Princeton Tec Helix Backcountry Rechargeable

Field Notes: As of this writing, the popular culture’s obsession with two topics threaten to provoke a level of incredulity among Active Junky’s testers. The first is self-driving cars, a purported antidote to poor drivers, texting distractions and questionable human navigation skills. The second is travel to Mars, perhaps even the potential for colonization. Sorry, but Princeton Tec’s blasted past Elon Musk and the others with the 155g Helix: not even Matt Damon could have envisioned this one during his potato-planting exploits. 

While Active Junky has been reluctant to accept swipe activation technology in headlamps, Helix makes it work. Right for white and left for red is pure inspiration as it requires some intentionality both to choose illumination color and settings. Now, continue to swipe for two preset levels, incremental lumen settings and two modes (continued light as well as flashing). Recharging is easy with the protected port, located under the camping lantern to allow operation even during the process. Unlike others, this ridged port is easy to grab even with wet or gloved fingers and is durable enough to withstand years of opening and resealing. 

With the fascination of Aladdin’s rub-to-activate magic lamp, Helix sits up tall(er) to make the most of the situation with a quarter of folding legs. Because this Princeton Tec light is molded with diagonal grooves (and has holes in it as well), attachment with nylon straps or to molle webbing is easy. As such, Helix is among the more versatile camping lights under test, functioning as personal lighting in addition to serving the group. 

Max output of 150 lumens get the Martian treatment as well thanks to the molded, pleated diffuser that Princeton Tec deployed in this camp light. Testers liked being able to move the lantern around without fear of cracking or dirtying the diffuser, finding the flexibility compensates for a smaller diameter of effective illumination (closer to 12’). Hanging means threading the top loop through a rope or line (or popping the wire on and off, the Active Junky improv way).

Tester Comments: “This camp lantern is definitely for the tech lover, recognizing the runtimes (only 6hrs at max) – and lack of a replaceable battery back-up – mean needing to find USB juice regularly. The leg hooks fit my approach to portable lighting as they slip into the straps I’m using to secure loads on the top and back of my Nissan pick-up.”

Key Attribute: Innovation