Reviewer Information

• Name: Cora Hussey
• Age: 23
• Gender: Female
• Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
• Weight: 150 lb (70 kg)
• Email address: cahhmc "at" yahoo "dot" com
• Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
• Date: April 13, 2004

Basic Product Information

• Year of Manufacture: 2004
• URL: http://www.bdel.com/
• Listed weight
  • Without batteries: 3.3 oz (93 g)
  • With 3 AAA batteries: 4.5 oz (128 g)
• Weight as delivered
  • Without batteries: 3.7 oz (105 g)
  • With provided 3 AAA batteries: 4.9 oz (139 g)
• Advertised battery life: 100 Hours (SuperBright LED), 15 Hours (HyperBright LED)

Field Testing

For each trip I provide a description of the location, conditions, and use below. I then provide a description of how I used the Zenix on the trip, and comments on what I thought about the Zenix while testing it.

• Trip One: Kayaking in the Black Canyon of Arizona
  • Dates: February 13-16, 2004
  • Location: Colorado River near Hoover Dam, Arizona
  • Weather: Sunny and beautiful, 75 to 35 F (24 to 2 C)
  • Elevation: 1200 ft (370 m)
  Description: I used the Zenix as my normal headlamp while cooking, unloading kayaks, and hanging out at night. I packed it in a drybag or in a plastic baggie. One time I packed it in my pocket and it received some spray. Usually it stayed in my hatch, and it stayed in my shoe at night.

  Comments: On this trip, I realized how truly bright this headlamp is. At first I was skeptical (yeah right, 115 ft / 35 m of beam with one LED?) but now I have more faith in what the box was claiming. Using the Zenix, we were able to spot and clearly see a rare ringtail in the canyon near our camp one night, and it must have been at least 50 ft (15 m) away. I was also impressed with the area illumination of the two "less bright" LEDs. When sitting around a campfire with fifteen people, (a diameter of about 8 ft / 2.5 m) I could illuminate the people on all sides of me with a very smooth light. The Zenix also worked fine after catching a little spray while in my pocket. The one thing that frustrated me was that in close quarters (illumination from less than 4 ft / 1.2 m away) it was difficult to tell the difference between the HyperBright and the SuperBright LEDs. It is also hard to remember which setting I left it on the last time I turned it off, and hence which LEDs would be illuminated the next time. This resulted in my leaving the HyperBright LED on for nearly an hour and a half while cooking without needing the power. Since Black Diamond advertises that there is such a difference in battery usage, this meant that I used up about ten times more battery than I needed to. But this is not such a big deal, and I then learned to put a finger in front of one of the side LEDs when I turn the headlamp on to make sure I have the right LEDs lit for my purposes.

• Trip Two: Backcountry Skiing in the Sierras
  • Dates: February 20-22, 2004
  • Location: Rock Creek and Tamarack Bench in California
  • Weather: Stormy and snowy, 55 to 10 F (13 to -12 C)
  • Elevation: 8000 to 11,000 ft (2500 to 3400 m)
  Description: I used the Zenix to routefind the first night when we skied in the dark, and then to do general cooking, night time chores, and reading in the tent. It definately got a little wet from the damp snow and the sweat on my head and hat (I had to wring my hat out when I got into camp the first night), and some ice collected on top of the battery pack and the front light piece.

  Comments: After this trip, simply said, I will never go back to another headlamp. Unless I find something seriously wrong with its durability in the long run, or its battery life is advertised incorrectly, this is so far the best headlamp I have ever used. Why could I possibly think this after only two trips? Well, for the first time in my life, though I was armed only with an LED headlamp, I was working, skiing, cooking, and traveling in the dark, it was snowing about 3 in (8 cm) an hour, and... I could see! Plus, when on my head the Zenix did not feel like other bulky halogens which throw comparable beams, it felt like my other tiny LED headlamps. Even while cooking, the area illumination from the two SuperBright LEDs was better than my winter lantern that I had hauled along. And it was still that bright after three nights of use in Arizona. Time will tell more, of course, but boy, I am impressed. One thing I did notice was that one of the plastic slots that the strap went through in the battery pack gripped tighter than the other one. Again, not a big deal, but it meant that every time the headlamp got stretched to put over my head, the battery pack slid a little closer to the light on the cable side. The result: nearly an inch (2.5 cm) of migration per night of heavy on-off the head use. I have never had this odd issue with a headlamp before, but I have no problem with simply sliding it back, and so it does not bother me.

