Petzl Myo 3 - First Look

Petzl Myo 3 Headtorch - First Look

Price: £40.00

Weight: 227 grammes (including batteries) 137 grammes without batteries

Features: Two light sources: Xenon halogen beam and 3-LED light. Zoomable halogen beam, uses four AA batteries (supplied), housing adjustable for angle, three-strap elasticated head band, spare halogen bulb supplied, water resistant light and battery housing, 3-year guarantee. Claimed battery life: halogen only - 4 hours, LEDs only - 180 hours. Claimed range: Halogen - 15-100 metres max, LED - 10 metres max.

Two head torches in one and significantly lighter than a Zoom Nothing really so far

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The Concept Petzl were trailing a bit off the back of the pack when it came to combo Halogen / LED combo torches. The Duo was a tad heavy for most uses and companies like Lucido and Black Diamond seemed to have stolen a jump. Meanwhile the venerable Zoom was starting to look, well, venerable really.

The Myo range is Petzl's long-awaited counter punch. There are three versions: a simple halogen-only zoomable torch, the Myo, that can also use non halogen bulbs for longer battery life; this one, the Myo 3, which has a zoomable halogen beam plus a single setting, three-LED pod; and finally, the Myo 5 with five LEDs which can be set on three power levels. The Myo 3 and 5 also come in 'Belt' versions with a remote battery pack for cold conditions use.

The overall idea is that you have the fat, diffuse white glow of the LEDs for close up work like cooking, reading, camping and walking, but if you need a sharper, long-distance light - say for spying out landscape features or picking a climbing route - you can simply switch to halogen and a 100-metre beam.

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Features Given how long it's taken to develop the Myo, you'd expect it to be pretty well thought out, and you'd be right. It's a neat design using more contemporary materials - mainly hard plastics - and drawing on Petzl's previous experience.

The lamp housing pivots forward on a ratcheted housing, but when fully back, a stop engages in a notch on the housing to stop the torch switching on accidentally. The halogen housing is zoomable by twisting, just like a Zoom and the battery box sits at the back of a three-point elasticated adjustable strap, again like a Zoom.

You also get a spare bulb included in a neat housing on the side of the strap that also serves as a cable tidy. One neat touch is that the batteries lie horizontally in their box to stop them bouncing on the contacts and causing cumulative damage.

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In Action We've not used the Myo very seriously yet, but initial impressions are good. It switches on easily with the first anticlockwise twist of the bezel switching on the LEDs, and a further click switching to halogen. Simple and easy to use with gloved hands, no fiddly little switches.

The ratcheted up and down movement of the lamp housing is positive and feels secure while the elasticated head band and flat plate of the lamp housing makes it comfortable to wear, even on a bare head. The strap adjusters are easy-to-use sliding buckles making it quick and easy to resize for a climbing helmet. It felt very stable on a BD Half Dome.

We can't really fault the light performance either. The 3-LED set-up gives a similar output to a Tikka and is ideal for camping, reading and non technical walking. It gives a bright, white, diffuse glow that's easy on batteries with a claimed life of 180 hours from the four AA cells. Performance will drop off as the batteries fade, but that's a universal LED problem.

Twist the bezel further and you're rewarded with a bright, piercing and zoomable halogen beam which is ideal for picking out more distant features. As with the previous Zoom, on broader beam settings the light isn't uniform, but it's not a major problem and, as far as we're aware, this is the only zoomable option on the market; giving a choice between a broad, closer beam and a narrower, more distant once - claimed range 100 metres.

We like the stop that prevents the lamp from switching itself on in your pack - you need to remember to push the lamp housing upright for it to work mind - and the spare bulb housing is a neat, convenient touch. We did find that there was a bit of a knack to opening the pull-apart battery box and now we don't seem to be able to open it at all, which is a wee bit irritating...

The Myo's claimed to be water-resistant, so we chucked it in a sink of water and left it switched on. It carried on working even though water did get into the lamp housing, but we figure it should be okay with the odd rain shower. The bezel twists off for easy drying and bulb changes.

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Initial Verdict

If anyone one wants to buy a cheap Zoom, we've got one here. The Myo is a significant improvement on the original and that's before you take the LED option into account. It feels well made, carefully thought out and basically does what it says on the box. It's simple and easy to use even with gloves and Petzl have covered all the obvious bases.

The LED option's well worth having and adds only 6 grammes in weight and £13 in price over the basic halogen Myo (£27.00). The Myo 5 offers extra LED versatility with its three intensity settings and costs £50.00, weighing in at just one gramme more than the Myo 3. For cold conditions, the 'Belt' versions with remote battery packs cost exactly the same as the standard.

Misgivings? We're still wrestling with that battery compartment lid - it feels jammed solid - and it's around 60 grammes heavier than the Lucido T61, though that only has three AAs and doesn't feel as solidly built as the Petzl.

Bear in mind that these are just initial findings, we'll carry on using the Myo and bring you a full test in due course, but so far it looks like a versatile, do-it-all option.

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Petzl web site

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