Headlamps!

I will be doing the MCN 40 mile ultra in Decemeber which involves some night running.

So I thought a thread would be good for all headlamps reviews, prefences etc

There are many already.

My personal favourite is led lenser H7R. Rechargeable or disposable batteries, lightweight, and.a truly awesome beam. All for around 40 quid.

LED Lenser H7 for me

A more value option to consider it the alp kit gamma. At 15 quid its a real bargain and better than most high priced models too!

Couple of spotlights from a breakers yard, hooked up to a 12v car battery should do the job.

Another vote for the Alpkit Gamma -  although I have to admit I've not tried any of the more expensive ones, so can't do a proper comparison review.

I do think the option of having a little red light (steady or flashing) on the rear battery pack makes a lot of sense if you're running in a group.

whatever you have have a small strong handtorch handy as on those hills at dark.when the fog comes down the headlamp will not be of any use.............you need something low pointing at your feet

You take off the head torch and hold it low in your hand. Spare torch good idea anyway though.

Anything light weight that is brighter than the Lenser? I have the non-rechargable version at 170 lum as the rechargable version is no use for all night or multi day stuff. I like the Lenser - even survived a full wash cycle in washing machine after leaving in pocket! Took several hours to fully dry out then worked fine with fresh batteries.

I have a petzl myo which does the job, with a cyberlite (tenner) as a back up which weighs nothing and can be wrapped around thw wrist

There are many good head torches on the market, and everybody has their personal favourite.  I have used the Black Diamond Storm and Petzl Myo XP with good results.  For my money a running head torch should have the following characteristics:

It should be light

It should be powerful

It should be highly weather resistant

The controls should be simple

It should be simple to change the batteries

If it has all of the above, then you can't go too far wrong. 

When I researched this a few years ago I decided on a Fenix HP10 for about £40. It's plenty powerful, regulated so stays bright, someway waterproof and very well built. Biggest negative is probably weight; it's by no means heavy but uses 4xAA so naturally more bulky than the more slimline competition.

I've used it a fair amount and find it very comfortable, the battery pack sits on the back of your head so balances with the front nicely. I wore it all night when doing the Ridgeway the other week, including through some pretty heavy rain early evening, and never once tripped on anything or was conscious of having a torch strapped to my head.

 

I use the search facility. It's never failed to illuminate several threads on the very subject and always lights my way to an answer to my question.

There's at least half a dozen head torch threads on here, save people repeating themselves and have a read of them, if the answer isnt in there I'd be very surprised

I thought the alpkit gamma was the mutts nuts untill i tried the Silva trail runner. It really is good for lighting the whole area instead of just where your head is pointing.

Lirish if you don't like this thread we could always start one about Shin Splints, Barefoot running or even GPS watches just to make a change

 

Ooh good idea Dill, maybe a couple of threads asking if anyone's done THE marathon and another one or two wondering if the poster, having done their local park run, is now ready for western states?

He He - Think that Lirish admonished me when I had the terminity to try and start the same thread!, If memory serves though he was somewhat blunter, is he mellowing with age?

Oh well now its started my twopeneth worth:

Love my Silva Alpha, however being of the rechargeable battery pack type it does give me no small amount of stress if I have to run through the night (battery saving mode lasts 8-9 hours). The 3 modes are awesome with a I need to see a long way down the trail, I want to see lots all around me and I need to save the battery mode but it's still pretty good, choices.

So having shelled out a pretty silly amount of money on the Silva have bought the Alpkit Gamma which is superb value.

I can see I'm fighting a losing battle

Just in case you thought I was kidding

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/search/

Sorry Mr Mod

Didn't want to have a go at you Spen but it is one of my pet peeves and I'll explain why. There's two reasons, the lesser one is it tends to push less busy but still relevant threads off the first page or even lower down the front page, depending on how you're viewing the forum. Now I don't know about you but I tend not to wander far from the front page of any forum, it's just human nature to read what's immediately in front of you and venture no forth unless you're specifically looking for something.

Which brings me nicely onto the second point. In the past I and many other posters both of greater and less experience have spent a great deal of time and effort in answering questions posed on a wide variety of subjects. Some of those subjects bear talking about again and again, recces for BG rounds or how's training going for a specific event for instance. But the last thing I want to see, and believe me I do realise this is just my personal opinion, is a week after I've spent twenty minutes crafting a considered response to a thread is another thread asking the exact same question that I know has been answered quite comprehensively previously.

If there's new info to be shared then add to the existing thread, after all that then creates a wealth of information in one place, the previous contributors don't feel that their efforts have been wasted and I promise I won't make snarky comments.

I almost never venture outside of the ultra part of the forums these days because the site has become a playground for those who consider THEIR question to be the most valuable, the most worthy of attention. Have a look sometime, particularly around the end of the year when the VLM ballot is announced if you don't believe me.

So apologies, I didn't want to single out anyone for doing this but I just felt it needed explaining, it's one of the reasons intend not to get involved in the gear discussions elsewhere, you just know if you do you'll just end up typing the same thing again and again for months