Black Diamond Storm Headlamp Review – Gear Review

I’ve run races on perfect nights, in the rain, the snow and in sub-freezing temperatures with fully submerged water and mud obstacles. When it comes to a head lamp, durability and performance are a must and a DNF from head lamp failure 20 hours into a race is not an option. Enter the Black Diamond Storm Headlamp.

First Impressions of the Black Diamond Storm:

I first encountered the Black Diamond Storm in my preparations for the Georgia Death Race. A friend and long time camper suggested I make the investment and actually lent me his to test out. My first thoughts… man this thing is complicated (keep your instructions). For a head lamp this thing has a ton of options including a motion sensor for adjusting beam strength. The head band itself is very comfortable and the lamp body’s weight sitting very close to the head making it feel light when moving.

Black Diamond Storm Head Lamp Features:

• Touch-sensitive housing lets you transition between full and dimmed power with the tap of your finger
• Fully dustproof and IPX7 rated waterproof design with a sealed housing and latch opening
• Bright, precise beam is perfect for route finding after dark
• Resigned profile offers improved peripheral lighting for close-range activities like cooking, reading or sorting gear
• Brightness memory allows you to turn the light on and off at a chosen brightness without reverting back to full power
• Red, green and blue SinglePower LEDs for night vision have dimming and strobe settings and activate without cycling through white mode
• Intuitive lock mode prevents the light from accidentally turning on when stored in your pack or pocket
• Sleek design uses 4 AAA batteries

Field Test – Worlds Toughest Mudder 2018

What better way to test the Black Diamond Storm headlamp than one of the worlds toughest races. Subfreezing temperatures for 24 hours with full submersion including a 36+ ft jump. Bring it on!

With a fresh set of batteries I took off into the portion of the race knows as “night ops.” The event is held in November with a 12PM start times, So “night ops” is the 12 hours of darkness racers face during the middle of the event where a headlamp is required on course. The course it self had seen a week of rain leading up to event. Meaning that after the first lap the course turned to complete mush making picking your lines for footing even more important.

The Black Diamond Storm’s light is strong and bright making it easy to spot potential hazards on the trail. It stays stable on your head and the band is more comfortable than other headlamps I’ve tried. Forced to wear thick neoprene gloves the motion touch spotlight setting were a life savor and kept me from blinding medical each lap. I’ve used the Black Diamond Storm as a straight forward headlamp and in every case is a winner.

Conclusion on the Black Diamond Storm

The Storm stood up over 12 hours of full submersion in water multiple times for 5-10 seconds, sub freezing air temperatures and continuously going from water to freezing air. The impact of a 36′ drop into water and more mud than you can imagine didn’t even phase it. The batteries never failed me and I can say that about 2/3 of the people on the course had the same headlamp. A testament to its reputation.

*Note: After 12 hours in the water I did have to remove the batteries and dry our some moisture that had accumulated in the batter enclosure. I let it dry for a day as recommended. It’s worked perfectly since but have heard if you don’t remove the batteries and moisture after full submersion they can corrode the terminals. This is also based on extreme use at World Toughest Mudder.

Buy this headlamp… I own two and will only be trusting the Black Diamond Storm on the trail in the future.