PETZL IKO CORE Headlamp - 500 Lumens (Rechargeable)

TLDR, loved everything about it. Honestly cannot come up with a complaint. Battery life was true to the given estimates in the manual. The lighting was phenomenal. Comfort was excellent; you'll forget you're wearing it. It survived TSA across 7 loadings and unloadings from aircraft and went up and down a 7.8-mile mountain trail in the Zion National Park area. Get it. I've never purchased a headlamp before this one, so I don't have anything to compare to it. I purchased this lamp for a Ragnar Trail Run in Utah this May. One of the three loops we were required to run was a 7.8mi Red Loop up and down a mountain. It just so happened that my turn to do this particular loop was around 1030pm so the light was a must-have. CONDITIONS: During this run, there is no artificial lighting. It's just you, the mountain, the stars/moon, and your headlamp. I didn't have the mindset to do a review while I was competing but I did manage to take a short video while on the trail that will give you an idea of the illumination it provides. I ran this loop in 2 hours 19 minutes with the light set at its brightest setting the entire time. Temperature was somewhere in the mid 40's at elevation. It was a dry evening so can't comment on how it holds up in any sort of precipitation. However, I was sweating like a, well, like a fat guy running up a mountain. You can see in the video that I am wearing the headlamp harness underneath a thick beanie with just the light sticking out the front. I'll tell you that well before halfway into the run that beanie was soaked enough that you could have wrung it out. I did not experience any shorts, zaps, or zings of any kind and as I said, with the exception of the LED unit the rest of the harness and battery pack were under the beanie. COMFORT: I can tell you, coming from someone who doesn't particularly like wearing things on my head/face, this thing is so light and comfortable you'll forget you're wearing it. Never once gave it a second thought once I got going. Never felt it, never had any discomfort, didn't feel any heat from the battery pack or the lamp. As far as I was concerned I was shooting light out of my eyeballs at the trail. The team I ran with have done many of these Ragnar races before (this was my first) and they seemed to like it very much. A few tried it on and all made the same surprised face and commented on how it doesn't feel like you're wearing anything at all. Battery life: I used the included battery pack and bought an additional battery pack but never ended up needing it. This lamp will also run on 3 AAA batteries which I can confirm works but only for testing. I did not use AAAs for any length of time. I charged the battery pack before I left home several states away. The battery was fully charged before I left home. It traveled across multiple states, two airplanes (with multiple delays and cancellations) followed by a three-hour drive to the race site, and then sat in a tent for about 17 hours before I needed it. All in all, I'd say it was charged for roughly 48 hours before I actually used it. Overnight temps at camp were in the high 30s / low 40s, and daytime temps were in the mid 70s for the most part. I turned the light on to the highest setting at the start line and it lasted me through the entire 7.8-mile run. Right near the end, maybe 3/4 of a mile from the finish, it did give me the low battery warning by flashing three times but it lasted till the end. In retrospect, the medium brightness setting would've been plenty to see what I was doing out there and increased the battery life drastically but I didn't want to break a leg out there. The instruction manual estimates a 2hr 30min burn time at full strength. I'd say that's fairly accurate given I had it at full brightness for 2hrs 19 minutes plus likely an additional 15 minutes to walk back to camp from the start/finish and root around in my tent for a bit. The manual also says there's an additional 4hr30min reserve but I didn't get to test that. I imagine it drops down to its lowest setting at that point. All in all, I was perfectly content with it. I can't say enough about how absolutely comfortable this thing is. Again, I don't have any experience with other products to compare it to but I can't find any complaints about it. USABILITY: I did see in other reviews that some folks found getting into the battery compartment a bit difficult. I can't say I had that problem. It's just a plastic snap-on cap. I have large hands and was able to pop it off and on with no problems. I actually appreciated that the adjustment strap to fit the device on your melon actually runs thru a section of the battery cover so you can't fumble it and lose it in the dark. I would suggest that when you first receive the device play around with it. Take a good look at how the battery cover needs to be removed and practice a bit so you'll have the muscle memory when you need it in the dark fighting zombies or whatever it is you're doing. The on/off/brightness adjustment button is right below the lamp itself. I personally had no problem finding it with my fingers while wearing it. The lamp does swivel vertically which was nice while running thru varied terrain and incline. It was great to be able to shine upwards so I could see ahead on the uphills to know what I was coming up against. There was a lot of jumping, some climbing, and a ludicrous-speed downhill in some ankle-shattering terrain but I never felt the lamp move from the position I had set it in. DURABILITY: Dunno, this was my first time using it. I basically submerged it in sweat and ran up and down a mountain with it strapped to my dome. It survived TSA so there's that. I like the clip feature that allows you to origami it into a butterfly shape to stow away in its carry bag. Very easy to do so. I intend to do more of these runs and train with the device in the meantime so if it gives up the ghost I'll post an update. Until then, I say buy it. Hope this review helps out.

