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PETZL NOCTILIGHT
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Home › Forums › Gear Forums › Gear (General) › PETZL NOCTILIGHT
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Jan 26, 2020 at 8:46 pm #3628888
The Noctilight is not a light, it is a case for a light. But when the strap on a Petzl Hybrid headlamp is folded and the lamp inserted into the zippered case, they become a lantern, with the headlamp switch accessible through the case’s flexible wall:
Note that folding the strap and fitting it correctly into the case might challenge someone with limited manual dexterity. A hang strap wraps around the base of the Noctilight, secures with the clip. and unwinds for hanging inside a tent or on a tree branch.
This being BackpackingLIGHT, here are some weights:
Petzl Hybrid headlamp (Tikka): 1.85 oz
Petzl Core Li-Ion battery (3.6V, 1350 mAh): .8 oz
Noctilight case: 2.21 oz
All the above plus a spare battery weigh 5.66 oz, and cost less than $100 at REI. Note that Petzl guarantees 300 charge cycles with the Core batteries. The first Tikka Hybrid was purchased a couple years ago when the Hybrids came out; the second one earlier this month. What with Petzl’s incremental development of the Core batteries, there has been some confusion; so I was careful with both lamps to look for the Hybrid designation on both the lamp and battery packaging.
Since Petzl makes other models of the Hybrid headlamp, you might consider a model with a strobe (flashing) setting to assist in the event of a need for search and rescue. But in this case, I wanted something very simple, and the Tikka sufficed.
My reason for using a Noctilight goes back to a bushwhacking experience in Colorado’s Never Summer Wilderness. Night had fallen by the time a good campsite was found, and both food and shelter had to be undertaken in the pitch dark. At that time, I was using a Snow Peak SnowMiner headlamp which also converts to a lantern. Amazon still advertises imported ones for over four times the original price:
https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Peak-SnowMiner-Headlamp-Lantern/dp/B005ZX4300?th=1
The lantern was hung by its clip from a tree branch and produced light sufficient for preparing meals for myself and the dogs, and pitching the tent in the dark. Since the SnowMiner is no longer available for a reasonable price, I’ll skip its merits relative to the Noctilight. But here are photos of the globe opened for use as a lamp, and closed for use as a headlamp:
Note that the Petzl Core battery can be made to light the SnowMiner, but does not work with the low beam and strobe settings, so Petzl’s Core battery may not be a universal Li-Ion substitute for 3 AAA pen cells. Both the manufacturer’s warnings and reviews on line confirm this.
So time passed, and the Petzl Hybrid worked very well for dozens of recharges and several years of walking the dogs a couple of miles in the evenings. I’d tried a variety of Li-Ion powered headlamps, but they were heavier, had less capacity (length of burn), and none were as reliable as the Petzl. Here are photos of the SnowMiner and the Noctilight on the kitchen table at night with no other illumination:
The Noctilight with the Tikka set to high beam:
The SnowMiner set to high beam:
When the Tikka is used as a headlamp, the beam is usually on the medium setting, which is more than sufficient; and it has let me down only once, when the wrong charger was used, and it still functioned on low beam. Any 5 Volt plug-in wall charger suitable for an I-Phone will work; however, a TracFone charger did not.
We often walk at night on rough logging tracks, and on town roads, where someone may come along heading home from happy hour. And we have to cross a state highway often packed with tourists and heavy trucks speeding well over the limit. If the Petzl ever does wink out, I carry a spare to pull out and put on immediately. But for hiking and backpacking, just a spare fully charged Core battery should suffice as a back-up.
One niggle with the second Tikka: At first the Core battery did not snap into it and stay in place, so the compartment cover was used to hold it in place. This cured itself after a while, and there was never an issue with the light’s function. Please note that I have no affiliation of any kind with the Petzl products.
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