During the winter, daylight is at a premium for a runner. The Fenix HM50R Headlamp is a great light to bridge the gap between starting your run and sunrise, or after-work runs. It comes in at a lightweight 79g with the battery (about the same as my 3xAAA Petzl light), and it comes with a rechargeable battery, USB cable, spare O ring, spare silicone holder, and spare mini-USB cover in the box.

The strap is very nice, with a silicone strip that keeps the light well planted on my head. I also wear it over a backwards baseball hat or a winter hat, which keeps it very secure. A single tap of the power button lets you know how much battery is left, and when on can quickly cycle through the settings from low to high. It does remember the last setting used, and reverts to that when turned back on. The light output does decrease with battery use, and I found that the highest level was completely eliminated as the battery wore down. However, to this end, the light is still plenty bright on the lower settings to run streets without streetlights, and is easily rechargeable after a run.

It’s powered by either the included rechargeable battery, or an CR123A. It recharges right from a mini-USB port on the body of the flashlight, and the CR123A give better cold weather performance. Since the rechargeable battery is easily removable, it can be swapped out for a charged one, or replaced if it can no longer hold a charge. The light can be removed to make it into a mini-flashlight, and can be angled almost 180 degrees while in the silicone holder. It is missing a red-light mode, but this is not an issue for me.

In summary, it’s a nice lightweight running headlamp that puts out an impressive amount of light on it’s highest setting, and I’m glad I have it for my runs in the dark.