Gear Review: Black Diamond Spot Headlamp
The Black Diamond Spot has the brightest light and best battery life.
Lightest & Cheapest |
Steady Burner |
Best Light Quality |
Brightest |
Best All-Around
Brightest
“The Spot makes other headlamps look like upheld lighters at an Eagles concert,” one tester wrote after night-hiking in Maine’s Baxter State Park. The Spot’s yellowy, ultrabright LED mimics the warm glow of an incandescent bulb, and is deeply nestled in a grooved cone that throws a focused beam almost the length of a football field (see chart for comparisons).
That makes this headlamp ideal for biking and off-trail jaunts. The Spot also shone for two days in spot mode on alkaline batteries, 15 hours longer than the next closest competitor on a similar setting. When less light was called for, a whopping eight settings—three strengths and a blinker for both the spot and the diffuse three-LED flood—offered our Moab tester more brightness options than he knew what to do with. Unique feature: If you accidentally leave it on, the Spot switches itself off after 10 hours to conserve battery life. The catch: It’s bulkier (the size of a tangerine) than the others, and its loose tilter slips during trail running and banzai descents.
> Batteries 3 AAAs
> Weight 3.1 oz.
> Price $40
> Infobdel.com