I'm looking for a headlamp that will produce a nice wide spread of light in front of me. I don't really need a long distance light, but rather a light that will give me a nice broad area with a minimal hotspot.

I am looking at this light and the Petzl Tactikka. I like the Petzl's red lens, but it is about twice the money.

The colored lens does slide up and down once in place so you can have color or white with the flick of your finger.

Another question I have is this: does the red lens on the Tactical Quad slide up and down once it is in place? Or do you have to remove it and store it if you want to use white light again?

Thanks for the input Phil. I do like the features of the Quad that Jason listed, especially the voltage regulation. Honestly I was surprised to hear that Petzl doesn't have that. It seems to be more and more common on the higher end LED lights nowadays. I really like a high candlepower long distance beam myself, but for campsite practicality a wide beam with an average range is most useful. I have a nice lightweight 2xCR123 LED handheld that has a very powerful focused beam for the occasional night time stroll down to the lake for gator spotting (I camp mostly in Florida), or spotting other four legged night time wanderers.

Jason may step back into the conversation with his input, but after having just looked at a bunch of data and reviews on the Quad, the lightbox tests at 3 meters showed it to be one of the most even wide-beams on the market, especially for the price. And yes, the Tactical Quad will give you the lens filters you want for just a few bucks more. For what it's worth, if I wasn't a narrow-beam candlepower junkie, this would be the one I would be going with. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the help on this Jason. Useful info, The Princeton Tec lights do have some very nice features that Petzl doesn't offer, and the Tactical Quad does cover the red lens requirement, but my primary need is for a nice broad swath of light in front of me. Does the Quad give me that?

The Quad is superior to the Tactikka in a few ways... 1) It's made in the USA, not France or China where all Petzl headlamps are made. 2) It has one of the best warranties in the industry...lifetime, not Petzl's 3 year warranty. 3) It's voltage regulated which means that it will maintain it's light output longer. The Petzl's will drop substantially over time. It also has better battery life than the Petzl due to better circuitry. 4) It's 100% waterproof (can be submersed in 3 meters of water for 30 minutes). The Petzl headlamps are not. You could also go with the Tactical Quad which is the red lens option as well as blue and green lenses. All of the other positives apply to it as well.