BioLite HeadLamp 750
The lighting with best battery life of 2021.
While they generate less waste over their lifespan and can top up from any USB port, rechargeable headlamps have one downside: They tend to drain faster and shine less brightly than their alkaline equivalents. BioLite’s new model bucks the trend; it’s bright enough for almost anything you might need to do in camp, and can last for a whopping 150 hours on low. At its brightest setting, it can put out a constant 500 lumens for two hours—long enough for our tester to bust out a 4-mile run through the pitch-black desert near Scottsdale, Arizona. (Need to quickly scout a path? It can push out a blinding 750 lumens in 30-second bursts.) For all that power, the HeadLamp 750 is still comfy to wear, thanks to a slim, rectangular body and a sweat-wicking headband, and it has a red light mode and rear red light. “I’ve run in lighter-weight headlamps, but the way the slim, form-fitting battery pack sits didn’t feel heavy,” our tester says. (Another reports it slipped a bit during vigorous activity.) Caveat: price.