The 8 Best Headlamps of 2019 – Popular Mechanics

At their best, headlamps make you feel like a superhero with other-worldly vision. The latest options, packed with brilliant LEDs, can crank out up to 1,000 lumens and light up a trail or road sign from hundreds of feet away, plus they weigh just a few ounces. And they keep your hands free to read a map, assemble a tent, or rebuild a transmission in the dark.

Pushed by the demands of backcountry hikers, climbers, ultra runners, and tradesmen, headlamp manufacturers have also developed smart features that give you greater control over the size and intensity of the beam to suit your needs. Petzl, for example, built a sensor into some of its models that automatically adjusts the beam’s brightness based on lighting conditions. Black Diamond has a new memory function that puts the lamp in the most recently used brightness mode when you power it on. Coast and Ledlenser let you change the beam pattern from spot to flood by simply twisting or pulling the housing around the lens, adding even more versatility.

With all these advances, the biggest remaining challenge is choosing the right one. But whether you go with a minimalist hiking model or a robust option made for hard work under dark skies, one of these eight rigorously tested headlamps is sure to give you the superhero vision you need to get more done at night.

How We Tested

We put each light here through its paces, verifying manufacturer claims of distance on a dark road under a canopy of oak, maple, and cedar trees. Then we ran them on their highest setting until their bulbs flickered, faded, and died. For the ones that the manufacturers billed as waterproof, we submerged them elbow-deep into a bucket of water and clicked through all the buttons and settings. Then we dropped them from seven feet up onto a concrete slab to assess their impact resistance. Finally, we ran, hiked, and wore them around the house in the dark, just like you would, to gauge their fit and overall performance.

The Many Colors of Modern Headlamp Beams

Some headlamps now come with red, green, and blue bulbs that help you see near objects in the dark without sacrificing the eye’s natural night vision. Here’s what each is best for:

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Red: Shades of this color are good at maintaining your night vision but don’t pick up on details. Use it around camp and to read at night without disturbing your tent mates.

Green: Easily picked up by low-light receptors in your eyes, shades of green are ideal when you need to see detail at night, like on a rocky trail, or reading contour lines on a map.

Blue: If you’ve watched CSI, you know that blue lights reveal blood stains in the dark. That makes this color popular with hunters, who can use it to follow an animal’s trail.

—Best Overall—

Black Diamond Icon

Multi-colored, waterproof, smart

Weight: 8.3 oz | Max Lumens: 500 | Beam Distance: 415 feet | Run Time: 70 to 175 hours | LED Colors: white, red, blue, green

This lamp impresses with its staggering number of useful features. The entire light, including the battery pack, is water- and dust-proof. (You can even change the brightness settings underwater.) The four bulb colors are easy to cycle through, making the Icon useful for almost any activity from reading and midnight geocaching to search-and-rescue and hunting. Turn the Icon to maximum power with a simple press of a button on the side of the housing. This headlamp one of the heavier models we tested, and though it runs on four AAs (no recharging, sadly), it lasted for days on its highest power settings.

—Best Value—

Black Diamond Spot Lite 160

Tiny, lightweight, versatile

Weight: 2 oz | Max Lumens: 160 | Beam Distance: 198 feet | Run Time: 2 to 60 hours | LED Colors: white, red

While the 160’s max output of (you guessed it) 160 lumens won’t light up your entire campsite, it’s enough to cook with or illuminate the guts of your car in a dark garage. Its small size makes it a great option for minimalist backpackers or trail runners, too. The buttons are easy to push, even underwater, and the red light is a nice bonus on a lamp that costs so little. A handy locking feature prevents the light from turning on accidentally when stashed in a backpack, and the simple but secure strap kept it solidly mounted on our heads when we ran. We wish it were rechargeable, but the price and weight make it a useful low-cost option.

—Best for Job Sites—

Ledlenser H14R.2

Ultra-powerful, adjustable beam, long life

Weight: 12 oz | Max Lumens: 1000 | Beam Distance: 984 feet | Run Time: 4 to 40 hours | LED Colors: white

Few lights have as much power or afford you as much control as this one. Adjustments are easy. Focus the beam from flood to a single point by pulling out or pushing in the lens housing. Change light intensity in large increments by clicking the button next to the lens, or spin a dial on the battery pack for fine-tuning—both are easy even when you’re wearing gloves. You can wear the battery pack on the back of the head strap or stash it in a backpack using the included extension cord. A blinking red light on the battery helps others see you, even when your light is off.

—Best for Camping—

Biolite 330

Small, light, easy to use, comfortable

Weight: 2.4 oz | Max Lumens: 330 | Beam Distance: 245 feet | Run Time: 3.5 to 40 hours | LED Colors: white, red

This is a simple, easy-to-use headlamp that kicks out a ton of lumens for the price. One of the lightest in the test, it still packs enough power for you to see down the trail or set up camp if you arrive after dark. Its streamlined shape won’t catch on branches, and the thin strap holds the 330 in place surprisingly well. The battery is rechargeable, and the controls make it easy to click from white to red light. The tilt function could be better—the lens moves up and down too easily—and you only get a few hours of light on the highest setting, but it’ll get the job done when you’re running, doing home projects, or on camping trips that don’t involve massive overnight treks.

—Best Tech—

Petzl Swift RL

Auto-adjust beam for changing needs, powerful for weight

Weight: 3.5 oz | Max Lumens: 900 | Beam Distance: 492 feet | Run Time: 2.5 to 100 hours | LED Colors: white

This little lamp produces a ton of light with an impressive run time, thanks to Petzl’s Reactive Lighting tech, which helps save juice by automatically adjusting the strength of the beam for your needs. The Swift also comes with the most useful battery-life display of any light we tested. While most lamps blink when the battery starts to run low, this one uses five LED dots to show you exactly how much power you have left.

—Other Great Headlamps—

Coast HL8R

Stays in place, bright, powerful beam

Weight: 11.9 oz | Max Lumens: 800 | Beam Distance: 702 feet | Run Time: 4 to 62 hours | LED Colors: white

Simply put, the HL8R is a workhorse, delivering plenty of lumens backed by a long battery life. You can easily adjust the size of the beam by twisting the lens and then fly through brightness settings using a large dial on the side. The HL8R is also shockproof, it fits around a hard hat, and, when you want less weight, you can pop the battery off the strap and store it in a pack or pocket.

Ledlenser MH8

Flush with light colors, easy-to-adjust beam, a touch heavy for its size

Weight: 4.9 oz | Max Lumens: 400 | Beam Distance: 590 feet | Run Time: 7 to 60 hours | LED Colors: white, red, blue, green

With red, green, and blue LEDs, as well as up to 400 lumens of white light, the 5-ounce MH8 is one of the more versatile headlamps we tested. You can go from spot to flood beams by twisting the lens a quarter turn, and the light even snaps off the head-strap mount when you prefer to hold it like a flashlight.

Coast FL85R

Small and bright, short lifespan

Weight: 3.9 oz | Max Lumens: 700 | Beam Distance: 656 feet | Run Time: 1.75 to 8.5 hours | LED Colors: white, red

Weighing less than 4 ounces and small enough to fit in a pocket, the FL85R pumps out 700 lumens. And adjusting the focus is easy—just twist the lens housing for one of the longest-reaching spot lights in the test. (The wide-angle flood is equally impressive.) Coast includes two big control buttons, making it easy to flip between white and red LEDs, especially handy when the light’s on your head where you can’t see it.