Ledlenser MH5

On full beam focused, the Led Lenser was able to easily illuminate a small target at 25m and far beyond it.

The LedLenser MH5 is a really practical solution for lighting on a boat.

I’ve found myself reaching for this one more than any of the others, despite it having limited lighting options.

The white beam consists of two power levels, a low power 20 lumen light and a high power 400 lumen light. The LedLenser is accurate in name as it does exactly that. The headtorch has a powerful LED, that is illuminated via a lens which amplifies and focuses the LED light.

The front of the headtorch has a rotating ring which mechanically moves the lens forward or back away from or closer to the LED. This effectively changes the focus of the light from a flood light with a broader spread of overall light, to a much more focused, narrower light beam. What this does is it can help those 400 lumens light up a target much further away than other 400 Lumen head torches that I’ve tested. Obviously it comes with the compromise of a narrower beam, but in practice, this makes the torch a more viable option for sweeping the area ahead of you as you enter a trot of moorings in the dark and will illuminate buoys far enough away to either avoid them or line up to catch it.

The rotation ring that focuses the light into the narrow beam can be a bit fiddly and with gloves on, it’s guess work and you just have to grip something and turn, hoping you’ve gripped the right bit.

There’s no strobe light with this one, so you’ll be needing another lamp if that’s on your must have list.

The simplicity of the light for light modes is a real plus point though. It will always turn back on with the same mode you turned it off with. So if you were using red, it will switch on and off red. If you want to switch over to white, then long press the one button and you’ll switch over to white. It will start with the low power white, then press again for high power white, press again and it will turn off. Press again and you have low power white. Switching back to red is simply a long press.

So far I haven’t blinded myself with this which is a rare thing. I often accidentally white flash my eyes in the dark fumbling around with a head torch.

The other power to this head torch’s arsenal is the fact it can be unmounted from the head strap and clipped to clothing or a bag or other webbing.

The head strap is easy enough to swap out when it expires as all things elasticated do when worn in a harsh environment.

The magnetic charger is a nice touch making it really easy to charge with no fiddling about at all. However, you will need to use exactly that charger and not a universal USBC for example, so you will need to carry the cable with you, or buy extras to keep on your boat, at home and in the car. Or, you can swap in a standard disposable AA battery.

This is a really great all round head torch with excellent far reaching white spot beam, only lacking a little in options for very low white light.

400 Lumen head torch

Light Modes:

Mode One (white): 20 lumens (flood) – 35 hours

Mode Two (white): 20 lumens  (spot) – 35 hours

Mode Three (white): 400 lumens (flood)  – 4 hours

Mode Four (white): 400 lumens (spot) 180 meters – 4 hours

Mode Five (red): low level for night vision

Specifications

• Weight: 94 g (including batteries
• Batteries Required: 1 x 14500 lithium-ion rechargeable battery (included) / 1 x AA NiMH or 1 x AA alkaline battery
• Charging Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
• Water resistant to IP54 standards (IP54 Protected from limited dust ingress. Protected from water spray from any direction)
• Warranty: 5 years standard or 7 years with product registration (torch), 2 years (battery)

Results of testing:

Battery life and recharging time 4/5

Full beam illumination 5/5

Low level light for reading 2/5

Red light 3/5

Water proofing 3/5

Eco (recyclable packaging and ability to replace head strap) 5/5

Weight and comfort 4/5

Buy Ledlenser MH5 from Go Outdoors

If you are looking for a head torch with a more powerful high beam then consider the ForclazHL900
If you are looking for a head torch with more red light options then consider the USE Raw Pro
If you want a great value head torch with decent red light and glow in the dark feature then consider the Petzl Tikka

click here to have a look at other head torches in our group test