Try the Petzl Tactikka+ headlamp for after-dark outdoors uses of all kinds

Pivoting light, color and brightness settings make it a versatile tool

It’s difficult to categorize Petzl’s Tactikka+ headlamp as a coon-hunter’s nightlight, an after-dark fisherman’s friend or a hands-free light for walking to and from your hunting area in the pre-dawn and post-dusk darkness. Probably because it’s all of the above, and more.

Petzl, a French company founded by a cave explorer in the mid-1900s, has been producing a number of lighting devices, plus vertical climbing accessories, for about 30 yards. Its latest lighting device, the Tactikka+ headlamp, has a number of features that help make it a tremendously versatile tool.

I haven’t tracked down any wounded deer with it after dark for followed any hounds to a treed coon yet, but it’s been a fantastic headlamp for early and late cycling. The Tactikka+ has a handful of different setting for brightness, plus a red light for more discreet lighting and a strobe for the ultimate in visibility.

A feature I particularly liked was a base that allowed me to set the headlamp at a variety of different angles, from straight on to almost a 45-degree angle downward angle. The latter appears to be perfect for hunters to light their path going to and from the woods in the dark without requiring you to tilt your head downward.

The red-light feature strikes me as providing the  right kind of light for a surf fisherman who is targeting big red drum from the beach after dark, where shining a bright white or green light on the water might spook fish and bring verbal reprisals from neighboring fishermen.

The Tactikka+ is powered by three AAA batteries and weighs about 3 ounces. The headband is adjustable and it turns on and off with a button on the top of the unit.