using the Petzl Nao RL) altough very expensive but well worth it, because of the much longer battery life with the same battery and usability.

Since I see people recommending the Petzl headlamps, for example the Petzl IKO Core. I own the Petzl IKO core and the fenix HM70r. The fenix is much better built/sturdier. Much more secure on the helmet, and much brighter. Plus it has a red light mode. Since I can compare the two, it is overall a much better headlamp.

The only reason I would choose the Petzl is for weight, for something like running. I have never used it climbing, much prefer my fenix. I really think Petzl makes inferior headlamps compared to a dedicated headlamp company.

Chris Wernette wrote:

Since I see people recommending the Petzl headlamps, for example the Petzl IKO Core. I own the Petzl IKO core and the fenix HM70r. The fenix is much better built/sturdier. Much more secure on the helmet, and much brighter. Plus it has a red light mode. Since I can compare the two, it is overall a much better headlamp.

The only reason I would choose the Petzl is for weight, for something like running. I have never used it climbing, much prefer my fenix. I really think Petzl makes inferior headlamps compared to a dedicated headlamp company.

Just FYI, the HM70r is twice the weight of the Swift RL (200g to 100g) and has a 500 lumen max output advantage (1600 to 1100). Both are extraordinarily bright, especially compared to the IKO Core (500 lumen max), and both have a red light mode. It's also worth noting how bulky the HM70r is. Way more so than the Swift RL. It reminds me of the old headlamps I had 20 years ago. 

I like Fenix stuff, but at least the Swift RL competes very well with what Fenix can offer for climbers. 

Haven’t used the Swift RL, it does look nice. But wanted to point out lumens doesn’t really matter, candela does. But I don’t think either company posts the specs on that, so we’re left wondering… For the weight thing, I’m not a weight weenie ;)

Not sure if this is the OP’s intended use case, but have you used it ice climbing? How’d the battery hold up? For me the batteries on the fenix light held up incredibly well, even in cold temps. 19650 batteries are just so ubiquitous and reliable.

Chris Wernette wrote:

Haven’t used the Swift RL, it does look nice. But wanted to point out lumens doesn’t really matter, candela does. But I don’t think either company posts the specs on that, so we’re left wondering… For the weight thing, I’m not a weight weenie ;)

Not sure if this is the OP’s intended use case, but have you used it ice climbing? How’d the battery hold up? For me the batteries on the fenix light held up incredibly well, even in cold temps. 19650 batteries are just so ubiquitous and reliable.

I have used it ice climbing and in the alpine. Battery held up great. That said, for alpine I shelled out for a spare battery to swap out as a backup, especially if it's a committing route.  

I am happy with the Petzl Actik Core for climbing. Super bright enough. Relatively light and not super expensive.
I have a Chinese Wurkkos one the uses 18650 batteries, which is sturdier and brighter and lasts longer but almost never need that. On the pro side it can also be used as a power bank.

I have another Decathlon headlamp that is pretty much the same as the Petzl, but uses 2 buttons which is nice. Also with the possibility to use regular batteries. But if I am worried about redundancy, I would rather pack a second tiny headlamp.

As I mostly care about my pretty immediate surroundings while climbing I don't actually care too much about the max brightness. Battery runtime should be adequately long with usable brightness though. So far the Actic Core never gave up on me on my missions. If I need to get through a complete night, I'd take the headlamp with replaceable 18650 batteries. Should get through the night on one charge and I can easily and cheaply get additional batteries.

Fenix, I’ve got multiple models of flashlight and headlamp from them all are good pick whichever has the size/weight you want