The plastic casing is attached to an asymmetrical and repositionable single arm bracket, also made from plastic. It has an easily accessible battery door enclosure. Lastly, a large push button switch on the top of the unit ensures swift operation, even if you’re wearing bulky gloves. It’s worth noting that the unit is only IPX4-rated, which means it will resist splashing water, but no more. If you expect to be out in a downpour, you might want a more waterproof option. And if you’re hard on your gear, you might also want a more impact-resistant headlamp.

The final element of this headlamp is a simple elastic strap, with rear adjustment for a quick and secure fit. There’s no overhead strap or inner grip strip to help keep it in place, but it works fine for general activity on the trail or around camp. The strap is nice and wide, and feels well made.

Features

As already noted, the single large button situated on the top of the headlamp controls all the functions. One short press activates the red light mode, and another short press increases the brightness. A longer press switches on the white spot beam. Two further presses cycles through medium and high beam. To switch off the head torch, hold the button down. All very simple and intuitive.

On its maximum 450-lumen white light setting, the beam offers good penetration (up to 51 metres) and excellent all-round vision. It doesn’t have a flood mode or a tighter focusing setting but works well to illuminate trails and campsites. And the stand-out figure is that impressive run time – you should get 63 hours of light (plus an emergency reserve of 22 hours) on full beam. That’s really what elevates this lamp above most of the competition.

Strangely, the figures on medium and low settings aren’t as impressive – the brand quotes run times of 14 hours (74 hours reserve) and 6 hours (44 hours reserve) respectively at 300 and 100 lumens. If those numbers are correct, you might as well always use the high beam to get the best balance of brightness and burn time. FYI, in red light mode, you should get 6 hours run time on high (15 lumens) and 73 hours on low (3 lumens).

The bottom line is that this is a simple and easy to operate headlamp which is very user-friendly. In terms of light output, it’s also pretty bright and exceptionally long-lasting. It also has an excellent red-light mode. So, for general hiking, hillwalking and wild camping, as well as for nature-spotters, anglers and other outdoorsy types, it ought to tick all the big boxes.

Tester’s Verdict

We’re currently assessing the battery run time to see whether the figures Princeton give are accurate. We’ll update this review in the coming days.