The new Princeton Tec Vizz Headlamp is a waterproof, rugged headlamp that puts out a very competitive 550 lumens of light on full power.
To get us a closer look, Princeton Tec sent Man Makes Fire a review unit. After testing the Princeton Tec Vizz while camping, hiking and hunting, this is what we learned:
Princeton Tec Vizz Review
The waterproof Princeton Tec Vizz delivers a whopping 550-lumens on full power — and it’s Made in America!Princeton Tec manufactures a complete line of outdoor-focused headlamps, flashlights, bike lights, and lanterns as well as dive, industrial, and tactical lights for law enforcement, military, and fire/rescue. One major distinguishing feature of Princeton Tec headlamps is the fact they are made in America. If you care about buying and supporting companies that manufacture in America, Princeton Tec is for you.
Meanwhile, the core Vizz design has been around several years, and like most headlamp manufacturers, Princeton Tec has updated it with increased lumens along the way. The newest version now delivers a competitive 550 lumens in a relatively lightweight form factor.
The 550-lumen Vizz does a great job of illuminating both near and far when you’re hiking on rough terrain.
Like most great multi-purpose headlamps, the Vizz lets you choose between three light modes: A white spot beam for distance, a white flood light for close-up proximity work, and a red-light mode for retaining your night vision. The red light mode is more powerful than most similarly sized and priced headlamp competitors, which makes it particularly good for hunters — and is a key reason why the Princeton Tec Vizz is one of our 10 best headlamps for hunting.
Rugged, Waterproof Build
The Vizz uses a secure screw to seal the battery compartment. It’s textured so you can use your fingers to tighten or loosen it.The Princeton Tec Vizz has a rugged housing with an IPX7 waterproof rating. I tested the Vizz in rainy conditions with no problems — and I don’t expect any issues in the future. The IPX7 rating means it can withstand total submersion down to a meter for 30 minutes. The housing design itself seals up easily, too.
Unlike most headlamps that snap open to get to the batteries, the Vizz has a small slotted screw/knob. There’s a tiny gasket on the inside, and the screw-tight system works surprisingly well. The texture on the screw end lets you use your fingers to tighten or loosen it, but you could use a multi-tool if you want to.
Key Princeton Tec Vizz Specifications
The Princeton Tec Vizz comes in three muted color options, Black, Dark Blue and Green. The three light modes include one Maxbright LED for the spotlight mode, two lower-power Ultrabright LEDs for the flood beam mode, and two low-power red Ultrabright LEDs. The 90 hour run time rating is if you run the Vizz on the white flood light mode. The Spot High mode drops down to 1.5 hours of runtime — at 550 lumens of output — but dimming the Spot light down increases battery life up to 40 hours on Spot Low. The red light mode is rated for up to 135 hours.
Key Vizz Specs:
Max Lumens: 550
Max Beam Distance: 85 meters
Run Time: 90 hours
Batteries: 3 AAA
Weight: 3.2 oz
Waterproof rating: IPX7
Great White Spot Beam
It’s hard to get the camera exposure to show the exact in-person reality, but this shows the Vizz’s Spot mode well. The trees are about 30 yards away and well-illuminated in person, but you also get surprisingly good diffuse light near your feet. Overall, the Vizz does a great job of illuminating both near and far when you’re hiking on rough terrain.What I appreciate most about the Princeton Tec Vizz is that its white spot beam delivers a surprisingly big blast of light. Some beam modes focus the beam too tightly, resulting in a hot spot in the middle. When I’m outside walking around over rough terrain in the dark, tight beams can make it harder to read the ground due to stronger shadows or darker edges. The 550-lumen Vizz Spot mode, on other hand, is wider and brighter than most of the competition in this size range. This let me pick my way through dark timber with deadfalls as well as clear-cuts with brush and uneven footing with ease. When I used the Vizz on trails, I didn’t need so much light so I just reduced the intensity to conserve battery.
Excellent Red Light Mode
The focused dual-LED red light mode sets the Princeton Tec Vizz apart from most of the lightweight headlamp competition. It’s very good for hunters or anyone who needs to walk around in the dark and save their night vision.Most hiking and backpack-oriented headlamps have very low-power red light modes. For backpacking or camping, using the red light mode in your tent in the middle of the night doesn’t take much power at all. For more active tasks at night — such as hiking into a hunting spot in the dark before sunrise — having a good red light mode is important.
