Petzl NAO – Best of What’s New

During their 25th annual Best of What’s New awards, Popular Science included the Petzl NAO headlamp as one of the 8 recreational items that are THE BEST.

The Petzl NAO headlamp is the first of its kind to operate with reactive lighting technology. Its brightness and beam automatically adjust based off of the surrounding level of light and the distance of the object that is being illuminated. This automated headlamp efficiently uses the rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery to lengthen its maximum burn time.

One of the main advantages of Petzl’s Reactive Lighting technology is that it allows the headlamp to still put out its full lumens, when needed, as the battery is nearing empty. With standard headlamps, the light gets dimmer as the battery becomes empty.

The Nao’s lighting performance ranges from 7 to 355 lumens, at distances of 9 to 108 meters. Depending on its level and mode settings, the burn time ranges from 1.5 to 8 hours. Choose you not to use the Reactive Lighting mode; the NAO can be switched to the constant lighting mode that is standard on all headlamps.


The best part about this headlamp is the ability to fine-tune the automatic settings using Petzl’s free OS software. The NAO’s customizable performance makes it so that the headlamp’s lighting power, burn time, and distance can be adjusted. Personal presents and Pre-configured presets are available for different activities and the user’s specific needs. So if you need it to perform differently while train running from that of when you are climbing, it’s just a matter of quickly plugging it in and changing the present before you go out the door.

The NAO has an optional belt kit for the rechargeable battery pack, allowing it to relocated from the back of the head to a belt, jacket pocket, or backpack. This reduced the weight on the head and keeps the battery pack warmer in colder weather.


A personal note from Benjamin Eaton, Communications Specialist at Liberty Mountain.

“I was fortunate enough to run with the Petzl NAO headlamp at the dead of night during the 2012 Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back. It was amazing to see the brightness and beam adjust every time I overtook another runner, ran under a street lamp, or when a car’s headlights would flash me. Instead of burning at full power the whole time, even when it wasn't dark, the NAO adjusted itself to what was appropriate. I never had to touch it, except for turning it on. It’s suspension system made it very comfortable and I never felt it jostle around on my head as I ran. The NAO if very smart and efficient.”

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Liberty Mountain is a wholesale distributor of the Petzl NAO headlamp, along with their many other models.