When you head in to ugly weather, you have to be able to depend on your camping and backpacking gear to perform well, and with a headlamp, that means getting a waterproof headlamp. A waterproof headlamp will perform well in the rain, and will even suffer being dropped in a puddle or a body of water for a limited amount of time without damage. The outdoors can be a wet place, after all, and you shouldn't have to baby your outdoor equipment.
Waterproof Headlamp
What to look for from a waterproof headlamp.- Battery Life - As with any light source you take with you in the outdoors, one of your chief concerns with a waterproof headlamp is what kind of battery life you can expect. On longer trips especially, you don't want to have to carry along extra batteries, and so a headlamp with a good, long battery life is essential.
- Light Output - Depending on what you're using the headlamp for, you may want more or less light output. Fortunately, many of the best headlamps come with several different power settings, so that you can vary the power output, or lumens, to suit your needs.
Best Waterproof Headlamp
There are many headlamps out there, but these are a few of the best waterproof variety.- Petzl Tikka XP 2 Headlamp - Petzl makes a lot of excellent headlamps, and the XP 2 is a good example of that. It has three different power settings, with 80 hours of battery life on the lowest setting. It also has a red light setting, which will preserve your night vision. Best of all, however, the XP 2 weighs just 3.1 ounces, or 87 grams, making it the lightest waterproof headlamp on this light.
- Black Diamond Storm Headlamp - The Storm gives you a wide range of lighting options for a wide variety of conditions. You have anywhere from 25 lumens up to 100 lumens available to you, and a dimmer switch means you can fine tune the amount of light you get. Battery life is anywhere from 50 hours on high to 200 hours on low, and it also has two red LEDs, which will preserve night vision when used. The Storm weighs 3.9 ounces, or 110 grams, so a little heavier than the XP 2, but also with a few more options.
- Princeton Tec Apex Headlamp - The Apex is the biggest and the best from Princeton Tec. It has an over the head strap, which the other two headlamps are missing, which might be a useful feature for some people. It has a total of 5 LED lights on it, which is more than either of the other two headlamps, and can pump out a total of 200 lumens, which is significantly more than either of the other headlamps. The weight, however, is also significantly more, at 9.8 ounces, or 279 grams, so you trade brightness for a heavier backpack.
