If you’ve ever seriously trekked in the wilderness for days, then you understand the difficulty of carrying all of the equipment you may need without entirely burdening one’s self with the excessive weight and overall burden of a full pack, plus essentials. When you consider how many items are needed for a simple 3-day trek and stay in the wilderness, it cam become daunting… Imagine carrying your clothes, toiletries, food, cook wear, tent, sleeping bag, axe, medical supplies, pack, boots, etc. And that’s keeping it to the basics, because when you’re out in the deep wild world, you never know what may happen, so you must be prepared for anything.
Now, if you’re no stranger to this experience, and have decades of survival experience, then you can no doubt travel lighter than a lot of other people, because you likely have the ability to adapt and be creative with what nature provides you if you-know-what were to hit the fan. For me, personally, I like to strike a balance between over-packing and preventing hating life from the weight burden. When I’m camping with friends, I’ll go full-force glamping, where I take multiple full-size tents, sleeping bags, camp chairs and tables, a large cooler, as well as an electric chainsaw. Yeah, imagine carrying all that deep into the woods; no thanks. So, when you’re planning your next trip, consider packing economically, by choosing your gear carefully. If you can take skip on that large lantern with heavy D batteries, and instead choose a headlamp, right there you’re cutting out pounds of weight and are freeing your hands. I do this wherever possible. And when I’m backpacking overseas, you will see me be even more judicial in my choices.
Headlamps are a favorite of mine, because they cut down on weight, cost of operation (no need for those overbearing and overly expensive batteries), and allows you to explore the dim and the dark with no need of your extremities. Having hands free when in a truly wild area, with healthy wildlife, can be the difference between life and death. No joke; it’s the simple things that can give you the leg up when abroad, because avoidance starts with prevention.
Personally, I’ve only just recently came across my favorite headlamp. I’ve used headlamps for years in my camping and wilderness treks, but I’ve always felt the models I had tried out previous were either cheaply made, weak brightness or were very uncomfortable. But when the fine folks over at Black Diamond sent me their ICON headlamp, I was immediately enamored with the quality of the product. If you’re not familiar with Black Diamond, I suggest you start, because they are among the industry standard of creating the best of the best, at a reasonable and affordable price, unlike many other competitive brands. I’ve worked with their tents and sleeping bags in the past, and have always loved the quality.
The ICON headlamp is a tiny, beastly light that fits around your skull with a comfortable band. The light is powered with a battery pack that can either fit on the back of the band, on the back of your head, or which can be wired down to your belt, where the battery pack can hang freely and perhaps more comfortably. Most headlamps don’t give you that option. The ICON comes with a QuadPower LED spotlight and 1 DoublePower white LED that emits a max up to 500 lumens, with a max distance of 125 meters… You read that right: 500 lumens!
What makes the ICON headlamp so damned special is that it’s extremely bright, lightweight, and easy to use, but even more so, is it’s feature capabilities: the ICON comes night vision ready, which means that it has red, green and blue light spectrums that allow you to see more and see better in lowlight and night situations. How cool is that?! Other features unique to the ICON headlamp is that it has a freestyle dimmer, a strobe setting in case of emergencies, the night vision settings of course, as well as a proximity sensor and a setting lock. All in all, I came away very impressed after my initial testing of the ICON headlamp by Black Diamond, and would recommend it to anyone who travels, or simply likes to wander about in the dark. It’s well made, very well thought out and accomplishes so much in a tiny case.
If you would like to learn more about Black Diamond, click here.
Article written by Brandon Scott / Eye & Pen
(Main photo by gruenewiese via Flickr – Product photo © Black Diamond)
Headlamps are a favorite of mine, because they cut down on weight, cost of operation (no need for those overbearing and overly expensive batteries), and allows you to explore the dim and the dark with no need of your extremities. Having hands free when in a truly wild area, with healthy wildlife, can be the difference between life and death. No joke; it’s the simple things that can give you the leg up when abroad, because avoidance starts with prevention.
Personally, I’ve only just recently came across my favorite headlamp. I’ve used headlamps for years in my camping and wilderness treks, but I’ve always felt the models I had tried out previous were either cheaply made, weak brightness or were very uncomfortable. But when the fine folks over at Black Diamond sent me their ICON headlamp, I was immediately enamored with the quality of the product. If you’re not familiar with Black Diamond, I suggest you start, because they are among the industry standard of creating the best of the best, at a reasonable and affordable price, unlike many other competitive brands. I’ve worked with their tents and sleeping bags in the past, and have always loved the quality.
The ICON headlamp is a tiny, beastly light that fits around your skull with a comfortable band. The light is powered with a battery pack that can either fit on the back of the band, on the back of your head, or which can be wired down to your belt, where the battery pack can hang freely and perhaps more comfortably. Most headlamps don’t give you that option. The ICON comes with a QuadPower LED spotlight and 1 DoublePower white LED that emits a max up to 500 lumens, with a max distance of 125 meters… You read that right: 500 lumens!
What makes the ICON headlamp so damned special is that it’s extremely bright, lightweight, and easy to use, but even more so, is it’s feature capabilities: the ICON comes night vision ready, which means that it has red, green and blue light spectrums that allow you to see more and see better in lowlight and night situations. How cool is that?! Other features unique to the ICON headlamp is that it has a freestyle dimmer, a strobe setting in case of emergencies, the night vision settings of course, as well as a proximity sensor and a setting lock. All in all, I came away very impressed after my initial testing of the ICON headlamp by Black Diamond, and would recommend it to anyone who travels, or simply likes to wander about in the dark. It’s well made, very well thought out and accomplishes so much in a tiny case.
If you would like to learn more about Black Diamond, click here.
Article written by Brandon Scott / Eye & Pen
(Main photo by gruenewiese via Flickr – Product photo © Black Diamond)
RSS Feed
