Bright, Smart, and Battery Saving: Petzl Swift RL Review

Plenty of food and water, a bluebird weather forecast, a pre-dawn start, and a fully charged headlamp are a good recipe for success for a one-day ascent of Moonlight Buttress. I had plenty of water and shot blocks crammed into our mini haulbag, the weather looked great, and we certainly were up early enough.

Unfortunately, the headlamp I’d brought along to test was dead by the time we’d forded the Virgin River and made it to the base of the climb. With the sun coming up, we climbed quickly enough to be down with plenty of daylight to spare. But my introduction to the Petzl Swift RL wasn’t love at first sight. 

Be it a user error or a design flaw, the light had been on in my backpack all night and drained the battery. I thought I’d turned the lock feature on. Or had I forgotten? What good are 1,100 lumens if I’ve already drained the battery by 5:30 in the morning?

A few weeks and a few evening runs later, the Swift RL mostly redeemed itself. I prefer the single-button operation to the touch-sensitive “power tap” buttons found on some of the Black Diamond headlamps. When used strategically, the Reactive Lighting mode significantly increases the battery life. Just make sure you’ve actually put it in lock mode when you pack it away, or better yet, store it with the battery disconnected.

In short: The Petzl Swift RL is a bright, easy-to-use, rechargeable headlamp that works well for climbing, running, backpacking, biking, or anytime you need lighting power on tap. Its strap system is also very comfortable and holds the headlamp in place without any bounce. While pricey, the reactive lighting feature is unique to Petzl. It automatically analyzes the surrounding lighting, dimming the light to save battery in real time.

To see how the Swift RL stacks up against the competition, check out GearJunkie’s guide to the best headlamps.

Petzl Swift RL Review

One Button, Many Settings

The Swift RL has three power levels that function in both standard and reactive modes, a red light, and focused and flood beams, all controlled with one satisfyingly pressable button. One click cycles through the modes, and a double click kicks on the reactive lighting.

Holding the button down while the light is on switches between flood and focus. Holding down the button when the light is off puts the headlamp in lock mode. Holding the button down for about 4 seconds unlocks the light and turns it back on.

Was the headlamp too easy to unlock in my pack? Is the button too easy to press? Maybe. But it’s also chunky enough to find and press with gloves on, which is not the case with many other headlamps I’ve tested. (Looking at you, Black Diamond.)

What Is Reactive Lighting?

Reactive lighting is cool and useful, not a gimmick. Here’s what it does — a sensor on the front of the headlamp analyzes the lighting in your environment, taking into account the ambient lighting and the light reflected back at the headlamp. The more light it senses, the dimmer the light from the headlamp becomes.

If you’re looking at a map in the dark, the light will dim as you hold the map up to your face. Lower the map to peer down the trail, and the light brightens to the max setting (or whatever level you’ve set the light to), so fast that it’s hard to notice. 

It’s also cool if you’re climbing in the dark. The light dims a bit when you’re looking at handholds right at your face, and then brightens when you look up or down the route, illuminating larger features.

In the max setting, the light can adjust itself from 30 to 1,100 lumens. I found that using reactive lighting at the medium power setting hit the sweet spot.

The Black Diamond Distance LT 1100 is a similar model with the same lumen count. It doesn’t have reactive lighting, but it does have a “power tap” touch-sensitive button on the side to boost the light to maximum power quickly. The touch-sensitive button is impossible to operate if you’re wearing gloves.

With the Petzl Swift RL, I found a little hack that approximates BD’s powertap feature — if you cover the light sensor on the front of the Swift, the headlamp will temporarily go to maximum brightness. This is great if you want to override the reactive light setting, and you can do it with your gloves on.

Battery Life and Charging

This headlamp will run a respectable 7 hours on its medium setting with the reactive lighting mode activated. This is plenty of light for running, hiking, or climbing. If you can operate on the lower light settings, you can push that up to 100 hours.

At its lowest setting, the light is effective for reading, but not great for seeing more than 15 feet in front of you. I’d say ultramarathoners should look at a lamp with a bigger battery capacity, like the Black Diamond Distance 1500. That said, Petzl sells rechargeable batteries for the Swift so you can carry extras, but they’ll cost you an additional $60 a pop.

There’s a little green LED charge meter on the front of the headlamp that lets you know about how much juice you have left. I prefer this much more than the old Petzl battery indicator. Back in the olden days, Petzl headlamps used to get dimmer as the batteries died, and then started blinking to really let you know you were about to be left in the dark. This was about as annoying as it sounds, and was enough to steer me away from the brand.

Now you can just check the meter, and when you’re down to the bottom of the barrel, the light goes into a limp mode that emits 10 lumens for an additional 2 hours. A standard USB-C cable gets this light fully recharged in around 5 hours.

Drawbacks and Other Options

The Petzl Swift RL is a solid all-arounder, but if I’m being picky, they’re are a few things that can improve. I’ve tested other headlamps that can best the Swift in certain situations. The removable battery isn’t that easy to remove compared to the battery on the BD Distance LT, which smoothly slides out. 

There are more comfortable, less expensive lights that are better for running. If you don’t need 8 hours of burn time, a little light like the BioLite Dash 450 is more comfortable to wear. This battery is in the rear for better balance, along with a rear safety light. The Black Diamond Spot 400-R is one of my favorite headlamps, emitting 400 lumens for half the price of the Swift, plenty for most people.

Conclusion

Folks in need of a powerful light in a 3.5-ounce package will be happy with the Swift RL. The one-button functionality is simple and effective, and the reactive lighting is useful once you get used to it. It’s completely optional if you need the Swift to function like a regular headlamp.

There are lighter and brighter headlamps out there, but despite my initial battery draining debacle, the Swift RL has earned its place in my climbing pack.