Petzl REACTIK + vs. Zebralight vs. ???

Unfortunately, recently lost my Petzl Tikka2...but on the bright side, that means I get to upgrade!

My main uses for the headlamp are rock climbing, camping, and cycling.

I assume for cycling a longer throw is ideal, while for camping and climbing a nice flood seems optimal. I climb and camp more than I bike. Either will certainly be an improvement over the trusty Tikka2.

Here are my requirements:
1. Good battery life (quality of light can diminish over time, that is preferred to maintaining the same output and then shutting off)
2. Must have a red light for night vision preservation
3. Must have a few different modes (eg low beams and high beams)
4. Waterproof is a plus but not necessary

My questions:
1. Are Zebralights still considered the best made headlamps? How do they feel when worn on a headband vs. used as a flashlight?
2. Does the automatic sensor of the REACTIK + really work that well to conserve battery? What's this bluetooth phooey all about?
3. Is there another light I should be looking at?

A final point, I get a pro deal with Petzl, so I can get the $109 REACTIK + for $64. Definitely tips the balance it's favor, but cost isn't a deal breaker if the Zebralight (or another brand) is truly better.

I have both a Petzl Tikka with reactive lighting and a Zebralight H52w. The Zebra is the one I take with for backpacking/climbing/camping trips. I like that the ZL is a little bit lighter and I have the ability to swap out cells where the Petzl has a proprietary battery that needs to be recharged. I opted for the most narrow focus beam that ZL offers, which is still pretty broad, because it allows me to achieve the same visibility at lower lumen levels, thus giving more runtime. For hiking running, etc I have never felt like I had "tunnel vision" with the ZL, but it is not ideal for night climbing. The reason being that when climbing you're now trying to illuminate something that might be only inches from the lamp, as opposed to hiking/running where you're illuminating several yards from the lamp. It still works, but something floodier would be better. The reactive lighting is nifty but I find that it usually provides more light than I need and thus burns through battery faster. Between the two of them the multiple modes of the ZL are more flexible for providing the right amount of light. The ZL also has much more pleasing tint vs the very cool blue of the Petzl. Petzl has the better strap but they are both light enough that it doesn't matter much.

Thanks for the insight, Random Dan.

Unfortunately the H52w is on back order. Zebralight seemingly has a million similar but different models. Any idea how much variance there is? If I were to go the ZL route, what would your top choice be?

JordyC said:

Thanks for the insight, Random Dan.

Unfortunately the H52w is on back order. Zebralight seemingly has a million similar but different models. Any idea how much variance there is? If I were to go the ZL route, what would your top choice be?

Click to expand...

I think it was on back order when I ordered mine. It took about a week to ship. Basically ZL has three different beam types for AA headlamps. The regular H52, which is what I have, with a traditional spot and spill beam pattern, there's the H502 which is pure flood, and the H52F with a frosted lens and floody beam. The H502 has nothing to focus the LED so it is really only usable at close distances. I've never owned an H52F, but I imagine it's beam is floodier than the H52 but not as much as the H502.

If you do some searching here you could probably find beamshot pictures.

If you are prepared to use 18650s the 18650 model zebralights definetly fit for brightness and run time. You said in your requirements you would like a red light but none of these zebras will have that. For night vision preservation you can use the moonlight modes. I have the h600fw mk2 and h52fw. Outdoors a warmer color temp led is really nice and the h600fw is just stunning out doors. I also have a petzl tikka+ as well as the newest model 2017 tikka and a black diamond revolt. My favorite is the h600fw mk2. It's heavier than the others but I find it very comfortable. I've used mine for hours and had no problems at all. It runs a couple hours on it's highest settings but you can get it to run many hours at similar brightness levels to the petzls. It should be more waterproof and durable than the petzls. If you need lighter and more compact or battery compatibility the h52fw is geeat. I use my petzls and black diamond as beaters I don't mind scraping up or getting oil on or what not working on cars and they've never had any issues. But for anything outdoors I use the h600. The h52 is essentially my backup for outdoor use.

There is no reason to have on a red light with modern lights

for example the Skilhunt H03 series has an ultra low moon mode at 0.5 lumens you can access fron light turned off
it has a 18650 battery an is really lightweight with 44g

I think it is pretty well established that low level (sublumen) white light is as good for preserving night vision as red light is.

Still you may want red light for other reasons. I like it for reading in bed at night because it makes the text stand out against the white page with much less glare, and it disturbs my wife less than an equal amount of white light would. Plus, the lack of blue wavelengths means that my sleep cycle is not disrupted as much.

So here's how you get a Zebralight with an auxiliary red light on it:

Buy a disk-magnet that is 11/16" in diameter by 1/16" thick. Now glue it to the tail-cap of your ZL.

This diameter exactly fits into the recess on the back of the Photon Freedom, so that the Photon can stick onto the tail-cap of your ZL, but still rotate to different angles.

You don't need to glue a magnet to the Photon, because the magnet you glued to your ZL will grip the coin-cell battery inside the Photon.

Now put your ZL into the headlight holder, and then click your Red Covert Photon onto the magnet on the end.

You now have a ZL with an auxiliary red LED, perfect for whatever you wanted a red light for.

