Started doing a bit of running of late and am quite enjoying it. I mostly run around the local park which is fine in the day light but I risk stepping in dog eggs as the nights draw in.

So, I’m after a lightweight, ideally quite cheap head torch. I don’t want/need anything too powerful, I’m not running in the fells and have no intention of doing so, I just want to avoid pot holes and dog dirt.

Alpkit. You’ll not need any more than their basic one, which is fine.

Decathlon do quite a nice one

If its a park, then it is going to be near lighting, so your cheap Alpkit may not actually be bright enough because of ambient light about.

I used to use an Alpkit on the moors in the middle of no where and it was ok. I then saw the light and bought a decent Petzl Nao for £75. Best thing I did !

Are there any negatives to having a separate battery? I see a lot of them have a battery at the back rather than it all being 1 piece.

Edit, given the below advice that Alpkit have a sale on, which of these is worth a look?

Alpkit have a sale on….

My Alpkit was just at the front, Nao battery at the back.

No difference in reality. The Nao is reasonably heavy too, but you don’t even notice it on your head.

I guess its down to whether the stuff touching your head is well shaped etc.

Battery on the back is usually better for running, as more balanced, so doesn’t bounce about as much when running.

Alpkit Muon is nice. Bright enough for most running on paths etc. And includes a red LED for the rear. Yes, the battery is on the front, but its lightweight enough, so doesn’t bounce much.

Plus one for the Alpkit gear.

I’ve got a cheap Black Diamond something or other I bought in Decathlon, works fine and more than enough for a run round a park. (It’s fine running up and down mountains, too, unless you’ve got someone with a more powerful light running behind you).

I’ll second FunkyDunc and say my Nao is a cracking light. Sure, it’s not featherweight but you honestly don’t notice it at all when wearing it. The intelligent lighting is clever, but sometimes baffled a bit by mist or fine rain. Battery life on high beam is quite short, but to be honest when do you want to have THAT much light all the time.
I use mine for hiking and for work and it hasn’t put a foot wrong yet.

I use my bike’s solar storm bike light on a head strap for night trail trial running up the hills. Works well on low power & battery lasts ages. The battery does need to go in a rucksack but I tend to carry one up the hills anyway in winter…

The intelligent lighting is clever, but sometimes baffled a bit by mist or fine rain.

I find head torches are all shit in rain or mist, IMO it is worth using a hand torch in those conditions, I use an old exposure joystick for that.

but sometimes baffled a bit by mist or fine rain.

I changed the setting on mine so it wasn’t quite so sensitive to light changes. It sill changes when needed but doesn’t do it now with heavy breathing etc.

I’ve only used it for a maximum of 1.5hrs out running and it still has plenty of juice left on full, but it very rarely uses the full power, only when looking in to the distance.

Its great as a helmet light for the bike too, as again the majority of the time when your looking straight ahead it just dims right down, only when you turn your head does it then do a job of lighting stuff the bar light can not.

decathlon do a cracking chest mounted one.

you look like iron man !

not sure id run round the park wearing it mind but given ive yet to see anyone at night near my house when im runnign …..

I hate head torches for running. Because of their angle they flatten out bumps in the path – no shadows.

I find it much better around town to use a small, cheap, led hand torch that I got off eBay. As it’s mostly street lit, that’s fine, but when crossing roads, or where there’s no lights just flick the torch on, and as it’s lower down, it lights the path much better.

Something like this: 5000 Lumen Zoomable CREE XM-L Q5 LED Flashlight Torch

I hate head torches for running. Because of their angle they flatten out bumps in the path – no shadows.

You get used to that fairly quickly, though.

I’ve used a cheap 12 quid ebay job for a couple of years now. Head torch LED with (replaceable) NiMH cells in a separate box at the back of the head. Original nimh weren’t great so I’ve swapped them out for something decent and it’s worked great. Will be using tonight in fact. Club members have a range of more expensive stuff but it doesn’t seem any better.

Petzl – train and run night events with mine.

The other thing I would say, is that if you get a decent one, you wont even bother with the park you will go places where its nice to run.

This is my Nao, taken with a camera phone. Didn’t really do it justice, but its clear as day for about 50yds and you can see probably 200yds, which is actually more helpful than you may think when up on open moor land trying to work out where to go next!

you wont even bother with the park you will go places where its nice to run

Maybe, but the nearest open land to be is 5 miles away and right now, despite being able to ride my bike 150 miles in a day, I can barely run for 5 minutes.

Are there any negatives to having a separate battery? I see a lot of them have a battery at the back rather than it all being 1 piece.

The wiring from the battery box to the actual headlight can be a weakness. Ditto any connectors that you plug and unplug regularly which can, eventually break. Had that happen with a Suprabeam for example. But a decent battery box will hold the weight low down and feel unobtrusive and balanced.

I have a Silva trail runner 2 which is excellent. It has a dual light, so a spot combined with a wide angle which gives a really good spread of light and makes running more technical trails a bit easier than my previous Petzl which was either spot or wide angle. Can’t really fault it and the burn time off the USB rechargeable battery is pretty long.

I’m with The Beard. I’ve used mine on Ultras, over peaks etc. Great head torch.

When it’s misty/foggy, I just take it off my head and use it lower to ground to peep under the fog.

I’d recommend Decathlon. I bought my son one in there on Sunday and he’s really happy with it. A trial run leads me to believe it would be good enough for running. Cost was £8 but they also had a brighter I e for around £13.

I bought my sister in law one of the decathlon chest mounted ones mentioned above, she is a hardened runner,50 milers, xc that sort of stuff, she said it was very good