Petzl diffuser vs Black Diamond spot and flood modes

I've got a Spot. Flood mode casts a nice wide beam and is great for night hiking. The spotlight mode is a really bright but narrow beam, best used for trying to peer at stuff far away. I only rarely use the spotlight and usually only for a few seconds. It's a nice headlamp. My wife has some similarly bright Petzl with a remote battery pack and diffuser and the only real difference I've found is the button on the Petzl is annoying and hard to press. The lighting is about the same between both.

note that the new petzl xp/rxp no longer have a diffuser … they have a secondary flood LED which works quite well

also the new versions have a significant increase in brightness

;)

I have the spot. The spot mode is wide enough for me, it lights up the area I can see. It works well for hiking. The flood mode does not work well while hiking unless you are on a well defined trail. I lost a trail when I accidentally had mine in flood mode (don't ask).

I have no complaints. I like the spot and would likely replace it with the same thing should I break it.

Thanks so much, all. Sounds like the Spot will probably do just fine, but now it looks like I'll need to make my way to REI to see the new Petzl as well. Interesting that they've changed to a regulated circuit. From a marketing standpoint, that really takes the run-time hours down, but frankly I've always been frustrated by the unrealistic claims of unregulated lights (especially when they say X number of hours "on high" since within an hour or two, "high" is no longer really that high).

Cheers,
Rob

the tikka RXP is as bright as the BD Icon or older princeton tech apex, both of which are separate compartment 200+ lumen AA headlamps that weight 200+ grams

the tikka RXP does this with a 1800 mAh 3.7v li-on bat, equivalent to 2.5 AA eneloops

it is regulated and has both a good wide beam and a spot … and red light … and has reactive lighting

the setup is also fully customizable with the Petzl OS … as you can see the flood LED itself goes up to 90 lumens

here it is against a PT apex, a very respectable 4 AA lamp that many cavers and climbers use

heres my tikka RXP lighting up the overall climb for my partner who has a BD icon (hot spot in front of his head) …. we compared em side by side and they are roughly the same brightness on max

the downside is that you need the specific battery, and probably want an extra one too, not a light for places where you cant recharge unless u bring a powerpack … and the light aint cheap

the upside is that you dont need a charger and you have one of the most flexible lights around that you can customize, and is as bright as many other headlamps twice the weight

now some single AA/cr123 lights from "chinese" manufacturers such as fenix and zebralight have more lumens … but they wont have the reactive lighting nor both the separate spot and flood LEDs

not to mention that the a single AA eneloop 2000 mAh gives 2.4 watt hours vs the 6.6 watt hours of the tikka RXP bat

and that you can but it at certain retailers and get a lifetime unlimited no questions asked warranty

;)