NOTE: I tested gear for Backpacker Magazine for 20 years. See all of my reviews of headlamps, hiking gear, and backpacking gear at The Big Outside. I spent a lot of time writing this review, so if you enjoyed it, please consider giving it a share using one of the buttons below, and leave a comment or question at the bottom of this story. But for only a few more dollars, the Spot offers high-performance features and brightness at a hard-to-beat price.īUY IT NOW You can support my work on this blog by clicking any of these links or the text ad below to purchase a Black Diamond Spot at, ems.com,, or rei.com, or a Black Diamond Cosmo at. My take: If you just want a headlamp that’s reliable, lightweight, functional in typical dayhiking and backpacking situations, and inexpensive, the Black Diamond Cosmo is a good value. I took several typical trips with both without having to replace the batteries. BD says the Spot’s burn time (how long it operates on one set of batteries) ranges from 50 to 200 hours, the Cosmo’s from 50 hours to 250 hours. They have an identical, streamlined housing, with an inset power button that rarely turns on accidentally, an adjustable, comfortably wide headband, and a battery compartment that’s easily opened with the flip of a small lever, requiring no tools.
Black diamond storm headlamp old free#
Sign up for my FREE email newsletter now. The Spot also has dimming capability in red LED mode.įind your next adventure in your Inbox. The Spot’s unique PowerTap technology allows you to simply tap the right side of the casing (marked by a bulb icon) to cycle between the TriplePower LED and SinglePower LED-a feature I liked for circumstances such as rolling into a campsite late at night in the Panamint Range, after a few hours of backpacking in the dark, and switching from the brightest light for hiking to medium brightness for pitching my tent. The choice comes down to how you intend to use a headlamp. The Cosmo is pretty darn bright, but few ultralight headlamps match the Spot’s 200 lumens. Many hikers and backpackers rarely need a headlamp to project a beam 200 feet or more-but that kind of power can be critical in an emergency, or route-finding or rappelling in the dark, and useful when skinning uphill before dawn for some backcountry turns. The less-expensive Cosmo projects 160 lumens up to 200 feet/60 meters at its brightest setting, the Spot 300 lumens up to 260 feet/80 meters, according to BD. The Spot is waterproof up to a meter underwater for 30 minutes, the Cosmo water-resistant to splashing, rain, and a briefing, shallow immersion (but dry out the batteries and casing after immersing either of them). Follow my adventures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.Įach has a smart locking feature to prevent it from turning on accidentally in a pack-just hold the power button in any mode for four seconds and it locks off, with the Cosmo blinking red to indicate it’s locked, and the Spot’s power-meter light blinking blue.
Black diamond storm headlamp old full#
Click here to get full access to all of my blog’s stories.
Click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip. Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside, which has made several top outdoors blog lists. They both have dimming capability through holding the button down. Holding the power button down for two seconds with the lamp off in red LED mode switches both back to white light. With both, holding the power button for two seconds with the power off switches it to the red LED for night vision (DoublePower in the Cosmo, SinglePower in the Spot) and both have a red LED strobe mode. With both, one click of the power button turns on the TriplePower LED, two clicks powers up the dimmer white bulb (DoublePower LED in the Cosmo, SinglePower LED in the Spot), and three clicks puts the headlamp in white LED strobe mode. Both shined at the usual tasks, like lighting the way when pitching a tent or hiking off-trail in the dark, but my testing also spotlighted their differences.īoth redesigned for 2016, the Cosmo and Spot share many useful similarities. (with 3 AAA batteries, included)Ī headlamp doesn’t have to take a big bite out of your gear budget-in fact, as these two models demonstrate, you can score a multi-featured backcountry lamp for as little as 30 bucks, and a high-performance model for less than you’ll probably spend on food and gas for a weekend trip. From backpacking trips in Idaho’s White Cloud Mountains in October, Utah’s Dirty Devil River canyon in late March, and the Panamint Range of Death Valley National Park in May, to a four-day climb of the Mountaineers Route on California’s 14,505-foot Mount Whitney in mid-April and dayhiking the 32-mile, 10,000-vertical-foot Pemi Loop in New Hampshire’s White Mountains in August, I put the Cosmo and Spot through many hours of use.
0 kommentar(er)
