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A good headlamp doesn’t just light your way. It gives you the confidence you need to push further—to go longer, ride faster, get out with no fear of being caught by sunset. It’s a key that opens up a world of pre-dawn and post-dusk adventures for you and your partners.
But there’s no such thing as a light that’s perfect for every activity. A headlamp that’s lightweight enough for backpacking may not have the power for night ski touring. We’re here to play matchmaker: After trying out more than a dozen different headlamps, from featherweight emergency lights to high-intensity head cannons, we’ve narrowed it down to the very best on the market. Read on to find the right light for you.
The Best Headlamps of 2025
- Best for Runners: Silva Trail Runner Free H ($81)
- Best Features: Coast RL35R ($70)
- Minimalist Pick: BioLite Headlamp 325 ($60)
- Best for Kids: Black Diamond Wiz ($30)
- Best For Hiking: Simond Forclaz HL900 ($70)
- Honorable Mentions
- How We Choose
- How We Test
- Meet our Testers
Best for Runners
Silva Trail Runner Free H
Weight: 3.8 oz. (battery included)
Max Brightness: 400 lumens
Max burn time on low: 12 hours
Pros and Cons
⊕ Lightweight and comfortable
⊕ Zero bounce
⊕ Rechargeable or disposable batteries
⊗ No red light
⊗ Short battery life
Pick up this headlamp, and you’ll notice right away that there’s something missing: wires. Unlike most other lights with external battery packs, the Trail Runner Free H weaves its wires straight into its stretchy, knit headband, making it comfier and less prone to tangling on hair or catching on a tree branch. The light packs a close-up flood beam and a longer-distance spot into a lens housing about the size of the tip of your thumb (there’s no red light). It puts out a respectable 400 lumens for up to 2.5 hours on its highest setting or up to 12 hours on its minimum 50-lumen setting, which our tester appreciated on a cross-country winter backpacking trip in Nebraska National Forest. Nice touches include a hybrid battery case that lets it run on either three AAAs or a rechargeable, removable battery, as well as an extension cable so you can stash the battery pack in your jacket to prolong its life in frosty weather. A wide and shallow design held the weight of the battery pack close to our heads to prevent jostling while moving fast. Note: There’s no lock, and the headlamp did turn on in our pack; disconnect the battery before storing it.
Best Features
Coast RL35R
Weight: 7.1 oz.
Max Brightness: 1100 lumens
Max burn time on low: 83 hours
Pros and Cons
⊕ Very bright
⊕ Hands-free operation
⊕ Wide variety of light modes
⊗ Heavy
There are relatively few truly groundbreaking ideas in the headlamp space, but the voice-controlled RL35R certainly qualifies. Memorize the short list of commands and you can turn the headlamp on and off, swap between beams, change brightness, change colors, or do about anything else the headlamp can do without ever touching it. The voice recognition is robust: While we occasionally had to shout to make ourselves heard over gusty wins on a nighttime ascent of Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin ski area, the headlamp otherwise picked up our requests without a hitch.
Aside from that, the RL35R features all the trappings you would expect from a full-featured headlamp: a powerful 1100-lumen beam; flood, spot, arc, and combined lighting modes; a maximum battery life of 83 hours; and red, blue, and green light modes. Nice touch: We liked the ability to extend the battery with an included cord and store it in our jacket on cold days. Prefer not to talk to your gear? You can turn off the voice controls with a small button at the bottom of the headlamp and adjust the brightness with a wheel at the top of the housing instead.
Minimalist Pick
BioLite Headlamp 325
Weight: 1.76 oz.
Max Brightness: 325 lumens
Max burn time on low: 40 hours
Pros and Cons
⊕ Ultralight
⊕ Ultra-packable
⊕ Comfortable for long wear
⊗ No removable battery
From impromptu after-work hikes to dusk tempo runs, we found the BioLite HeadLamp 325 bright enough to use on briskly paced adventures, but still light and comfortable enough that we often forgot we were wearing it. The secure hinge on the matchbox-size lantern didn’t shift or bounce when one tester took it on an 8-mile leg of an obstacle race at Flat Rock Ranch in Comfort, Texas. The compact package belies an impressive range (BioLite claims 230 feet on high; our tester found it more than bright enough for racing) and competitive battery life (40 hours on low, 3 hours on high from the integrated rechargeable battery).
The wide, soft headband is comfortable and easy to adjust—even, as our testers found, while on the move. At 1.76 ounces, it’s slightly heavier than our previous favorite featherweight pick, the now-discontinued Black Diamond Flare, but unlike that model, it runs on a rechargeable battery while still folding up small enough to use as an emergency headlamp.
Best for Kids
Black Diamond Wiz
Weight: 2 oz.
Max Brightness: 30 lumens
Max burn time on low: 50 hours
Pros and Cons
⊕ Simple to use
⊕ Kid-friendly
⊗ Low brightness limits use
For kids embarking on their first camping trips or night hikes, the Wiz is a simple, affordable light built with a bevy of smart, child-friendly features. The headlamp’s maximum 30 lumens of soft, diffuse light are bright enough for nightlight use or after-dark potty breaks, but not so powerful that they’ll leave you seeing stars after the little using it shines it right in your face. (The low setting of 0.5 lumens is low enough to use as a nightlight.) On a family camping trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, our diminutive tester loved switching between the Wiz’s red, green, and blue LEDs.