Between long distance running and having a couple of dogs with weak bladders, I am often outside when it is dark. I have tried many other headlamps and have never found one that I really liked. And then I got this Petzl headlamp ... and I love it. It is light as a feather, provides a good amount of light (there are three different light settings), is easily adjustable, and has a good battery life. If you are planning to use it for longer stretches (e.g., an overnight run), I'd recommend getting an extra battery. My one (minor) quibble is that the battery case isn't easy to open, especially when I am wearing gloves. Overall though, this headlamp gets an A+.

The head lamp is very comfortable. Usually when I wear headlamps for long runs they get uncomfortable where they press against my forehead. This lamp has been completely comfortable. It feels very light. No bounce. I mostly run with the medium power light as I value the length of the battery life over the brightness. The low power is not enough for running but would be good for reading or using the headlamp as a tent lantern in conjunction with the drawstring bag that is provided. The high power mode would drain the battery too fast for what I do. The medium power is plenty adequate for about 30 feet of illumination - plenty adequate for most running conditions. Navigating the control button is very easy. The only thing I needed to get used to is that storing it in my pack is slightly awkward compared with an elastic band type headlamp. But with a little bit of experimenting, that has worked out OK. I have used many different headlamps over the years. This one is the best overall headlamp that I have used.

I have owned many headlamps, and this is by far the best I have ever seen for running, for the following reasons: 1. The weight is distributed fore and aft on the head by separating the lamp and battery pack. 2. The total weight is light. 3. The beam pattern, brightness levels, adjustment angle, and battery life lend themselves well to night running. 4. Recharging by USB, which is now common but not universal, keeps battery maintenance simple. There are many cheaper options, but the extra expense is well-justified if you plan to run in the dark regularly, or even want to be well-equipped for a single race.

