Hiked It Liked It Gear Review: Petzl Tikkina headlamp

 

The Petzl Tikkina headlamp.

Backpackers basically want three things out of their gear, it must be lightweight, dependable and durable. I'm sure there are other criteria that some will account for, but if a product can check off those three boxes you've got a good thing going for you. Most of us realize that to get all three of those things out of a product you had better plan to spend accordingly. The last thing you want to do is test out the, "You get what you paid for" theory when you are miles out on the trail. But every now and then, the backpacking gods smile down on us and bless us with a product that is not only lightweight, dependable and durable, but also affordable! (This is the part where a heavenly chorus breaks out!)

Getting "bang for your buck" is usually a term I run from with camping gear, but the Petzel Tikkina is the Cherry Bomb firecracker of headlamps! Plenty of bang, for around $15 to $20 bucks. I love them. I bought two. Only Black Diamond has headlamps that compare competitively with the Tikkina on price, weight and performance. Don't get me wrong... you can find headlamps that will outperform these little gems from Petzl, but at a greater cost with benefits that may not be worth the added dollar.

 

Here are a few specs on the Tikkina: 

Straps are adjustable and comfortable, the light is mounted to the straps on a plastic mount. The lamp points forward, but can also be adjusted to point downward. (This is handy for when you are working on something right in font of you.) The light itself has three settings, low/high/off. The light can last around fifteen hours left on high beam! The housing holds three AAA batteries. (Choose a quality battery brand or none of this will matter.) The lamp itself is splash/rain proof but not submersible. The entire unit is 3oz. The max distance the beam will reach is almost one hundred feet.

Trail tested.

The last time I needed them, these headlamps came through for me BIG TIME! Late this past summer on the trail, after already using the headlamps all year on previous trips, a storm began to brew. Plenty of wind and lightning. It was just my wife and I. We knew we had set up our campsite only about a mile away from arriving back at the trail-head and our vehicle. However, that section of the trail was plenty rocky and parts of it skirted some pretty nasty cliffs. (I don't know why I just said that, I totally love cliffs!) As the storm built in intensity we started longing for the hard top of our vehicle over the tent we were hunkered in. Taking into account the relatively short distance to our vehicle and what looked like a monster storm cloud we could see approaching by light of the lightning flashes... we hit the trail. Both of us using our Tikkina headlamps to light our precarious path. Smooth hiking! We made it to our ride before the deluge of rains hit.
Smiles all around! :D #happycampers I'm really happy with these headlamps.

by Dain Erickson

#hikeditlikedit #owlguy #cliffjunkie #petzl