BORELLI CONSULTING: Tactical Equipment Reviews

Petzl MYO Headlamp
By: Mike Marcon, 25 April 2005

The Petzl MYO is, for the pittance it costs, probably the best headlamp I have ever used. I speak from both a wilderness survival instructor's and a medic's standpoint. I can also address this from the standpoint of someone who has spent many delightful hours catching alligators wearing various headlamps. Most of which I hated for their bulk, weight and poor run times. However, At a retail cost of $32.95, the Petzl MYO touts the following features and benefits:

It is the lightest, long range headlamp on the market. At 175 total grams including the batteries, the light is barely noticeable on your head. There is plenty of wide, comfortable adjustable elastic band (tactical black in color) to go over a ball cap or helmet. The evaluated model had an optional top strap which I like because it keeps the unit from slipping down and better fixes it on your head. Spare standard bulb is included and is kept in a very nifty head strap fitting. It operates with 4 AA/LR06 batteries (included).

It has a Xenon halogen bulb for long-range lighting and throws an adjustable beam approximately 76 meters. The tiltable lamp body has the on/off built into the adjustment bezel. The on/off and zoom can operated in same movement, and the bezel is easy to use, even when wearing gloves. It is also easily carried in your bdu side pockets and can be donned quickly in the dark.

For close up work, reading maps, cleaning weapons, etcetera, the Petzl MYO headlamps feature the highest quality LEDs available providing brilliant white light over 100,000 hours of continuous burn time - they will never need replacement.

For a medic, however, there is a sweet spot. I discovered, quite by accident, that the LEDs are excellent for finding veins. Starting an iv catheter at night is much easier with the LED feature rather than using common flashlight for illumination. For some reason, the veins seem to be more visible.

And one last thing, although I choose not to dunk mine to find out, the sales literature says it is water-resistant. A close up examination certainly makes it appear so. I'll let you know if I get caught in the rain wearing it. Or if I get pulled in the water catching 'gators.

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