FLEXTAIL Tiny Helio 600Z Headlamp Review
For the last few months, I’ve been reviewing the FLEXTAIL Tiny Helio 600Z Headlamp, which is a new headlamp from the company that brought you the FLEXTAIL Zero Pump. I liked the Zero Pump, so when Flextail offered me a review sample of the Tiny Helio, I jumped on it.
What is it?
The FLEXTAIL Tiny Helio Headlamp is a lightweight 2.1-ounce with the battery headlamp. It ships with FLEXTAIL’s 650CHT battery, which offers three hours of runtime at the highest brightness. Users can upgrade the battery to FLEXTAIL’s 900cht battery, which offers four hours of runtime. As of publication, the upgraded battery was $12.99 when bought directly from FLEXTAIL.
The battery is interchangeable with the Zero Pump. So, you could save a little weight by bringing only one battery to share between the two. Both the batteries and the headlamp are USB-C chargeable. That means you can charge the battery while in the headlamp or take it out of the headlamp and charge it. The headlamp can also be powered with an external power bank, such as Nitecore Power Bank.
Four LED lights on the top of the headlamp show how much battery life is left with each light indicating 25%.
The Tiny Helio has a claimed IP67 Waterproof, which means that it “is dust-tight and protected against temporary submersion in water up to 1 meter (3.3 feet) for up to 30 minutes.” FLEXTAIL also claims it has a drop rating of 1 meter. The headlamp is mounted on a base with six different clickable positions with 60° of rotation.
It comes with a cord strap and a clip lock slider that also includes a screwdriver bit to open the battery compartment. The cord is removable. The orange parts that hold the cord to the headlamp slip out and completely detach.
Headlight Modes
The headlamp itself includes a spot light, flood light, and red light. The maximum brightness is 600 lumens. The lights must be mixed together in a mixed light mode to reach the 600 lumens. Each light or mix of light has several different brightness modes. Lower brightness gives longer runtimes. There’s also a SOS and flashing mode. The lights are 6,500K, which means they are very blue/white in color. There are reasons why you may want to avoid lights of that color at night, but I won’t dwell on them. I’m considering putting a warming gel over the flood light for use at night in the tent to reduce the harshness of the color temp.
The following chart lists the claimed lumens and runtimes.
| Light Mode | High (Lumens/hours of runtime) | Middle (Lumens/hours of runtime) | Low (Lumens/hours of runtime) | Moonlight (Lumens/hours of runtime) | Flashing |
| Mixed Light Mode (both) | 600/3h | 250/6h | 100/15h | NA | NA |
| Spot Light Mode (narrow) | NA | 400/5h | 100/15h | NA | NA |
| Flood Light Mode (wide) | NA | 200/5h | 100/15h | 5/50h | NA |
| Red Light Mode | 10/20h | NA | NA | NA | 10/20h |
| SOS Mode | NA | NA | NA | NA | 600/Not Listed |
| Signal Light Mode | NA | NA | NA | NA | 600/Not Listed |
To use the headlamp, there are two rubber coated buttons on the top. When looking at the light, the flood light button is on the left and the spot light is on the right. Double pushing either button turns it on in full power mode. Each additional click reduces power until it is turned off. To get into mixed light mode, you must double press one button and then double click the other.
After the headlight is on, holding down the flood light button gets you into the red light mode, and holding down the spot light button gets you into the SOS or flashing signal mode. If you hold both buttons down at the same time, it switches into a “safety lock” mode. That prevents the light from turning on again until you hold both buttons down again. You’ll know you are in and out of this mode, because the headlamp flashes three times.
FLEXTAIL Tiny Helio 600Z Headlamp in Use
Over the approximately two months of testing this headlamp, I’ve used it for skiing at night, hiking to photography locations in the early morning, and a few times a night while reading. It generally lives in a hip pocket on my camera backpack. It has stayed there even on sub-0°F (-17.8°C) days. The battery seems solid even in the cold. This short test can’t test long-term durability, so I’ll continue to test this through the summer. Until then, I’ll keep my comments mainly about the lights, although I haven’t noticed any issues about durability. I expect it to be fine.
As far as the lights during nighttime sports, I found the light to be more than adequate for xc skiing, which will translate well for even the fastest nighttime paddling or camp chores. The mixed light mode (both lights on) is really bright and lights up the trail ahead and much of the forest as well. I actually found it a bit too bright in the highest mode. Because I only really needed to see directly ahead, I used the spotlight mode, which reduced the lumens from a claimed 600 to 400. It seems to reach the same distance ahead but didn’t cast light everywhere.
When just testing it out while not active, I found that the low level was fine. This is likely the level that you’d use while doing camp chores, such as cooking or heading out to the bathroom.
As far as reading, the moonlight mode was fine for me. The 5 lumens was plenty, and it was great to know that I had 50h of runtime.
Conclusion
To wrap up my FLEXTAIL Tiny Helio 600Z Headlamp Review, I’d say that it’s a solid headlamp with a lot of features to offer. The light is bright for active sports at night. It has a long lasting low light mode. At 2.1 ounces, it’s light. It has a user replaceable and upgradable battery.
Overall, the FLEXTAIL Tiny Helio is a good option.
Get it at Garage Grown Gear or Directly from FLEXTAIL.
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