A breakaway headband and a secure battery compartment housing 2 AAAs that only opens with a built-in tool provide safety. Features like a 2-hour auto shutoff and 2-way hinge that works just as well when your little puts it on upside-down as right side-up minimize parental frustration.
Best for Hiking
Simond Forclaz HL900
Weight: 3.7 oz
Max Brightness: 600 lumens
Max burn time on low: 50 hours
Pros and Cons
⊕ Good weight
⊕ Solid brightness
⊕ Above-average battery
⊗ Master of none
No frills, new technology, or surprises here: The HL900 is a simple, well-built headlamp that’s bright enough, and has enough features to handle most backpackers’ needs without requiring you to memorize a manual to get it to work. A maximum brightness of 600 lumens (available 60 seconds at a time in boost mode) is enough to illuminate down-trail obstacles, while a red mode preserves night vision. The removable, USB-C rechargeable battery can last up to 50 hours on its lowest setting. The HL900 can also run on 3 AAA batteries, an option our tester appreciated after running it down on after-dark strolls through the woods near his home in western New Mexico. Nice touch: IPX7 waterproofing means that the headlamp can survive a one-meter dunk for up to 30 minutes. Less nice: Our tester reported that the headband eventually loosens with use.
Honorable Mentions
Ledlenser NEO5R ($70): Ledlenser’s slightly brighter NEO5R tested well on nighttime trail runs, but the Silva edged it out in this year’s test thanks to the two-way hinge on its lens housing, extendable battery cable, non-proprietary charging setup, and wire-free headband.
Knog Bilby 400 ($65): We love the Bilby’s secure, one-piece silicone design and ponytail-style headband adjustment, but its lack of a hinge makes it harder to adjust the beam between down-trail obstacles and the ones by our feet.
Petzl Tikka ($35): Petzl’s Tikka is still an affordable, reliable choice for anyone looking for an all-around headlamp, but the Forclaz’s IPX7 waterproofing (at IPX4, the Tikka is classified as weather-resistant), boost mode, and included rechargeable battery (the Tikka’s will run you $30, bringing it to roughly the same price) for a similar weight put it over the top.
How to Buy a Headlamp
There are three major factors to consider when buying a headlamp:
Brightness
Finding a bright-enough headlamp for your activity is a lot less tricky than it used to be, as most brands have significantly boosted output across their lines over the past decade. In general, the faster you plan on moving, the brighter you’ll want your headlamp. For hiking and camping use, anything above about 250 lumens should be more than bright enough; trail runners may want a little more heat—think 400 lumens. For the fastest pursuits, like night skiing, you may need a headlamp that puts out 1,000 lumens or more. Other factors will affect your headlamp’s illumination—a lens with a focused beam will shine further down the trail than a flood—and how securely the hinge keeps it from bouncing, allowing you to keep up your speed while your light stays on target. Keep in mind that your light won’t put out its maximum brightness for its entire runtime: Generally, headlamps decrease their output as the battery runs down.
Power
While most headlamps on the market now are rechargeable, some may offer the opportunity to change out a removable power pack for disposable batteries—handy on long, shoulder-season trips when it may be easier to swap a couple of triple-A’s than to recharge from a power bank. A model with a long battery life may seem like a no-brainer, but keep in mind that they often come with a trade-off in comfort, as you’ll be toting that extra weight on your head.
Features
Some bells and whistles are more important than others. If you’re planning on using one headlamp for most of your activities, you’ll likely want it to have a red light mode, which saves both night vision and battery life. If you’re going to regularly use it in sub-freezing temperatures, you’ll want a model with an extendable battery pack that you can stash in a coat pocket to avoid premature battery drain. Planning to use your headlamp with gloves on? Try out the controls to make sure they’re easy to manipulate.
How We Test
- Coldest temp: -5 F (Arapahoe Basin, Colorado)
- Highest elevation: 12,455 feet (also Arapahoe Basin, Colorado)
- Largest animal spotted: Bull elk (Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado)
- Fastest speed: 35 miles per hour (once again, Arapahoe Basin, Colorado)
Headlamps don’t always advance by leaps and bounds; some of the best models on the market are brighter, more streamlined updates to our favorite headlamps of a decade ago. After re-testing our favorites, we dove into new models from several different brands, testing them across a variety of different activities ranging from trail running to nighttime ski touring to family camping. We tested for comfort, ease of use, brightness, and feature-richness. Once we nixed the poor performers and narrowed it down to our top contenders, we went to the tape, scrutinizing each headlamp for category-leading qualities.
Meet Our Testers
Adam Roy is the editor-in-chief of Backpacker and has been testing lighting since 2016. He is based in Colorado, where he hikes, runs, climbs, and stand-up paddles with his 6-year-old son. He used to think 1,000-lumen headlamps were overkill, but that was before he started skimo racing.
M. John Fayhee has been writing for Backpacker for nearly 40 years, and is based in the high desert of western New Mexico. His most recent book is A Long Tangent: Musings by an old man & his young dog hiking every day for a year.
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