A quality headlamp is 100% non-negotiable for me. When the lights go out in the backcountry, the lights go out. I don’t know about you, but last I checked, my night vision was far from that of a cat’s. Late last Fall I got my hands on the Vizz from Princeton Tec. I’ve used the same headlamp for quite a few years, but there were a few things about the Vizz that caught my attention. With big shoes to fill, time would tell if the Vizz would stay in my backpack or get left at home.
The Princeton Tec Vizz is a 550 luman headlamp made with durability and efficiency in mind. It has 3 different lighting modes to cover a wide variety of situations. We’ll get into those later. The Vizz weighs in at 3.2 oz, is powered off of 3 AAA batteries, and comes in 3 different colors. The headband is adjustable as is the angle of the headlamp itself. On the Vizz you’ll find just one button at the top of the headlamp.
Within the Vizz there are 3 different lighting modes. The first is 1 Maxbright LED, which is your spot light. Great for night hikes down the trail to really light things up in front of you. Of course, this uses the most battery life. Then there are 2 Red Ultrabright LEDs, which is your red light. Perfect for hiking into a glassing spot or stand in the dark, to not be noticed by game. And finally 2 White Ultrabright LEDs, giving a wider field of view. This will provide the best battery life. All of these modes are dimmable.
Burn time on the Vizz is said to be 90 hours. A super impressive number and honestly one of the huge standouts to me. Battery life is precious in the mountains and the less you’ve gotta charge or bring extra batteries, the better. Of course this burn time fluctuates depending on what lighting mode you’re using most.
A headlamp without a locking feature on it is a deal breaker for me. I’ve fallen victim to my headlamp accidentally turning on in my backpack and being left with dead batteries once in the field. It’s not fun. The Vizz indeed has a locking feature. By simply holding down the one button on the top of the headlamp for 5 seconds, it’ll blink red when it’s locked. Hold it again and it’ll blink red again once it’s unlocked.
Since last Fall when I acquired the Vizz, my experience has been great. In fact, it’s been awesome. The first hunt I brought it on was an elk hunt that lasted 10 days. Big hikes through the dark and just general night/early morning life at camp required a whole lot of use from my headlamp. In that 10 days I didn’t have to change the batteries once. An impressive feat and something I had never experienced with other headlamps in the past. Normally, I’ve gotta change the batteries once.
Another thing that stuck out to me was how the Vizz kept it’s brightness throughout my hunts. With other headlamps in the past, it seemed that they would go from super bright to all of a sudden dim when the battery started to go. With the Vizz, that didn’t happen. It was a very gradual, almost not noticeable, swing as it lost battery life. Much appreciated.
Along with that elk hunt, I also brought the Princeton Tec Vizz out on a few spring bear hunts. One of which had some pretty crazy weather. Throughout that whole time the headlamp performed flawlessly, and I know it got wet. There were times when it would rain for 14 hours straight.
As impressed as I’ve been with the Princeton Tec Vizz, there are a few things that I wished were different.
This headlamp is mostly plastic. It was one of my first concerns when I got it in hand. Of course this poses the possibility that it could break or crack, as plastic does sometimes. And as much backpack hunting as I do, I’m not exactly nice to my gear. Sighting those concerns, I have to add that I haven’t experienced any cracks or breaks on the Vizz. Hopefully, it stays like that. It would be cool to see maybe some more rubber on future designs to up the durability.
The only other downside I’ve found with the Vizz is the fact that I’ve gotta cycle through the lighting modes every single time I turn on the headlamp. Every time you turn this on, you’re on red mode. If you want to reach the next mode you’d quickly press the button again and you’d land on spot light mode, followed by the wider white mode if you pressed it again. No matter what mode you’re using, if you turn off the headlamp, you’ll immediately be reverted back to red mode the next time you turn it on. Some type of memory would be awesome here to allow one to turn off the headlamp in one mode and then still be on that mode when they turn it back on.
When I got the Princeton Tec Vizz, I will admit, I was a bit skeptical. Reliable lighting is something I take pretty serious, especially for backcountry hunting. After using it though now for the better part of a year, it’s still in my backpack. I have not reverted back to my old one, or even thought about doing so for that matter. With quite a few backpack hunts in my near future, I know the Vizz is going to light the way just fine when the sun goes down. You can learn more about the Princeton Tec Vizz HERE.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases
Copyright 2019 Dialed In Hunter
Design by NXNW.
