Rechargeable Ultralight Headlamp
BioLite Range 400
$60, 2.6 oz./75g
backcountry.com
On backpacking trips of four days in August in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, six days solo through the Wind River Range in September, and five days in the Grand Canyon in early April, the rechargeable BioLite Range 400 headlamp delivered good brightness, a practical range of modes, and functionality—plus a fast recharging speed—all in a very compact, ultralight package.
Our 50-mile early April hike in the Grand Canyon included days when we were active in camp after dark in the evening and packing up camp in the dark of early morning to start hiking at first light ahead of the intense afternoon heat. And on my solo walk of over 60 miles in the Winds in September, including remote stretches where I saw few other backpackers, the short days required me using this headlamp every evening and some early mornings.
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Among the good reasons to get the Range 400, perhaps most distinctively, the 1,634 mAh Li-ion battery recharges via USB-C at an impressive speed: BioLite claims the battery stores an hour of power in just eight minutes of charging and will go from completely dead to 80 percent of max charge in 30 minutes. While the three-bulb power level display doesn’t allow measuring the recharge speed that precisely, when I left the Range 400 on until it was fully drained, then plugged it into a fully charged portable power bank, it went from zero to two bulbs within 30 minutes and a full charge within about 90 minutes, and the charge lasts for six hours on high and 200 hours on low.
The maximum brightness of 400 lumens, which projects a beam 90 meters (according to BioLite, and that seems accurate in my experience), is more than enough light for most backpackers and other backcountry users, whether going through normal routines in camp after dark or searching for a disappeared trail or off-trail descent route on a climb. Most of the time, I had the headlamp dimmed (saving battery life).
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Modes include white spot and red flood, both dimmable, red strobe, and lockout. When turned on (without having gone into lockout mode), the headlamp returns to the mode it was in when last turned off. But when toggling between modes, it returns to max brightness, no matter how much it was dimmed immediately before changing modes, which I see as often adding an inconvenient and unnecessary step to dim the bulb again.
The two-button system features a larger power-lockout button that you depress and hold to dim when turned on and depress for five seconds to lockout and unlock. The smaller button toggles between the modes and requires a (not necessarily unintuitive) double click to switch from red flood to red strobe. Working the two buttons is easy with bare hands while wearing the headlamp but trickier even with light gloves on, but that’s true of basically any headlamp with low-profile buttons (to avoid accidentally depressing them and draining the charge).
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I’ve long been a fan of BioLite’s 3D SlimFit construction, with a moisture-wicking band that provides an almost unnoticeable fit on my head, over a climbing helmet, or under a bike helmet; and doesn’t bounce even when running with the headlamp’s housing tilted forward. Its four-point tilt provides an adequate range of angles.
The IP67 rating—also seen in the two other models in the series, the BioLite Range 300 and Range 500—protects against rain, dust, and submersion to one meter for 30 minutes.
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The Verdict
For backpackers, dayhikers, trail runners, climbers and other users, the BioLite Range 400 provides all the functionality needed in a compact and comfortable-to-wear unit that weighs a mere 2.6 ounces/75 grams and recharges quickly.
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You can support my work on this blog, at no cost to you, by clicking either of these affiliate links to purchase a BioLite Range 400 headlamp, or a Range 300 or Range 400, at backcountry.com or rei.com.
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NOTE: I reviewed gear for Backpacker magazine for 20 years. At The Big Outside, I review only what I consider the best outdoor gear and apparel. See The Big Outside’s Gear Reviews page for categorized menus of all gear reviews and expert buying tips.
—Michael Lanza