Being a bit of a gadget freak, I couldn’t decide between the Iko Core and the Nao+ so I ended up owning both. I use both for running. How do they compare? The Iko Core is a great headlamp. It’s lightweight, powerful, and a pretty nice unit overall. I’m happy with the illumination it throws down on the road and it’s super comfortable. As Ned said, “Feels like I’m wearing nothing at all!” However, I have two issues with the Iko Core. My first issue is with glare. I wear glasses and for some reason the Iko Core throws a lot of glare back in my face off my glasses. I don’t have this issue with the Nao+, but then the lamp heads are completely different so it’s not surprising. My second issue is with the button operation and while it bugs me no end, you might not have an issue with it. From the manual: “If more than 3 seconds pass without the button being pressed, one click will turn the lamp off.” If you’re running on the low setting and want to switch to the high setting, instead of two clicks to get to high, you instead must press once and turn the lamp off, then three more times to get to the high setting. You’d think “Oh, one press to turn the lamp off is great!” It isn’t. This is the most annoying piddly little detail ever. I hate it. The Nao+ doesn’t work this way. If you’re on low, two quick clicks get you to high. It’s a much better way to do it. My biggest apprehension about the Nao+ was the weight. It’s significantly heftier than the Iko Core. I’ve been running with both now for a few weeks and the weight of the Nao+ doesn’t factor in. It feels steady and doesn’t wobble around; you really don’t notice it. The lamp doesn’t throw glare back in my face off my glasses like the Iko does, and I like the flashing red on the back. The reactive lighting technology is great: as the morning turns from dark to light, the lamp responds by ramping back. The only time this isn’t ideal is when a car is coming at you with their high beams on and you want to get a little revenge, but you can’t because the lamp has dimmed in response to the car beams. The app is OK, not great, but OK. I haven’t used it except for initial settings, so I don’t want to get into that here; this is about the physical lamps themselves. Finally, since we’re picking nits here, I have an issue with Petzl, in general. The way both headlamps charge absolutely sucks. With the Iko Core you open the battery case and plug a USB micro cable directly into the battery. While this is inconvenient, it in no way compares to the Nao+, which is far worse. On the Nao+ you push a little tab that is guaranteed to cause mind-numbing pain to your finger, and which will stubbornly refuse to unlatch until you give up in frustration, at which point it mysteriously comes apart on its own. The battery has a huge USB A connector on it to which you connect a female USB A cable. So, while it’s not proprietary, it might as well be: how many female USB A cables do you have lying around? For two lights with so much obvious engineering behind them and hefty price tags, the charging mechanisms are simply awful. Hey Petzl, ever hear of USB C? Try it. You might like it, I know I do. If I had to do it again and only buy one of these two lights, I’d go with the Nao+. The reactive technology is great, the operation of the lamp is better, the quality of the light is better, and you get a rear-facing blinky, despite the charging mechanism being the pits. That’s not to say the Iko isn’t a great little light, I just prefer the Nao+. As usual, ymmv.

I have never owned or used another Headlamp of any kind before, this was the first one I ever purchased. I mostly use it for generic household activities and simply living as a "considerate night-owl" in a household with other people (meaning that turning on bright kitchen lights at 3am is rude to your sleeping housemates). I don't have a precise tally, but I want to say roughly 7-10 times now I have been relaxing at my PC for a while, or driving down the road, when I go to itch my scalp and realize that I have been wearing my Headlamp for the past couple of hours. And I REALLY hate "feeling stuff" and am incredibly over-sensitive, so if *I* can't tell that I am wearing these on my head, then that is a "Spectrum-Approved" highly comfortable device. Actually, now that I think about it, this Headlamp would probably do amazing things for helping small autistic children to sleep. So if any hapless parents who happen to be reading this review are struggling with "quirky" children who seem to struggle sleeping (because they are terrified to sleep even if they don't realize it themselves), don't even question this, just get one of these for them - they will love it and nights will suddenly become far far more than $60 more peaceful for everyone. I can't even properly articulate the concept myself, even I lack the sufficient words to communicate what I am trying to say. I didn't intend to even bring this up at all. I was just going to say that I have been pleased with the Headlamp and that it's extremely comfortable, if a bit fragile due to it's minimalistic design. Which reminds me: One review that "Sold me" on this Headlamp was someone who mentioned using it at work as a mechanic. IMO that review is probably the most valuable and practically useful of the entire lot of the reviews. Because how that reviewer uses these is probably very nearly the maximum reasonable capabilities of this product (btw I swear that I'm not a bot and really bought these and use em, I just can't remember for the life of me what they were called, but they have an orange elastic cord that adjusts the skull tension via a little spring-clamp on the battery case. That should be proof enough that I am really talking about this same thing.) But yea, I would imagine a mechanic would need to replace this once or twice a year. This would NOT be suitable for something like military duty or extreme conditions. A Soldier in Training going through something like Boot-Camp would probably destroy this in the first day trying to use it. It would probably snag on something and rip apart. Someone like Les Stroud of Survivorman (a real O.G., wise and kind btw) would probably need to pack two of these for every filming trip, and replace lost or smashed ones every year or two. And poor little terrified children who suffer debilitating Night-Terrors without realizing it, would probably rest much easier with a device like this to sleep with. And even the most frustratingly fussy non-verbal-autistic child would not even notice that they were wearing this for hours. (I am not nor was not a child that fit that description, but only because I most likely somehow managed to overcompensate for my undiagnosed disability. In other words I ... wasn't trying to say "High Functioning Autistic", but now that I am trying to clarify what I just said it seems so obvious that I can't ignore it; it's probably accurate, but idk. My point is that if you have someone in your life who you cannot communicate properly with, then you should probably listen to me because I CAN communicate with them... In fact I communicate even better with them than I do with the rest of you "normal people"; all of these fancy words are just a pitiful facsimile of what I am REALLY trying to say, but with people who aren't so distracted by silly stuff like thinking with their brains, we could tell each other all of this and more in less than an instant. That got cryptic so let me clarify: I don't mean "psychic" or anything weird, I mean that Autistic people communicate with their Hearts and Souls because their Minds are jumbled rubbish, it's just that more "normal people" don't have the slightest clue how to think with any part of their bodies other than their Brains. I will give you a hint: You have to give up your entire self to nothing. "You", that is your conscious sentient Sense-of-Self, supercede and overrule all the rest of "yourself" from even being able to notice yourself; you can coexist with yourself, but not while you still remember who you were. And THAT is NOT cryptic, I really mean that literally, I forget who I am and have to remember thousands of times a day. I mean, wasn't this just a simple Flashlight Review? Now where are we? *shrug* I forgot how I got here, but it sure was neat to talk about for a moment lol. The LEDs are a bit too harshly coldly "blue" for my tastes, but it only makes me a little squeamish and is far from a dealbreaker. And I wish the lamp could tilt down another ~20-degrees further than it can, because it's really easy to forget your are wearing it and accidentally look someone in the eyes while wearing it, which inadvertently blinds them... oops lol... again far from a deal breaker though. Of course it could be better, but so could literally everything ever; but this Headlamp is: "Good Enough, a good value, and more than comfortable enough for anyone to easily sleep while wearing it". Oh, and despite it looking "bulky" it is entirely compatible with large over-ear Headphones too; the Headlamp sits right between the temples and top of the skull, like a Circlet or Tiara, so it sort of "slots" between the pressure-points of big bulky Headphones and sits comfortably unnoticed as always. Amusingly, this absolutely best aspect of this Headlamp is entirely unremarkable it is. This Headlamp is one of those cases of: "A job done so well that no one even notices you are doing it."

