Owner Review - PETZL Tikka Plus LED Headlamp

Table of Content

Personal Biographical Information
Background
Product Information
Product Description
Field Information
Location
Description of Location
Weather Conditions
Product Experience
Ergonomic Details
Construction
Lighting
Summary

Name	Pascal Deschênes
Age	29 years old
Gender	Male
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	88 kg (195 lb)
Head size	57 cm (22.5 in)
Email	pasde at yahoo dot com
City, State, Country	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Report Date	12/NOV/2004

Long since I was young, I have always been an outdoor enthusiast: sea or white river kayaking, rock climbing, long and short distance hiking, classic and backcountry skiing, mountain biking...

I can describe myself as being a hiker with a paradoxical style. On one side I tend toward fast tracking while on the other I halt frequently, gazing at various points of interest, fauna and flora. I'm also geared toward lightweight backpacking but wouldn't leave my solo percolator home.

Manufactured by	PETZL
Manufactured (purchased) date	2003
Manufacturer URL	http://www.petzl.com
Batteries	3 x AAA
Listed Weight	78 g (2.75 oz) including batteries
Delivered Weight	86 g (3.0 oz) including batteries
Delivered Weight (without batteries)	47 g (1.7 oz)
MSRP	None provided

According to the manufacturer's website, the Tikka Plus offers the following features:

• Combines a variety of illumination with long-lasting battery life.
• 3 brightness settings (maximum, optimum, economic) and a blinking mode.
• Batteries last up to 150 hours on regular settings (up to 400 hours on blinking mode).
• Lamp articulates with new tilt feature.
• Lightweight and comfortable to wear.
• Water resistant and excellent for use anytime.
• Elastic band is fully adjustable and comfortable to wear.

I may add the following details:

• The elastic band is 2 cm (1 in) wide.
• Min/max elastic band lengths are 30 cm (11 ? in) / 20 cm 8 in.
• The LED/Battery housing is made of smoky/clear plastic.
• The switch button is made of orange rubber.
• 4 Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).

Outdoor experience took place in various locations mostly in Quebec and New England while indoor observations were conducted in the comfort of my house.

Experience involved backcountry skiing, hiking or sea kayaking where no illumination existed besides the occasional moonlight.

Temperature ranged from low -20s C (-4 F) during winter trips to high 20s C (70 F) during summer journeys. The headlamp has nicely endured a mix of snow, blizzard, light and heavy rain.

From a user perspective, the Tikka Plus has lots of strengths and a few weaknesses. First of all, adjusting the comfortable elastic band to fit my head's size is pretty straightforward. The band fits also easily over my cap, my balaclava or my winter toque. However, because of my cap's brim, the beam is narrowed, resulting in poorer lighting performance. In wet conditions (sweat, rain or snow), the headlamp always stays firmly in place.

Switching the lamp on and off as well as activating the various illumination modes is not only intuitive but also well explained in the accompanying instruction set. A small sealed button located on top of the enclosing activates 4 distinct brightness settings, one for every push (Maximum, Optimum, Economic, Blinking). Holding the button for about 2 seconds at any of the illumination modes closes the lamp off. Although there is no problem at switching the light on with gloves, I cannot say so with mitts: I had one hand on the elastic band, making sure it did not come off, while using my other hand's thumb to cycle through the different modes. A bit frustrating but what else can be done.

The headlamp also provides a tilt mechanism by which the enclosing can be articulated down by 20 degrees. This way, the lamp can be not only pointed straight in front of me but also down at my feet. This is perfect for night reading or keeping my backcountry mates happy while talking to them.

On the other hand, I found changing the batteries a bit challenging. It is legitimate that the battery compartment needs to be firmly closed in order to keep it water resistant (and it is) but I wonder why would I need a coin (or such) in order to open up the casing. I would definitely not recommend doing so in complete darkness. Moreover, the number of required batteries being odd (3), the recharging task also becomes tricky, where an even number of batteries is usually necessary.

Despite its incredible light weight, the Tikka Plus is built to last. The elastic band is thick enough to endure most abuse while the lamp enclosure is made of robust plastic. Practically no moving parts except for the tilt mechanism fashioned from a simple, yet strong, pinned hinge, which does not present any point of failure and holds firmly in place.

The lamp lens may be removed (with some difficulties) and changed (see available spare parts below). However I could not do so with the LED as confirmed by the provided instructions. Though I have to mention that there is no need to do so due to the virtually unlimited lifespan of the diodes, as claimed by the manufacturer.

According to the documentation, the headlamp is water resistant (although not waterproof) meaning that it can tolerate rain or snow. Correlating with the Weather Conditions section above, I may ensure that this lamp is indeed water resistant. No trace of humidity has been found within the casing while using it under heavy storms and snow.

Moreover, having used the lamp in cold weather conditions (low -20s C (-4 F)) for several hours through multiple days, I can attest to a working lower limit of at least -20 C (-4 F).

A nice feature that I would like is the ability to unclip the elastic band, wrap it around something (a tree, a backpack strap, etc.) and clip it back. Such a feature would not add too much weight (it could even be completely removed) but would definitely be a nice benefit.

The Tikka Plus headlamp is guaranteed for three years against all faults in material and manufacture.