The Black Diamond Storm 500-R is a powerful-but-lightweight rechargeable headlamp. It produces proximity, distance, and night vision lighting modes up to 500 lumens — but it has one hidden design component that stands out from the competition: Its high-capacity 2400 mAh rechargeable battery.
Let’s take a closer look.
Review: Black Diamond Storm 500-R Headlamp
I’ve used a dozen or so Black Diamond Equipment headlamps over the last 15 years, and every model that I’ve used backpacking, camping, hiking, fishing, and hunting has worked well. And every generation gets a little bit better. All of us outdoor enthusiasts are getting more energy efficient LEDs, more lumens, and improved runtimes.
The Black Diamond Storm 500-R is the most powerful Black Diamond headlamp that features a non-removable battery that’s positioned up front and built into the lens housing. Black Diamond makes more powerful headlamps — like the new Distance 1500 Headlamp — but they have larger battery packs that are positioned at the rear of the headband and are connected with wires to the front light. (These front/rear designs are powerful but are generally too heavy and cumbersome for most recreational users.)
The Black Diamond Storm 500-R, on the other hand, blends power with simplicity — and that’s why I like it.
Bright, Crisp Light
The Black Diamond Storm 500-R Headlamp has two white lenses that can work separately or together to deliver 500 lumens of bright, crisp light.The Black Diamond Storm 500-R produces a very clean, usable light with zero dead spots. It has two separate white lenses that work together and separately, with adjustable intensity. Three main modes illustrate the lumens and runtimes:
LOW = 6 lumens with a 350-hour runtime
MED = 250 lumens with a 19-hour runtime
MAX = 500 lumens with a 7-hour runtime
When it comes to headlamp manufacturers and reporting runtimes based on the ANSI FL-1 Standard, this means that you’ll start out with maximum lumen output for a short time . . . but as your battery becomes more and more depleted, the light will dim. Once the output drops to 10% of the initial output, most quality headlamps will continue producing a bit of light in a safety reserve mode, but the official runtime metric has ended.
What does that mean? It means that your Black Diamond Storm 500-R won’t deliver 500 lumens of light when you’re on hour 6 of usage. It’ll be somewhat dimmer. But don’t worry, this isn’t bad — it’s just the physics of light and energy. Every great headlamp manufacturer tweaks the electronics to maximize the efficiency of the batteries over time.
But this is where the big 2400 mAh rechargeable battery comes into play.
The Benefit of Rechargeable Headlamps
The Micro-USB charging port . . . works great, but we do wish everybody would just move on over to the easy-to-use USB-C ports already!What’s nice about rechargeable headlamps is the ability to use them for a couple of hours, and then, when the battery level isn’t producing as much light as you’d like, recharge them. Every outdoor adventurer I know has burned through half of the energy in their alkaline batteries . . . but then ends up changing them out for fresh, full batteries before backpacking or camping trips. These half-full batteries usually get wasted because they can’t be trusted for full trips in the dark.
You don’t get the same kind of waste with rechargeable headlamps.
The Storm 500-R delivers very competitive runtimes for its size and weight
What’s even better on the Black Diamond Storm 500-R is the capacity of the built-in rechargeable battery: It’s a 2400 mAh Li-ion battery, which is pretty big compared to most similarly sized headlamps. For example, the Black Diamond Spot 400-R, which is only a little less powerful in terms of lumen output, uses a much smaller 1500 mAh Li-ion battery.
What all this means is that the Black Diamond Storm 500-R is a surprisingly bright and usable headlamp — and because it has a relatively big battery, you get very competitive runtimes for its size and weight.
Shop the Storm 500-R Headlamp at Backcountry.com and get FREE Shipping!
Runtime & Lumen Comparisons
Runtime is affected by the level of brightness you select and the capacity of the headlamp’s battery to power the selected brightness level.For comparison, the Black Diamond Storm 450 delivers up to 450 lumens, but has much lower runtimes. One benefit of the Storm 450 is that it is a dual-fuel headlamp that can use three standard AAA batteries or use Black Diamond’s removable rechargeable BD 1500 Li-ion battery pack. If you use AAA batteries, your MAX runtime is just 2 hours compared to the 7-hour runtime with the Storm 500-R. The Storm 450 is a bit more efficient when you use a BD 1500 rechargeable battery pack, but that only boosts your MAX runtime to 3 total hours. That’s still far short of the Storm 500-R.
Here’s another comparison: The Black Diamond Spot 400-R is a great lightweight headlamp. And 400 lumens is still pretty powerful for backpacking and camping. It has a built-in 1500 mAh battery that gives it a respectable 4-hour runtime on MAX — which is still 3 hours less than what you get with the 500-R on MAX!
What’s Best About the Storm 500-R: You Get Better Runtime!
If you just skimmed that big explanation above or didn’t quite follow it, I can boil down the light output and runtime for you here:
The Black Diamond Storm 500-R delivers exceptional light quality and lumen output for longer periods of time than most headlamps with similar lumen ratings because it has an excellent built-in battery.
Shop the Storm 500-R Headlamp at Backcountry.com and get FREE Shipping!
My Personal Testing
I took the Black Diamond Storm 500-R camping and hunting over multiple trips and nights. I used it for managing and prepping gear at night, cooking at night, and navigating rugged terrain in the dark before dawn and evenings while archery elk hunting in Idaho.
The LOW modes work great for simple tasks around camp or using in your tent.
The MED mode puts out 250 lumens, which is pretty bright around camp and on decent trails.
