Headlamp for climbing - Pure flood or spot & spill

Hi, I am looking for a headlamp suitable for ice climbing and rock climbing. I would also like to use it quite a lot for camping and occasionally for cycling or skiing but climbing is definitely the most frequent type of use for me. I have already spent hours reading various posts in this forum (which is a great source of information btw.). In spite of that I can not make my mind which type of beam would be the right one for this activity. Pure flood or spot & spill?

When climbing the distance between the headlamp and rock or ice surface is very short. That´s why I think I need as floody lamp as possible. Most of the time I wouldn´t need to see more than 2 to 5 meters around or above me and that shouldn´t be a problem even for the floodiest light, right?

But climbing also involves some route finding and that´s where the spot and spill may come in handy. E. g. when inspecting short routes from the bottom or climbing some multi-pitch routes it is very desirable to have a lamp with decent throw in order to find the right way.

Do you think a spot & spill headlamp (e. g. some zebralight with its 80 degree spill) would do both of these tasks all right enough? Or should I go for a pure flood light (possibly spark SD52) and get a handheld for routefinding? I know slide-in diffuser would solve the problem for me, unfortunately I don´t really like any petzl headlamps equipped with it. Maybe getting some fenix with the diffuser would be the right choice. Shame there aren´t more lamps with the diffuser.

Sorry for bothering you with this but I can´t quite imagine what would the beams look like in reality at such a short distance. Thank you all for your comments, hope there will be some,)

I like your 1 flood headlamp, 1 spot/spill hand light idea best. You're going to want to move the light around with your arms to reveal little shadows at distance.

I've been waiting and reading here and just got a high CRI floody headlamp. It's tiny, well built, and the warm tinted light makes things stand out naturally, rocks look really good. It's a lot closer to firelight than I'm used to with LEDs, a little whiter. The three day and the 26 hour settings would probably be pretty good for climbing, good detailed vision at arms length without blinding yourself.
Whatever headlight you get you're going to want a nice Low and a Low,Low setting for the outdoors, and the neutral/warm tints make a huge difference, especially with lower light levels, lots of information coming back to you. Spiders, moss, moisture, dust, lichens, all the details are going to show better.
Mine is a "floody" beam rather than a pure flood, pure flood might be even better, but with this floody beam the wide brighter zone corresponds well with my eyes' stereo, neutral position viewing area. What's in the corner of my eye is still dimly illuminated. With a Pure flood more of that light would go to the edges of your vision and less right in front of you. I'm pretty pleased with "floody".

All of these nicer lights are heavier with their heatsink bodies, but the smallest ones compare favorably with all of the plastic outdoor oriented light weights. I just lost my new light for the 10th time, found it clipped to the rim of my sock hat on my head, just like losing a pencil behind your ear. That would have never happened with my 4AA plastic headlamp.

:welcome:

I have been considering a 2 headlamp setup myself for hiking (Zebras are small enough to fit both on one band): 1 for spot/spill and one flooder. I agree that an extra powerful flashlight would definitely benefit climbing for finding routes and the big consensus on CPF is that you should always have a backup AND a spare (3 lights minimum) when the usage is critical.

Thanks for your opinion, eh4. You made a good point about moving the handheld light around with my arms. I haven´t considered that and it sure would be an advantage to be able to do that. You also pointed out the importance of low settings and neutral/warm tint. I don´t have a lot of experience with this but I originally thought that (for example with spark sd52 which was my favourite) I would be using the middle setting of 70 lumens most of the time. If you were right about these low settings and 70 lumens would be too bright then this spark wouldn´t give me many options to step down. Your new zebra H51Fc definitely offers better choice of levels in the low end.

Cataract said:

:welcome:

I have been considering a 2 headlamp setup myself for hiking (Zebras are small enough to fit both on one band): 1 for spot/spill and one flooder. I agree that an extra powerful flashlight would definitely benefit climbing for finding routes and the big consensus on CPF is that you should always have a backup AND a spare (3 lights minimum) when the usage is critical.