(You can find the magnets at K&J Magnetics. I use their DB1 and DB01 discs for this purpose.)

JordyC, my recommendation would be either the HP25R or the HL35 from Fenix. Both of them have red LED's. I guess it depends on what your runtime requirements are, but both of them offer you up to 3 hours on highest mode, depending on the battery type and strength. The HP25R may be a little heavy for your intended purpose, but it has the advantage again of a choice between spot- and floodlight, and it is rechargeable via USB port. It uses a 18650 battery. The HL35 uses a smaller 14500 Li-Ion battery or 2 AA batteries, which may be ideal, and it also has moonlight mode, so you're left with the best of both worlds. Both of these lights come with neutral white LED's.

I had the Tikka RXP. When the battery eventually failed Petzl traded it out for the latest generation the Reactik+, one of which I had already purchased. I also have the Nao. The Nao and my pair of Reactik+ have been fantastic. Reactive Lighting works exactly as Petzl advertises. It is great for hiking, climbing and camping. I have never tried them on my bicycle, but Petzl recommends pressing the side button to activate passive mode when cycling.

The new user interface on the Petzl Reactik+ greatly simplifies things. The top button turns on the light or switches it into active modes (up to three profiles). The side button changes the light to red or passive modes (up to three profiles). Pressing both buttons locks out the light so it cannot turn on accidentally in your bag.

If you have an iPhone or one of the supported Android phones you can connect to it and tune the profiles for your liking. On the first Reactik+ I did this to check out the new software. On the second one, I did not bother, as I felt the presets were just fine. There's no gimmick here. You can check precise battery levels and even estimated runtime even if you have no intention of programming the light. Petzl estimates it costs you about 1-2% of your battery life to leave Bluetooth on, but you can turn it off if you press and hold the side button until the blue LED stops blinking.

The other great thing is that they can be recharged by MicroUSB, in your car on the way to the trailhead or by a USB battery pack if you carry one on longer trips.

I also own a Zebralight H32Fd, H502d and H600Fd mk3. They are nice, but they are more like toys for me. When I am really out I always prefer my Petzls. The single biggest reason for this is that the Reactive mode really makes movement easier and better. If you are rock climbing, belaying or even rappelling, being able to look at something close and not blind yourself and then look at something far to see your ropes aren't tangled, great handholds are just ahead, etc, is HUGE. You can't spare the hands, which is why you are using a headlamp!

The other reason is that Zebralight still insists on putting high mode at a single touch of a button. This is great if you are near a source of spare batteries, but if you are traveling light it means it is easy to absentmindedly turn on the light at full blast, use it for about an hour (or even far less, if you have an AA-powered version), and burn through your entire battery without realizing it. You can reprogram a lower output high, but even at those levels it can still burn though a battery surprisingly quickly. Maybe you're okay at remembering every time. But how about your climbing partner, your hiking mates? Will you explain how to use it every time?

Zebralight makes a fantastic headlamp but they just do not have the same priorities that outdoorspeople have. I actually like them a lot and I have carried one of their flashlights for a long time. The product quality has gone up tremendously since their rocky start. I often carry their smallest headlamp in my pack as an emergency backup, but I don't prefer it as my primary at all.

Petzl makes headlamps for climbers, period. They emphasize long runtimes, not leaving you in the dark, and simplicity of use in adverse conditions.

Much depends on battery type you are interested in. For 1XAA I like the Armytek Tiara Pro or Fenix HL50. For 18650 I own the Fenix HP12, Nitecore HC30 and Armytek XHP50 wizard pro. The 1X18650 have power on par with 4XAA headlamps (my pre Cree revolution Apex is showing it's extreme age) so maybe consider that. In fact the raw power of some 1x18650 headlamps is actually shocking. Lots of hard core outdoors people I know use Zebralights as well. I have some older ones but somehow ever upgraded them.

Edit.

On a side note only have one headlamp which has a red light, the Fenix HL30 2XAA. It's a good headlamp and is within my summer AT hiking kit but honestly only used the red light once.

Random Dan said:

The ZL also has much more pleasing tint vs the very cool blue of the Petzl.

Click to expand...

And I consider this reason enough to choose Zebralight over Petzl. I just got the H600Fc. And the tint is just FANTASTIC - about as good as I could ever want for the outdoors at nighttime. And although output is lower than other 18650 headlamps at 'only' 800 lumens max, this is still FAR more than enough for most any use. Of course, you can always go with the H600Fd for a slighly cooler white if warm is not your preference. And even my old H600Fw is better than your typical 'angry blue' Petzl. Tint may not seem too important. But once you use a light with a better tint and color rendition, you realize how much it improves your enjoyment of the outdoors. Plus, it allows you to see subtleties that you couldn't make out with an angry blue light.

My ideal headlamp would be similar to the Petzl Nao, but with a replaceable 18650 cell/2xcr123 support, an way to adjust the output while keeping it in reactive mode, an easily accessible sub-lumen mode, and better beam. I'm thinking 2 XM-L2 easywhite emitters with one frosted lens for flood and one clear lens/orange peel reflector for throw.

As carrot said, Petzl does a great job with usability for an outdoors headlamp. For me though they miss the mark on battery flexibility, modes, and beam quality.