Petzl vs Fenix headlamps

Most brand comparisons on this site end with one company publishing figures and the other publishing a lumen number. This one does not. Petzl and Fenix finished first and second in our headlamp brand ranking precisely because both state battery capacity, runtime, weight and an ingress rating on every lamp — so for once the argument is about engineering choices rather than about who is hiding what.

And the choices are close to opposite. Petzl builds the lightest lamps in the category and protects them against rain. Fenix builds heavier lamps around bigger, standard, removable cells and protects them against immersion.

How we picked

Four matched pairs by role — the flagship, the mid-range rechargeable, the compact, and the maximum-endurance lamp. Every figure is the maker's own, linked with the date we read it. Petzl's own spec pages were reachable from this build; two Fenix figures come from the brand's own retail listing and are labeled as such. We have handled none of these lamps — our methodology sets out what we do instead.

The complete sheet, both sides

Two patterns fall straight out. Fenix holds more energy at every tier, and Petzl weighs less at every tier. The Fenix HM75R carries two and a half times the watt-hours of Petzl's biggest lamp; the Petzl Swift LT weighs just over half what Fenix's lightest does.

The pair that decides most purchases

The Petzl Swift RL and the Fenix HM65R-T are the flagships, and they land within two meters of each other on reach — 168 m against 170 m. That closeness is worth unpacking, because the lamps get there very differently.

Cells: standard and removable against proprietary and light

This is the other structural difference, and it follows from the weight figures rather than contradicting them.

• Fenix runs on standard, removable cells. The HM65R-T takes a 3,400 mAh 18650 or two CR123A primaries. The HM50R takes a 16340. The HL18R-T takes its pack or three AAA. You can carry a charged spare and swap it in the dark, and CR123A primaries store for roughly a decade.
• Petzl runs on its CORE pack or AAA. The Tikka and Tikkina take three AAA or the CORE; the Swift and NAO lamps take a Petzl pack. That is a proprietary part rather than a cell you can buy anywhere, and it is part of why the lamps weigh what they do.
• The HM50R is the odd one worth flagging. Fenix states that a CR123A works but caps output at 130 lm — so the primary-cell fallback exists and costs you most of the light. That is exactly the kind of caveat most makers leave out, and Fenix printing it is a point in its favor.

How each brand states runtime

Both publish a runtime, which already puts them ahead of most of the category, but the formats differ in a way that matters.

Fenix publishes a single maximum — 300 hours on the HM65R-T, 160 on the HL18R-T, 42 on the HM50R. Those describe the lowest mode, not the 1,600 lumens on the box. Petzl publishes a threshold instead: visible at 700 m for 400 hours. That states the condition the measurement was taken to, which is more information in the same number of words, and it is the better of the two formats.

Petzl's reactive lamps go further again. The Swift RL states 7 hours minimum at medium in reactive mode — a floor rather than a ceiling, on a lamp that dims itself when you look at something close. How runtime is defined covers why a single headline figure is the weakest form of the claim.

The four matched pairs

Flagship: Fenix HM65R-T vs Petzl Swift RL

Fenix: 1,600 lm, 170 m, 12.2 Wh, IP68, a removable 18650 and a CR123A fallback, at 140 g. Petzl: 1,200 lm, 168 m, 8.47 Wh, IPX4, reactive dimming, at 92 g. The Fenix wins on energy, waterproofing and cell flexibility; the Petzl wins on weight by 48 grams and on beam efficiency.

Skip the HM65R-T if you will notice 140 g on your forehead for six hours. Skip the Swift RL if the lamp gets properly wet, or if you want to carry a spare cell rather than a power bank. Note too that the Swift RL's buy box is currently showing no live price through our layer, so its button reads Check price — the listing is live, we just will not print an unverified number.

Mid-range: Petzl Actik Core vs Fenix HL18R-T

The Fenix publishes 800 lumens, 6.8 Wh and IP66 at 103 g. The Petzl publishes 625 lumens, 115 m, 4.5 Wh and IPX4 at 88 g, and takes AAA cells when the CORE is flat. More light and better weather sealing against less weight and a published beam distance.

Skip the Actik Core if you want immersion protection. Skip the HL18R-T if you want to know how far it throws — Fenix publishes no beam distance for it, which on an 800-lumen lamp is the figure you would most want.

Compact: Petzl Swift LT vs Fenix HM50R V2.0

43 g against 78 g, and 380 lumens against 700. The Swift LT is the lightest lamp on this site by a wide margin and publishes 70 m and 3.27 Wh. The HM50R nearly doubles the output from a smaller 2.9 Wh cell and detaches to work as a pocket light, which is a genuinely useful second role.

Skip the Swift LT if 380 lumens is not enough — it is a lamp for seeing your feet, not the far side of a valley. Skip the HM50R if weight is the whole point, or if you need an ingress rating, because Fenix publishes none for it.

Maximum endurance: Fenix HM75R vs Petzl NAO RL

The HM75R carries an 18650 and a 21700 at once — 30.2 watt-hours, the largest energy store anywhere on this site — and publishes 234 hours on floodlight and 365 on red. It weighs 321 g complete. The NAO RL publishes 1,500 lumens, 11.84 Wh and 145 g, with reactive lighting and a pack that doubles as a power bank.

Skip the HM75R for anything you wear for pleasure — 321 g on your head is a work decision, not a hiking one. Skip the NAO RL if you need the absolute longest burn, because 11.84 Wh is not going to answer 30.2. Neither publishes an ingress rating, which on two lamps at this price is disappointing from both.

Which brand should you buy

• The lamp is going to get soaked — Fenix. IP68 on the HM65R-T against IPX4 on everything Petzl makes.
• You are counting grams — Petzl. 43 g on the Swift LT, 88 g on the Actik Core, 92 g on the Swift RL.
• You want to carry a charged spare cell — Fenix. Standard 18650, 21700, 16340 and AAA, plus CR123A fallbacks.
• You want the longest possible burn — Fenix HM75R at 30.2 Wh, if you can accept 321 g.
• You move fast in the dark — Petzl, on reactive lighting. See headlamps for running.
• You want the cheapest lamp worth owning from either — Petzl Tikkina. See headlamps under $50.

What we would not tell you

We would not tell you Petzl's IPX4 means its lamps leak. IPX4 is a tested, published rating that covers rain properly, and Petzl has clearly chosen weight over sealing rather than failed to seal. It is a trade, and the reason to know about it is that the trade is invisible until it rains.

We would also not compare the HM75R's 234-hour floodlight figure to the Swift RL's 7-hour reactive minimum as though they were the same measurement. One is a maximum on a low mode, the other is a floor on a mid mode. Runtime figures are only comparable when the conditions behind them are, which is the single most common way these numbers mislead.