New Petzl Nao Headlamp

Way too heavy, of course, but it sure does have some great features.

a photodiode and some simple logic = awesome new technology? my how easily impressed some people are. does it auto dim around the campfire so you aren't "that guy"????

I'm with you Steven.

While this sounds amazing, it's only as good as the logic they use and I have a feeling it will be frustrating without an override setting.

Petzl has taken this into consideration with the OS software they provide, but that just means if you programmed it for climbing scenarios and go on a skiing trip it's going to be all but useless. Also what happens if you're more than willing to sacrifice distance for burn time in an emergency situation where you have a long, cold journey to safety on the 3rd day of a trip? The light may keep shining bright and draining battery increasing anxiety.

I'm all for innovation but "convenience" and "automatic" features rarely turn out to be useful, especially on something as simple as lighting.

I'm on the "That's real innovation" side.

No, not for a SUL thru hike. We want lighter more energy-efficient lighting and we usually have our hands free.

But for around-town trailrunning or a X-C ski at night? Climbing at night? Caving – oh, it seems great for caving! Sometimes the wall is 8 inches from your face and other times it is 30 feet away and your hands may be busy operating a rope-walker system or supporting yourself off the aa-aa of the lava tube floor.

But I'd rather there was a mode switch (running, climbing, biking let's say). X-C skiing is probably close to running. Caving is like climbing, dog sledding is like biking, at least from the perspective of lighting needs.

Just because you are not impressed, Steven, is it really necessary to belittle others that are? Seriously.

Well, Steven, you may completely be right, of course. I can be quite an oddball at the best of times. I don't mind.

I assume that you are rather taken by your avatar, no? Far be it for me to be the one to say anything about it.

I stand by my google-eyed lyrical waxicism over this simpleton's trinket… "Oh look! Da light shines far! Oh look again! It shines so close! Far! Close! I'm happy!"

But I really am. At 3:00 in the morning, up on some 3,000 meter, iced-up crag, it might be nice to have a light that shoots back and forth with the terrain. Sure, you can adjust the light with your hand. But it's always nice to have your hands free in such places, in the dark.

Besides, the thing can be set to standard mode, too.

I'm just wondering, is it a particularly bad, deep, dark and miserable winter up in the Northern Hemisphere at the moment? There have been a few particularly narky posts in some threads lately that just seem to come out of nowhere!

Miguel-thanks for the heads up.

I'm VERY impressed, this is a BIG innovation. Sure, you don't need it for ultralight backpacking, but if you've ever pushed yourself competitively through a 24hour rogaine, you'd understand in an instant how brilliant this really is. God it would make life so much easier!!! The constant looking down to maps and either having to adjust your lighting level (or more usually forgetting and blinding yourself) or looking at your partner on full beam up close and blinding them, etc, etc, probably gone. This is a big win.

And there are lots of other sports, as already mentioned where this would be advantageous.

Edit: More thoughts…

…187grams isn't too bad for rogaining at all. Its similar or even less than many other headlamps out there that I would otherwise consider. Spending 12hours in the dark you just can't get away easily with a CR2023 operated single LED. My current set up includes two headlamps, not for redundancy (I trust they aren't going to fail), but for two different lighting levels, one for map, the other for beam (A tikkina-its two leds are softer than the low level on my XP, and the XP, which I was contemplating replacing with an AYUP Twin set up, which of course would never be soft enough for map reading).

I'd probably have to carry a second Neo battery if I was doing a 24hour rogaine, but thats ok. Much better than when we used to use Petzl Zooms and have to lug those massive batteries.

The Petzl OS is pretty good, and I'm sure with a bit of play and experience you could set your lighting levels easily for different activities, not hard at all.

One of the things in the outdoors that is still very much relegated to what our technology can do for us is the outdoors at night. Most people completely ignore and shy away from being out there in the dark. And yet there is an entire world out there waiting to be explored that most people never see, including animals that you might otherwise never see. Night time also avoids the crowds and the summer heat. If we could find a way to make navigating and perceiving at night beyond just the beam of the headlamp, think of the possibilities.

Some years ago I used to crew for a competitor in a 100-mile running endurance race (Western States 100). The race would start at 5 a.m., and the big goal was to finish within 24 hours (there was 18,000 feet of elevation gain). The winner might finish in only 15 hours, but sub-24 hours was still a great goal for any competitor. So, we crew members would be sitting out at some lonely checkpoint at 2 a.m. waiting for our runner to come along.

