Blindingly Bright

By Sara Gress Ranked #287 - Headlamps December 28, 2009

I compulsively bought this headlamp for the night scenario portion of a Wilderness First Responder course. It was a good excuse to buy a nice headlamp I hadn't realized I needed. My headlamp easily out-shined everyone else's. This sucker allows you to look halfway down the mountain...or at least that's what it feels like.

I ended up using it a lot while teaching outdoor education in Colorado. I brought it along for a back-up light during night hikes, in case the moon failed us. When the moon did fail, the Icon was an explosion of light along the trail. No tripping was caused by not being able to see. My only issue with it is that the battery pack and the strap over the top made it rather awkward to wear around my neck while I wasn't using it. This could obviously be solved by wearing it on my head where it's designed to go, but why would I do that?

I've recently started using it for bike commuting. I was able to loosen the straps and shove it over my helmet, which works great. However, if I was to use that set up for something more intense, there would be issues. Someone has posted an ingenious way to 'cement' the Icon to a helmet. But no matter how you have it rigged to your helmet, it functions almost better than a car headlight. It ensures you won't be launched over the handlebars by an unseen pothole and drivers will definitely see you.

If you want a headlamp that has great battery life for the amount of light you get out of it and works for pretty much everything, this is it. If you want something small and light to jam in your pocket, pack or glovebox, this is probably not the light for you.

View Details: Black Diamond Icon Headlamp

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