The following is a review for a Merger Go USB Rechargeable Headlamp. This review was unsponsored and I paid for this headlamp with my own money.
When you’re on a search and rescue team, you need a good headlamp. Many, if not the majority, of our searches take place in the dark hours of night, and we need to cover ground efficiently while minimizing the risk of injury.
For years, I’ve owned and used a Black Diamond Storm Headlamp. I have been very pleased with it and its abundance of features and functionality….but all those bells and whistles and lumens come with a cost, both in weight and dollars. Not to mention my Storm can be a bit challenging to remember how to use, and I never can seem to remember how to change the settings at 3 a.m. when I’m tired on a search. That being said, it’s a great headlamp but it’s a bit overkill for most everyday hikers.
When I found the Merger Go USB Rechargeable Headlamp on Amazon during a sale, I was intrigued. At just over $10, could it really be that good for my regular hikes and backpacking trips? The short answer is “Yes, absolutely.” But let’s dive a little deeper with specifics.
Advantages of Merger Go Headlamp
Weight
Every ounce counts in your pack, even the little stuff. At 2.5 ounces, this headlamp meets my criteria for “light enough” just fine.
Multiple Modes
A headlamp with adjustable brightness and a red light feature are non-negotiable features, in my opinion.
Red light is fabulous for tackling your camp chores without risking blinding your fellow campmates. It’s also a great way to read in your tent or in a shelter and not disturb your sleepmate. This headlamp has 2 red light modes, with a high and a low setting.
This LED headlamp has 3 white light modes: High, low and strobe. On high, it is more than adequate to light up a trail if you’re night hiking. On a recent night hike, two of my friends were able to see the trail ahead of us better with the light from my headlamp exclusively, rather than using all 3 of our headlamps!
Our night hike with my headlamp on the high setting for this photo (I’m the girl in the dress 😉
Long Lasting Battery Life
At full charge, the specs below are from the headlamp’s listing on Amazon for battery life. I have found these to be accurate and even between extended times of using it, it holds its charge well.
- 4 hours for full brightness
- 25 hours for half brightness on white light
- 30 hours on red light
For almost every application I use this headlamp for, the half brightness (low) mode is all I need to sufficiently see. If I’m night hiking with it, the high beam has a slight advantage, but more often than not I’m simply using it camp for chores or reading in my tent.
You can also use the red and white light simultaneously, but I’ve never had a need for doing so.
The lumen output is stated at 165 lumens on the website. Lumen output simply refers to how much light source emits. While there are much more powerful headlamps on the market (my Black Diamond Storm, in comparison, emits up to 250 lumens), that power comes with a cost with quicker battery drainage. I feel like I’m constantly replacing my batteries on my Storm. For most people’s needs, 165 lumens will serve them just fine.
USB Rechargeable
Because I always carry an external battery charger (and highly recommend them to anyone who uses a smart phone for navigation purposes, photo taking, etc. in the backcountry), it serves double duty as batteries for my headlamp. I have never had to charge it on my trips though, because it keeps a charge for so long. 25 hours of light is a long time, even for a multi-day trip, since you’re likely only using a headlamp a few hours at night, at most.
I find that this headlamp holds its charge very well also. After nearly a year of extensive use (I also use it at home, nearly every night, to read a book outside as my “wind down the day” time), I don’t notice any difference.
The listing on Amazon states that the battery has a 30,000 hour life span, so I imagine something else will finally do it in before the battery life wears out.
Comfort
This headlamp fits very comfortably, especially since it’s so light. In fact, one night after I used it to read outside before bed, I forgot to take it off. My husband came to bed after me and found me asleep with it wrapped around my forehead! The strap is easy to adjust and doesn’t snag my hair or feel restrictive (and I often have to adjust the strap to fit over a bunched up wad of hair that I put in a “messy bun”).
Longevity
As mentioned previously, I have owned my headlamp for nearly a year now, using it nearly every night, and it still works as well as the day I took it out of the box. Granted, when I use it at home it’s very lightly used and not getting beat up in a backpack or exposed to the elements like it would be on a thru hike; however, I have used it on all my many backpacking trips and it hasn’t given me a bit of trouble.
Waterproof
I have admittedly not tested the listing’s waterproof claim to a great extent yet, but seeing as how I often read in my outdoor hot tub at night with water vapor constantly rising up towards it, it does have some degree of exposure to water.
Even with my Storm headlamp, which has a much bolder claim for waterproofness, I still do my best to protect it from rain and water, and I recommend it for any headlamp you own.
Disadvantages of Merger Go Headlamp
No review would be complete without a rundown of the negatives, because nothing is perfect. For the price point of this headlamp though, it was honestly hard for me to find much to pick on it about. But I do give it dings for the following.
Beam Control Adjustability is Lacking
If you’ve ever been blinded by your campmates with their headlamps shining directly into your retinas at night, you know how annoying it can be! While this light does have an adjustable beam, and will tilt 60 degrees per the listing, I wish the light would reflect downwards a bit more to avoid shining it in someone’s face. The red light feature is less annoying though, so that’s what I try to always use in camp, to not become “that camper.”
As a side note, while I felt this headlamp was more than adequate on my recent night hike, one reviewer on Amazon felt that the beam was too focused and didn’t diffuse enough. Personally, I thought it did a completely adequate job preventing an unsafe hike in the dark. I even found two frogs on the side of the trail while we hiked, and my hiking mates questioned how I even saw them (to be fair, they were hopping so I saw the movement first!).
No Locking Feature for On/Off Button
Pricier headlamps will often include a feature to lock the on/off button from getting bumped and turned on in your backpack. This headlamp does not have that feature but I wouldn’t expect it to for the price point.
I have never accidentally turned mine on in my backpack, and I feel that the button that controls the power isn’t easily pushed (but it’s easy to turn it on when you actually need it).
Who Should Consider This Headlamp
Personally, I would buy this headlamp for everyone in my family (and I have since bought a second one for my husband). For most hikers who primarily use a headlamp for camp chores and a light source in a tent, this would be completely adequate and a fraction of the cost of its more expensive, more recognized brands’ comparable headlamps.
I especially think this makes a great headlamp for kids. My kids are tweens and teens now, so it’s hard to say if the strap would size down enough for a toddler-aged child, but I think it would work fine on a kid 6 years of age and older.
My kids have owned their fair share of headlamps throughout their lives (mainly being replaced because they keep losing the darn things!), and this one is inexpensive enough to not feel like I’m not sacrificing their college savings plan to replace it, should they lose it.
Where to Buy It
You can find this headlamp sold on Amazon. I’ve never seen it sold anywhere else. It goes on sale occasionally for around $10-$11, but even at its highest price point (~$15-$16), it’s a great deal for what you get!
I hope this has been helpful but leave a comment below if you have questions or something valuable to add to the conversation!
Happy trails,
Nancy
You can see almost everything else I’ve posted on sale lately right here. And if you’re not a member already, I invite you to join my Facebook group, Backpacking, Hiking and Camping Deals, where I post things as quickly as I find them! It’s also an incredibly friendly and helpful community of outdoor enthusiasts who are eager and willing to share their knowledge about all things hiking and backpacking.