Best Headlamp for Alpine climbing

Thoughts?  

I have a few great lights from about 6yrs ago but I’m curious what’s on peoples heads these days?

The Petzl Swift RL is awesome, been using the current version and the previous slight variant of it for a few years.  

Fenix HM61R v2:

https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-hm61r-v2-rechargeable-headlamp

with cold weather battery:

https://nitecorestore.com/products/nitecore-nl1835lthp-cold-weather-low-temperature-high-performance-18650-battery

If you feel you must get a plastic headlamp from a climbing company, just stay away from Black Diamond.  Their headlamps have the world's worst quality control.

Petzl are OK.  

Sofirn have done me well, so cheap and light you can bring an empty spare. 

The big issue I see with the HM61R v2 and cold weather battery is it’s a separate charger. It doesn’t look like it’s USB C, so you’re stuck with its proprietary charger or finding a separate 18650 charger to carry. I’m trying to simplify my cable collection, not add even more new ones!

I have the HM65R and love it, but it doesn’t have a red light. I don’t find myself wishing for that in the mountains much, but it makes me grab a different light when I’m out doing nighttime photography or working (camera work, like right now on a boat).

I also like to carry a backup light when having one is mission critical, and for that I love the Petzl Bindi. 

RandyLee wrote:

I have the HM65R and love it, but it doesn’t have a red light. I don’t find myself wishing for that in the mountains much, but it makes me grab a different light when I’m out doing nighttime photography or working (camera work, like right now on a boat).

I also like to carry a backup light when having one is mission critical, and for that I love the Petzl Bindi. 

This is exactly my combo as well, though for overnight trips I have slightly different petzl (lower-end 3 AAA) headlamp I use for camp and red LED. I'm considering the Nitecore NU25 UL as a replacement for the Bindi as something that's a bit more full featured (it comes highly recommended from a friend).

+1 on loving the HM65R (I have the HM65R-T, and I do like their Boa-like band)

that guy named seb wrote:

Sofirn have done me well, so cheap and light you can bring an empty spare. 

I second this. I bring a few extra batteries along. 

love the nightcore nu25 as a hiking/backup/emergency headlamp (it's cheap, light, works well)

For real night time stuff i have one of these 20 dollar fancy 18650 headlamps: https://www.amazon.com/sofirn-Rechargeable-H05B-Lightweight-Flashlight/dp/B0CNVCNWRB or similar. just lock it out (screw the metal bit out so it doesn't get accidentally turned on)  when it's in your pack, I've read reports of it burning holes in people's stuff.

I reckon with the weatherproofed battery it would be even nicer.

Both of these are chargeable with USB-C, which you may often bring anyway just to charge your phone on longer trips.

RandyLee wrote:

The big issue I see with the HM61R v2 and cold weather battery is it’s a separate charger. It doesn’t look like it’s USB C, so you’re stuck with its proprietary charger or finding a separate 18650 charger to carry. I’m trying to simplify my cable collection, not add even more new ones!

I have the HM65R and love it, but it doesn’t have a red light. I don’t find myself wishing for that in the mountains much, but it makes me grab a different light when I’m out doing nighttime photography or working (camera work, like right now on a boat).

I also like to carry a backup light when having one is mission critical, and for that I love the Petzl Bindi. 

If the charger is a big issue, you could always just get a 18650 battery with a built-in USBC charge port.

Lots of them available.  Just google "18650 battery USB C"   They will not perform as well in bitter cold as a specialized cold weather battery, but will be as good in cold as a typical rechargable battery in any other headlamp.  

I don't have a problem with the proprietary charger for the HM61R v2.  It's very small, very light, and it is this charger design that allows the headlamp to be extremely water proof.  

that guy named seb wrote:

Sofirn have done me well, so cheap and light you can bring an empty spare. 

Which model do you guys prefer?

@Lothian Buss

RandyLee wrote:

The big issue I see with the HM61R v2 and cold weather battery is it’s a separate charger. It doesn’t look like it’s USB C, so you’re stuck with its proprietary charger or finding a separate 18650 charger to carry. I’m trying to simplify my cable collection, not add even more new ones!

I have the HM65R and love it, but it doesn’t have a red light. I don’t find myself wishing for that in the mountains much, but it makes me grab a different light when I’m out doing nighttime photography or working (camera work, like right now on a boat).

I also like to carry a backup light when having one is mission critical, and for that I love the Petzl Bindi. 

