Over the last few years I’ve been looking for a more suitable headlamp for my helmets.  The headlamps sold for hiking or other activities aren’t durable enough nor do they have the safety features I wanted.  I finally found a light that would meet all my needs.

The headlamp I chose is the Dicata Nightstick XPP-5462RX.  The light is designed to be worn on a firefighting helmet or hardhat.  It has a low profile so that it can be used with shield equipped helmets so that it won’t interfere with the shield.  I may want to change the light from my Phenix First Due helmet over to a firefighting helmet with a shield if the situation calls for it and not worry whether I’ll have an issue.

It is intrinsically safe in various hazardous environments reducing the risk of a spark causing an explosion.  The intrinsically safe rating calls for the use of three Energizer AA batteries E91 or EN91 only.  According to the manual those are the only batteries it has been tested with.  The light also meets NFPA-1971-8.6(2013).  The light is waterproof down to 1 meter.  It also has a drop rating of 2 meters.

The headlamp is held onto the helmet by a heavy duty rubber strap.  The strap has two clips that hold the power cord in place.  It feels like it will last for several years if not damaged during use.  The battery pack and lamp housing are made from glass filled nylon polymer and appear the be very durable.  The company says it comes in two colors green which looks lime-yellow to me and red which looks very much orange on my helmet.

The lamp is connected to a stainless steel frame with an adjustable hinge.  The angle of the light can be changed if desired.  I found that setting the light to the most advantageous viewing angle then tightening the bolt/nut down so it won’t move works best for me.  Before I did this whenever I turned on the light it would move back to the original position so that I always had to readjust after changing the settings.

The light uses Cree L.E.D.’s that are rated to a 50,000+ hour lifespan.  The spot light is on the users right with the flood on the left.  There is a separate control button for each light.  The control button sequence for both lights is first press high power, second push low power and third push light off.  Both lights can be on at the same time in the high or low power setting.

The spot light in high power is 275 lumens with a run time of 6 hours 45 minutes reaching 120 meters.  Low power is 100 lumens with a run time of 25 hours reaching 75 meters.  The flood light in high power is 250 lumens with a run time of 7 hours.  In low power 100 lumens with a run time of 25 hours.  When the spot and flood lights operate simultaneously they put out 310 lumens with a run time of 6 hours reaching 86 meters.

The battery pack also has rear facing “follow me” light.  The green L.E.D. light is very bright and easy to see.  The control button on the housing allows the user to turn the light to steady on with the first push.  The second push will make the light flash at regular intervals and the third push will turn the light off.

In the future more of these headlamps will be added to the other helmets used for rescue activities.  I also plan on having spare straps on hand if we need them.  After using this light I’m very happy with the performance.  Check out the video if you want to see how the light works.  -13