Use your head!
Written: Aug 08 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Light, compact, cheap
Cons: Not many
The Bottom Line: A very good headlamp for $25-30, useful for camping and home repairs.
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| rebeccad's Full Review: Petzl E03 Micro clip |
My husband and I bought our Petzl Micros about 4 years ago, and have used them extensively camping, hiking and working in dark corners under the house. He even uses his to read in the car after dark, while I drive, since the focused beam is minimal distraction to the driver (alas, if I tried that the results would not be pleasant).
What you get
The Petzl Micro is a compact headlamp, about 5 ounces (without batteries, I think) and about the size of a tennis ball when wadded up. The head strap includes both an around-the-head strap and an over-the-top strap. The light can be focused from a very wide-angle to a sharp beam. Housing is plastic, water-resistant, and contains a spare bulb (spare batteries are up to you).
How it works (for me)
I find the light perfectly adequate for pitching camp in the dark, reading in bed, and finding my way to the outhouse and back. I would not want to be doing any serious hiking/climbing with no more light than this, but seldom need to. Easy trail-walking in the dark would be no problem.
The beam focuses by twisting the housing, which is also how you take the cover off the bulb. I have little trouble with going too far, however. The beam does suffer from the usual problem of variable-focus beams, with your choice of bright spots and blank spots. A fairly tight focus keeps the illumination even enough for reading, but I have begun to wonder if I wouldn't prefer a lamp with no adjustment and a more even beam.
The head straps seem to keep the lamp very secure and very comfortable on most people. For reasons having to do either with the shape of my head or the long braids hanging down from it, I find the thing tends to crawl off the top of my head (so does my stocking cap). If I wear it over a baseball hat, the problem goes away, as does any glare on my glasses.
Batteries
Battery life is decent. Normal alkaline batteries will last 3-4 nights of reading in bed, getting gradually dimmer until you reach your own personal limit of tolerance. I strongly recommend lithium batteries, especially when backpacking, because they not only are MUCH lighter, but also burn at peak brightness until just before they die (which means that when they start to go, you'd better be ready).
We have gone through several bulbs, probably about 3 each, which seems a bit high, but the bulbs are cheap.
Stuff
The light turns on by twisting the outer ring, and turns off very securely. I have never had it turn on in my pack, and have trouble imagining that it could, assuming you turn it off firmly. I have used it in the rain with no problems, and have seen no signs that moisture has gotten into the works. On the whole, I have been satisfied with the Micro.
All that said. . .
So, having praised the Micro, I have to confess that we are looking now at new headlamps! Why? Because the new generation of LED lights looks like a great deal: they are light, cheap, and run forever on one set of batteries. If we get some for our coming pack trip, I'll be sure to insist Epinions open a category so I can review them for you!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
rebeccad
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Member: Rebecca Douglass
Location: San Francisco Area
Reviews written: 105
Trusted by: 52 members
About Me:
Frugal bookworm mother of two enjoys hiking, cooking, photography, eating, running, travel, writing.
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