Reviews > Lighting > Headlamps - LED > Princeton Tec Aurora LED Headlamp > Owner Review by Ken Bigelow

Owner Review Princeton Tec Aurora LED Headlamp

Reviewer Information

 Product Information

Features

• 5 different light settings: low, medium, high, slow strobe and fast strobe
• Burn times from 50-160 hours
• 3 bright white LED bulbs
• Waterproof
• Lifetime warranty
• Adjustable headband

Locations

I have used this headlamp on every backpacking trip I have taken for the last year and a half.  My destinations have included everything from the desert slickrock of Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park to the forested mountains of the High Unitas Wilderness, Yellowstone National Park, and Fishlake National Forest. All the trails and campsites had some kind of vegetation.  The desert regions had sagebrush, pinion-juniper and scrub; the mountains had pine, aspen and quaky.   

Performance

I purchased the Princeton Tec Aurora headlamp after consulting a sales clerk about finding a lightweight lamp that emitted adequate light for hiking late in the evening.  The following weekend, when my group left the trailhead in Canyonlands National Park significantly later than I had initially intended, I discovered the light provided by the apparatus is sufficient to hike by at night. I was able to bypass protruding sagebrush, climb over house size boulders and able to spot cairns with the Aurora.  The three white LED lights gave me a wider illumination of the trail as opposed to a regular flashlight and other headlamps I’ve previously used.  Depending on the light setting I could see as much as 5 feet wide 15 feet in front of me.  Terrain can be the biggest obstacle when hiking in the dark, but the 5 different light settings provided the best way to compensate.  While hiking on flat open ground, the low mode provided all the light I required to navigate.  Medium helped offset the darkness when I was wandering through dense vegetation and when the rain started.  I only had the lamp on high once and that was for extra security when I was scrambling over slickrock in Canyonlands.  The light emitted from the headlamp does have a slightly bluish hue to it, but it was not enough to bother me.

The Aurora is the perfect light source for evening camp activities too.  Tilting the lamp downward (which can be done up to 180 degrees) helped make cooking, tent pitching and food hanging simple in the starlight.   I could pound in the tent stakes, observe the cooking food and pull up the stuff sack using peripheral vision (which comes in handy when there are plenty obstacles to trip on, knock over and become tangled on). In camp I never took the setting off low and it felt perfectly comfortable on my head even after wearing it for several consecutive hours (both on the trail and in camp).  The easily adjustable elastic strap allowed me to wear the headlamp while I was sporting my hiking hat and on my naked forehead.  Reading and card playing is where the Aurora really earns its money.  After reading by a LED light, I doubt I’ll ever try any other source.  My friend’s wife agreed and it took me most of the trip to retrieve the headlamp from her after she borrowed it (I had the same problem when I lent it to my brother to help him fix his truck).   I never had to use either of the two strobe modes (fast and slow) for navigation, but they were nice for annoying other members of my party and creating a dance club effect when it’s pitch black.

I never have submerged the headlamp in water, but it proved to be waterproof after a day and a half of heavy rainstorms in the Rocky Mountains.  I will say that changing the batteries was not as simple as unscrewing one end.  While reading in Fishlake National Forest, the light slowly dimmed and eventually the batteries (after 13 trips into the backcountry) finally gave up the ghost.  I used a flat blade (but could have used a quarter or other thin object) to remove the casing in order to replace them.  While this may not sound too difficult (and it is not hard in daylight), remember I had to locate and use such an item in the dark.  It is easier said than done.

Summary

The Princeton Tec Aurora is the headlamp I wonder how I ever got along without.  It has allowed me to hike and set up camp at night plus provided me with enough light for almost every entertaining camp activity.

Pros

• Lightweight
• 5 different lighting modes
• Waterproof
• Comfortable

  Cons

• Batteries are difficult to change
• Light emitted from headlamp has a blue tint to it
• If it is lent to someone they will not return it

Reviews > Lighting > Headlamps - LED > Princeton Tec Aurora LED Headlamp > Owner Review by Ken Bigelow