Lynx Off Grid Technology specializes in lights. Really, really bright lights. So we took its Raven Double Ultralight headlamp for a spin and wrote this glowing review. By Vince Hempsall

The headquarters of the Lynx Off Grid Technology company are located on a remote mountain property near Nelson, British Columbia that is serviced by solar power and fed by creek water. Appropriate really. Launched in 2019 by Dylan Bucher, a Vancouver native who moved to the Kootenays eight years ago, Lynx OGT designs and sells five styles of headlamps and three different mounts, including a handlebar mount that is new for 2020. Dylan says this is only the beginning though. “Headlamps are just the start. A complete system of the highest quality and longest-lasting, off-grid products are on the way,” he said. Until then, he offered to let us take the Raven Double Ultralight Headlamp and new handlebar mount for a spin.

Snapshot: Lynx OGT Raven Double Ultralight Headlamp

    1. Pros: So light and so powerful! This is the best headlamp/bike light we’ve ever used.
    2. Cons: No red, low-light LED option. Battery requires charging, which can be challenging on long backcountry forays.
    3. Price: $159.99 Cdn
    4. Who Should Buy: Everyone.
    5. Who Shouldn’t Buy: Bats.
    6. Helpful Hack: Don’t charge the battery when it’s cold. Wait for it to warm up to over 0°C before charging otherwise you could damage the battery.
    7. Author’s overall rating: 9.5/10
The Raven Double Ultralight headlamp comes with a selection of logos: the classic lynx or the raven edition seen here.

The Test

Two staff members were involved with this review. Editor-in-chief Mitchell Scott used the Lynx OGT Raven Double Ultralight Headlamp for months doing everything from hiking in the forest near his house to chopping wood. As for me, I took the newly released handlebar mount and the light for night biking sessions on the trails in Nelson, British Columbia. The temperatures of the tests ranged from +25°C to -3°C but Dylan says he’s had the headlamp in -20°C and the lumen output didn’t change. “We use a special, top-of-the-line 3500mAh battery that’s designed for Canadian winters,” he says. “Other rechargeable and lithium-ion headlamps usable battery life will fall by up to 95 percent in cold weather but ours remains the same.”

The instructions that come with the Lynx Double Ultralight include a caution: “Never shine the headlamp in your eyes or the eyes of others. Extremely bright.” No doubt. We can’t even look directly at the light in this photograph.

The Verdict

After a few months with the headlamp, this is what Mitchell had to say about it: “It’s very sick. As compact as a traditional headlamp but with major lumens to the point where I can do anything I’ve ever wanted to in the dark. And, to my surprise, the thing has insane battery life. It takes me forever to drain it fully. The quality is unreal. This is the perfect local Christmas gift for people who need to be outside in the dark, which is 3pm these days for crissakes!” He also can speak from experience that the strobe function of the headlamp is so powerful, it scares away bears.
Finally, it was time to jump on my fat bike and turn the light on. Verdict? Let’s just say I now know what God felt like on day one.

As for me, the first thing I noticed when the headlamp arrived was the tiny box it came in: how can something that’s supposed to be so powerful fit into a box that’s smaller than my wallet? It’s as light as my wallet too, which, given that I’m a writer, is unbelievable. The entire unit including headband and battery only weighs 110 grams, which makes it the lightest, brightest headlamp on the market. The instructions looked like they were printed on a home computer and included grammatical errors and spelling mistakes but that just added to the grassroots appeal of the product: buying local may not always be as slick as getting the latest Apple product, but damn, it feels so much better supporting a guy who lives up the road versus a cauldron of faceless businessmen.

Check out the huge peripheral reach of the Lynx OGT Double Ultralight Headlamp at full power!

The functionality of the headlamp is intuitive as there’s only one green button and it offers three options: #1. Press once: light turns on at the brightness level it was at when last used. #2. Hold: light intensity gets brighter to a maximum of 1,800 lumens. Continue holding and the light intensity lessens to a minimum of 50 lumens. #3. Double click: light enters strobe function

In order to access the micro-USB charging port, simply unscrew the end of the headlamp canister where the green button is located. That button also acts as a power indicator: when first turned on, it will flash green three times to indicate it’s fully charged. If it flashes red, it’s time to charge. It doesn’t have a red LED low light feature but who ever uses that anyway? Overall, the unboxing was great but how well did it perform on the trails? Firstly I can say that it’s great how easily the light snaps out of the headlamp mount and onto the bike mount. Secondly, I liked the fact the light doesn’t use hinges, it just swivels up and down in the mount itself. This seating could wear over time and the grip might loosen but even if it does, the headlamp comes with a three-year warranty. Three years! Try to get that guarantee the next time you purchase some dross on Alibaba. The headlamp is also waterproof and to prove it, I submerged it in a sink for 30 seconds: still works great.

Buying local may not always be as slick as getting the latest Apple product, but damn, it feels so much better supporting a guy who lives up the road versus a cauldron of faceless businessmen.

Finally, it was time to jump on my fat bike and turn the light on. Verdict? Let’s just say I now know what God felt like on day one. I don’t often quote scripture but the passage in Genesis that reads, “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good” is an apt description for my first experience riding with the Lynx OGT Raven Double Ultralight Headlamp. Not only did the 1,800 lumens illuminate the trail a good 50 meters in front of me, it’s wide, 120-degree beam angle also lit up my periphery. I’d never experienced that before with a bike light. Other models I’ve used in the past required supplemental light from a headlamp so I could illuminate corners but I was completely comfortable hooning down singletrack with just the Lynx. On all the rides I kept the light at its highest setting and it would fade slightly to maybe 1,500 lumens after about an hour but it was still enough to comfortably bike the trails.

According to Dylan, the battery life will last 3.5 hours on the brightest setting and 100 hours on the lowest. He also says the battery is rated for 1,000 recharge cycles, which equates to charging it everyday for about three years. This same amount of energy works out to about 10,000 AAA batteries or about $5,000 worth! I have yet to use the light long enough to prove any of these figures but I will say that the only drawback I see with the Lynx OGT Raven headlamp is I can’t easily replace the batteries in it when I go into the backcountry. Unlike millennials, I rarely haul an external power bank with me on extended outdoor forays, preferring instead a stash of extra batteries. Were it not for my old-school ways, though, I’d comfortably give this headlamp a 10/10 rating because it’s so light and so powerful, it makes you crave the night.

Lynx OGT Raven Double Ultralight Headlamp – The Deets

    • MSRP: $159.99 Cdn
    • 1,800 lumens on full charge.
    • It can go as low as 50 lumens
    • 110 grams (includes battery, strap, and headlamp)
    • Battery life: 3.5 hrs on brightest setting and 100 hrs on lowest setting (50 lumens)
    • Waterproof and dust proof
    • Live battery level display underneath power button
    • Micro-USB chargeable (cable included)
    • Wide 120-degree beam angle
    • Push-button dimming and memory function
    • Strobe mode
    • Headlamp is made of durable aluminum
    • 3-year warranty
    • More info: www.lynxogt.com

Author’s Note: Mountain Culture Group is not paid for these reviews. They are honest expressions of our opinions. In some instances we are given the product to keep but that does not sway our assessment. If we dislike a product and feel it would score a rating of less than 5/10, we simply won’t review it.