by potholer » Aug 30, 2013 7:22 am
I have been quite impressed with my HP25 - it's great to see a mainstream manufacturer make a headlamp with two proper LEDs and decent control, although I haven't used it underground (my existing cave light is firmly fixed to my helmet, and has similar outputs but more control).
As a surface headtorch, the main niggle is the need to hold a button down to turn a beam on, rather than just to press a button, something I thought at first I would get used to, but which hasn't happened yet.
Possibly that's situation-dependent - where I was camping this summer, there's a petrol (gas) lantern in the main communal area, so at night headtorches are normally off except when actually doing something (chopping/bringing wood from the pile, getting water from a collection barrel, eating, filling cups from a kettle, etc) so headtorches get turned on and off frequently rather than left on from dusk to bedtime.
Otherwise the only things I really miss are a lower power spot setting to allow a beam blend with relatively little spot in (my favourite mix for walking), and a low battery warning to avoid running 4xNiMH cells beyond the point where one cell was exhausted.
Generally, I'd prefer a 3-cell light to a 4-cell one, since with 3 cells, being kind to NiMH cells pretty much comes for free, but I guess I could just run my HP25 with a dummy cell.