I have now owned 3 generations of Petzl Tikka head torches and the XP is the best yet.
My original Tikka with 3 LED's was used on mainly training runs around the dark lanes of Essex. Other uses were when camping or doing any DIY job in the dark as well as a safety light on the bicycle. It was noticeable when approaching vehicles on narrow lanes, riding on roundabouts or approaching junctions - other vehicles took far more notice of me than if I had ridden with just my 10 watt front light. On a couple of unfortunate occasions when I had punctures at night the Tikka made repairing the puncture much easier.
When the Petzl Tikka Plus arrived a few years later I bought one for a friend who I trained with once a week. On out first run together I was so impressed with the Tikka Plus I bought myself one a few weeks later. The switch had been improved of the original Tikka (2 of mine had developed a small fault in the slider switch that when out running would cause the light to flicker). The 5 LED's produced a much brighter white light than the old Tikka improving the range of the light in my opinion by roughly 2 fold. This improvement in the light made it possible, with a bit of care, to run off-road.
The recent arrival of the Tikka XP had me intrigued, 1 high power 1 watt LED that is brighter than the 5 LED's in the Tikka plus. Not only is the XP brighter but it throws a really good beam of light that makes it possible to run off-road without hesitating and ride a bike at 20mph on road. The slide over diffuser is essential when looking at maps or reflective objects to prevent blinding. So far I haven't really used the boost button other than to demonstrate how bright it is to friends
Tikka XP output and duration at 20°c
| Setting | Duration | Distance |
| Maximum | 60h | 35m |
|
Optimum |
80h |
27m |
| Economic | 120h | 18m |
full range of petzl head torches
Our sister company Abacus-ise supplies a range of intrinsicly safe (ATEX) head torches by petzl including the Petzl Tikka XP ATEX
Manufacturers site www.petzl.com
