Petzl Tikka Headtorch Reviewed – Looking dated

Petzl Tikka Reviewed

• Great little light for it’s day
• I prefer the Tikka Plus or Tikka XP

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The Petzl Tikka was my, and probably half the world’s, introduction to the world of long-life LED headtorches.
This little light has three LEDs that run off three AAA batteries and not much else to it’s credit. It throws a light a maximum of about 15 meters with fresh batteries and provides light for as long as 150 hours, but most of that will be useful for only really close-up work. The useful battery life for walking and the like is about 10 hours, during which time it throws a beam to about 8 meters. I’ve used mine for about 3 years now and had nothing but pleasant experiences.
I’ve got just three niggles:

1. The battery case seems to want to pop a little bit open sometimes unless I’m careful in closing it. This breaks the connection and causes the light to cut out.
2. The front cover of the light gets easly scratched.
3. There is no way of controlling the intensity of the light making it too bright for reading in bed with new batteries.

In short. This was a great little light for it’s day. But is now a little dated and has been overtaken by newer versions, the Tikka Plus and Petzl Tikka XP.
The Tikka Plus adds an extra LED , casts a better beam for walking by and also comes with fancier electronics allowing you to choose three light levels for everything from walking to reading in bed. It also has a blinking mode, useful if you’re trying to attract attention.
At maximum power it throws a beam a few meters further than the ordinary Tikka and also gives enough light that’s useful for walking for about 10 hours.
Flashlightreviews.com give the Tikka Plus a thumbs-up rating and calls it a “great little general use headlamp” and “a definite step up from the original.”
A few hints when using either of the Tikka family:

• Cover the lense with a little strip of insulation tape to protect it in your pack
• Wear it around your neck, not your head, to cast a lower light. Sounds weird but try this some day
• For the ordinary Tikka carry two sets of batteries, one used set for a dim close up light and a new set for the times when you want to cast a stronger beam.