aside: I’m giving the honest scoop on gear I know about; that said, if you’re going to buy something (anything) on amazon, please start by clicking through the links on our website to get to amazon, as we can get a small kick-back, no matter what you end up buying, which would be awesome.
Nowadays there are plenty of good options out there, and I don’t know that there’s considerable reason to pick a Petzl over a Black Diamond, for example. We have all Petzl versions; those have always worked well for us. Both Karen and I used our Petzl headlamps every night as we sailed across the pacific, and merely surviving those corrosive saltwater conditions says alot. There are differences in brightness, and some (like the one I linked to) have a red light also. The red light proved very useful for preserving night-vision while on watch during our sailing trip—we used it all the time. These days I still occasionally use the red light, for parenting purposes, i.e. a light that won’t wake up the kids, particularly in the tent in the middle of the night when all five of us are right next to each other. But the red light isn’t really necessary, definitely a bonus feature. The main flaw—and I have yet to find a headlamp that doesn’t suffer from this—is that the elastic band will stretch and wear out. I suppose that if you’re wearing your headlamp enough to wear out the elastic, that’s an indication that you’re getting your money’s worth…
This is the version I’m wearing these days:
