The Better Mountaineering Headlamp - Petzl Actik Core, Black Diamond Spot 325/Storm 500-R, Wuben H5 

Thank you Humberto. I buy all these items for my survival. When I will make the crampons episode I will speak why one is better than the other based on what might happen on the mountain. I had a friend that was left without the two forward facing spikes (they broke) of one of the crampons because the snow was so frozen. He had to use my tracks to fix his foot in and not slide back on that sharp vertical. Right after that day I bought the G14 from Grivel (I was using G12) to make sure I will never get into his situation (moreover, when I climb solo) or that at least I reduce the probability of this happening to me. G14 has the forward facing spikes (points) made of moulded steel. I was considering the same model from Petzl just because it was easier to find tbe front points to replace. I gave up on the ideea because at the time they were taking ages to be shipped. G20 and G22 for example are more for ice climbing (not for mountaineering). They have less pins (spikes) and perform differently. Many people they say they are the same but they don't. By comparison G14 (and any similar model crom other manufacturers) are for mountaineering on icy snow. G12 (and all other similar models from other manufacturers) will perform best on fresh snow. Is like undergraduate degrees. If you have them you can still wash dishes. If you don't, you only can was dishes. Having the G14 is like having an undergraduate degree. When it comes to headlamps, I realised with time that when it comes to heavy rain on uncontrollable terrain the last thing I need to do is to worry about it, keep my hand busy with protecting the headlamp, not using my outer layer properly because it has to protect the headlamp, etc. I need for such situations and more a headlamp that will do its job well no matter the conditions (including low temperatures). Most people don't think at this because they avoid such moments or are lucky enough to just pass by. But if it ever happens a good headlamp might make the difference between life and death. I know all is almost always hypothetical. What if? Sometimes I got into trouble, sometimes I am only planning for disaster. If will ever something bad happens to me it has to be accidental or because of a unique (rare) and uncontrollable event, not because I was lazy, ignorant or exposed voluntarily to a risk.

I understand. I guess it was me sharing with you the viewer the pain I was trying to handle. I know what I was going through at the time and hgow it ended. And it did end very badly for me. Of course, nobody should care about it. I'm a human. Not a robot. I still do have emotions and as any imperfect human I upset people that don't want to hear about it because they themselves have their own issues. It was just oversharing. For sure not ego. I cannot see how ego could play a role in all that. But again, maybe my imperfection makes me not see your point. My apologies!

Hello Emily. I'm in agreement. I mostly use the red, blue and green led and yes, lumens are not that important. I mostly am not using all of them and what I always need is a beam that helps me cover all my angles.

For your specific case you will be way better with the rechargeable 500-R from Black Diamond. The only thing you have to be aware is the focused beam on long ranges. I've seen a headlamp from Decathlon not as durable not as powerful and with not that many functions but with a slightly wider beam when focused in the depth of the dark and this made me think; if I want to see the bear on an open field from far away it might be that the focused beam from BD will distract my attention (I speak here about penetration and results on far away targets). For proximity beaming (the next 10 to 15 metres and maybe 20 metres as well) with BD 500-R is like daylight. It is so powerful that once I was covering the torch of a friend (relatively powerful torch) and all the headlamps of all my other friends. To avoid being a show-off I reduced the intensity to 1/3 😂

@@JetSetYourself Thank you for the additional information. Even more informative!

Make sure you know what you want before committing to it. In theory (I read this on Black Diamond website) the embedded battery from the storm 500-R and the rechargeable battery that goes with the storm 450 will always do better than the lithium batteries. It is true that with a lithium option you can take with you as many spares and never stop. With a rechargeable you will have to stop and recharge (and of course you have to have on you a powerbank that you will anyways have for you phone). Now, on paper the rechargeable battery from BD is twice as efficient compared to lithium batteries while the battery on the storm 500-R is claimed to do both very well in low temperature environments and also last for more than double the BD rechargeable battery that goes on the storm 450. I used the 500-R a couple of times now (but so far only in above 5 Celsius) and it lasted for hours at high intensity. I will have to use it this winter as well before I can state facts but overall it appears that the 500-r will do better for a long night while the 450 will be the better option for muti-day usage (because you can carry as many replacement batteries you want and just swap then when required). The differentiator hered is the power source (between the two). It is up to you what will you choose. For my current case I only used the storm 500-r in one go (up to 4 or 5 hours). I yet have to go for a multy day walk (but even if I do so, if is not required to walk for survival (to get out of a situation) mostly I will stop the nights and camp while walking during the day when I can better control the environment. Let me know what you did and how you find it after using it for a while. Will help a lot. Good luck!

