2018 Week 5+6: Getting Dark 'n Gloomy

Roller Coaster Weather

​The weather has not been kind in the past two weeks in Greater Toronto Area. It has been a constant cycle of merciless snowfall, freezing temperatures, or a combination of both.

I barely hanged on with a whole lot more visits to the gym with the treadmills and upper body workout to complement the constant abuse on the lower body from the running mileage. I also managed to stay focused by having online motivations such as an online Strava badge ?.  In this case, it was the 5 x 5k challenge as reflected this past week with five consecutive days of running. 

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Mike's Winter Essentials: Nathan Halo Fire - Review

Disclosure: This headlight was bought out of my own pocket and did not alter my influence for this review

​The Halo Fire by Nathan outdoor products is their flagship headlamp especially with runners in mind. It comes with 3 LED lights for various lighting modes. Their product page also claims to have over 280 lumens on their brightest mode - it is bright for sure but at the expense of shorter usage time.

Key Features
- 5 lighting modes (from dim to max brightness, strobe mode)
- RunWave technology for convenience and less fidgeting during the run
- Reflective materials on the strap
- Product guarantee backed by Nathan --> excellent customer service

Real Life Application
I received my Nathan Halo Fire as a direct replacement from my personally bought Nathan Nebula Fire. The outgoing headlamp stopped charging through the USB charger and was effectively useless if it cannot charge.  I reached out to Nathan's Facebook page and they were quick to ship me the replacement (which became the very Halo Fire that I have been using even to this very day) upon proof of original purchase of my defective headlamp. I am pleasantly surprised by their willingness to stand behind the products that they sell and doing the right things to delight purchasers like me. However, I have since been quite wary of all electronic devices that require USB charging - including this replacement piece.

Halo Fire charging in progress

It's now one complete year and onwards since I have been using the Halo Fire. I am quite glad that the charging still works as do with the light emissions (with its various lighting modes). I put the headlamp right into the USB charger each time I complete my night runs - no exceptions. I bank on the fact that the lithium-ion battery will hold full charge each time I plugged it into the charger from one outdoor run to another. There are light indicators during the charging process to indicate whether it is charging or charge complete. If the light indicator is in red, then it is charging. If the indicator is green, then the charge is complete. Based on experience, if there is no light indicator or a brief red light then blank, there are reasons for concern.

Halo Fire charging complete

The Halo Fire shines brightly when it matters most - the outdoors. I appreciate the Auto-Strobe function when nights are dark and evening commute traffic are at high volumes. It comes in handy especially when running where one side of the street is strictly residential grounds whereas the other side of the streets are untampered (yet) farm lands and corn fields. In terms of durability, it has endured quite well on Canadian winters, from the frigid minus twenty somethings temperatures to those balmy evenings at the peak of summer. It can take on light moisture with its IPX4 water resistant rating. That being said, I do not recommend tackling those torrential downpour weather though.

In conclusion, the Nathan Halo Fire is well worth your return on investment if you do serious amounts of running in the nighttime or simply being a nocturnal adventure thrillseeker.

If you are interested in this item or similar, I am pleased to offer $5.00 OFF merchandise over $50.00 or more excluding taxes - at runningfree.com or at an in-store Running Free. Simply apply the CODE: 47794 to redeem this offer from me!

A post shared by Mike Wan (@mcywan) on Jan 8, 2017 at 3:29pm PST

Have a good week ahead! Cheers - M.W.