Review of the Boruit Head Lamp and the Ultimate Performance Runner's Head Torch

For those in the Northern Hemisphere, especially for those countries who have daylight saving, the days have turned cold and dark. Here in the UK, although we have had an "Indian Summer" (a mild bout of weather which has lasted right up until almost end of November, and caused by warm currents from the Gulf of Mexico) things have suddenly turned dark, damp and cold. We have had our first frost and the Northerners their first snow. It is for this reason that runners in winter have to start adapting their routine or start to use various bits of kit to enable us to carry on running...gloves, hats..torches...

The head torch is the most obvious one, especially for those of us who like to trail run, or at least run on roads and paths where lighting is either non-existent or otherwise bad.

Review of the Ultimate Performance Runners Head Torch - In a Nut Shell
Well this little baby costs around £9 and weighs in at 25grams...making it a very lightweight torch. There are no buttons and you have to twist to light up. Unfortunately you also have to twist to open the battery case so if you are a bit dyslexic like myself you will probably end up twisting it the wrong way...after which it all falls to bits in your hands.

The light itself is an LED and is quite bright. It does OK in the dark, although perhaps not quite bright enough to take on a trail run. I have used it in the dark on paths with those orange neon street lamps and through a park with no lights and it works perfectly well. Good for missing wet leaves or Dog poo on the pavement. It is super lightweight and the lamp can fit to your forehead by the strap or you can use the pinch clip to put it on the peak of your cap.

Conclusion
This little light is a good torch to have for urban night running, and to use as a spare emergency lamp as it wraps up as small as a walnut and you can put it in a zip up pocket. I have used it in the attic to do some rewireing...it doesn't give enough light to discriminate colour wires or details...so be warned. It however gets a high rating from me for Urban running - it is lightweight and easy to use.

...however the Ultimate Performance head torch, despite its name, will definitely not cut the mustard on a trail run - it just doesn't have the power. So having seen a cyclist with what looked like a halogen lamp on his head I trawled the internet for a high powered torch and this is what I settled on.

Review of the Boruit -  In a Nut Shell
This cost £19 and I obtained the little beauty from Amazon and comes with rechargeable batteries and a charging adapter. It has a battery pack to the rear of the head which also holds a red rear light, the forward facing lamp holds a total of three torches...one central high beam and two side diffuse lamps. You can select one or the other or both, and you can make it flash for a strobe effect. The rear flashing lamp is something of a bonus I suppose.

I took mine on my usual forest trail and it worked very very well. I used the full 3 beam mode and it gave enough light to traverse a rough pathway, mud and puddles, a dark woodland, was bright enough to attact two massive deer, who eye balled me quite intrigued...and then back through the Urban Jungle I had to be careful not to dazzle pedestrians and car drivers.

Conclusion
It is much more heavy than the Ultimate Performance however the heaviness didn't really affect me...if any thing the solid feel of it was reassuring. It is very versatile and can be used for camping, and even going up in the attic to fix some wiring when all the lights have gone out. As for a running head lamp it is worth giving this a go as it is good value for money. I know it will open up my winter running that's for sure...and although I have succumbed to a cold and have had to lay off the running for two weeks I am raring to go out again for some night running with the Boruit head lamp with the Ultimate Performance Lamp as my trusty back-up torch.