Black Diamond Storm headlamp battery life

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Jan 26, 2017
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Anyone else notice short battery life with the Black Diamond Storm? It seems like mine starts to dim pretty quickly compared to other lamps I've had. The light will stay on for a good amount of time, but the lumens go way down way too fast. Any recommendations for a similarly priced headlamp that is bright and reliable with good battery life? Doesn't need to be rechargeable.
 
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The batteries last great in my storm. I dont always use it on the brightest setting but the batteries seem to last really good. I use energizer lithium. You might try calling blackdiamond. They have really great customer service.
 
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MuleDeerMike
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The batteries always seemed fine for me and I never noticed it until I quartered a buck in the dark last season and then the dimming became very, very apparent. Even with relatively fresh batteries they lost their juice pretty quick when I had it on full blast trying to create as much light as I could while quartering. I might try the lithiums though and see how they fair. I just want something where I can break down at least a couple animals on the same batteries and have it be really bright the whole time. Anyone who's ever quartered an animal in the dark with a crappy light knows how sketch that can get and I'm trying to avoid that. Pretty disappointed in it considering the price point isn't low. Although it's better then the Princeton Remix I used to use that just stopped working altogether on day 2 of a 7 day hunt.
 
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Is the coast worth the $100 in your opinion? Anything similar for around $50?

Costco had a two pack of the non rechargeable ones which IMO are just as good just not dual power for something like $20. It was a steal! That was early last year sometime though. A quick search will find some good deals on all of them.
 
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MuleDeerMike
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Costco had a two pack of the non rechargeable ones which IMO are just as good just not dual power for something like $20. It was a steal! That was early last year sometime though. A quick search will find some good deals on all of them.
Right on I'll check them out.
 
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Mike, I'm going to tell you the not so cool choice's. Go to Walmart and buy an OZARK trail 300 lumen rechargeable headlamp. I personally do not use The OT light for hunting as it is just way to bright. It blinds you in thicker foliage. I do use a camofire headlamp for hunting. I run the same set of batteries for a two week hunt last year. It's 250 lumens but, no where near as bright as the Ozark Trail light. That's ok too. Its plenty bright enough and, just works. So well, I've bought three more. One for the truck, one as back up in my pack. And, one for the wife to put in her car. God Bless
 

mtwarden

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regardless of the lamp- lithium batteries will increase burn time, they also are ~ 25% lighter than alkaline and actually work on the cold

yeah, they are more expensive, but small price to pay when you're depending on a lamp

I own a couple of rechargeable lamps that I use trail running near town, saves on batteries, BUT would never use one for any multi-day trips- hunting or otherwise

I don't own a Storm, but own several Spots (very similar lamps) and at full lumens (300 for the new Spot) I get about 4-5 hours of good light (on lithiums)- got to test this out this year on a all night trail race

dimming the lamp, even a little, if you can get by with less light, will help on burn time too
 
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I'd call BD, you should get decent amount of burn time. They state 40hrs at max. I dunno about that but mine does okay.

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mcseal2

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regardless of the lamp- lithium batteries will increase burn time, they also are ~ 25% lighter than alkaline and actually work on the cold

yeah, they are more expensive, but small price to pay when you're depending on a lamp

I own a couple of rechargeable lamps that I use trail running near town, saves on batteries, BUT would never use one for any multi-day trips- hunting or otherwise

I don't own a Storm, but own several Spots (very similar lamps) and at full lumens (300 for the new Spot) I get about 4-5 hours of good light (on lithiums)- got to test this out this year on a all night trail race

dimming the lamp, even a little, if you can get by with less light, will help on burn time too

Just curious why you wouldn't use the rechargeable lamps on a multi day trip? Is there a reliability issue I should know about?

I'm getting ready to do a multi day trip with my Black Diamond Re-Volt but I'm taking a battery pack I can charge it with that I need for other gear also, and a little Petzl E-Lite for a back-up with extra batteries. The little E-Lite takes the 2032 coin batteries so I can have a couple extra sets for 1/2 an ounce.

Thanks!
 

mtwarden

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well the ReVolt is a different animal, it will take "regular" batteries as well as their rechargeable ones

the reason I don't take a rechargeable is you can't carry spares, the ReVolt you can :)- I would consider in your case carrying three lithium AAA's in case something goes awry with your charger
 

Brad@Argali

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Just curious why you wouldn't use the rechargeable lamps on a multi day trip? Is there a reliability issue I should know about?

I'm getting ready to do a multi day trip with my Black Diamond Re-Volt but I'm taking a battery pack I can charge it with that I need for other gear also, and a little Petzl E-Lite for a back-up with extra batteries. The little E-Lite takes the 2032 coin batteries so I can have a couple extra sets for 1/2 an ounce.

Thanks!

The ReVolt is great, but the rechargeable batteries only carry about 2/3 of the same battery life as standard alkaline batteries. Advantage is not having to carry in extra batteries if you ya e a way to recharge, but downside is lower battery life.


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Brad@Argali

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Anyone else notice short battery life with the Black Diamond Storm? It seems like mine starts to dim pretty quickly compared to other lamps I've had. The light will stay on for a good amount of time, but the lumens go way down way too fast. Any recommendations for a similarly priced headlamp that is bright and reliable with good battery life? Doesn't need to be rechargeable.

The light and battery life specs on those BD headlamps are tested fairly rigorously. There are any number of things that can impact your battery life, like cold weather and battery age. If your storm headlamp isnt working like it should you might have a faulty product and I’d give bd a call. We’ve been using them for years with consistent and decent battery life.


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