Beam types

The shape of a headlamp’s light beam depends on the light source and on the lenses. There are two types of beams:

• Wide Angle beams,
• Narrow, focused beams.

Each beam also has a residual component, which is much wider than the main beam. This peripheral light makes the headlamp more versatile and comfortable to use.

Wide beam
The Wide Angle beam emits close-range light for slower movement activities: camping, bivouacking, walking...

Focused beam
This beam concentrates the light to shine long distances and and can be precisely aimed. This type of beam is designed for faster moving activities and for route finding: hiking, mountaineering, running...

Headlamps with Wide Angle lenses

The XP headlamps use new generation LEDs that produce a light that is both powerful and economical. Exclusive to Petzl, the Wide Angle lens flips or slides over the LED to widen the beam. With one quick movement, the headlamp can switch from a long-range, focused beam to a Wide Angle proximity beam.

Hybrid headlamps

Headlamps that have two types of lighting allow the user to switch between light sources:

• Halogen or xenon halogen for long-range lighting
• LEDs for proximity lighting with long burn times

The Petzl advantage: the two light sources are separated to preserve the shape of the halogen reflector and the sharpness of the long-range beam.

Lighting levels

Adapt the lighting level
Some of our LED headlamps allow you to choose between three different brightness levels: maximum, optimum and economic. By choosing the power of the beam, the user can adapt the light to the activity at hand. In addition to these three lighting levels, there is a strobe mode that is useful for signaling (rescue, beacon, etc.) with an exceptional burn time.

Boost mode for even more power
With a high-output LED, the XP headlamps also have a Boost mode: by simply pressing on the button, the LED shines 50 % more light than the maximum level for 20 seconds
Boost may be activated anytime: when the headlamp is off or in strobe mode.


Constant lighting level
The light produced by most headlamps decreases as the batteries weaken.
On some of its headlamps, Petzl chose to maintain a constant lighting level regulated with the use of a electronic regulation system. This allows the light to stay at the same brightness until the batteries are almost discharged. The light output then decreases automatically to a minimum survival level of light. The burn time of the headlamp is therefore prolonged with a low output light, giving the user time to change the batteries.