Black Diamond Iota Headtorch – Performance

We’ve rapidly become huge fans of the Iota. It’s a tiny, compact headtorch that’s actually bright enough to be worth carrying in the first place. To put it in perspective, at 54 grammes it’s around 30 grammes lighter than the 2016 version of Petzl’s iconic Tikka, but manages to be USB rechargeable as well.

That makes it super convenient – no scrabbling around for AAA batteries when you’re packing for the weekend just plug in and charge. You don’t lose out on sophistication either. The Icon has a neat little three-level power gauge that comes on for 3 seconds after switching on and in use, features Black Diamond’s PowerTap stepless dimming, which allows you to seamlessly adjust the output to suit your needs.

Simple elasticated headband is comfortable and easy to use. The head-unit pivots reliably to your angle of choice and stays there even over rough ground. And the top-mounted switch is fine with winter gloves.

Power And Burn

The 150-lumen maximum output doesn’t compete with more powerful torches we’ve tested, but the floody beam is more than bright enough for general walking use and running on less technical terrain.

At maximum output BD says it’ll manage two hours and with more varied use, around three hours – maximum burn is claimed to be 20 hours by the way. We found that about right, but bear in mind all torches tend to lose burn time in colder conditions. That makes it ideal as a ‘get you home’ light for dusk-time missions and as a ‘just-in-case’ stand-by stashed in the lid of your pack.

It’ll also happily manage campsite duties if you ramp it down to delay the dimming of the light… Of course if you do run out of power you can’t simply slot in a fresh battery, but we found it easy enough to charge up using a power bank back-up. It won’t light while charging though.