What I noticed was the wide range of lighting rigs for these runners. This was just before LED headlamps became so plentiful, and the early LED headlamps were showing up. But there were incandescent Maglites, fluorescent, and everything else in-between. Our runner carried two incandescent Maglites, and one of our duties was to replace the alkaline batteries in each one, and this might be done at checkpoints only a couple of hours apart. A few runners operated by moonlight, and they were typically the ones who got the most road rash injuries.

Most runners held their lights down low to be able to get a better angle on the trail obstrucions. However, in our context as backpackers, it is a bit different. We might use a light down low with high intensity while trail walking, but we are much more likely to use it on our head with low intensity while in camp. Since the modern ones switch intensity easily, I don't see the Petzl automatic intensity switching as very important. The heavy weight of this one is probably mostly in the rechargable battery (to get the high intensity).

–B.G.–

Miguel, I'm working on a contact lens that is actually a night vision "goggle" and powered by the electrical currents across the surface of your eye….and by working on I mean I dreamed this up in middle school and am annoyed no one has done it yet!

But I agree, the dark is scary!

"If we could find a way to make navigating and perceiving at night beyond just the beam of the headlamp, think of the possibilities."

In Africa, the wildlife safaris can operate at night using infrared illumination and cameras or else night vision goggles.

–B.G.–

Whether you feel the Nao is worthwhile for your outdoors profile or not, I am glad to see the effort they're making. Because it means in a year or two, some of that functionality will trickle down to lighter, smaller headlamps that will appeal even more.

You can get a decent Blu-Ray player at Wal Mart today for a couple hundred bucks. It wouldn't be possible if there hadn't been an effort 25 years ago that yielded bulky VHS machines costing $1000 back then.

"a photodiode and some simple logic = awesome new technology? my how easily impressed some people are."

Sometimes the achievement is not in how cutting edge the tech is, but putting together a highly functional package at a decent price.

"how easily impressed some people are."

I count on it, otherwise I'd never get a second date……

I'm liking the Nao, assuming Petzl has dialed in the programming on this thing. My biggest concern would be how quickly the headlamp adapts to running on trail. For multisport use this could be a pretty phenomenal addition.

Dustin, that's a really cool idea! Imagine if we could figure out a way to get our vision to work the way night animals' do. I'd love to be able to see the world the way they do, and to navigate in the dark with no sense of restriction. Might be a nightmare for photographers, though… instead of just red eye, you'd get vampire eyes!

I've done a lot of night hiking. It is very different from day hiking, for those of you who've never tried it. What would just be a leisurely stroll among the local trees during the day can turn into a scary adventure in a completely different world. Give it try! Walk a familiar route and see how it changes. Moonlit nights are best.

Eugene, the Nao might not be anything so special for those who walk slowly and deliberately, but for people who are moving fast and have to constantly be on the watch for obstacles and dangerous drops and holes, a headlamp like this could be a lifesaver. While you're running at night in the backcountry you just don't have time to be switching modes or taking your concentration off the trail. Because you must slow down considerable at night with a regular headlamp, out of caution and to be careful not to blind yourself when consulting the map, this light, if it, as you said, adjusts fast enough, could actually speed up overnight night races by a considerable margin.

Doug, maybe there is something to learn here… wearing a headlamp while romancing your tootsie and blinding her with every sweep of your devilish glaze, might not be the best long-term strategy. Especially if you keep inviting her to join you under your cuben Trailstar bower.

Douglas quipped, "'how easily impressed some people are.'

I count on it, otherwise I'd never get a second date……"

ROTFLMAO! Wit *and* timing. Thank you!

>"Most runners held their lights down low to be able to get a better angle on the trail obstrucions."

Bob,

That's my practice for hiking and something that Petzl's video completely misses. They show runners with a headlamp. I also didn't notice anyone using a billed cap – something I find helps block glare with every headlamp I've used.

I see its best uses as caving and climbing because of the combination of close and far work plus having your hands busy. And anything involving maps or books while on the move.

It's true, they didn't show the runners with their lights held low, but there is no reason you can't attach the headlamp low, as Andrew Skurka does. It will still function the same way.

I think that's cool. Now, I don't need or want that technology or mass for my headlamps that I backpack or camp with, but I'd love to have that tech built into the uber LED lights I mount on my handlebars for MTB riding. Auto-dimming to defeat the hot spot? Auto-punch at the crown of drops? Sounds good to me.

Prediction: soon, and very soon.