Crap Head Torch Review

My current head torch is a Black Diamond Storm and its...... crap!

It has a habit of suddenly going out. And then requires a load of random on/off button pressing to get it to come back on again, which to be fair it eventually does most of the time. This unreliability, as you might expect, is not especially handy at this time of year in the middle of a wood in the pitch dark while out for a run! I suspect its got a dodgy connection or something (I can't imagine it was designed to randomly switch itself off) but its darn annoying either way.

The Black Diamond Storm.... with the light actually working

I bought it at the last minute last summer, after my previous headtorch broke, just in time to support Martyn Price on a night leg of his successful Bob Graham attempt and, five minutes after putting the flipping thing on, on its maiden voyage, it died on me. I eventually got it working again and it then worked fine for the rest of that night. Fine enough in fact for me to think that maybe I hadn't put the batteries in properly or something and decide not to take it back to Castleberg Sports but to keep it. 

It then suckered me in even more by behaving perfectly on its next couple of outings (spread over a few weeks, it being summer). Then just when taking it back to the shop would be difficult (and un-British), after maybe a couple of months, it developed this turning off thing increasingly regularly and especially after loading new batteries.

Oh and thats the other thing, the batteries are supposed to last a good time, 50 hours on full power in fact! Hah! You can half that at the very least!

I'm sure this says that the batteries will last 50 hours on the triple power 100 lumens setting

Suffice to say I've now finally had enough and I've ordered a replacement tonight, a Fenix HP11.  At this time of year, what with work and all, 5/7ths of all my runs are headtorchers and I need a flipping reliable light to see by. Touch wood the Fenix will be just that.

In conclusion don't buy a Black Diamond Storm and, if you do, take it back to the shop straight away if its not working properly! And don't believe a word of the battery life either!