Eye & Pen: Lifestyle, Travel, Photography and Literature
  • Main
  • Blog
  • Topics
    • Accommodations
    • Bucket List
    • Cheap Travel
    • Culture
    • Essay
    • Destinations
    • Inspiration
    • Interviews
    • Narratives
    • Personal
    • Photography
    • Restaurants
    • Reviews
    • Safe Travel
    • Travel Planning
    • Trip Update
    • Weekly Wanderlust
  • Photo Gallery
    • Photo Gallery – All Places
    • Photo Gallery – Aruba
    • Photo Gallery – England
    • Photo Gallery – Europe
    • Photo Gallery – Iceland
    • Photo Gallery – Ireland
    • Photo Gallery – Italy
    • Photo Gallery – Northern Ireland
    • Photo Gallery – Other
    • Photo Gallery – Scotland
    • Photo Gallery – USA
  • Services
    • Blog Coaching
    • Graphic Design
    • Hire Brandon
    • Advertising
  • About Brandon
  • Contact

Cutting out the burden by cutting weight: Reviewing Black Diamond’s Icon Headlamp

9/28/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
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.
Picture
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)

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Sign up for my VIP email list:

Picture
Picture

Article Topics

All
About Blogging
Accommodations
Bucket List
Cheap Travel
Culture
Destinations
Discussion
Entertainment
Environment
Essay
Fine Art Feature
Gear
General
Giveaway
Green Living
Guest Posts
Inspiration
Interviews
Lifestyle
Luxury
Narratives
Not Recommended
Other
Personal
Photography
Restaurants
Reviews
Safe Travel
Trip Planning
Trip Update
USA Road Trip
Video
Weekly Wanderlust

RSS Feed

Monthly Archive

November 2021
September 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012

*Disclaimer: All blog posts featuring products, reviews, or suggestions for products or services are governed by our Disclosure. Products were received free to review, so to provide authentic opinions and content for our readers. The opinions and ideas in this post are the writer's own and are uninfluenced by any other person or business. We receive no compensation for product reviews. Links within non-product review posts may be sponsored.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.