LED Lenser H14.2 headtorch and some Arctic preparation ...

In February, I am heading out to the Swedish Arctic to attempt to “run” approximately 230km over four stages in the Beyond the Ultimate Ice Ultra.

With individual stage distances ranging from 40km to 90km and start times of between 5:00am and midday, I suspect that a fair portion of my time on course is going to be in the dark, which makes having the right headtorch with me really important. Another consideration is that the temperatures are expected to range between -30 and -10 degrees centigrade.

Based on the race conditions and my previous experiences, I have the following key requirements for lighting choice for this particular event:

•   Ability to keep the battery pack nice and warm under a top or jacket remote from the lamp unit.
•  Ability to use “standard” batteries since there will be no charging facilities.
• Variable light output which can altered to match requirements, ideally with a short term “boost” facility for that “aw whit?” moment.

During the Thames Path 100 earlier this year, my Petzl headtorch failed. This was due to operator error on my part by using the full power setting too much and not considering the required battery life. My spare was technically compliant but not all that useful. Thankfully my pacer Peter Smith had a small spare handheld which he kindly gave me and which saved morale and a lot of tripping up! Lesson learned – always carry a useful spare!

My excellent LED Lenser SE07R has two out of the three qualities I was looking for, but unfortunately the battery compartment forms part of the lamp unit and this would expose the batteries to too much cold leading to a loss of capacity.

I had a chat with the folks at LED Lenser and they recommended and kindly sent me both a H14.2 Headtorch and also a L7 Handheld (review on that one to follow soon).

First impressions of the H14.2 headtorch …

Straight out the box, the build quality is impressive. It is a fair bit heavier than the SE07R weighing in at 340g as opposed to 105g but part of that is an increased burn time from 15 hours at 250 lumens against 5 hours at 220 lumens mainly due to using 4x AA batteries compared to the L-ion or 3x AAA option. Any concern about the weight quickly disappears when considering the battery pack will be tucked away on my body by using the optional extension cable. The fact that this cable has a bayonet fitting locking the connector in place  to guard against accidental disconnection gives an indication of the level of design detail that LED Lenser puts into all their products.

The on/off button is simple to locate on the side of the lamp unit and the light output is controlled via a wheel on the battery unit. I’ve tried and confirmed that it is easy to adjust with gloves on, which will be crucial in Sweden. The wheel also gives access to the programmable features of the torch. Whilst I found I needed to refer to the user manual in order to programme the settings, I hope to have it well tuned and tested prior to leaving the UK. It has to be said that the out of the box settings are fine and maybe the “need” to tinker is due to me being an engineer!

For its first test, I took it down to Linn Park in Glasgow, where I do a lot of night running.

So how did the H14.2 perform? …In one word – BRAW! The beam spread is easily adjustable on the lamp unit to match the requirement for a wide or narrow beam as the terrain dictated. On its brightest setting, it gave plenty of definition without the shadows causing too much of an issue and even on its lowest it felt like there was still enough light to be safe.

As a running torch, I was glad to be able to drop the battery pack into a pocket since the extra weight on the headband did cause a little more “bounce” than was comfortable. Moving at a slower pace, however, this wouldn’t be an issue.

In short, I am very happy that the H14.2 will be my main light source for the Ice Ultra. I am heading out to Canada over New Year for some snowshoe training under the expert guidance of Sally and will get an opportunity to test it further in temperatures comparable to Sweden. 

Wee update tae follow in January.