The Petzl Actik Core Headlamp is a high-powered 625 lumen dual power headlamp loaded with easy-to-use, intuitive features, including a single button control, a red light to preserve night vision, a battery meter, and an electronic lock to prevent accidental battery drain. It’s also a dual power headlamp that comes with a removable USB-C compatible Petzl Core Rechargeable battery, but can also be powered by 3 AAA/LR03 batteries without an extra adapter. This provides peace of mind and flexibility if you’re hiking or backpacking in remote locations where it’s difficult to plug into a wall to recharge a battery.

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• Product: Petzl Actik Core Headlamp (USB-C  3.5hr charge time)
• Type: Dual Power (included rechargeable battery or 3AAA/LR03 batteries (not included)
• Battery: 1250 mAh included (available separately)
• Weight: 3.1 oz / 88g
• Max Brightness: 625 lumens
• White Runtimes: 625 lumens – 2h; 100 lumens – 7h; 7 lumens – 100h
• Headband: Reflective strap
• Pros: dual power, intuitive control sequence, electronic lock, power meter, glows-in-the-dark
• Cons: A USB-C charging cable is not included

The headlamp is powered by a removable and rechargeable battery

Battery

The headlamp comes with a Petzl Core battery inside. This is a rechargeable battery that is compatible with other Petzl products. It can be removed from the headlamp, and you can buy several of them if you want to carry extras. However, instead of recharging the headlamp, you recharge the battery, which has its own power meter, using a USB-C plug. The previous version used a micro-USB plug.

The Core battery holds 1250 mAh of power, which is a bit on the low side in that it only provides up to 7 hours of burn time on the headlamp’s medium setting, which throws 100 lumens of light. In most circumstances, that should be plenty of light for backpacking. For example, when it gets dark, I just go to sleep and rarely use my headlamp when camping, except to pee once or twice at night. If you plan on trail running in the dark, you may want a headlamp with a bigger battery and a longer runtime, but for the average three-season hiker, 7 hours of runtime between charges is more than enough.

Command Sequence

The headlamp has a single control button on top. The light can be rotated in its cradle to direct the beam.

The Petzl Actik Core headlamp features a single button on top, making it easier to remember the command sequence and cycle through it, even if you don’t use the headlamp daily. I just hate complicated command sequences, especially ones that require multiple interdependent buttons to use.

The headlamp has an electronic lock/unlock feature to prevent accidental battery drain, which I consider a must-have feature on any headlamp that will be carried in a backpack. It has three brightness settings: 625 lumens, 100 lumens, and 7 lumens, in a flood or wide beam pattern, along with a red mode and red strobe. While the headlamp is rated for 625 lumens on high power, you rarely need that much light for three-season hiking and backpacking. You’ll probably only use the 100 lumen setting occasionally, and the red mode most of the time, so you don’t want to blind your companions when sitting around the campfire at night.

The battery door is much easier to open in the latest mode

Battery Compartment

The battery compartment door on the new Petzl Actik 625 Core is much easier to open than on the previous 600 lumen model: you don’t even have to use a fingernail, just the tip of your thumb. Closing the battery compartment door is also easier. It has a gasket around its periphery to keep water out. Once you see how the door fits into place, it’s easy to get it back in the right position.

The headlamp is lightweight with a comfortable reflective headband.

Recommendation

The Petzl Actik Core 625 Headlamp (2025) is a dual power headlamp with a single control button and an intuitive command sequence that’s easy to figure out (again and again), even if you don’t use it all the time. The ability to use the headlamp’s rechargeable CORE battery or 3 AAA batteries (without a special adapter) is a “core” capability that can extend the utility of the headlamp in more remote or colder locales, as it allows the use of cold-resistant lithium AAA batteries.

In addition to a modest 5-lumen increase in light output, the new Petzl Actik Core 625 lumen model reviewed here differs from the previous 600 lumen Petzl Actik in two important ways:

• The rechargeable Core battery is now USB-C compatible (it’s also backwardly compatible with older model Core-powered headlamps and devices).
• The battery compartment is easier to open without a tool

Most battery-operated outdoor gear has adopted the USB-C cord adapter or is in the process of converting to it…everything from smartphones and headlamps to satellite messengers and GPS receivers. Instead of carrying multiple cords with different adapters to recharge devices, we’re getting to the point where you only have to carry a USB-C cord, or two for redundancy, if you’re paranoid. In addition, the Actik’s battery compartment is much easier to open than previously.

Unfortunately, Petzl does not include a USB-C cord to charge the new Core battery with, so you may need to buy one before you can recharge the battery. That’s not how I would have packaged the product. Try this braided USB-C to USB-C instead.

Disclosure: Petzl donated a headlamp for review.

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