Fenix sells an18650 that you can recharge directly on the battery and its usb c

RJNakata wrote:

Which model do you guys prefer?

@Lothian Buss

I think the H25L is the go to atm, USB C charging intergrated straight into the headtorch, and super easy to swap batteries. There is a thread on here looking at mods but the main ones are to put vaseline or equivalent around the O rings and on the plate that holds the lense on, improves water resistance. 

There is one thing that would make me pause, mine randomly stopped working while on a trip, the battery was fine but there was some issue that I never figured out and have since lost it so can't look at it any further. 

Anyway my new tactic is just bring a spare if mission critical, it's under 30g without the strap and plastic plate so it disappears in a pack. And at $15 from aliexpress with a battery it's a no brainer. 

I've been using the HS40 when I want to light up the night, and the HS10 when I want something not so heavy. The H25 looks good too. I carry spare batteries if I'll be out longer than 1 evening. 

Lothian Buss wrote:

I've been using the HS40 when I want to light up the night, and the HS10 when I want something not so heavy. The H25 looks good too. I carry spare batteries if I'll be out longer than 1 evening. 

Ooooh good.

Do you see any downsides to the 25A?  It says 2400 lumins

Chris C wrote:

The Petzl Swift RL is awesome, been using the current version and the previous slight variant of it for a few years.  

Second this. The Reactive Lighting feature was made for the alpine. Anybody who's had to click through a headlamp's brightness settings as they're frontpointing up 50 degree ice just to look up at a rock band for 10 seconds to route find knows how annoying such transitions are. And how common. 

The newest Swift RL has USB-C and a red light mode, fixing two of the issues with the previous model.

For standard campers/rock climbers the Swift is overkill. But the reactive lighting easily justifies the price for those who do a lot of alpine climbing. 

I ve been happily using the Petzl actik core for alpine climbing for the past eight years, now running with the latest model that is pretty great.
If I was to change the Swift RL sure looks even better but I have like 3 batteries for the Actik so don't think I ll switch to Switch (had to say it ;) very soon.

I picked up the swift RL and it's been great. I do wish the lockout worked a bit better, it's turned on in my bag and killed the battery. Had an extra but was disappointed.

I'm looking into building my own battery extender to keep it in my jacket in the cold to prolong its life, in the early stages but coming along! The idea is to 3D print a housing for it and run a cable to a dummy battery on the headlamp.

RJNakata wrote:

Ooooh good.

Do you see any downsides to the 25A?  It says 2400 lumins

I have a similar but black headlamp-i wouldn’t worry  over lumens, all of the 18650 led headlamps I’ve seen can get super duper bright. But the downside to that hefty battery is that all the weight is in the front, which makes it less than ideal for jogging. I’ll still use mine but I’m probably going to get something lighter (or with the weight more distributed) at some point

Great info, thanks yall.  Sounds like folks aren’t stoked on BD?  I had been considering their “distance lt 1100”

I like my BD onsite better that the petzl active. I think most lights these days are pretty good. Look for the features you like and go with it. Most people complain about BD lights turning on inside the pack and I had the problem with BD lights before the onsite but never with the on-site. 

I think if I were to buy a light today I would try the nitecore ut27pro.  I'm happy with a 400ish lumin light and don't see a need for more.  I want a long burn time, at least most of a night at a illumination level suitable for walking or climbing which is probably at 100-200 lumens which occasional high beam for orientation.  I also want replaceable battery, rechargeable battery and as small and comfortable as possible.

I don't care much for the 18650 battery based lights because basically all the 18650 batteries sold on Amazon are resleaved used or rejected batteries and have nowhere near the advertised capacity.  Yes, I have tested many different Amazon 18650 batteries and cut off the outer sleeve to find something complete different inside.  Most batteries had 1/3-1/2 advertised capacity with some having only 1/10 advertised capacity.  Generally the greater the advertised capacity the lower the actual capacity.  Buy your batteries from your light manufacturer so you get a good quality battery. When I pointed out to Amazon that no one manufacturer a battery with the specifications advertised they removed the store from Amazon.  

Ryan Crochiere wrote:

Great info, thanks yall.  Sounds like folks aren’t stoked on BD?  I had been considering their “distance lt 1100”

I've pretty much given up on BD headlamps.  I don't feel as if I should need to upgrade/replace a headlamp regularly and I had a "sorry nothing we can do" experience with them so therefore looking elsewhere.