Had my first run with the new Silva Trail Runner Plus the other night. The Trail runner Plus is the belt or pack mounted option of the standard Trail Runner. The Trail runner uses 2 x AA batteries on the headstrap whilst the Trail Runner Plus uses 4 x AA batteries which can go on the headstrap but are really too heavier. Better on the belt or in a pack. The light units are the same for both lights.
The Trail Runner and Plus have an 80 lumen output. The Intelligent light spread is supposed to give a good beam distance and peripheral light spread. In practise I thought that the peripheral light was excellent but the beam was just a little short. It was always enough and possibly I am just too used to having hundreds of lumens. The peripheral light spread is excellent, lighting all of the trail with no problems at all.
The best thing about the Trail Runner Plus is the weight. The light unit itself weighs almost nothing and the batteries are in your bag, so it was noticeable that there was virtually no extra weight on your head. A great plus when running for over an hour.
The launch date for the Trail Runner range is sometime in January so we will let you know when we have them in stock.
Update 21.10.10 – Now in stock. See the page.