Nitecore LED Headlamps

Great headlamp! Quite a bit lighter than my Walmart special I’ve been using for a few years. It also has more settings and is brighter on high. You don’t need a pricey headlamp to have a good one and this is just another example of that. I especially like how bright the red light can be. That is something that is always lacking in headlamps in my opinion but not this one.

I’m glad that they brought this simple strait forward design of the classic back! I switched to the new version for a period of time and found it to be overcomplicated and had functions/settings that I simply did not need even for night hiking. The USB upgrade is a bonus making the classic perfect for the UL backpacker…less charging cords/adapters needed!

Believe it or not my wife has been backpacking for about 5 or 6 years & has never owned a headlamp. I aimed to fix this problem and got her this as a gift. I did a lot of research, and knowing my wife, figured the one that would be best for her. Personally I run the Fenix HM50R V2.0 Headlamp at 2.75oz and I love it but I didn’t think that would be optimal for her but at 1.34oz I do really like this light little headlamp too. At 360 lumens it’s about as low as you can go and still be able to do night navigation. Personally I don’t like less than 400 lumens for that. Then it has lower settings for camp tasks and battery saving. I love, and wish my headlamp had, 2 red light settings. A dimmer and brighter, I still wouldn’t navigate a night trail with the bright red light settings unfortunately, but good for reading or camp tasks & the low red is great for not blinding yourself when you get up in the night to… well… you know. I was a little skeptical of the paracord style head band but it is actually surprisingly comfortable! And fits those with very small heads, aka, me and my wife! lol. I love that, unlike the NU25 UL version, it doesn’t auto dim. I hate auto dim, I don’t even have long hair and it still manages to get in the way for the sensor and randomly dims and brighten. I want control over my tools, not the other way around. I also hate locks, but I’m pretty well alone in my opinion there, because it’s just one more unnecessary complexity and I’ve found that for my it gets in the way more than it is helpful. Still, even with that, operation is fairly simple and straightforward by modern standards and we both love that. I do wish it was a bit brighter but I gotta say, it’s pretty darn good for the price and weight. Worth the draw backs in my opinion. I probably would have gone with the 400 lumen, 1.59oz NU25 if it wasn’t more complicated than this one, but hey, I’ll take the weight shave for a better price and easier to use and operate piece, even if I do have to sacrifice 40 lumen. But my wife LOVES her new toy, and it’s just perfect for her needs.

I have several Black Diamond headlamps and decided to get a Nitecore UT27 because you can never have enough headlights for whatever the occasion.
It's light. Headband can be adjusted to fit tight. I do like my old BD Icon lamp as it has the third strap that comes over the top for a more sturdier fit without having to make the side straps over tight.
The straps seem sturdy and tight and has light reflectors on it. Design and material wise, it was designed to dry easier from head sweat.
UT27 buttons is easy to use. I like the ability to instantly switch from Bright White to Soft Yellow with one touch of the button. Max brightness is easy to access with the buttons as well.
Battery source is swappable with AAAs so if the rechargeable Ni battery it comes with runs out of juice but you have AAAs with you, it's an easy swap to do. The glow in the dark panel in the battery case is a good idea although not really impressed with it when I tried it. Usually need a light source for glow in the dark material to "glow in the dark" before the light source is gone so not sure how that would work if you need to switch batteries in the dark.
I took away one star because the charging cable is USB-C on both ends and didn't include the plug to attach it into a socket. You have to have a plug that accepts a USB-C cable to recharge the battery.
Minor inconvenience but I was not aware of this when I purchased it.
Overall I like it and looking forward to using it more and testing it in various conditions...rain, snow, freezing temp,etc ...

This is a great headlamp! Light and bright. I love hiking at night and this is everything you need. My other headlamp is MUCH heavier and doesn’t have a red light. I think this is my new “go to” headlamp. I was surprised by the illumination. Top notch