Black Diamond Spot Headlamp

This is officially the finest artificial lighting product I own. I am a night security guard and an avid backpacker unafraid to do an alpine start if it means I reach a key destination or mountain summit earlier in the day. Thus, for both my vocation and my hobby it is imperative that I have adequate lighting that is versatile and tough enough to handle rigors ranging from being harshly bounced around as I am sprinting up a hill to catch rascally teenagers climbing our fence to being submerged accidentally during a rough creek crossing. Enter the Black Diamond Spot Headlamp. The last time I felt so impressed by an electronic I have purchased is when I got my first smartphone 4 years ago. This little headlamp is incredible, and by little I do not mean to say little in its utility but small in weight and size. For this review, since so many other reviewers have already listed out all of the technical specifications and aspects of this headlamp, I am just going to give you my subjective and anecdotal views about using it. First of all, with both the floodlight and spotlight turned on it truly turns night into day as you are walking around. I have never had more confidence in my safety and visibility at night in the outdoors before purchasing this headlamp. I am not kidding, it shines so bright that everything in your light’s range and radius is as visible as if the high noon sun was out to guide your way. The great thing about this headlamp though is that you can easily dim the light if you are not looking to fry your friend’s retinas like a couple of over-easy eggs. It outshines my 3D Cell Maglite and now I just carry that sucker around for self-defense when I am wearing this headlamp. I am truly impressed and grateful for this headlamp. For less than forty dollars this has impacted and enhanced my work and leisure time pursuits for the best. I cannot encourage you enough to go ahead and buy this headlamp. You can find all of the information you need on it in the description and in other reviews on Amazon, but if you are second guessing yourself I would just say get it and return it if you don’t like it (slim chance of that though). Happy adventuring and shine on!

Black Diamond Spot (2016) vs Princeton Tec Vizz

Huge improvement over 2015 Spot model. I own two Spot 2015 models and also a 2016 Princeton Tec Vizz 205. In my opinion the 2016 Spot is the clear leader of all brands in the 160-200 lumen category when you factor in performance, features, and dollar value. While the Vizz 205 offers a really nice clean bright main beam with no artifacts- alas the main beam is not dimmable. Both the 2016 Spot and 2016 Vizz are comparable in the proximity and red lamp functions. I’ve really become spoiled by all the features you get with the Spot. The dimming and tap to toggle features plus ease of use of the main button on the Spot has no equal. The main button on the Vizz works fine but it is hard to push and very difficult to work with gloves on. The Vizz for me is very comfortable to wear but is noticeably heaver at 3.4 ounces. The 2015 Spot is 3.3 ounces and the 2016 Spot is just a shade over 3.2 ounces. All weights are with batteries installed. So far I’m very pleased with the battery life during general use. Another reason I like the tap function where I can tap to toggle to full power when I need it, but quickly tap back to lower power to conserve batteries as most of the time a lower output gets the job done.

This is 5 stars for a hiking/backpacking headlamp. It is plenty bright at 200 lumens (more than enough when it is already pitch black outside). The unit itself is very lightweight and a great improvement to the previous r generation. Black Diamond makes quality products and the UI on it covers any situation for outdoor use; from the dimming mode, double tap and the red light to not tick fellow campers off.

Very versatile: this light can do it all. Excellent beam quality in both flood and spot modes. Continuously dimmable (even the red), this thing can be set up to do just what you want. My only gripe is that when you turn it on, you must step through the spot mode, so don’t point it at your face until you get it set the way you want. The exception is red mode: if you turn it off in red mode, it will wake up that way, which helps protect your night vision.

Exceeded my expectations on a recent backpacking trip. The proximity light is absolutely perfect for around camp– if you’re kneeling or sitting and looking down, the floodlight will illuminate your whole field of vision with no beam hotspots whatsoever. The spotlight is well-suited for night hiking, and the tap feature makes it easy to switch between the two.

I got one for Christmas, and liked it so much that I bought a second one for my fiance. I use it every day. I carry it along on half-marathon distance runs for the last couple dark miles. But I mainly use it to make sure my puppy poops before I go to bed, because he likes to try to hide when he squats. There is no hiding from this light. Sorry dude, I need to see you poo, so daddy can sleep well at night.

This is a great head lamp, it provides a great 200 lumens on its highest setting. I have included images from my run last night. One is full power with both lights on, the other is dim power so you can see the contrast. It provided enough light to run a very technical trail at night. I really like tha this torch has a wide light meaning it disperses the light in a wide beam making it easy to see things around you. I would not say it provides a very long beam for seeing great distance but the tradeoff is a wide visible area around you. For trail running, I would say this is the best for the money.

The tap feature only toggles between the large beam and the large beam with the smaller white LED and back to the large beam by itself. I was thinking it would dim the selected light, but it doesn’t. If you’ve used BD headlamps in the past…this will be almost identical in operation. The smaller white LED light is a flood that really lights up a large area. The bright spot does a great job of lighting up your path. There’s also a boost setting that makes everything brighter….although I really don’t ever need the full 200 lumens, but it’s there.