Black Diamond Storm Review

Black Diamond are well-known for producing high-quality outdoor equipment. The company has been producing goods since the 1950s, so it’s had plenty of time to figure out exactly what gear outdoor enthusiasts need.

It’s not surprising, therefore, that all of their products are carefully designed and have lots of extra features. This is true across all of their products, and today we’re going to be looking at the Black Diamond Storm, one of their best-selling headlamps.

Headlamps are an essential bit of gear for climbers, runners, or anyone who likes to be outside after hours. That’s why we recently took the time to review some of the best headlamps of 2020 (see here) and also compared the Storm to another one of Black Diamond’s products, the Spot (see here). Now, however, now we’re delving in for a more thorough look at what makes the Black Diamond Storm so special.

Light

Lumens

Lumens are how we measure the brightness of light – the greater the lumens, the brighter the light. Black Diamond produces a range of headlights, and the number of lumens associated with them varies.

With 350 lumens of power behind it, the Black Diamond Storm is brighter than your average light and is brighter than many of Black Diamond’s top headlamps (the ReVolt, the Spot, and the Cosmo).

There are ultra-bright lights available, such as the Icon 700 (700 lumens) but, generally speaking, 350 lumens is more than enough for most purposes – in fact, if you get much brighter, you can easily end up dazzling yourself and passers-by!

Beam Distance

But lumens aren’t everything – you also need a lamp with a lens that can focus the beam efficiently to give you a decent beam distance. After all, it’s no good having a super bright light if it can only illuminate 5m into the distance. The Black Diamond Storm has a beam distance of 85m (279ft), which is pretty impressive for a headlamp in the price range.

Overall, we’re pretty pleased with both the lumens and the beam distance of the Storm, especially for the price.

Modes

The Black Diamond Storm has a great range of modes, particularly for a lamp in its price range.

Not only does it have white LEDs but it has red, green, and blue ones too that you can use to avoiding dazzling people and animals plus a strobe mode you can use as a signal. But with so many modes, you might think clicking through them all could be a bit of a pain… but fear not, the memory feature means that even if you turn your lamp off for a while when you turn it back on the last used mode will still be active, so no more clicking – yay.

There are also some handy features that help to save your battery life. As well as a full-strength beam mode, you can also reduce the beam distance when you need to save some juice in an instant thanks to the Power Tap Technology. Plus, there’s a lock mode, so you don’t need to worry about your lamp turning on in your bag and draining all the power.

We were pleasantly surprised to see these high-end features without a high-end price tag!

Battery

Battery Life

Although headlamps are super handy things to have around the house in case of power outages, they tend to be purchased mainly for outdoor activities. And when you’re out exercising in the dark and relying on your headlamp to get you home safely, decent battery life is super important.

The Black Diamond Storm runs off 4 x AAA batteries, unlike many others that are powered by just 3. This extra battery extends the battery life resulting in approximately 22 hours of light in high mode and 160 in low – more than enough to get you home safely.

Battery Type

As we’ve said, the Black Diamond Storm runs off 4 x AAA batteries. Some of the drawbacks of disposable batteries are the ongoing cost, the weight, and the damage to the environment too. Although we like lamps that run off rechargeable batteries, one advantage of disposables is that you can carry around an extra battery and pop it in in times of need, so we guess both battery types have their pros and cons.

Weight

Seeing as you’ll be wearing your lamp in the center of your head, you want it to be as light as possible. Plus, if you’ll be wearing it while you’re doing strenuous activity, such as running, then the lighter the lamp the less it will move around.

Most standard headlamps – that is, not ultralightweight or heavy-duty ones – are around 3 oz in weight, give or take a few pounds. Weighing in at 3.9 oz, the Black Diamond Storm is a little on the heavy side. This is largely due to the fourth battery is holds.

If you’re not so fussed about battery life, you might prefer to shed a few pounds and go for a lighter model, but if you’re after a light that will keep going for that bit longer, then you might not mind the extra weight – the choice is up to you.

Durability

If you’ll be using your headlamp in the great outdoors, which we think most of you probably will, then you want it to hold out on you when the bad weather hits.

We love that the Black Diamond Storm has a solid waterproof rating of IP67 (can withstand immersion in 1m of water for up to 90mins) but, in case that wasn’t enough, this headlamp is also dustproof thanks to the same seals that stop water from getting in – double whammy!

Value for Money

So, now we’ve seen what the Black Diamond Storm has to offer, but do we think it’s worth it? In short, yes.

At around 50 bucks, depending on the seller, we think this headlamp is an absolute steal. Not only is it fully waterproof (not just water-resistant like lots of other models), but it’s completely dustproof too.

On top of this, you get way more lighting options than we’d expect, plus there are some handy modes for saving your battery. And speaking of battery, the battery life on this is way better than average. Granted, it is a little heavy, but overall we think you definitely get your money’s worth with the Storm.

Rating

With an overall score 92, the Black Diamond Storm has performed very well against our rating system.

It dropped a couple of points in the light and battery categories because we guess another 100 lumens wouldn’t hurt and we’d love to see a rechargeable power source… but it still scored well thanks to the great beam distance, excellent choice of modes, and the long battery life.

The main place it lost marks was the weight – the extra battery makes this a slightly heavier option than others of a similar nature. However, it scored full marks for durability thanks to its great seals that keep out dust and water and it also got top marks in the value for money category.

Verdict

If you’re looking for a high-quality headlamp but don’t want to shell out a fortune, then you should seriously consider the Black Diamond Storm.

With great durability, an impressive range of modes, a long battery life, and an excellent beam distance, we just can’t believe that this headlamp doesn’t cost more.

If you’re after something ultralightweight or ultrabright, then it probably isn’t the one for you… but these niche demands aside, this headlamp covers all the basics and then some – well done Black Diamond!