Petzl Tikka and Energizer Headlamps

Over the last few years a large variety of headlamps have been introduced into the market. I finally broke down and decided to try one of these new lights out. To be more specific, my wife bought me one made by Energizer for Christmas after a few not so subtle hints. After seeing mine, my son also purchased a Petzl Tikka light with a Cabela’s gift certificate that was burning a hole in his pocket.

The Energizer headlamp has both a red light and a white light with an elastic band that goes around your head. One of the things that I like about this headlamp is that it hinges so that you can tilt it. I haven’t used the red light. I’ve read that the red light is not supposed to spook deer and or other animals. I haven’t read the research on this but deer don’t seem to spook too much from the headlights on my truck, but this may just be that they are used to lights traveling on roads. Either way I will likely not use the read light all that much.

My son bought a Petzl Tikka LED headlamp that also has an elastic headband. It has only the white light and does not swivel.

Both of our lights use AAA batteries. We have not used them enough to require a battery change yet. Hopefully we can get a season out of a set of batteries.

The white lights on these two headlamps both have a bluish hue to them, the Tikka more so than the Energizer.

In my hunting experiences, I need the additional light the most while tracking a wounded deer at night. Unfortunately the two lights that we now have will probably not fit that bill. Although we have not tracked a shot deer since we have had them, it doesn’t look like they will give off enough light to allow us to track. We will surely give it a try next fall before we make our final conclusion.

Even though they do not appear to provide enough light to follow a blood trail, they have come in very handy on a few occasions. In the late season I traveled out after dark to set up my hunting blind for the next morning. My Energizer was the perfect light for this job. It seems to me right now that the light is quite capable when walking in the woods, putting up a treestand or steps and when putting up a hunting blind. These lights will be a big help for general lighting purposes.

I’ve also used mine when retrieving my digital scouting camera after dark. Any time I need two hands, my headlamp comes in real handy.

Recently I have found the headlamp to be real handy around the house as well. I used it to climb on the roof and clean out a gutter one night and when I was working on the car in the garage. Please do not go out on your roof in the dark to test this.

Many varieties are now available. The Tikka and Energizer headlamps that we have are of the lower cost variety. I’m sure that some of the more expensive ones would probably provide enough light for blood trailing purposes. These are on my long wish list.


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