Petzl E48 PBY Zipka Plus 4-LED Headlamp, Black and Yellow
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Petzl E48 PBY Zipka Plus 4-LED Headlamp, Black and Yellow
Customer Review: A necessity for camping and hiking
Summary: 4 Stars
Our family does a lot of camping and hiking. This headlamp is the best we've found for exploring caves, setting up camp at midnight, etc. The LEDs are bright and provide a good source of light. Unlike other headlamps, this one takes inexpensive alkaline batteries, instead of expensive (and often hard-to-find) button-type batteries.Customer Review: A really great light.
Summary: 5 Stars
This light is small, probably smaller than you think, and very powerful. I have two of them and the optional colored lense kit to use for running. One is my headlight, the other is my tail light with the red lense in flashing mode. My wife says she can see me coming and going from a mile away - I actually prefer night running to day running because of this setup.Customer Review: A very nice lightweight headlamp
Summary: 5 Stars
What a wonderful headlamp! I used it for a long distance hike in 2006 for occasional night hiking, setting up camp and cooking after dark, reading in my tent and answering nature's call, at least an hour and a half every night, on average. I saw a lot of other lights on that trip, both cheapies from discount stores to other expensive brands like Princeton, as well as different types such as clip-ons, headlamps, and mini and regular hand-helds. It always compared favorably in quality and usefulness. You can buy a cheap light but it won't function as well on any point covered in this review.
The other day, I pulled it out because there was a leak under my kitchen sink and instead of putting it back in storage with my hiking equipment I left it out because it's so handy. I was putting it in a drawer today and decided to write a review of it and was not surprised to see that it has mostly 5 stars.
It's a very bright light and has a good focus length and light pattern but it has lower brightness settings which are useful for in the middle of the night when you don't want a bright light or if there is a bright moon or to conserve the batteries. You don't have to use it as a headlamp, it works fine held in the hand or set down to aim light in a particular direction, but if you have never used a headlamp you will wonder how you ever got along without one. The retractable cord works very well and makes it fast and easy to put on and off and the "button" on the back and the spongy foam do a good job holding it in place.
The on-off switch is rubbery making it easy to use when wearing gloves or when your fingers are cold or wet. It doesn't come on accidentally and run your batteries down. When I bought it I thought cycling through all the settings to turn it off would be a pain but the first click puts it on the brightest setting and when you go to turn it off later it is smart enough to click directly off, you don't have to go through all the settings! (How do it know?)
Something else I like about it for long-distance hiking is that you don't have to carry extra batteries because the light will dim slowly over time giving you fair warning to replace them, saving a bit of weight. They last a long time but I never really kept track. It's a little difficult to insert the batteries and replace the cover but on the other hand when dropped it doesn't open up accidentally. One odd thing about the batteries is that it uses three whereas they usually come in packs of even numbers.
It may be that there have been advances in LED technology since 2006 but my little lamp still works just great and I see no need to replace it at this time. I have used it approximately 200 nights and found it to be effective, comfortable, durable, sufficiently water resistant in rain, reliable, compact and lightweight. It's even attractive-looking. It feels nice in the hand or on the head and overall is just a very nice headlamp.
Customer Review: Awesome headlamp - highly recommended!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I looked at a lot of headlamps before I bought this. My brother already had one and so I was trying to compare other headlamps with it. There is no comparison. This has four different settings and the headband is retractable so it easily fits in your pocket....unlike all other headlamps that are bulky with a fat headband.Customer Review: Awesome size shape, stamina, function
Summary: 5 Stars
The best thing about this is the lack of a band makes it a lot less cumbersome for travel, in a pocket, or even storage in a drawer. No other lamps but the zipka are so compact which makes you want to use more than something that take 4 X the space. The duration of the light is good. Although the switch is a little sticky and I wish they had one with 4 LED's and the option of a halogen bulb or something really bright when you need more juice. That's nit picking as this is much better than the other headlamps and WAY superior to conventional flashlights. Awesome size shape, stamina, function.