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:
- 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.
- The front cover of the light gets easly scratched.
- 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.