Also from the department of over-specced as f*ck, it appears that I never actually wrote a review for my Petzl Reactik+
Highlights:
Single unit so highly pocketable.
USB-rechargeable, swappable battery pack. Will last for about 2.5 hours at full power, or about 2.5 weeks of normal camping use. Probably 2.5 overnight bike rides at sensible brightness.
Spot and flood beams, plus token night-vision-preserving red. Like most high-end Petzls, the illumination is very even.
Tilt head, which like most this doesn't quite tilt high enough for a road bike riding position (unless you're interested in the ground immediately in front of your wheel) - it's fine on a MTB or recumbent.
Strap you can tighten while it's on your head.
1kHz PWM (not barakta-proof, but fast enough that it doesn't bother me).
Reactive-beam modes, where the brightness and beam shape
[1] is adjusted in accordance with the amount of light reflected by what you're looking at. This works surprisingly well, and is excellent for loitering within tent (particularly when carrying washing-up to and from an illuminated area, and for not blinding fellow head-torch-wearers) useful some kinds of fettling activities, actively unhelpful for others and is best switched off in the presence of oncoming vehicle lights.
Wanky Bluetooth capabilities that, with a suitable app, allow you to:
- Program an arbitrary sequence
[2] of beam shape / brightness onto the buttons.
- Remote-control the brightness, but not to the point of 'off' which would make this feature actually useful for something.
- Transmit arbitrary strings in Morse code.
Lowlights:
Not Intrinsically Safe.
Mine's got a seemingly-cosmetic hairline crack in the case from (presumably) being dropped on a hard surface.
Button state-machine is slightly too complicated for my 3am full bladder brain.
Bluetooth status LED that defeats the point in the night-vision-preserving red. But that's okay, because you'll program your preferred sequence of modes once and then switch the bluetooth off.
I really like it, but it's overkill if you just need something to avoid tripping over guy ropes, and the physical design might not be optimal for cycling. It's the fettling that I really appreciate it for - particularly the even diffuse optics. The reactive modes take a bit of getting used to, but once you get a feel for it, they have their uses - if nothing else, it's a great way to conserve battery. The bluetooth stuff is wanky, but I appreciate the programmability, and being able to program it with a smartphone rather than a proper computer makes sense. It's more versatile than the Core.
[1] Achieved by cross-fading between two LEDs with different optics.
[2] So you don't have to put up with that coming-on-at-full-brightness rubbish, and you can have it do the Right Thing for toggling between low/high for cycling.
