Why buy a Petzl headlamp?

I’ve been through a pile of them over the years, but the Petzl’s have always treated me well. Until last month, I’d never had an issue with one, but my 2 1/2 year old Tikka started draining batteries without the unit being on.

I sent it in with tracking, and saw it was delivered to their warranty facility this morning at 7:30AM. I had this response by 1:13PM:

Hi Joel,

We have evaluated the headlamp you returned to Petzl under RA 00116392.

Unfortunately, we were unable to repair your lamp, however your lamp is covered by our Three Year Guarantee. A replacement headlamp is being shipped out to you on the next business day.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Best,

Petzl America After Sales and Service
801.926.1500

The fact that they honored the warranty claim, and did it so fast tells me they mfr. a quality product, and their service dept. after a long holiday weekend is still like the Maytag repairman’s phone.

Joel

Right on! I have had the same two Zipkas for 6-7 years now with a lot of use. It’s good to know if I ever did have a problem with a newer one they would have my back.

I’ve had my Petzl for about 6 years and use it a ton. Put batteries in it every once in a while and abuse the heck out of it. Just keeps working. They make a quality product for sure.

Thanks for the info Joel. This is one of those topics I keep forgetting to ask about as I need to get a headlamp.

Hit my door this morning. Impressed with the turnaround considering it went out to Utah and it was over the weekend.

Joel

Great post on customer service.

As for the products I’ve had mixed blessing with Petzl lamps. Nothing wrong with the function just performance for design. I’ve got a tikka plus where the extra led doesn’t seem to help at all.

I would have no issue getting another Petzl just will check it out first. Good to hear they stand behind their products. As for other brands I’ve had really good luck with Black Diamond headlamps too.

Great Thread Joel

I’ve been looking for a better head lamp for a while now. so I went on their website, and I’ll be purchasing the Petzel MYO RXP to start with. If that works out I mat buy another one to leave on the boat, for the case when I forget it at home

Most models aren’t much more expenseve than other head lamps on the market, but they just have way better quality, so it’s well worth the money

OK……. so just what is a Petzl

I’m looking for a good high beam lamp for night travel, is this something they would have?

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OK……. so just what is a Petzl

I’m looking for a good high beam lamp for night travel, is this something they would have?

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In the explosion of headlamp manufacturers Petzl is one of hte originals. There were doing good work before the switch to LEDs. Like a couple of other headlamp manufacturers they got their start in climbing gear.

It’s been a couple years since I’ve bought one so I don’t know specific models. I’ve had three from Petzl, the original Zoom that’s incandescent, Tikka, and Tikka Plus.

The Tikka is a great headlamp for weight, space, and budget. Not so hot for trying to see distances like running a boat. Check out others in their line up that have more power.

As above I also highly recommend another company born from climbing, Black Diamond. My then fiance now wife has the Gizmo that is the equivalent to the Tikka. Great lamp for size, weight, and budget. Works good for camping and ice fishing. Again not so hot for distance and/or speed.

I have a older Black Diamond that works absolutely awesome for all the above but a few bucks more. This is what I take fishing. I took a peek at their website and the first one I would look at for distance would be http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/headlamps-and-lanterns/spot-headlamp-BD620609_cfg.html?dwvar_BD620609__cfg_color=Mars_Red#start=8. Has two small LEDs for general work and the big one for distance.

Check them out first to see what you like and you won’t go wrong with either company.

FYI – I was a rock climber for 10+ years and have trusted both companies for a long time with way more critical gear.

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OK……. so just what is a Petzl

I’m looking for a good high beam lamp for night travel, is this something they would have?

---

In the explosion of headlamp manufacturers Petzl is one of hte originals. There were doing good work before the switch to LEDs. Like a couple of other headlamp manufacturers they got their start in climbing gear.

It’s been a couple years since I’ve bought one so I don’t know specific models. I’ve had three from Petzl, the original Zoom that’s incandescent, Tikka, and Tikka Plus.

The Tikka is a great headlamp for weight, space, and budget. Not so hot for trying to see distances like running a boat. Check out others in their line up that have more power.

As above I also highly recommend another company born from climbing, Black Diamond. My then fiance now wife has the Gizmo that is the equivalent to the Tikka. Great lamp for size, weight, and budget. Works good for camping and ice fishing. Again not so hot for distance and/or speed.

I have a older Black Diamond that works absolutely awesome for all the above but a few bucks more. This is what I take fishing. I took a peek at their website and the first one I would look at for distance would be http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/headlamps-and-lanterns/spot-headlamp-BD620609_cfg.html?dwvar_BD620609__cfg_color=Mars_Red#start=8. Has two small LEDs for general work and the big one for distance.

Check them out first to see what you like and you won’t go wrong with either company.

FYI – I was a rock climber for 10+ years and have trusted both companies for a long time with way more critical gear.

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I’ve yet to find a good quality lamp that will do the distance thing that you’re talking about. Usually, they run hot and suck batteries.

The Petzl’s and from what it sounds like, the Black Diamonds, are the type useful for fishing/camping when needing a flood of good light to tie knots or do other detail work.

Joel

Joel – the bigger models have small LEDs for around camp, tying knots, etc. They also have a high beam or ‘spot’ feature. This is harder on the battery but rarely needed. 90% of the time I’m using the small ones.

They are not designed for night running at 40mph. As such they do not replace a true spotlight or headlights. Apologies if I oversold it.

Couple examples:

Last year my fishing partner and I made a run up the north arm of Rainy at sunset and it was pretty dark before we got to our destination. We used our headlamps to help find the navigation buoys. Since they have a bit of reflective tape we were able to spot them with room to spare(50-100yards). We were running about 20-25mph and my partner has very solid knowledge of the lake.

Both of us joined Corey Rhymer from IDO last winter for tip ups on Mille Lacs. Kudos to Corey for putting us on fish! We used the high beam feature to see if flags were tripped from at least a small ways away(snowing). Gave us extra distance over the small LEDs or Tikka/Gizmo models and made life easier.

As for heat and battery issues, haven’t had heat issues with my Black Diamond lamps. As for the battery the LEDs beat the hell out of the incandescent but on high they will put a drain on it. On a typical September week at Rainy I might have to replace my batteries around day 6-7 and we camp. June trips don’t need new batteries.

My advice would be to check it out and see for yourself if you like/dislike. By now you can probably tell I’m a fan

Great to see there are a few solid options no matter what you’re looking to do. Thanks for the examples too. I think that heading in with a boat looking for buoys, a dock, etc. is something we all run into quite often. Thanks too for all the detail!

Joel