• Trip Three: Backcountry Skiing in the Sierras
  • Dates: March 4-7, 2004
  • Location: South Lake, Inyo National Forest, California
  • Weather: Near-springtime sun, 75 to 16 F (24 to -9 C)
  • Elevation: 8000 to 10,000 ft (2500 to 3100 m)
  Description: On this trip, I used the Zenix for cooking and general night time activities. Thankfully, we were not skiing in the dark again, but as I was skiing with a group of gourmets I ended up needing the light for a lot of cooking. Nothing really challenged the headlamp here, other than it being the third trip of moderate to heavy use on the same set of batteries.

  Comments: Actually, I do not really have much to say here. I already knew that I could depend on this headlamp (I left my backup one at home this time around, and will probably not bring a backup any more) and the headlamp did not let me down. The only annoyance continued to be that when I lent the headlamp to other people they would often use the HyperBright LED without realizing that it used up so much extra battery power. It did not bother me much to explain the switching technique, so the annoyance was very small. And despite this, I think that I should stop worrying about using up the batteries so much anyway. I estimate that the HyperBright LED alone has been used for about 4 hours, and there is really no noticeable difference in brightness of either the HyperBright or SuperBright LEDs yet.

Comments by Attribute

Comfort: Excellent
The Zenix has been very comfortable, both over my hat and directly on my head. I can adjust the straps even while wearing the headlamp, and this adds a great deal of comfort. The straps are also grippy, so I can wear the headlamp a little loose. I wore the headlamp for nearly five hours straight on the second trip, and pulled it down around my neck for the night without a single sore spot in the morning.

Illumination: Excellent
All I can say is: wow. I would never have believed that one LED could produce that much light, and would never have even thought that the light could carry that far. After skiing in the dark for those couple of hours, I feel that the HyperBright LED can be a tough match for my halogen headlamp, as I was clearly illuminating objects 50 ft (15 m) away with the Zenix, and that is about the distance that I need from a halogen. I hope to perform a side-by-side test in the future, but I feel safe bringing this headlamp on trips where I might have to be flailing around in the dark.

Durability: Excellent
This is usually the hardest part for a headlamp to impress me in, and so far the Zenix has performed admirably. I have slept with it around my neck on some nights, I have shoved it in pockets, stretched it to wear around my shoulder, and even accidentally sat on it once when I forgot I put it down on my sit pad. And the result has been... nothing. It looks and functions as if it was right out of the box.

Ease of Use: Great
As mentioned earlier, the only gripe I have about its ease of use is the inability to tell what LED is lit in close quarters, and thus giving me opportunity to needlessly waste batteries. Other than that, the button has been easy to use even with thick insulated gloves on, the swivel points the light up and down and stays in place, and the headlamp is easy to put on.

Weatherproofness: Excellent
So far, the Zenix has resisted spray while kayaking, and wet snow and sweat while skiing. It also was worn while turned on and used in well below freezing temperatures (10 F / -12 C) and kept shining brightly. It shows no sign of corrosion or anything from its weather encounters.

Summary

• Upsides for me so far:
  • When they say HyperBright and SuperBright, they mean it
  • Lightweight and hardly noticeable on my head
  • Very adjustable and comfortable
• Downsides for me so far:
  • Difficult to tell which LEDs are lit in close quarters
  • Back battery pack tends to rotate toward the cable

Read more reviews of Black Diamond gear
Read more gear reviews by Cora Hussey

Reviews > Lighting > Headlamps - LED > Black Diamond Zenix > Cora Hussey > Field Report