The Princeton Tech Vizz has two red LED bulbs that seem like they would produce a diffuse flood of red light . . . but they actually line up and produce more of a red light beam. This means you can point the beam down from your head and see the ground near your feet in much better clarity than you can with most competing red light modes.
If you’re going to do more than just find the zipper on the door to your tent at night, the Princeton Tec Vizz will give you enough power to walk more safely on trails at night, as well as pack and ready gear.
How to Use the Vizz
The Princeton Tec Vizz always turns on to the red light mode first.Using the modes on the Princeton Tec Vizz is super easy. Every time you turn it on, you start out in the Red light mode. This means that you’ll never accidentally ruin your night vision by blasting out white light on accident. So that’s a benefit to this design.
To cycle to the next mode, you need to push the button once to turn it on (red) then again to move to the white Spot mode. To get to the white Flood mode, you would need to press the button three times. Any time you wait a second or so, your next button push turns the light off.
If you want to change the intensity of a beam, you press and hold the button. At the highest and lowest intensity, the beam will briefly flash and then start moving in intensity in the other direction. This is pretty standard across many headlamps and it works well.
There is a drawback to the simplicity of the Princeton Tec Vizz’s controls: You can’t set a mode, turn off the headlamp, then return automatically to that ‘last-used’ mode when you turn the headlamp back on. Some competing headlamps will remember the last setting you used. For example, say that you want to use the white Spot mode on a medium intensity level to find the best balance of power and battery consumption. If you turn off the Vizz, you’ll start back on the Red light mode, then you’ll need to move to the white Spot mode, then you’ll need to press and hold the button to reduce the power back down to a medium level.
Depending on what you want, the consistency and simplicity of the Vizz controls could be a benefit or a drawback.
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Competitive Alternatives & Options
If you’re looking for a relatively lightweight, high-quality headlamp, there are other headlamp manufacturers that produce competitive options. Here are a few alternative headlamps that you might consider if you’re not yet sure the Princeton Tec Vizz is right for you:
Black Diamond Storm 450 — While the Black Diamond Storm 450 doesn’t produce quite as many lumens as the more powerful Princeton Tec Vizz, the optical quality is very good, which creates a very usable beam of light. The overall size, weight and runtimes are similar. The Storm 450 weighs slightly more at 3.24 oz and gets a slightly longer runtime on high — but if you drop the intensity of the Vizz’s 550-lumens down a bit, you can end up with a similar output. The biggest benefit of the Storm 450 is that it also can run on Black Diamond’s Dual-Fuel BD 1500 rechargeable batteries in addition to AAA batteries.
Petzl Tactikka +RGB — Like the Princeton Tec Vizz, the Petzl Tactikka +RGB produces very clean and usable light. The 350-lumen output is a bit lower than the Vizz, but it also results in longer runtimes. The biggest benefit to the Petzl Tactikka +RGB over the Vizz is the multi-color low-light modes — you can choose from red, green, or blue modes to save your night vision. Why three color options? Some people see better with blue or green light. However, because the Vizz’s Red light mode is well-focused, it may be more effective even for those who prefer blue or green.
PEAX Backcountry Duo Headlamp — The PEAX Backcountry Duo Headlamp is aimed at hunters. Its claim to fame is its massive 1,000-lumen output. Better yet, the Backcountry Duo has the most powerful red light mode we’ve seen yet. The biggest drawback is that it costs quite a bit more than the Princeton Tec Vizz.
Princeton Tec Vizz Tactical — The ‘Tactical’ version of the Vizz headlamp includes red, green, and blue light modes, which is a benefit to those who see better with blue or green light. The drawback of the Tactical version is that it is less powerful than the Vizz — it has 420 lumens vs 550. However, this is also a benefit: Because the Vizz Tactical defaults to full power when you turn it on, you can ‘automatically’ run your white light at 420 lumens, which is quite a bit of light . . . and achieve a longer runtime at full power.
The Bottom Line
The new Princeton Tec Vizz Headlamp delivers a whopping 550-lumens in a very usable, relatively wide spot beam that makes rough terrain navigation much easier than some competing headlamps. In addition, the simple beam controls make it easy to choose the light mode you want. The red light mode is another winner with the Vizz — it’s surprisingly well-focused into a usable beam pattern. Very highly recommended.
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