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Thanks cataract, doubling zebras could actually work very well and it would give me a spare light on top. Good idea! I know people here have done it but I haven´t thought of it for myself yet. On the other hand eh4 just convinced me that a handheld light has some advantages too. Anyway it seems two lights are the way to go.

I'm a rock climber but it's mainly sport with a little trad following. Most of my climbing is single pitch with the occasional multi-pitch. I'm not usually still on the rock after dark but it does happen.

I use a Zebralight H51f. It's floody. It's not pure flood I guess but to me it might as well be. I wouldn't want anything with less throw or with more of a spot. The only issue would be to throw a rope off the top of a multi-pitch to rappel down or possibly looking ahead to see where the route goes could be an issue. I also have a Zebralight H51 that I carry as backup and it throws a little further. In addition I have a small 1AA light in my pocket that has an aspheric optic for when I need just a little more focused light to locate something.

For me this is the perfect combination and it's all still very light weight. The H51f (floody version) is by far the best option for me. I use it around camp, for hiking, around the house. I rarely use the H51 (non-floody) as it is but I do have that option. I mainly use it as a backup or with a piece of tape over the lens to diffuse it. A spot headlamp to me is just very annoying.

I think the pure flood headlamp with a hand held thrower is a good idea. I'd suggest getting lights that run on the same battery type for extra spare/versatility functionality (my personal preference is for Sanyo eneloops in the AA size, with primary lithiums for very cold conditions or very long shelf life)

Just thought I'd mention that for climbing having two lights on the one headband means you have created a "single point of failure" which could take out both lights at once (if the headband breaks or falls off). So in this case 2 =0 and you will need another separate light to have a spare that you can be certain of being available in a crunch situation.

Not a particularly likely scenario, but if you are in a critical situation at the time it could be pretty distressing to have no lights when you thought you had a spare.

Have fun, but keep the odds in your favour .....

gcbryan said:

I'm a rock climber but it's mainly sport with a little trad following. Most of my climbing is single pitch with the occasional multi-pitch. I'm not usually still on the rock after dark but it does happen.

I use a Zebralight H51f. It's floody. It's not pure flood I guess but to me it might as well be. I wouldn't want anything with less throw or with more of a spot. The only issue would be to throw a rope off the top of a multi-pitch to rappel down or possibly looking ahead to see where the route goes could be an issue. I also have a Zebralight H51 that I carry as backup and it throws a little further. In addition I have a small 1AA light in my pocket that has an aspheric optic for when I need just a little more focused light to locate something.

For me this is the perfect combination and it's all still very light weight. The H51f (floody version) is by far the best option for me. I use it around camp, for hiking, around the house. I rarely use the H51 (non-floody) as it is but I do have that option. I mainly use it as a backup or with a piece of tape over the lens to diffuse it. A spot headlamp to me is just very annoying.

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Thanks for sharing your experience, qcbryan. I also tend not to climb after dark but as you say it does happen. It´s a little different story with ice climbing. I do that quite often when it´s already dark because days are so damn short in the winter. You seem to be very satisfied with your floody zebra H51f. May I ask you as a climber what setting do find most useful on it? Do you think that the hihger settings could be too bright for climbing?

Gregozedobe said:

Just thought I'd mention that for climbing having two lights on the one headband means you have created a "single point of failure" which could take out both lights at once (if the headband breaks or falls off). So in this case 2 =0 and you will need another separate light to have a spare that you can be certain of being available in a crunch situation.

Click to expand...

That´s another point in favor of pure flood headlamp and handheld thrower combination. I think you are totally right about the "single point of failure" and I can easily come up with some "not so unlikely" scenarios e. g. getting hit by a falling rock, smashing the headlamps against the rock after taking a fall, smashing it with your own ice-axe (if you are as clumsy as me) and so on.