One of the greatest buzzkills of any camping adventure is breaking out your headlamp when you need it, only to find it’s dead. It doesn’t matter if you checked it before you stashed it in your pack, headlamps can be finicky, and the cold nights this time of year can be a recipe for a drained battery. After finally chucking a faulty headlamp that let me down one too many times, I decided to check out Ledlenser’s MH6 — a rechargeable, lightweight headlamp designed with all kinds of cool technology. Putting some serious faith in the MH6, I packed it along with some other essential gear and trekked it over to Iceland for a two week adventure road tripping and camping around the island. With few opportunities on the road to grab a charge for the headlamp, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, and the MH6 didn’t let me down.
Pros: Don’t let the size full you — the Ledlenser MH6 is packed with power. It features 200 lumens and an Advanced Focus System (a reflector and lens combo) which creates more spill-beam light that is equally as potent as the focus beam. The combination makes this headlamp a pretty versatile option. It’s beam lit up pathways and trails making it easy to see a good distance in front of me as well as all around me. The headlamp’s temperature control system also did it’s job, and I was able to use the MH6 every night for two weeks without recharging. The MH6 is also adjustable, which made it easy to shine the beam downward while making dinner at night, or getting dressed in the morning. This headlamp also includes a lock option to help avoid it turning on a draining battery anytime you don’t need it.
Cons: While the robust 200 lumen beam is great for getting your bearings in the complete darkness of the backcountry, it can be a little tough to sport in campgrounds. Even though the light can be dimmed, the spill-beam was still so strong, I was blowing up other campers at our site every night while scrambling out of my sleeping bag to catch the Northern Lights. It also seemed like most of the time the MH6 was on my head, I was busy working to adjust it. It didn’t matter how tight I cinched it, it wouldn’t be too long before I was tightening it up again.
Where We Took It: Camping in Iceland and Colorado.