I don't know what else to say. After about 15 combined hours of use-and-charge, this light just completely stopped working normally. It will turn on and all the brightness settings work, but if you gently shake the unit then something loses a connection and it turns off. I cannot get anything to stop this from happening, including ensuring the battery is seated perfectly, slightly increasing the tension between the contacts and the battery with a tiny screwdriver, holding the battery compartment tightly together from either side when it's closed, etc. There absolutely has to be an internal wiring issue or a faulty IC (there must be some sort of integrated circuit to manage the different brightness settings when pushing the button). Do not buy this headlamp. I'm sorry to say so, as it's very light and comfortable on the head, but to counter another claim by Petzl, there is absolutely ZERO way that this thing is waterproof. The battery compartment is not only poorly engineered in terms of ease of access or intuitive access, but just looking at it and feeling it in my hands I know for 100% absolute certainty that this is not water resistant in any meaningful way, much less waterproof. What a disappointment. I will also add that while I noted it's comfortable, the overall quality of the headband is low, but they somewhat get away with it due to the lightweight nature of the product AND the limited number of use cases (i.e., you cannot really wear this over any kind of hat or baseball cap and must simply wear it on your bare head). I'm serious - if you DO read this review and purchase this headlamp, when it fails on you after just a few hours of use, please come back and hit "helpful" on my review - I only ask this because this is a terrible product all around and it seems to be skating by on abnormally high reviews (with some like mine mixed in) and Petzl needs to re-engineer the product, period. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Headlamp creates excellent visibility, but crap warranty service. I find it pretty uncomfortable to wear with ear coverings and a hat during winter, but overall it highlights objects very very well. Had a contact come lose on it after a couple months and they refused to honor the warranty. They apparently start the warranty from when the device is manufactured, so it was already expired when I received it. Thankfully I was able to solder the contact back on myself but pretty scumming practice and I wont buy from PETZL again.