Hiking Gear: Black Diamond Spot

I was in the market for a headlamp for outdoors activities such as hiking and camping. My search resulted in a few choices. The first being the Princeton Tec EOS. The online reviews for this unit are great but when I was trying it out at REI, the brightness of it did not impress me at all. Who knows, maybe using it out the field would have been a completely different story. The next headlamp I looked into was the Petzl Tikka XP. The only reason I took a look at this unit was because of it was named editor's choice for 2006 by "Backpacker magazine". The price on this unit was $45 but is currently $34.99 @ REI. Both of the aboved mention lights are regulated which is an awesome feature for those who need consistent light for long periods of time. But I decided to go with Black Diamond Spot. I bought it @ campmor.com for 29.99. This is the only light that I have had an opportunity to use in a real-life situation. It is great for walking in the dark and the battery life thus far has been good too (4 hours on various settings and still running), even with the spotlight on the throw on this light isn't so far. I would definitely want to see how the other 2 lights perform against this one but my impresssion is that most LED headlamps perform the same way. The only way to get a long throw is to invest in a higher powered flash light (i.e. 3-5 LED or even a incandescent).

Here are more in depth reviews of these lights and other various light resources:

Princeton Tec EOS Review
Petzl Tikka XP Review
Black Diamond Spot Review
Campmor.com - Black Diamond Spot
REI - Petzl XP