Mila Orion and Vega - product review

[SeanC]

Product review / opinion please

I'm toying with the idea of purchasing a MIla Orion or Mila Vega.

I'm lucky enough to live in a part of the country with lots of night events so the eye watering cost of these head torches might be worth it as it will get lots of hard use.

How reliable are these head torches(I do 20+ night events a year)? Is the Vega significantly brighter than the Orion and if so does it make much of a practical difference? Good points/bad points etc?

[Big Jon]

Vega is a class piece of kit (so it should be at the price). Can't fault the light or the manufacturing quality.
If you can afford it and do a lot of night-O then go for it.

[dustytoo]

I got an Orion last March - just in time to use it for a couple of night events last season, and have resumed this winter. I expect to use it about 15 times before the night season ends. (couldn't afford the eye-watering Vega, but the Orion chucks out enough light even for my poor eyesight, and the battery lasts long enough for me to finish before the light fails - I reckon about 3 hours battery life. I'm very satisfied with it. Haven't had it long enough yet to assess its reliability, but going strong at the moment.

[Big Jon]

The Vega has a power adjustment option - 20 levels from 4,000 lumens (2 hours battery life) down to a 160 lumens (60 hours battery life) - enough for even the hardest of ultra-runners...

[tomgood]

I'm intrigued by these (nice story behind them) Anyone temped? How do they stack up price wise/specs to a Mila

https://luciferlights.net/led-headlamps/headlamp-L

[SeanC]

The 3200 lumen Lucifer looks to be a similar price to the 2000 lumen Mila Orion, both still pricey - approaching £300.

I have a Ferei HD50 from brightbikelights.com which is also 2000 lumen and now selling at over half the price at £138, but there are compromises as it's designed as a bike light which I imagine is a bigger market. It's too bright to read the map without a diffuser which reduces the power, and the head straps aren't that great. It's been very reliable though, but getting old now. I'm wondering that because the Mila is designed mainly for orienteering (am I right on this?) then the same power is more effective - perhaps because the beam spreads in a better way for night orienteering, and it's more comfortable to wear? What do people think?

The ability to turn down the brightness - I don't need to worry about all night ultramarathons but that might be useful for street events where sometimes you need the power for a dark alleyway, and sometimes the power needs to be down when running alongside a main road. For either Milas, can the brightness be easily adjusted up and down whilst running?

I'm also wondering if the extra brightness of the 4000 lumen Vega makes a big difference or not compared to the Orion. There must be a point where extra brightness doesn't make much difference when you're in a wood.