
It performed very well during the race. There are three LED lights, two pointing down in front of you and one pointing forward off the front of the bill. There's a fairly unobtrusive battery pack along the side, and a button incorporated along the side of the brim. One click on the button turns on the two downward-facing lights, a second click turns those off and the forward light on, and a third click lights all of them up. Fourth click takes you back to the off position. I wear glasses, and found that the forward-facing light gave me a little too much glare, so I usually just went with the two downward lights. Depending on the angle you wear your hat, that projects far enough forward to see most anything coming.

Getting back home, I used the hat a few times on my early morning runs around the neighborhood. I'm used to running many of the streets around town without lighting, and there are quite a few streetlights, so it didn't seem totally necessary. On occasions that I got into unfamiliar areas, though, or places without lights (North McCarran) the extra light and visibility did give me some peace of mind.
Nighttime trail running is a different bast, one I don't have much experience with. I'm not sure this hat would give you quite enough light while, say, in the middle of a 100 miler when your concentration is slipping anyway. Probably best to go with a really bright, dedicated headlamp system in a case like that. This is fine for around town, in between streetlights and stuff.
Another good use of a hat like this is camping. My family only really got out once this year, out to the Reese River Valley near Austin, NV, but I wore this hat in the evenings and it worked great. Better than fumbling for a headlamp or flashlight, turning a ballcap backwards to get the headlamp on, not having free hands with a flashlight...
I did have an issue with the hat not long after that camping trip, though - the two downward facing lights stopped working. After doing all the troubleshooting I could, taking batteries out and putting them back in, checking connections, etc., I looked up warranty info on the manufacturer's website. The basic warranty was to send them the hat with $4.95 shipping and handling included and they would replace it. There was also a customer service email, so I asked if that was the best thing to do (mentioning I was a running blogger) and got a response back to call a specific person at the company. I did, explained my situation, and whoever I was referred to seemed a bit baffled as to why I was talking to her. She advised sending it in as outlined in the warranty FAQ. I did, and a few weeks later, got a replacement (sadly, unlogoed) hat in the mail.
The new hat has worked fine, although I've been using it a lot less during the winter months when I've worn a warmer knit hat instead. I'm sure I'll use it again in the spring and summer next year, though.
So, I like the hat pretty well, as long as it's working. I'm still a little miffed about having to pay them to ship a working hat back to me, and kind of curious about the weirdly unprofessional emails from their customer service. I think the company isn't really customer service oriented, more manufacturing. But they do make decent product, and it fits well into my menagerie of running gear.
1 comment:
A hat with lights on it! That's a great idea instead of a head lamp that bounces around when you run. You'll have to show it to me sometime~
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