I've got yhe petxl articles core and it's better

I've checked. It can be a good buy as long as you don't need a weather proof headlamp and are OK with the ups and the downs. If you will most of the times use the reactive lighting feature you will get a great battery life. If you want to be invisible (red, green, blue light) this will not it (Petzl NAO RL) because it only has a rear red light (good if you will cycle probably or if you want someone to see you from behind while far away). When I'm in the forest I always aim at staying as incognito possible and the red, green or blue leds do help me a lot to do that. Not having this option is a disappointment. The reactive lighting feature is appealing. I didn't tested it yet (I'm about to choose a Petzl headlamp for this precise aim) but if it work well then it can be a big plus. Usually when I use if at high intensity it means I go fast (alert) and I need precision. Reactive Lighting for this headlamp doesn't do it (DUO RL has the ability to adapt during rapid movement). For rapid movement at constant lightning the NAO RL is relatively weak but not a big issue. Overall a good headlamp. But, the price, oh, boy, the price is Versace or Louise Vuitton level. 50£ for Black Diamond 500-R or 150£ for Petzl NAO RL? The DUO RL is 500£. I mean, what in the world is this? I definitely cannot afford Petzl headlamps. I will pay for NAO RL 70£ max to test it for you (and probably even as a personal buy). 90£ will already be too much. 100£ or 120£ only if 800 lumen and 10h performance time at 500 or 600 lumen minimum (while in a small enough overall package).

I still have a camera I bought influenced by the influencers. I never used it, it never been what I needed. In fact, I tried to use it for what I needed it but it failed until recently when I had it replaced with a Sony zv-1f. It is 4k and does all I need ten times better (the bad camera is canon M50). Bad camera for me. For pictures with the 50mm and a speed booster looks perfect. But I need 4k video. I bought into the hype and made a dumb acquisition. All the good gear I buy nobody talks about. Unfortunately RU-vid evolved into a platform where a few dictate trends and shout out what is good and what is right not because it is necessarily so but because they are hired my companies to do so. I still am waiting for content to evolve and even if paid, at least to give us the full story. Everyone promotes insta360 and I use them reliably but producing a video with a 360 camera is a pain and takes ages. Currently they are the best platform for my case. Still, a pain to produce something. It is what it is. The process. To this moment I did not see a video speaking about it.

Good points. I will make sure to be precise from now onwards. I understand what you are saying. It makes perfect sense. I will work on improving my speech and make sure I include these simple but needed queues.

Good question. I will set a reminder and when I get home I will try it and let you know.

​@@JetSetYourselfIf you do have the 350/400-R BD it would be interesting if they fit as well

I've finally got to test and I can confirm that the 500-R will fit and can be used with the Petzl Noctilight without any issue. 350 and 400-R should fit as well because they are smaller or the same size.

@@JetSetYourself Thanks, I got the 500R a few days ago, and tested it with the Petzl Noctilight. It fits perfect, I think that will be my go to for the next years 😉

Yes, I have someone else asking so I tested and it fits.

Yes, I did see it because I constantly check for innovation. Lightning is very important to me and the moment something more reliable will come out be reassured that I will buy it. The issue with this version of Actik Core is the max 2h at 600lm compared with 7h at 500lm promised by BD 500R. At 250lm BD 500R promises 19h with 60m penetration while Actik Core only promises 7h with 100lm for the same distance. For my case I don't care about the replaceable battery of the Actik because I have multiple headlamps and the difference between taking with me a battery or just another headlamp is the advantage of swapping the headlamps way easier than replacing the batteries. Cost is not a decision factor for me as well. Longevity, features and waterproofness is what I look after. The new Actik Core is not coming with nothing new or more compared to BD. In this case the old Actik Core I have will do just fine. In my case I think I'm better by just buying BD Spot 400 that will almost beat the Actik Core when using AAA batteries and definitely take over when using the rechargeable BD battery. I will restrain myself from comparing BD Spot 400r with Actik Core. I'm waiting for Petzl to come with something better. If they do I will for sure buy it.

@@JetSetYourself Thanks.

I think Actik 450 is way simpler than the Storm 500-R. If you only need something to press/release and cycle through light intensities I think Actik 450 is better. The Storm 500-R has three buttons used to regulate the light intensity. It might get confusing at times. The better performer might very well be the Storm 500-R but the Actik 450 is the simpler headlamp (it only has one button). The Actik is not waterproof) only water resistant. Also will last less than the Storm 500-R. The 500-R has the green light that I find so useful to walk in complete dark at the higher intensity. The Actik only has the red light. It might be that the Actik is lighter (less heavy than Storm 500-R). The Storm only has a rechargeable battery. The Actik comes with a hybrid option. There might be another thing to consider. The Actik core has a less penetrative beam. The Storm has a more focused beam. If you want to see on a wider angle with less intensity then the Actik might be better. If you want to see ahead of you like running on a football field then Storm 500-R is the headlamp to use. I was the other day in a forest completely in the dark with the Storm 500-R and I used it both on the green high intensity light and the white high intensity light. All the people in front of me had the light from their headlamp cancelled by my beam coming from behind (that powerful the Storm 500-R is). A climber had a torch as well. The Storm 500-R cancelled the light of his torch as well. If you would love to see ahead of you peripherally (maybe you want to see from left to right on a longer distance) then the Storm with the strong beam might keep the far left and right into the dark (hard for the eye to adjust to the strong central beam). If you need something simple, only water resistant, not that feature proof then just go with the Actik 450. In this case, if you really want something from Black Diamon you can consider the Spot (Spot is more like Actik but better). I hope this helps at least a bit!

