PETZL ACTIK CORE 350 £50
This lightweight headtorch is not the most powerful, but does it provide all the features most hillwalkers will actually require?
This has all you really IT'S GOOD need for hillwalking, with a reasonable 100 lumens for seven hours, which is great for general night walking, and you can boost that to 350 lumens for short bursts to find the route. So long as you switch back to a lower power settings you can get reasonable burn times. This is also lighter and more compact than higher powered torches, so you don’t mind carrying it in your rucksack even if it is rarely used.
It’s operated with just one button, which makes it easy to turn on and switch through the functions. You even get a red light to manage night vision better. The option of either 3x AAA batteries or a rechargeable battery gives a choice of power, and there is a USB socket so you can recharge the battery without removing it from the torch. But you can also take it out for charging, as the USB socket is built into the battery itself rather than the torch.
Burn times are lower HOWEVER than some other torches around this price, but that is due to having 3x rather than 4x AAA batteries, and the result in part is less weight and bulk on your head. You have to ask the question: do you really need a torch this light when if you add a few grams you can get longer burn times or more power?
But to me this torch has all you need in general – why carry more?
The bigger drawbacks are that there is no means of locking off the operation button, apart from removing the battery, so if you accidentally turn this on when it is sitting in a rucksack you may lose power. Rated as IPX4, it can resist a spray of water – but others are higher rated and can survive being submerged.
Great for most VERDICT hillwalkers, as it is light, compact and has a good power source and output, but some others offer more power, longer burn times and more
water resistance.