Brightest LED Headlamp

For many outdoor night time activities, like running, a low power, dim headlamp wont give you the range and brightness that you need to react quickly enough to a changing environment. Even for something like backpacking or camping, a bright headlamp can come in handy illuminating a wide area, for finding a suitable back country camp site after the sun has gone down. Whatever the case, the brightest LED headlamps give you plenty of light to work with to see whatever you need illuminated.

Brightest LED Headlamp

Features to look for when shopping for the brightest LED headlamp.

• Lumens – It should go without saying, but when you are looking for a bright LED headlamp, what you are looking for is the headlamp with the highest lumens output. Lumens is a measurement of brightness, and is the number you want to pay attention to to know just how bright your headlamp is going to be.
• Battery Life – Another important number to pay attention to is battery life. A headlamp that blasts out high lumens but uses your entire battery up in just a few hours in the process isn’t going to be of much use to you. Ideally, you want a headlamp that gives you a bright beam and also plenty of battery life at that setting.

Brightest LED Headlamp Reviews

A few of the best and brightest LED headlamps.

• Black Diamond Icon LED Headlamp – If you want bright, but don’t want to spend a whole lot to get it, the Icon is a good compromise. It will put out 100 lumens, which gives you a 100 meters of illumination, and will do that for 145 hours. On low it will give you less lumens, but 165 hours of light. It weighs 4.1 ounces, or 116 grams, which is respectably lightweight, and is a reasonable price compared to a lot of other ultra-bright headlamps.
• Princeton Tec Apex Headlamp – A definite step up from the Icon above, the Apex puts out a full 200 lumens on high, which will illuminate 116 meters in front of you, and it will do that for 60 hours. On the lowest setting it goes a full 200 hours before you need to change the battery. It’s also waterproof. The whole things weighs 9.8 ounces, or 279 grams, but if you want bright you have to expect to carry a little more weight.
• Petzl Ultra Headlamp – The Ultra is the kind of headlamp you go to if you absolutely must have the brightest LED headlamp around. It puts out a full 350 lumens on high, and has a beam distance of 120 meters at that setting. You only get 2 hours of battery life on high, however, and 17 hours on low. The good news is that the battery pack is rechargeable, so you wont be spending a fortune on new batteries. The bad news is that this monster of a headlamp costs a little over $400. It’s bright, but you have to pay for that impressive brightness.