Headlights for Running in Dark?

I use one of these.  It's rediculously bright, drivers give me a ton of room with it.  It's a tiny bit bulky with the 3 aaa batteries but it has never bothered me.

http://dx.com/p/zooming-cree-q5-200lm-2-mode-1-led-white-light-headlamp-3-x-aaa-3-6-4-5v-117193

I am a predawn runner, so my lights get a workout as well. I use a Princeton Tech Byte. It is small enough and light enough and gives me enough light. It is not the brightest, but it gets the job done. Also, their customer support is great. I broke the hinge on the battery door and sent it to them and they replaced it, no questions asked. The downside is that it does not have a rear blinker, but for the price I felt it was a good deal.

http://www.princetontec.com/byte

I have two cheap ones I rotate. I don't notice the weight. I like that they both swivel so I can put the light where I need it and that they have two beam strengths. I would also recommend a reflective vest. I bought mine from new balance, I think. I have had the set up for a couple years, and it works well.

I have absolutely NO clue what kind of headlamp I use, I got them at Costco and they were ridiculously low priced at 3/$10 or so.  I had never used one before B2B last month, but knowing I was going to be finishing after dark, I wanted to make sure I had one with me as I had no idea how lit the run was going to be, and man o' man, am I ever glad I had it.  The run was quite dark, and after a while I had people running with me because I was the only one with a headlamp on to be able to see what was coming up in front of us through the park that we were running in. 

Whichever you choose, I would say to make sure it's bright enough to also throw some light on the ground in front of you to try and keep you from tripping or rolling an ankle. 

Stay safe!  

yeah- it's that time of year.  the time of year for headlamp threads.  And- every year there are terrific new products out there.  I used to use the el cheapo cap lights.  they sorta' did the job, but once I got a 'real' light, I'll never go back.

If you run on roads, you'll need less light than on trails.  For road running, 50-70Lumens seems to be good enough.  100 is better.  Above that and I find that the light from the road reflectors and street signs just gets too bright.   You'll want more light if you run faster (sub 8min/mi), and less if you're a slow jogger (11-12min/mi).   But, having a light that has the option of a power even higher than that is terrific for my dark, rural area at spotting animals in the desert.  I can now tell the difference between the reflective eyes of a coyote, deer, rabbit, bobcat and javelina.  It's good to know where these animals are!

For trail running- I'd go 100Lm minimum, and above that is better. Some of the new CREE LED lights are hugely bright.

My other desires are light, comfortable, relatively inexpensive (hey, I'm sure the Pretzl NIO is nice... but at $170...), and that I don't need to always worry about the battery life.  For instance, the aforementioned princeton tec quad is a nice little light and will put out 78lm, but on that high power, it's only spec'ed to last 1 hr.  So- do you want to be changing your batteries before every run?  that would be annoying.

I don't know if it's the worlds best, but I went with the Princeton Tec Remix.  it takes regular AAA batteries.  I tend to use the 70lm setting, but it has a 100lm option.  batteries will last over 50hrs on the 70lm setting.  Also, it's only 66g.  The brighter lights tend to take AA batteries which are heavier.  

http://www.amazon.com/Princeton-Tec-Remix-Headlamp-5mm/dp/B002HMTNUW

my detailed review is there on the Amazon site.  not a bad choice for $30.   I add a little red reflector and blinky light on the back of the head band so cars can see me from behind (if my reflective vest, for some reason, doesn't catch their eye).

Careful reading the specs on these things.  An advertisement will claim 100 lumens and 200 hrs.  but at 100 lumens it might only be 2hrs and to get the 200 hrs you have to put the light on the lowest setting.  That's why I chose the Remix (not the Remix Pro), as it seemed to have a good combination of battery life and brightness.  One set of AAA's will last the better part of a training season.

The Petzl Tikka 2 is a very serviceable and affordable headlamp for the average road runner.

http://www.rei.com/product/791311/petzl-tikka-2-led-headlamp

The sprinter is certainly a popular one.  the cool thing about it is that it comes with a rear red blinky light.  I wish more of them did!  it only has two levels tho, with a max of 75 lm.  Which is solid, and about the light level I normally choose to run with.  Not sure about the over the head strap.  What I don't like about it is that it only has a 6hr burn time and it's a rechargeable battery.

I realize everyone has their own desires and needs- but since this is a discussion of headlamps, I'm gonna share why I prefer AAA powered headlamps vs rechargeables.  (YMMV)

1st:  It's 5am.  I'm going for a run.  I put on my rechargeable headlamp and I forgot to charge it last night.  What do you do? 

2nd.  Ultras.  hard to plug your headlamp into a tree for a few hours.  easier to just have a few tiny AAA's in your bag.

3rd.  they tend to be more expensive.

I guess the upside is that if get in the habit of always plugging in your headlamp, then you always run out the door with a full charge. 

I've used some of these clip-on ones that I picked up from meritline I think.  They were cheap and worked well.  Downside is replacing the little watch-style batteries eventually.  If you can find some that take a AAA then that might be a simpler option.