It depends on the power source. In three to four hours based on how discharged the battery is, the USB device I use to charge it. I usually try not to get myself in situetion where I have to charge for survival.

I use the blue, red and green leds a lot when mountaineering during the night. Only when I need to see the perspective of my surroundings I turn the white light on. I hate the Black Diamond for not having a better system to switch between states but otherwise I love it for the so many options it provides. I use so often and I depend so much on these leds that I cannot throw myself into buying the next Petzl or Fenix. They have to have the color leds and better battery life/contrs. Fenix HM-65R-T is a good headlamp but with no color leds. For me this is a no buy. I don't want to stick with the Black Diamond system. I also don't want to change. If something better will pop I will buy it.

@@JetSetYourself Thank you for the information. That totally makes sense. The colored lights are important to have for battery life, your own night vision and others' around you, too.

I have four or five Black Diamond Spot 325. I use them for various tasks way more of the than the Storm 500-R. They are supposed to help me in these routine tasks and they do it very well. As long as I need something to turn on and off, light and always available (one I keep in the care, one in the shop and so forth) makes no sense to put in the extra effort to always use the Storm 500-R. It really depends on you and how you plan to using them. When I go up on the mountain for difficult or possible longer than a day ascentsI will for sure I will take the 500-R for various reasons. But otherwise, most probably you will catch me having with me something else.

I did. In time, checking my self behaviour I realized that I care about lumens up to a point. The more lumens you have the hoter it gets and a small battery will unavoidable drain fast. It depends on the type of activity. I'm confident for many more lumens is better. I guess a headlamp with loads of lumens and long battery life before total drain once set on the highest lumens intensity is a dream. To me, lumens alone are not enough. I need features and a long battery life until total drain while I use the lumens of the leds. For example, when I go climbing (mountaineering) I mostly use the RGB leds. Almost never the white light. It helps me to stay stealth and it keeps my vision adapted to the dark (in case I switch off the headlamp I can adapt to the dark outside faster).

@JetSetYourself thanks for the reply. Definitely a lot to consider when deciding on a headlamp.

The long battery life and the multiple leads available helps me a lot. Not how strong the beam can be is important. Sometimes it is but in most my survival situations I need a wide beam or the red or blue or green leds (and the long battery life). All my goto headlamps are Black Diamond. I will happily switch if something better gets released (at a reasonable price as well).

I will and probably everyone else not contradict you for your personal experience. Manufacturers have a tendency to rate products to the best performance and not higher to ensure brand safety and better manage user experience expectancy. The waterproof rating takes many factors into consideration and if a product fails for one of them, it will be rated lower while in reality the product will mostly perform for a higher rating.

I totally agree with you. I tried Petzl out of curiosity but for now Black Diamond are real workhorses. I think I have more than 5 in total :))

I've gone the opposite direction. Always used BD.... ICON most recently. But it totally failed on me recently. Maybe a short in the internal wiring. Not sure. But failure is unexceptable. I use it mostly for technical climbing and rapping off big walls in foul weather. Light failure can kill you. Anyway, rumor on the street is that BD has made big cuts in quality in last couple of generations. I'm now using a Petzl Actik Core. Replaceable battery was one key feature. I'll see if it holds up.

I agree with you. No debate on this. A headlamp should not fail. Not like this and not in the first 2 years of usage at least. Ideally will remain reliable for at least 4 years if not more. If you only have that and it fails you are doomed. It can put your life in danger. I totally agree with you. Of course, we have to see if this is an isolated case or something common. I cannot imagine myself losing the headlamp like this. Will be dramatic. Is not that we can always have a backup with us. Backup tent, backup headlamp, etc. We need reliable gear. From what I see, the BD rechargeable battery does very well compared to my batteries. I had cases when my batteries brand new just bought from the store drained in less than 1h and I was left in the dark. Because of that I always had with me a double pack. But a double pack here, one there, you get the idea. Too much redundancy gear to carry in the backpack. With the rechargeable the possible good part is that anyway I have a power bank with me to charge the phone or other devices. If need shall be I can use that to charge or keep using the headlamp as well. If you don't need waterproof features then Petzl Actik Core will do just fine (as long as you have enough batteries with you). Let's see how the storm 500-R will do this winter. I cannot wait to abuse it for a while.

Are the batteries in 500 R interchangeable ie carrying a spare to replace flat battery

Actually, in the Black Diamond line R means rechargeable but not replaceable (there is o way for a customer to just take the battery out and but another one back). The 500-R has a battery that is rechargeable but you cannot replace.

Thank you ♥️. I cannot stand the influencers. I wasted so much money and opportunity while listening to them. They get some things right but with a high hit and miss rate. If you go out there unprepared you risk your life. These things are not a playground. If they get into giving advice they shall better do it right and tailored for each case because otherwise people will go with confidence and the find themselves exposed when getting into trouble.

You will have to let us know what versions of each you bought so that we can at least compare the specs. Also, ideally you will let us know the overall case scenario you are using them in.