Nao - Chinese for brain - is the name of the "thinking"lighting wonder from French manufacturer Petzl. The secret: a brightness sensor in the lamp regulates the luminosity in real time so that as much light always reaches the eye as necessary. No more and no less.
And it works brilliantly. You can call up the full power range (regulated between 7 and 355 lumens) or limit the regulation to a maximum of 99 lumens. A bright and a medium brightness level with fixed luminosity are also available. If none of this suits you, you can adjust the lamp to your own needs at home on your PC using a program from Petzl.
The battery lasts an astonishingly long time. If you allow the Nao to access the full light range during automatic regulation, the energy cell will illuminate the little thing on your head for 4-8 hours. It can be recharged in a variety of ways thanks to the USB plug. And should the power run out, you can replace the battery with two AAA batteries and still find your way home with reduced power.
This is what Stefan Neuhauser, mountain guide & photographer says:
"While night bouldering in en Veau, les Calanques de Cassis, I was able to give Peter and Hanna clean lightshow support from the boat with the "Nao". The two of them usually paddled out with an old-fashioned Tikka for bouldering in the dark... I've always had the Nao with me on bike tours, guided tours and cave tours since the spring. The thing weighs nothing and has an ingenious luminosity. It can be charged on a PC or with an iPod charger at any socket. For me, the Nao is a quantum leap in the headlamp market. The variable self-adjustment of the light intensity is really nice..."
