By now, we’re used to flashlights packing ridiculous brightness levels. They’ve been pushing the limits on those for a whole now. This time around, it looks like they’re bringing the same game to wearable lighting with the Black Diamond Megawatt Headlamp.
Unlike your typical headlamp, this doesn’t product 300 lumens, 500 lumens, or even 800 lumens. Instead, it brings a brightness level you just never see in the category, allowing you to strap a whopping amount of light to your face to both illuminate the area out front and blind whoever looks your way.
The Black Diamond Megawatt Headlamp works much like other options in the category. You wear it on your head, turn the light on, and go about your day, shining a light in front of you whenever you need the extra illumination. Unlike your usual headlamp, though, this one’s equipped with six white LEDs that deliver a total light output of 3,000 lumens, making it much brighter than, pretty much, any headlamp we’ve ever seen. And yes, wearing a light that ridiculously bright on your face does look pretty strange, just based on the product photos. However, we imagine it makes wearing a headlamp just that much more fun.
It comes with two large buttons at the top of the housing for easy control while in the field. According to the outfit, they engineered them to be easy to press even when you’re engaged in high-speed activities, such as running, cycling, or wrestling a bear. In case you’re taking on activities that will keep your hands busy, they also offer a wireless remote that you can mount onto ski poles, bike handlebars, or whatever other gear you expect to keep your hands busy during any activity. The headlamp itself has an IP67 rating, so it’s sealed off from water and dust. We don’t know if the remote has the same waterproof rating, though, but we hope it does.
The Black Diamond Megawatt Headlamp has a red LED for soft diffused lighting, too, so you can switch that on during night time adventures when you’re trying to maximize battery life. Speaking battery, it’s equipped with a 50.32 Wh module that, the outfit claims, can keep it running for 44 hours straight at the lowest brightness setting. Do note, the battery is housed in a separate enclosure, so it runs a wired connection between that and the LEDs, so you can get into a bit of wire mess when mounting the lighting module anywhere other than the included strap. The battery, by the way, comes with a small LCD showing the amount of battery life remaining.
It comes with an adjustable strap that makes it easy to fit different head sizes, while having a dual band configuration (horizontal and vertical), which should make it more stable and secure even when engaged in dynamic activities. The housing, by the way, is easily removable from the strap for those times you’d rather use it on its own, with an integrated universal action sports mounting system that lets you use it with all sorts of third-party accessories.
The Black Diamond Megawatt Headlamp is available now, priced at $379.95.
