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M Tiger Sports DS Trail Head Torch Review by Alice Wilson (EUOC/CLYDE)

BrightBikeLights.com – M Tiger Sports DS Trail Head Torch Review

Headtorch Review by Alice Wilson member of Edinburgh University Orienteering Club and Clydeside Orienteers. 
Alice is also a British Orienteering Talent Squad member.

Alice Wilson

Edinburgh University Orienteering Club
Clydeside Orienteers
GB Talent Squad athlete

Athlete Profile

Alice Wilson

Alice Wilson (EUOC/CLYDE) kindly agreed to review this BrightBikeLights.com headtorch.

M Tiger Sports DS Trail Head Torch

1800 lumens

Alice's Review:

I was asked to do a little write up about the DS Trail head torch created by the Swedish manufacturer M Tiger Sports.  I was more than happy to accept this task, as who doesn’t want to play with a jazzy new head torch? More importantly, for as long as I can remember my home club, CLYDE, has organised a Thursday Night Hill Run. This consists of a few of us super-brave types, heading up a local hill in the dark, no streetlights, no nothing, just us and the hill, and so, as you can imagine, having a good head torch is rather important to me. In particular, my Dad has spent years trying to find the perfect head torch for this and, of course, for night orienteering. We have found that various head torches bought from BrightBikeLights.com have done the trick.

Anyway, enter the M Tiger Sports DS Trail. The initial impression that it creates is good: it is packed to perfection (it has its own little briefcase and all) and is easy to put together. From the get-go, one thing jumped out to me was the protective screw-on cases that cover and secure where two wires connect. From previous experience, the wire connections are the Achilles’ Heel of many head torches, and are usually the first thing to break. The assembled torch feels solid and sturdy, and looks like it will stand up to many hours of hard use. The battery, with 1.3-12 hours run time depending on the setting used, came fully charged (a win!), but would normally take 2-3 hours to charge, and slid nicely onto the back of the headband. I had to tighten the headband for my head size, which did mean there was quite a bit of wire sticking up from the battery before it connected to the headband. I do, however, prefer it when the battery pack is connected straight on the headband, rather than having to faff about with a bum bag or battery vest.

After that, I was good to go. Sadly, due to Covid-19, there aren’t any Thursday Night Hill Runs or night orienteering events going on at the moment, so instead I went for a night-time exploration with a orienteering map of a nearby golf course and adjoining woods. The first and most important thing is that the torch was definitely bright enough for my run (up to 1800 lumens). The head torch itself is heavier (about 350g) and chunkier than what I am used to: this due to the large battery and having two (rather than one) LEDs. However, I did enjoy that the power buttons, which are also used for increasing/decreasing the intensity of the light (100%, 70%, 40% or 10%), change colour depending on how much battery power there is left.  This is something that personally I haven’t seen before and is an excellent way to avoid running out of power mid run.

In terms of night orienteering with the torch, I found it simple to use and noticed that it did light up a reflective sign that was at least 100 meters away. This is a very nice perk for when reflective orienteering flags are used.

Overall, if you don’t mind it being slightly bigger and heavier than what you might be used to, then I’d definitely recommend this torch to you. You can grab one from BrightBikeLights.com if you want. However, if you want something a little smaller and lighter, then I’m sure there are other torches that might be more suitable for you.

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BrightBikeLights.com
MTigerSports.uk:

"Thank you to Alice for providing this review and our best wishes to all British Orienteering members with their night orienteering. For further information on headlights for Orienteering and running visit BrightBikeLights.com

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Further information about the MTigerSports DS-Trail (1800 lumens) head torch can be found here.

The MTigerSports DS-Trail features:

  • 1800 lumens produced from a compact aluminium machined light with one clear and one diffused lens – for optimal lighting of the trail ahead
  • Head-strap mount designed to be fully adjustable for a comfortable and secure fit
  • Go-Pro compatible mount
  • 2-cell battery pack containing top-quality Samsung cells (18650) which mounts to the rear of the head-strap
  • Battery extension cable available (as optional extra) to allow battery to be carried in a belt or rucksack / pocket
  • Wired remote switch with colour-coded battery level indicator
  • Run-time of 1 hour 10 min on full power
  • Four power modes (100%, 70%, 40%, 10%)
  • Automatic battery saving mode – at 10% power remaining the battery will switch to the lowest power mode
  • Intelligent thermal management to prevent overheating

British Orienteering members can receive a discount of 8% off on a range of nine headtorches at BrightBikeLights.com by using the members only discount code.

Check out these British Orienteering member savings!

Find out more at BrightBikeLights.com.

Members can access the member discount code by logging into the member section using your member details and clicking on 'My Account' tab, then clicking on 'Member discounts' underneath the 'My Membership' heading.  Use the discount code at the checkout.

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