Mini-review of Petzl Tikki XP 2

I searched and didn't see a review of this headlamp even though it has been out for quite a while.

This is just a mini-review. I checked out a friends headlamp today and thought I would add a few comments.

This is a light weight headlamp using 3 AAA's with a weight of 3.1 oz including batteries. It has one emitter with a max output of 60 lumens. This is a spot configuration. There are a few ringy artifacts in the beam but compared to many headlamps it appears to be a fairly clean and spotty beam.

There is a build-in sliding (up and down) diffuser. The UI is fairly straight forward. One click turns it on, two quick clicks for low, three for strobe. If you hold the button down for a few seconds the light flashes white and then goes to red mode. Both white and red modes have strobes.

There is some glare since a strip at the bottom of the headlamp is translucent. There is glare from the tab that raises and lowers the diffuser as well.

Low is 30 lumens (I think). In any event it would be much more useful if there was an even lower low.

My immediate impression was of a light weight headlamp with a decent spot beam and a useful built-in diffuser.

I should add that the battery compartment was fairly straight forward to open and close. You just have to pry open a latch. The UI button on top of the unit was easy to locate and use as well.

My only criticisms really are the glare issue and the lack of a real low. Given the competitions pricing I also think the XP 2 is over priced at the moment. The BD Spot is $40 and wins on paper at least at the moment over the XP 2.

couple of additional reviews here by Szemhazai and here by AyeMayanor.

Thanks. I wonder why they didn't come up when I searched?

If the moderator wants to delete my thread I'm OK with that.

yeah, those reviews don't always come up when i search either. especially Szemhazai's excellent review. i just remembered reading them before and kept searching til i found them again.

The changes that Petzl would need to do to make this a really great and simple headlamp are easy enough that I'd think that maybe next time they do a updated model these things would be taken care off.

They don't seem to update models without changing the name and making it in effect a new model. BD has the Spot and the name remains the same but they just make a few tweak each year.

The appeal of the XP2 is its small size and lightness and using a build-in diffuser instead of separate leds helps to do that. The fact that the white light flashes for a moment before getting to the red led isn't even a major problem for me (although it seems needless).

I just can't deal with the glare and 30 lumens as low however.

It's almost comical. Headlamp manufacturers "improve" one aspect (more lumens) and then create a problem that didn't even exist on their last model

Since so many people mention that they wish the Tikka XP 2 had a lower brightness level it occurs to me that perhaps a mod would be to replace the two red emitters with white emitters.

I'm guessing that the current going to the red emitters is less than that going to the main emitter at 30 lumens (maybe this is not the case). Anyway I just wondered if this might be a fix for those with soldering skills and who don't really use the red emitters.

Also, if someone took the headlamp apart to the point of being able to do that mod they could probably put some black electrical tape on the inside of the transparent part of the body causing glare and fix that issue as well.

red led's work on a lower voltage than white led's, so a white led modded xp2 might not light up.

i haven't tried the red led on the xp2, but why not just use that for low level needs? is it too dim to be useful?

I just received my Petzl Tikka XP 2 + CORE today. I am looking forward to trying it out camping this weekend at FCW8 and am playing with the software right now. With the reprogrammable CORE it is possible to get the light output down to 2% of max output which is plenty dim for just about anybody. The software is really cool and definitely a HUGE step in the right direction for the illumination industry. I will be writing a full review about this later, but I think this kind of adjustability is exactly what flashaholics have been clamoring for.

Carrot, sounds pretty cool. I'll look forward to hearing more. The battery system you are talking about is pretty expensive isn't it? I seem to remember (I think) that it's about as much as the headlamp itself. That doesn't make it any less interesting however!

Robostudent, maybe it's just me but I generally find the red LEDs to not be a replacement for a low mode. They are good for checking the time at night without waking anyone else up or for working with a telescope or whatever but I don't find that light very pleasant for long.

Anything that allows the user to program their own preferences is definitely a good thing in my book however. Part of me likes the programmable aspect and the other part doesn't like taking something simple like a light and having to make sure its software is compatible with my computer! I still have a Windows ME operating system. It works fine but nothing supports that anymore. I don't want to have to buy a new computer every few years so I can operate my flashlight

gcbryan said:

Carrot, sounds pretty cool. I'll look forward to hearing more. The battery system you are talking about is pretty expensive isn't it? I seem to remember (I think) that it's about as much as the headlamp itself. That doesn't make it any less interesting however!

Robostudent, maybe it's just me but I generally find the red LEDs to not be a replacement for a low mode. They are good for checking the time at night without waking anyone else up or for working with a telescope or whatever but I don't find that light very pleasant for long.

Anything that allows the user to program their own preferences is definitely a good thing in my book however. Part of me likes the programmable aspect and the other part doesn't like taking something simple like a light and having to make sure its software is compatible with my computer! I still have a Windows ME operating system. It works fine but nothing supports that anymore. I don't want to have to buy a new computer every few years so I can operate my flashlight

Click to expand...

The software is only necessary if you wish to reprogram your CORE battery. If you only wish to use it as a direct, rechargeable replacement for normal AAAs, then there is no need to install the software. However, if you wish to tweak it you will need to install the software which is Mac and Windows compatible.

carrot said:

With the reprogrammable CORE it is possible to get the light output down to 2% of max output which is plenty dim for just about anybody. The software is really cool and definitely a HUGE step in the right direction for the illumination industry. I will be writing a full review about this later, but I think this kind of adjustability is exactly what flashaholics have been clamoring for.

Click to expand...

Good job, carrot!

Can't wait to read your review to see how this adjustability worked out for you.

It's not clear to me that the CORE module can adjust the output levels, but look forward to reading all about it.

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