The moment you try to cook, find a tent peg or read a map holding a torch in your teeth, you understand why head torches exist. This one weighs about 50 grams without batteries, which is light enough that you forget it is there until you need it.
The main light has high and low brightness, and there is a separate red light with steady and flashing modes. Red is the mode people overlook and then swear by, because it lets you move around camp without destroying your night vision or waking everybody in the tent.
It runs on three AAA batteries rather than a built-in cell, and that is a genuine advantage for camping. A rechargeable torch that goes flat on night two is a torch you cannot use; a battery one takes thirty seconds and a spare pack to fix. On low it runs around ten hours, and about five on high.
The head tilts through 45 degrees so you can point the beam at your feet rather than the horizon, and it carries an IPX4 rating, meaning it handles splashes and light rain. Worth noting the batteries are not included, so throw a pack in with it.
At this price it works as a stocking filler, a Kris Kringle present or the small extra alongside a bigger camping gift. It suits campers, early-morning runners, cyclists, dog walkers and anyone who has ever had to look under a car in the dark.
Buy two if they camp with family, because head torches have a strong tendency to migrate to whoever got up last. Add a pack of AAAs and it is ready to use the moment they open it, which is more than can be said for most gadgets at Christmas.
✔ Weighs around 50 g without batteries
✔ High and low main beam plus a red night-vision mode
✔ Runs on three AAA batteries, not included
✔ Around 10 hours on low and 5 hours on high
✔ IPX4 water resistance and a 45 degree tilting head
