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Got caught out with the time change on Monday, suddenly realised I'd be running back in pitch dark, so popped into Decathlon at lunchtime, about 20 quid for this one.
Used it once, more than enough light for backlanes and farmtracks (no traffic), fairly light, and compact as it will live in the bumbag for the outward leg - nothing to complain about except it turns out I'm not really keen on running with a light, the glare seemed to give me a headache and couldn't wait to get it off when I reached town. Can't swap the battery either.
Rechargeable AAA and AA batteries are available, that's what I use in my 300lumen Coast, it has adjustable beam and intensity which is nice
aaaan we're back. Need a headtorch for xc skiing in the woods in the cold. Any tips? (apart from stay at home)
Lithium ion rechargeables should work better than NiMH or alkaline in the cold. Also get something with a battery pack on a longer wire, then you can keep it warm inside your jacket.
Something like Fenix HP30R?
http://www.fenixlight.com/ProductMore.aspx?id=2247&tid=13&cid=2#.Xbr8O1Onx6g
after recently starting to run at night on a partial road/partial footpath/offroad route I went for an Alpkit Quark.
Very impressed with it. PLenty bright enough for dark woods with no moon. Nivce to have the flexibility of running on rechargeable USB or AAAs.
aaaan we’re back. Need a headtorch for xc skiing in the woods in the cold. Any tips? (apart from stay at home)
Something with a remote battery box which you can tuck away somewhere warm - Petzl Nao+, top-end Silva trail-running torches etc - unless you can live with the reduced battery life from sub-zero temperatures. Unfortunately the above are all very good but very expensive. How cold are we talking?
cheers, great tips. I don't ski in more than -10-12c . budget around 80 quid or so
The new Petzl Swift RL is pretty damn good at around that price. Uses Petzl's Reactive Lighting, which adjusts the output to suit ambient light - saves power, works pretty seamessly - and puts out up to 900 lumens in full-on Max Power mode and only weighs 100g, so light on the head for its output. It doesn't have a remote battery, but I'd have thought it would be okay at -10˚C. It doesn't have the most glove-friendly control button mind, it's sometimes hard to get a positive feel for it.
Another vote to the OP for the Decathlon IronMan torch. Used one through most of last winter and the early mornings last week for my daily trail run with the dogs and I really like it.
I've never had to use it on full power and the ability to pivot it up & down is very useful sometimes.
Yes, it does go a bit from side to side when running but the beam spread is good enough, with no halo or hot spots that it doesn't impact my view of what's coming up.
I also like that the backpack has red lights on it. Battery life seems pretty good too, and it holds its charge well. For my first 2 runs of this season with it it didn't need charging from the last winters final charge.