Petzl importers Lyon Equipment are warning people to beware of
Tikka look-alikes selling at far lower prices than the genuine Petzl
LED original.
The company says that the cheaper head torches have been
deliberately styled to look like Petzl's torch, but use inferior
plastic, have poor switches, a narrow, low quality headband and
cheapo LEDs that give off a yellowish light rather than the bright
white of the original.
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The genuine article - a Petzl
Tikka Plus yesterday
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They stress that Petzl has stringent quality control in place and all
genuine Tikkas are tested before leaving the factory.
Petzl's UK lighting manager, Roger Chaldecott, says that the
importers have even had 'some product returned to us by consumers
thinking that the low-cost Tikka-like that they bought was a genuine
Petzl product.'
So how can you tell the difference? Genuine Tikkas and Zipkas
retail for around £25 and the new Tikka and Zipka Plus for
£30. The standard Tikka has three LEDs and the Plus has four.
The look-alikes sell for between £10 and £15 and while most
are not badged as 'Petzl', Lyon says that there have been some cases
of fakes being sold on e-Bay.
If you want to look at pictures of Petzl torches, see their
web site...
Jon Doran
