Petzl MYO XP headlamp

Videos

Petzl MYO XP headlamp

Author: josh

Published on Tuesday, 26 January 2010 15:51

Written by Josh

When it comes to lighting for pre-dawn or post-dusk kayak fishing (or otherwise for unforeseen emergency), I don't skimp any more. What use to be my primary torch - now a back-up torch - is a waterproof Lensor high-powered LED torch. It's small, very bright and robust, so in some ways well suited for use on a kayak. Eventually I chose to let it live as a backup in my safety kit in favour of a good headlamp, which is certainly a better proposition for kayaking. But despite it's 1 watt LED bulb producing 50 lumens of brilliance, the Princeton Tec EOS couldn't match the 105 lumens produced from the Lensor torch. Certainly good enough for tasks such as general illumination for tying on tackle, sorting through gear, etc, but not so great at spotting.

So when I had a close look at the Petzl Myo XP, with it's 80 lumen capability (150 if you count it's boost mode) and blinded myself by staring into it, I figured it should give me the lighting performance I'm looking for with the convenience of a head torch. Whilst not the brightest head torch on the market, the Myo XP is the brightest I've seen for it's size and weight. Unlike the EOS, the Myo does incorporate a battery pack that rests on the back of the headband (taking 3 x AA batteries as opposed to the EOS's 3 x AAA), although it's no where near as annoying than I was expecting it to be. In fact, it's pretty damned comfortable. The lamp unit is also pretty comfortable and certainly seems to fit my forehead better than the EOS.

I was suitably impressed with it's fuinctionality to. It has 3 lighting levels (the obligatory high, medium and low) as well as a flashing mode and an alternate boost mode, which amps up the power for up to 20 seconds for a noticeable boost in light (and cost of battery drain). A nice touch is a little flip up/down diffuser, which turns what is otherwise a directional wide spot-like beam, into a more evenly spread of light. When flipped down the diffuser rests neatly on the bottom lip of the unit. This little lip also prevents annoying glare from above your eyes (common on some other headlamps). So far I'm pretty impressed with it's performance and features and have decided to include it into my yak fishing kit.

Update: almost 2 years on and lots of use later, still going strong. Very happy with the Myo XP headlamp indeed