Black Diamond
Black Diamond Icon 700 (700 lumens)
- Brightness: 8/10 How much light it gives at full power, for finding your way in the dark.
- Runtime: 10/10 How long one charge or set of batteries lasts at a level you can walk and cook by.
- Weight: 1/10 How much it adds to your pack and your head.
Winter hill days, ski touring and night skiing where 700 lumens with spot and flood lenses is wanted
- Brightness
- 700 lumens (maker's figure)
- Runtime
- 80 h at 350 lumens
- Weight
- 300 g
- Power
- Both
- Water rating
- IPX7
Where to buy
Alpinetrek £82.61 In stock. Delivery £4.49. Price includes duties and taxes; shop's list price £94.95. Free delivery from £85, £4.49 under that. Delivery time 5 to 7 working days.
View at shop: AlpinetrekUltralight Outdoor Gear £84.99 In stock. Free delivery. Shop's list price £94.99. Four AA supplied; rechargeable pack sold separately.
View at shop: Ultralight Outdoor GearNeedle Sports £85.50 In stock. Free delivery. Shop's list price £95.00. Free UK delivery over £50. UK delivery only.
View at shop: Needle SportsBlack Diamond (UK store) £95 In stock. Delivery £10. Black Diamond's own UK store and UK list price. Graphite in stock. Four AA supplied. Free delivery over £150; no import duty; about 5 working days. The page also says 'Out of Stock', but 'Add to bag' is shown.
View at shop: Black Diamond (UK store)Prices checked 8 Nov 2026 on each shop's own page; shops can change them. We earn no commission on these links; shops are listed by price. More
Our ratings (out of 10)
1 to 10, compared with the whole market. Each says what it's based on. How we score
Brightness
From maker's figures 8/10How much light it gives at full power, for finding your way in the dark. 8: Clearly better than most.
Maker's figure, 700 lumens on High with no test standard stated on Black Diamond's product pages: the 500–799 band, the most a maker's figure can score (maker's figure). Black Diamond's instruction sheet gives 7 hours at this level.
Runtime
From maker's figures 10/10How long one charge or set of batteries lasts at a level you can walk and cook by. 10: The best you can buy for this.
Black Diamond's US page and instruction sheet give 80 hours on the 350-lumen Medium mode, for both the four AA supplied and the rechargeable pack (sold separately): the 10 h+ band. High (700 lumens) lasts 7 hours. The EU page shows only the 190 hours of the Low mode, and Alpinetrek's 175 hours is a shop figure. iRunFar's 2020 review of this lamp quotes the same times.
Weight
From maker's figures 1/10How much it adds to your pack and your head. 1: A real weak point.
Black Diamond's product pages list 300 g without saying what it includes; its instruction sheet gives 236 g with four AA (a 140 g lamp and a 96 g battery pack) and Ultralight Outdoor Gear 287 g with batteries. All are in the 150 g+ band, so it is in the 1 band either way.
What reviewers say (out of 10)
Ratings marked * are from reviews and are not part of the trip score. They are reviewers' scores, not our own measurements. How we score
Comfort*
Reviewers' average 8/10How comfy and steady it sits on your head.
4 reviews on comfort, e.g. "the headlamp is so darn comfortable I almost forget to take it off when the sun comes up".
Reviewers disagree on this.
Ease of use*
Reviewers' average 8/10How easy the buttons, modes and lock are, with gloves too.
5 reviews on ease of use, e.g. "an extremely comfortable graduate-level light with introductory-level simplicity and ease of use".
Reviewers disagree on this.
In short
Good for
- Winter hill days, ski touring and night skiing where 700 lumens with spot and flood lenses is wanted
- Multi-day trips on four AA cells (supplied), with the rechargeable pack as an option
- Wet UK weather: IP67 takes immersion to 1 m for 30 minutes
Strengths
- Runs on 4 AA batteries (supplied); BD's rechargeable pack is sold separately
- 700 lumens (maker's figure) with spot and flood lenses, PowerTap boost and a six-step battery meter
- 80 hours at 350 lumens (Black Diamond's figure)
- IP67: waterproof to 1 m for 30 minutes and dustproof
- Red, green and blue night modes, digital lock and a waist strap included
- 3-year Black Diamond warranty
Weaknesses
- Not rechargeable as sold: it runs on 4 AA batteries, and the rechargeable pack is an extra purchase (it takes AA, not AAA)
- Heavy at 300 g (236 g by Black Diamond's own sheet), the lowest weight band
- The battery pack is separate, on a cable, with a strap over the top of the head; Ultralight Outdoor Gear calls the unit cumbersome and awkward under a cap
- Black Diamond's buyers find the button combinations hard to remember and awkward with gloves, and some report the battery-compartment latch cracking
- Comfort is an estimate, not a reviewed score: only one independent review judges it, and it dates from 2020
Sources
We haven't tested this ourselves. Every score comes from these specs, tests and reviews.
ShowHide sources (9)
- Black Diamond: Icon 700 Headlamp product page (specifications; US and EU sites)
- iRunFar: Black Diamond Icon 700 Headlamp Review (Kristin Zosel)
- Adventure Rig: The Icon 700 Headlamp by Black Diamond (free sample, disclosed)
- Black Diamond customer reviews: Icon 700 (169 reviews, 4.1 out of 5)
- Black Diamond: Icon 700 instruction sheet (PDF linked from the product page: modes, burn times, weight)
- Black Diamond store customer reviews: Icon 700 (169 reviews, 4.07 out of 5, 132 verified buyers)
- Joshua Johnson Outdoors (YouTube): Black Diamond ICON 700 Headlamp, one-year review (snowy alpine, scrub, forest and limestone caves; he returned his under warranty for a cracked battery housing)
- Richard Runs Trails (YouTube): Black Diamond ICON 700 Headlamp Review (used for a few months, including a 100-mile race; he bought it; Amazon affiliate links in the description)
- Believe in the Run: Black Diamond Spring 2020 Gear Review, Icon 700 Headlamp section (two testers, Taylor and Robbe; a brand-range roundup, no sample disclosure on the page)