I would typically only use the high mode when hiking out of an area at night to head back to camp after an elk or deer hunt. The Black Diamond Storm 500-R light is powerful enough to show me rugged terrain — hidden roots, mud, rocks, sticks and brush. Most people don’t carry heavy loads of elk meat up hills in the dark, but the Black Diamond Storm 500-R does a very good job lighting the way.
Frankly, it’s more powerful than most backpackers need. However, its power and competitive battery life make it my #2 pick for the best hunting headlamp for 2024. (For backpacking and general purpose use, I really like the BD Spot 400 with the dual-fuel option.)
Red, Green, Blue Light Modes
The RGB LED lets you choose a low-power, night vision-saving red, green or blue light.The Black Diamond Storm 500-R has three colored light modes: red, green, and blue, a.k.a. RGB. These modes are used to preserve your night vision and save battery life. They also don’t spook big game animals, which is important for hunters who are hiking into an area before dawn.
For backpackers, it’s nice to use a red mode if you need to get up in the middle of the night to pee — you’re less likely to annoy your tent buddy, and you might even fall back to sleep easier.
Usability
One of the features I like about the Black Diamond Storm 500-R is that it has two top buttons. The larger button turns the headlamp on and off. If you press and hold the button, it’ll dim the light to your desired output.
The smaller round button switches between the light modes.
If you press both buttons and hold them for 2 seconds, you can turn lock the headlamp in an off position. This is handy so that your headlamp doesn’t accidentally turn on in your backpack and deplete your batteries while you hike into a mountain lake.
Core Specs
Max Lumens: 500
Max Beam Distance: 120 meters
Color Modes: RGB
Waterproof: Yes, IP67
Run Time: 7 hrs on high; 19 hrs on medium; 350 hrs on low
Batteries: 2400 mAh Li-ion rechargeable
Weight: 3.5 oz
Rugged and Waterproof
The Storm 500-R has an IP67 waterproof rating, which means the headlamp will run for at least 30 minutes while submerged down to 1 meter. For backcountry use, I very much prefer waterproof headlamps over water resistant headlamps — and the IP67 rating means it’s fully waterproof. I tested the Storm 500-R in the rain and it performed flawlessly, as expected.
Shop the Storm 500-R at Cabela’s and get FREE Shipping!
Competitive Alternatives & Options
The Storm 500-R (left) is more powerful and has a longer runtime than the Spot 400 (right). However, the Spot 400 is smaller and lighter.The Storm 500-R is a powerful headlamp. Because it has such a large built-in battery and RGB modes, it’s one of our top hunting headlamps. If you’re interested in the Storm 500-R, you might also be interested in these other options and competitive alternatives:
Black Diamond Storm 450 Headlamp — The key benefit to the Black Diamond Storm 450 over the 500-R is that is capable of using AAA batteries or the BD 1500 Rechargeable battery packs. It delivers a 450-lumen max output that’s clean and crisp. It’s also waterproof. The only drawback to the Black Diamond Storm 450 is that you need a special Black Diamond charger to recharge the BD 1500 rechargeable batteries.
Princeton Tec Vizz 550 RGB Headlamp — The Princeton Tec Vizz 550 RGB headlamp is slightly more powerful than the Storm 500-R. The biggest drawback is that its runtime at full power is only about 1.5 hours . . . but if you drop the power level down it has more competitive runtimes. The biggest benefit over the Storm 500-R is that it has a much more powerful dual-lens red night vision mode. If you use red light modes a lot, you’ll appreciate the Vizz 550. Meanwhile, the Princeton Tec Vizz 550 RGB is also made in America!
Black Diamond Spot 400 Headlamp — The Black Diamond Spot 400 Headlamp isn’t quite as powerful as the Storm 500-R, but it weighs almost a full ounce less when you use the BD 1500 battery packs. With the BD 1500 rechargeable battery, the Spot 400 is one of my favorite backpacking headlamps because the weight-to-power ratio is so good — and I can take along backup AAA batteries on longer trips.
The Bottom Line
All-in-all, the Black Diamond Storm 500-R is a rugged, waterproof, easy-to-use headlamp with handy night vision-saving RGB light mode options. The two LED bulbs and lenses let you power down to save battery — but also give you awesome white light coverage at full power when navigating rough terrain. The 500-R’s best feature, though, is its high-capacity 2400 mAh built-in rechargeable battery. Very highly recommended.
Get the Gear:
Check Buying Options, Shipping & Pricing:
Amazon | Black Diamond | Bass Pro Shops | Cabela’s | REI Co-op
Our Gear Review and Tester’s Specific Related Experience:
Chris Maxcer has tested and reviewed dozens of headlamps for Man Makes Fire. He’s personally used headlamps while backpacking, camping, fishing, hiking, and hunting. The most important factor in choosing a good headlamp is the quality of light output. The best headlamps have high-quality LED bulbs and lens constructions that deliver clean, crisp unbroken light. To test headlamps, Maxcer wears them in actual outdoor situations to understand how easy they are to use, how well the batteries perform, and beam characteristics like how well they illuminate complex proximity situations. Of course, Maxcer has also written hundreds of in-depth outdoor gear reviews, including independent, first-hand reviews of fly fishing gear, camping gear, hunting gear, backpacking gear, and beach and water play gear. He believes the best way to understand a product is to use it in the real world for the kind of activity it was designed for.
Man Makes Fire publishes independent gear reviews, unencumbered by any requirements from any gear brand or manufacturer.
