How to buy the right headtorch

26 June 2008 15:38

Whether you need to see where to tread or lay your head, a headtorch is a vital item in your backpacking arsenal.

Burn time
Judging how long batteries will last is not easy because manufacturers use different methods to measure burn times. Treat figures as an estimate.

Comfort
Headtorches have straps to keep the unit on your head. Are the straps comfortable, can they be adjusted to fit your head shape and does the battery pack dig into your head?

Batteries
Alkaline batteries are the standard, while lithium batteries last almost twice as long and don’t suffer in the cold, but they are more expensive. Rechargeable batteries are the best choice for frequent users as they are cheaper in the long run and more environmentally friendly.

Light source
Tungsten bulbs are not very bright and don’t have an exceptionally long burn time. Halogen bulbs offer the brightest output, but they’ll use up your batteries the fastest. Krypton and xenon bulbs are two forms of halogen bulb commonly used and they offer a good compromise between brightness and battery life. LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs are flavour of the month as they don’t blow and they offer daylight-balanced light with around 20x longer burn times. As LEDs are not as bright as other bulbs, several are required to give good light.

Tilting head
In order that you can direct the beam at the ground ahead, the headtorch must have a tilting head. Ratchets are often used to control the tilt, but some headtorches do not tilt at all, while others are too loose to stay set at an angle.

Stability
Try the headtorch on and then shake your head to make sure that the torch stays in the right place.

Operation
You need to think about how easy is it to operate the headtorch and think about how easy it would be to do it with gloves on? Torches that switch between power settings by rotating the front head or by using a rotating switch are generally the easiest to use, while small press buttons are generally the most difficult to use with gloves. Sliding switches can be a good method.