UKH

I'm after a new head torch. I want it to be bright enough for fell running and climbing and night, so pretty bright. I don't think I'm quite willing to pay the 90 odd quid for a petzl one. USB rechargeable is essential. I think I'm more interested in brightness than battery power. Weight isn't massively important. 

Any experience of the alpkit ones? Any good for 40 quid? 

Thanks in advance 

Ges

Just bought the Petzyl Activ Core hybrid for 50£. 
It’s plenty bright enough for running and dark hill trips .

The beauty is that if you run out of charge in the core rechargeable battery, then you can use AAA.

Me too!!

Looks the business but untested as yet. Very light in weight.

As a family we've had 4 of the Alpkit Qark for a couple of years now.  Used mainly for night orienteering.  They've seen plenty of use (2 or 3 times a week during the winter months) - and have been faultless.  Bargain at £35.

Use mine nightly for a walk up Moel Famau.

Its a good buy. Very light as you say and really illuminates the path ahead. I thought it would be like an old Tikka compared to my last Myo XP, but technology has moved on. 

I use the Alpkit Qark for night running. Plenty bright enough at 580 lumens ( I think). Battery allegedly lasts 2.5 hours on full brightness but in cold weather it can be more like 1.5 hours. Still enough for shorter runs. You can swap between the rechargeable battery and AAAs so its easy to carry spares. I've had mine now for 3 years with no issues at all. Love it and it's a bargain at the price. 

I really rate the LedLenser SEO series. Light, good focusing beam. I had a problem with mine a couple fo years ago, and LedLenser simply replaced it for free - so good customer service.

Steve

I also have the Qark and this will be the second season running with it - however it just doesnt seem to be as bright this season as it used to be, or maybe my eyes have just gotten worse!

OP if you want some gucci kit - this looks the business for a do-it-all solution: https://silvasweden.com/collections/headlamps/products/trail-speed-5r

I would second that - I've had an SEO 7R for years that was second-hand when I bought it (via a 'for sale' post on here I think).  It's still great, even after I once accidentally put it through the wash with my running kit.  It has a USB chargeable battery not unlike the Petzl thingamabob, that you can take out and replace with AAA's.

For running though, fwiw, I prefer to use a relatively dim head torch if at all and mostly rely on a handheld light.  Being a big fat sweaty wheezy runner, when it's cold and humid I find a bright head torch just dazzlingly illuminates a big cloud of steam right in front of my eyes, and depth perception (esp around roots and other trippy uppy hazards) is better when the light source is a little further away from my eyes.

Another Alpkit qark user here. I think for the price it's not a bad bit of kit for running well marked trails. Once the trail on the ground gets a bit indistinct, or there's a bit of mist on an unfamiliar route, it could do with a bit more range for route finding. I tend to use it 90% of the time, with my LED Lenser H7R being used for more serious stuff.

Rather than carry AAA batteries I bought a separate rechargeable for the qark, just in case.

Where did you get the spare rechargeable please?

Didn't think alpkit sold them and wouldn't mind one for mine.

Not used one but been looking at Ledlensor NEO6 - it has a rear red led which is useful if running dark roads and a rechgargeable battery. Looks a good spec so maybe worth checking?

https://clulite.cluson.co.uk/search?controller=search&orderby=position&...

If the link doesn't work go to the cluson website and it's part no B33.

Thanks!

Just spotted this FS listing, so thought I'd cross-post in case it's of interest:  https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/for_sale+wanted/gucci_headtorch_sale_petz...

I use an led lenser SEO7R for running. It has a rechargeable battery but can also take 3xAAA. It's my hillwalking/ climbing torch too. 

It's bright enough for pitch black trails and waterproof too. 

I really like the lock feature as my old torch used to turn itself on in my sack and the led lenser when locked is pretty much impossible to have this happen. 

A good point

I have a Ledlenser with a rear red light. I find it a pain in the arse because it is so easily switched on by mistake and uses up the battery in my rucksack. There might be a way round this but the instructions which came with the torch are just utterly incomprehensible hierglyphs.

Ah, so how do you lock it?!

Ooh - I just looked that up.  If I ever knew about that feature I'd forgotten so thanks!

In reply to Robert:

With it switched off you press and hold the button for a long time (5-10s).  It switches on, changes mode after 2s or so and then switches off, after which you have to do the same thing to turn it on again.

I had a NEO6R and found the weird beam pattern made it awful for running with.