The Black Diamond Distance 1500. All pictures: iRunFar
Whats up darkness my outdated buddy…. It’s winter within the Northern Hemisphere! Whether or not you name it a headlamp, torch, or head torch, that is the time of 12 months the place working requires a great mild for path working through the workweek. Regardless of the late morning and early night darkness that appears omnipresent this time of 12 months, a well-lit run within the crisp darkness might be peaceable and rewarding as you glide down the path transfixed in your orb of sunshine. Fortunately, headlamps aren’t the weak, eye-fatiguing, lights they was. We now have long-lasting rechargeable batteries, tiny lights packing plenty of lumens, and splendidly highly effective headlamps for all method of multi-day extremely journey.
I’ve been testing two Black Diamond headlamps for the final six months that really are on reverse ends of the headlamp spectrum. The Black Diamond Deploy 325 ($60) could be the smallest, most snug, and most packable headlamp I’ve ever used that doesn’t sacrifice energy or battery life, whereas the Black Diamond Distance 1500 ($200) is essentially the most highly effective headlamp I’ve ever used to mild up the paths.
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Black Diamond Deploy 325 Overview
A entrance view of the Black Diamond Deploy 325.
The Black Diamond Deploy 325 ($60) is a 38-gram wisp of a headlamp that’s unmatched in its versatility. It’s designed to be extremely versatile with an simply adjustable elastic strap related to a versatile rubber headlamp physique that conforms to your head, and has a comfortable rubberized backing the place it sits in your brow.
Designed to be worn beneath the brim of a hat, I discovered that I might put on the Deploy 325 any means I selected in absolute consolation; immediately on my brow, beneath a hat, over a buff or cap, and I by no means felt any strain factors or must take away the lamp when the solar got here up. The Deploy 325 doesn’t bounce in any respect and I discovered the angle that the sunshine is at completely excellent for all path situations.
The Deploy 325 has three settings: low (six lumens), medium (180 lumens), and excessive (325 lumens.) These totally different energy settings additionally auto regulate the angle of the sunshine beam, which I discovered intuitive and utilitarian. There’s a lock button, a strobe mode, and a dimming perform accessed by holding down the button till you attain your required lumen degree. On excessive the battery burn time is 2.5 hours, and on medium it’s 4.3 hours. I can confirm that these are fairly correct, though I didn’t take a look at the low, six-lumen setting burn time, which is reportedly 30 hours. Battery degree is straightforward to detect, with three blue LEDs on the underside of the headlamp, and it fees shortly by USB-C.
This headlamp has been worn working, biking, canine strolling, tenting, and in most residence restore conditions. When discounted, I’d contemplate the Deploy 325 a should purchase to simply have always in your pack.
Black Diamond Distance 1500 Overview
A entrance view of the Black Diamond Distance 1500.
The Black Diamond Distance 1500 ($200) is absolutely the coup de grâce of Black Diamond’s headlamp line and it’s designed for in a single day endurance pushes. There are numerous tech options right here and I’m going to focus on the principle options I discovered distinctive and useable about this headlamp.
The 1500-lumen quantity is a bit deceptive, because the headlamp is just not designed to perform on most energy on a regular basis whereas working. As an alternative, the Distance 1500 is designed to offer a excessive degree of sunshine for an extended time frame, to get you thru the evening of a technical path ultramarathon or journey. One full battery lasts eight hours at 300 lumens for this 213-gram headlamp, with the PowerTap enhance characteristic, which provides you a 1500-lumen enhance whereas searching for a path marker or route discovering. The sunshine solid by the Distance 1500 is marketed to scale back shadows, and I discovered that the broader solid allowed me to be extra conscious of my environment and never really feel like I used to be following a slim band of sunshine.
The Distance 1500 additionally permits for altering the colour of the sunshine to pink, inexperienced, or blue. I discovered this was tremendous good in camp after I didn’t wish to soften anybody’s retinas, or if I used to be simply packing up at evening. The change in mild on the path permits the eyes a special stimuli as nicely. The rear of the headlamp might be set at both a constant pink mild or a flashing pink mild, which is nice for security or making an attempt to stay collectively on the path. I discovered the Distance 1500 very snug and the cradle is designed to be worn at a few 35-degree angle on the top for optimum consolation.
One other unimaginable characteristic of this headlamp is the power to very simply swap out rechargeable battery packs in seconds, even whereas sporting cumbersome ski gloves. The flexibility to hold one other light-weight and compact battery lets you run the headlamp at 600 lumens for eight hours. I’d extremely suggest shopping for an additional $60 battery to make use of this characteristic. It could have a excessive price ticket, however the Distance 1500 additionally has three-year guarantee.
General Impressions
A facet view of the Black Diamond Deploy 325.
First off, with the Black Diamond Deploy 325 being on sale for $45 at occasions, this mild is known as a will need to have for any runner. It’s so extremely light-weight, stashable, and has a powerful battery life. That is the very best light-weight headlamp I’ve ever used.
In case you are somebody trying to full multi-night or extremely technical in a single day path adventures, then the battery-swapping characteristic of the Black Diamond Distance 1500 actually is unbeatable. I’ve swapped non-rechargeable batteries in addition to different rechargeable batteries earlier than and this setup is a lot simpler.
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