The Black Diamond Storm that I bought in 2017 August from Amsterdam offers the strongest light in the market at this point in time. All of 350 lumens. I mentioned the month and year because every now and then they come out with a new and improved version making the previous model obsolete. So by the time one reads this, the 2017 model might well have become a very back dated one.
Here is a link to the company's website. I don't know if this will work once the unit goes out of production some time in future.
Why The Storm
I bought the Storm principally for two reasons. A. It is climate proof. Both dust and water. That's a great help out in the field while trekking or going on adventure trips. Not that I foresee walking in the rains in the dark with this on. But out in the Himalayas rain is ALWAYS a possibility and I have a considerable investment in rain protecting myself and my gear. This is one of the reasons for my upgrade from the Tikina. B. It has a huge amount of light available. The highest in the market. Well, there are other brighter units available but they use different batteries and are not only expensive and heavy, they are for specialist rescuers which I am not. Also many of the 400+ lumen lights consume a lot of batteries, therefore not suitable for multi-day Himalayan treks. Among trekking headlamps this is perhaps the highest and strikes a great balance between power output and energy consumption. My Tikina has 80 lumens, by the way.
First Impression Before Field Use
The unit looks and feels pretty robust. More robust than my Petzl Tikina (which is a very nice, cute and easy to use thing to have around the house. It's also feather light). The back of the unit is rubberised plastic giving it a smooth yet robust feel. It has a nice hook/clip to open the rear chamber for inserting batteries (picture below), much like my Vanguard water tight case's clips. The Tikina's rear chamber is tricky to open and always feels like it might break (it doesn't).
The Storm uses four AAA batteries which adds a little weight to the unit but that's just fine. The four batteries are kept in a smart way so that it doesn't take up a lot of space. The Tikina is far less energy efficient. It uses 3 AAA for only 80 lumens.
Next is attaching the storm on the head. The strap is nice and smooth and thicker material than the Tikina's. Adjusting for size is simple. Just slide the clip along the strap. The Storm has a soft pad behind where it touches your forehead. The Tikina does not have any pad but still manages to give a snug fit.
Tilting the Storm on the head is just a little notchy. Probably because it is a little heavier. I have to just get used to it.
Now operating the Storm. The Storm indeed comes with far too many bells and whistles. A. it has two lights. One large flood in the middle. Another side one for peripheral vision and these can be switched on one at a time or both together. B. It has a coloured light on the other side offering three colours - red, green and blue. C. It has the strobe feature for all the lights. D. You can dim all the different lights. E. You can also lock the unit when travelling so that the switch is not engaged accidentally when the unit is packed in the sack.
Also, the Storm has a memory of its own. That is, it starts the light from where you had switched it off last. If you switch off on red in a certain brightness, that is exactly how it will switch on the next time.
For all these features there is just one switch on the top !!!! This makes the task daunting, to say the least. It has a power tap feature on the side. But I have to get the hang of using it. The unit can be dimmed by just tapping on the side. I didn't get the tap right every time that I tried. I think I will gradually become an expert.
Essentially it's all about playing with the switch. You tap it once - it does something. Tap it twice quickly it does something else. Long press it for 4 seconds and the unit is locked. Do that again and it is unlocked. These sort of things. I think I will get used to it as I use it over the years. There is no rocket science here. I will work them out in the field through trials. I refuse to learn it all because I will soon forget them all.
The product features graphic from REI mentions something slightly misleading. "Rechargeable: No". I had assumed that it means the unit cannot use rechargeable batteries. What I realise now, much to my delight, is that it does use rechargeable batteries. What they mean is this unit as a whole cannot be recharged, like a mobile phone or my Garmin Forerunner. There are several models of headlamps that can be only USB recharged. They are of no practical use in Himalayan treks. In fact this is one of the reasons why I cannot carry my Forerunner on my treks.
The unit has a feature to indicate the state of battery power. A green lamp lights up for a few seconds first indicating the battery power is full. I believe it abruptly goes dark instead of gradually dimming with the battery. I have to see how it behaves. I would prefer the abrupt darkness feature.
The Storm uses four AAA batteries which adds a little weight to the unit but that's just fine. The four batteries are kept in a smart way so that it doesn't take up a lot of space. The Tikina is far less energy efficient. It uses 3 AAA for only 80 lumens.
Next is attaching the storm on the head. The strap is nice and smooth and thicker material than the Tikina's. Adjusting for size is simple. Just slide the clip along the strap. The Storm has a soft pad behind where it touches your forehead. The Tikina does not have any pad but still manages to give a snug fit.
Tilting the Storm on the head is just a little notchy. Probably because it is a little heavier. I have to just get used to it.
Now operating the Storm. The Storm indeed comes with far too many bells and whistles. A. it has two lights. One large flood in the middle. Another side one for peripheral vision and these can be switched on one at a time or both together. B. It has a coloured light on the other side offering three colours - red, green and blue. C. It has the strobe feature for all the lights. D. You can dim all the different lights. E. You can also lock the unit when travelling so that the switch is not engaged accidentally when the unit is packed in the sack.
Also, the Storm has a memory of its own. That is, it starts the light from where you had switched it off last. If you switch off on red in a certain brightness, that is exactly how it will switch on the next time.
For all these features there is just one switch on the top !!!! This makes the task daunting, to say the least. It has a power tap feature on the side. But I have to get the hang of using it. The unit can be dimmed by just tapping on the side. I didn't get the tap right every time that I tried. I think I will gradually become an expert.
Essentially it's all about playing with the switch. You tap it once - it does something. Tap it twice quickly it does something else. Long press it for 4 seconds and the unit is locked. Do that again and it is unlocked. These sort of things. I think I will get used to it as I use it over the years. There is no rocket science here. I will work them out in the field through trials. I refuse to learn it all because I will soon forget them all.
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| Features as published on the REI site |
The product features graphic from REI mentions something slightly misleading. "Rechargeable: No". I had assumed that it means the unit cannot use rechargeable batteries. What I realise now, much to my delight, is that it does use rechargeable batteries. What they mean is this unit as a whole cannot be recharged, like a mobile phone or my Garmin Forerunner. There are several models of headlamps that can be only USB recharged. They are of no practical use in Himalayan treks. In fact this is one of the reasons why I cannot carry my Forerunner on my treks.
The unit has a feature to indicate the state of battery power. A green lamp lights up for a few seconds first indicating the battery power is full. I believe it abruptly goes dark instead of gradually dimming with the battery. I have to see how it behaves. I would prefer the abrupt darkness feature.
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