Petzl Tikka Head Torch First Impressions

Price £25.00

Weight: 70g including batteries

No-one else has made daft jokes about the Petzl Tikka's silly name and we're not about to buck the trend. Instead here are our first impressions of Petzl's new super light LED curried head torch.

What is it?

An ultra lightweight head torch which uses three AAA batteries - the size below personal stereo size - to power three LED bulbs set in a simple, non-adjustable housing. Think bicycle light technology: LEDs are extremely bright for their power consumption. If you've seen a bright white light wandering around at night, that's probably it.

Weight

First things first, on the OUTDOORSmagic scales, the Tikka weighed in at exactly 70g with batteries as claimed, which is pretty remarkable. For comparison, my watch weighs 50g and a CD with case - Manu Chau, Clandestino if you must know - weighed in at a whopping 90g.

A standard Petzl Zoom with the effective but weighty 4.5 volt battery is 312g and even with the AA battery adaptor, it's still 257g. So the Tikka si dead light, though 150g the Micro is closer. Note that the Petzl web site quotes weights without batteries, which is a bit naughty.

Batteries And Life

The Tikka uses three AAA LR03 1.5 volt cells, same as used by most TV and video zappers, so no problems getting them. Even more remarkably, Petzl claim a battery life of around 150 hours, compared to 5 hrs 45 for a Zoom with the 4.5 volt battery. Mad.

Note though that the light output decreases as the battery runs down. Petzl say that the first 12 hours is adequate for walking use, 12-24 hours for general camping use and the rest for reading. Apparently one American magazine left the Tikka switched on for a fortnight, at the end of which, it was still producing light.

The LED bulbs - three of them in a row - are non replaceable, but said to have a life of 'several years of continuous use' - there's a three-year manufacturer's guarantee as well.

The Light

Out of the box and with the original batteries supplied, the 3-bulb LED torch casts a very white light. It's quite a diffused beam, so if you're after searchlight brilliance and focussed beams forget it, however as new, it reached about four metres ahead, which is quite adequate for walking on rough ground. The housing's angled forwards so the light's convenient for reading and looking at what you're about to step on or in. It also fits neatly on a climbing helmet.

What it won't do is pick out features 30 or 40 yards ahead for, say, alpine route finding, so if that's what you need, it's back to a Zoom with halogen bulb and 20 seconds battery life expectancy.

The Bottom Line

We like this a lot. It's a light that takes minimal space in your pack and adds just 70g in weight making it an ideal standby torch, or even one to use in tandem with a more conventional headtorch. It'd be great for reading in the tent at night, unpacking car boots in the dark and all those other classic battery wasters. The claimed battery life is astonishing and the bulbs, though not replaceable, are said to last for several years of continuous.

In its early life, the light's also bright enough to walk, run slowly or climb with, though you can't see as far ahead as you would with a more focussed beam. The batteries are also so light that keeping a fresh set for active use and an older set for more general stuff would be easy enough and add minimal weight to your pack.

Anything we don't like? The small, sliding switch could do with a more defined on/off click, maybe even some sort of child-proof lock to avoid accidental activation in the sack. For now we suggest reversing one of the batteries for peace of mind.

We liked it so much that we actually went out and bought one...

More Information

• You can check out the Petzl web site by clicking here, but at the time of writing, it had very little information.

• The UK distributors are Lyon Equipment