There are few tools as handy as a flashlight. In the tactical realm, the marketing and application of flashlights applies chiefly to weapon-mounted lights and handheld high-lumen units meant to illuminate potential threats and identify immediate targets.
But even the best lights require a free hand. In that case, a headlamp comes into its own. However, many off-the-shelf options leave something to be desired in terms of size and durability. For years, I have gotten by clinching flashlights in my teeth, until I came across a headlamp that deserved a fair shake.
The lamp in question is the Nightstick USB Multi-Flood Headlamp. After a year of low-light car maintenance, dusky walks, dicey treks from day hunts, this little unit was a great save that I continue to come back to. Here is why I came to the headlamp as a universal illumination tool and why the Nightstick is worth the price of admission.
Why a Headlamp?
I had my own preconceived notion about headlamps. Headlamps are simply small flashlight units that can be strapped to the head via a band or belt. I always felt they looked goofy in the daylight, never mind that the point was to use them in the dark. In my neck of the woods, they also had a negative connotation with poaching.
Ordinary flashlights seemed pedestrian and easier to slip into a pocket for carry when not in use. But there is no getting around the fact that at least one hand is occupied while using it. Headlamps are hands-free. Switch the light on, and your noggin does the pointing and holding.
I picked up the Nightstick Multi-Flood headlamp with hunting in mind. After all, it has an adjustable camouflage elastic headband and a polymer FDE housing. It also came with green and red light options in addition to white light, which can be handy in some hunting applications. While I intended to make it my standard hunting light, I ended up needing a second as I use the Nightstick for just about everything else.
The Nightstick Multi-Flood Headlamp
The Nightstick Multi-Flood Headlamp is a multi-LED light that can either be worn with the included bands or worn alone by clipping it to the brim of a ball cap.
It features a LiPo rechargeable battery that is topped off with an included USB-C cable. In theory, it is rated up to 250 lumens for seven hours using white light or 35 hours using the low setting at 60 lumens. The green and red lights run for 12 hours. The green light provides more light, but the red light helps to preserve your night vision.
The unit is IPX7 waterproof rated, thus it can handle total immersion in a meter of water for up to 30 minutes without any damage.
In Field Testing
I have tested the Nightstick Multi-Flood Headlamp for the better part of a year, cycling it between after-dusk walks, car repairs, and hunting.
The unit ships with a camouflage-pattern adjustable headband. Unlike some models that have a supporting band that runs along the scalp of the head, this is just a simple piece of elastic that wraps around your head with small polymer buckles. Alternatively, the band can be taken off and the lamp folded over the brim of a cap.
Without the band, the headlamp is easy to forget when pushed into a pocket and folds over the brim of a baseball cap easily. On occasion, if my daily run goes too long and I find myself in the dim, the headlamp goes right on my cap. The light is ample to see my nearby surroundings and alert passersby. But for the most part, I deployed the light as it ships with the band.
No matter how you wear it, operating the light is the same. The light activates through a pair of buttons located above the lightbox. Pressing the right button once turns the white light on to its low setting. A second press activates the high lumen setting, while a third turns the unit off. Alternatively, pressing the left button will switch off the white light and activate the colored light. The left button can alternate between red and green light.
As the lumens rating would suggest, the red and green lights are more subdued and only illuminate about six to eight feet ahead. In total darkness, this is just adequate to avoid trip hazards but little else. This feature seems to be more geared toward hunters. Some hunters are adamant that green or red light will not spook game animals that can’t readily distinguish these colors.
The Nightstick headlamp’s color option is just handy enough to make it down established trails, but not enough to see any surrounds. I call it a blood trail feature, as this light is bright enough for trailing animals, and a quick switch between red and white light can make a blood trail stand out, where harsh white light will bleach it out.
For everyday use, the white light got the most use. The low setting is marginally brighter than the color light. At arm’s length, it provides ample light while working under the engine bay of my vehicles, and I have both hands free to turn wrenches. While I never needed it in an emergency, being able to work hands-free without clinching and moving a flashlight between my teeth is a game-changer. 60 lumens is my default setting for late walks and errands.
To a distance of 8 feet, the 250 lumens setting emits a concentrated beam of white light that is ideal for detailed arm’s length tasks. But that light quickly defuses to a greater range of peripheral light that emits out to 75 feet. It does not deliver daylight to anywhere my head swings, but it does give ample clarity to what lies ahead and around.
While shooting, this setting gives me plenty of light to see iron sights and through an optic while giving me enough light to pick out a target within that reasonable distance.
Nightstick USB Headlamp: A Great Supplement to a Dedicated Light
The Nightstick USB Headlamp is a durable lighting solution for hands-free work. It has survived its fair share of drops, become slicked with oil, and even a not-so-accidental dip in my local creek. It has also gone through dozens of recharges. But it functions just as well as the day it arrived at my door.
While it won’t replace the high lumens and longer range of a conventional flashlight, I found myself getting much more mileage with this little headlamp, enough so that I had to buy a second for at-home use as the original became more relegated to my hunting pack.
Gear like belts, pouches, knives, and lights tend to be something we buy once and then forget about, so having to buy the Nightstick USB Headlamp twice has to be a ringing endorsement.
