I absolutely LOVE this headlamp. I have another Petzl (Tikka Plus) and love it, but as camping and caving season is fast approaching, I wanted another one for friends/family members - plus, you can never have too many headlamps.
I keep my headlamps in my hiking packs, but I have found this one wandering the house more and more as I find more uses for it.
It's great for fixing plumbing, getting ticks out of animals, reading at night, checking for perps in the yard, bringing out the trash, looking for that lost {...} in your car, rummaging through your purse for your lipgloss, plugging in cables behind the TV....you name it, you can use the headlamp.
It's also great for keeping in your backpack - I usually do day hikes on the weekends that could go beyond dusk, and it's always nice to have a headlamp that you know will work every time. I can usually get on average, about 80 hours before I need to change the batteries.
The ONLY negative is that it is not waterproof. Living in Oregon, it's very difficult having things live long that aren't at least water resistant. I've already lost one Petzl headlamp to a hike in the Columbia River gorge. I put it in an outer pocket of my pack without a rain cover over it on a day when it was very moist - it was raining/misting all day. The headlamp had obvious signs of moisture inside and wouldn't turn on. I have found that the Petzl Tikka pouches really help - I've done the same thing with a headlamp in a pouch and it stayed dry.
I've had my old Tikka headlamp for 2 years and use it on a daily basis and it is an excellent and helpful tool.
Overall, a great product and well worth the price.

So after about 8 years of reliable service my original 3 led TIKKA finally bit the dust(dropped onto concrete at around 20 below) So there I was lampless in the middle of a dark AK winter.
I knew for sure I was getting another TIKKA cause my old one lasted forever. Bought this a few days later at the store. I breifly thought about the TIKKA 2 cause by brothers have them and swear by them but decided to one up them with the latest tech and spend the extra $$$.
So this lamp is amazing, I should have gotten it years ago, hopefully my old lamp didn't hear that! The foucused beam is far superior, very bright and has alot of reach compared to those crummy TIKKA 2's when your hiking, hunting, snowboarding late, or on the snowmachine after dark in alot of powder(headlights build up snow and make it difficult to see) It's 100 percent better than the traditional LED style lights.
The diffuser, is another must have, I use it most of the time, especially when working on engines, worthless sinks and searching for stuff in the car. For me the beam is too bright and distracting for that sort of thing.
The red light is bright enough to tinker with things close up or for when you dont really need to see where your going, like hiking on a beated path, walking around the house etc...
As for reliability I've had this for close to a year now with near constant use during the winter months since its dark 80% of the time and have had no problems. I initally thought the diffuser would not last long but it's as sturdy as the day I got it with hundreds mabye thousands of flips. Had it in steady rains, blizzards, and everything in between with no issues to speak of.
Battery life is no worse or better that my other one, I feel it dies off about 1/2, 3/4 depending on use through the batteries life but it's still plenty bright enough to use till you get to some batteries.
Basically, this light is never far from my reach and I highly recommend it, do your self a favor and spring for this light, it's worth it!

I bought this to add to my camping / backpacking supplies not intending to use it too often. I've since ended up using it almost daily for running and biking while training for a marathon these last few months. My only time to run is after work at night or early in the morning. I live in Hilo, HI which is one of the rainiest places to live in the US. Typically I run in a downpour or some kind of rain at least twice a week. I wear this headlamp on the top of a running hat brim (not underneath) during all of those runs. The bright flashing mode really makes you stand out while running along the road and it easily switches modes to a standard beam or dimmed beam whenever you need to see where you're going. Previous headlamps have always corroded in the battery compartment so I've regularly opened and removed the batteries to ensure there was no rust or water leakage. So far, this headlamp has been completely watertight.
My only concern is that I dont see a way to replace the headlamp strap in the event the elastic becomes worn out or it stinks too bad from my sweat, but I havn't fully investigated it yet and it may be possible.
Overall this has been one of the best purchases I've made. I feel alot safer running or riding with it. I throw it in my pack whenever I'm going out for a day hike (its super light) and the battery really does last a long time.