NITECORE NU27 MCT Multiple Color Temperatures Outdoor Headlamp Review

This is a sponsored review brought to you by Nitecore.

It’s getting on toward winter now, and the days are getting shorter — but who ever let that stop them from hitting the trail? Getting all my miles in at this time of year often means starting and ending the day in darkness, and I do a fair amount of night hiking in between. You can see why having a really nice headlamp is important to me. Enter the Nitecore NU27 Multi-Color Temperature Outdoor Headlamp.

You already know Nitecore: they’re the makers of the iconic Nitecore NU25 headlamp that all thru-hikers know and love. Well, the new Nitecore NU27 MCT headlamp is the same weight and boasts some impressive new features, most notably the ability to produce multiple color temperatures (warm, cool, and neutral).

Be excited, sweet hiker — be very excited. Your outdoor lighting game is about to go up several levels. Let’s take a closer look.

Nitecore NU27 Multi-Color Temperature Outdoor Headlamp At a Glance

Photo: Nitecore

• MSRP: $44.95
• Weight: 1.98 oz (56 g)
• Max brightness: 600 lumens
• Max run time: 57 hrs
• Multiple color temperatures:
  • 3000K Warm Light
  • 4500K Neutral White
  • 6500K Cool White
• Water resistance: IP66
• Red light: Yes

Circumstances of Review

I’ve been a Nitecore NU25 user for about four years now. I just received the NU27 MCT headlamp in the mail, so this review is my first impression of the new product. Although I’m primarily a hiker, I decided to put this light through its paces by taking it for a run on a dark, cold, misty night so I could test all the lighting modes — I figure if the headlamp works for me while I’m moving at speed, gasping for breath, and wearing gloves, it will work for anything.

Long-term outlook: I love to spend the long, dark winter evenings reading in my tent, so I’m really looking forward to playing with the multiple color temperature feature of this outdoor headlamp.

Intended Use

The Nitecore NU27 MCT headlamp is ideal for any outdoor pursuit. It’s bright enough for high-speed activities like trail running, while the scant weight penalty, long battery life, and lock-out mode make it practical for multinight hiking trips. Meanwhile, the multiple color temperatures and red light mode will come in handy around camp.

Personally, I’ll mainly use it for backpacking and thru-hiking, but it would also work great for trail running, climbing, caving, or car camping.

Nitecore NU27 Multi-Color Temperature Outdoor Headlamp Features

Showing off the NU27’s MCT skills. Left to right: 6500K cool white light, 4500K neutral white, and 3000K warm light.

Multiple Color Temperatures

Let’s start with the NU27 MCT headlamp’s claim to fame: the ability to select between multiple color temperatures. Nitecore’s design team clearly spent a lot of time figuring out how to make the lighting quality as good as it could possibly be when creating this headlamp, and it’s a fairly groundbreaking innovation. the NU27 is the industry’s first MCT outdoor headlamp on the market.

It features eight-core multi-color temperature MCT UHE LEDs. What does this mean? All you really need to know is that the headlamp has a nice, broad lighting surface, and the LEDs can switch between different lighting temperatures.

You know how you can buy light bulbs with different levels of warmth? This is the same idea. It’s not that one “temperature” is brighter than another. Indeed, you can control the brightness level across all three color temperatures. Instead, it’s more about the quality of the light.

First is the 6500K cool white light. The K stands for Kelvin, by the way, which in this context is a measure of color temperature between 1,000 and 10,000. The cool white setting is great for maximizing visibility and contrast and minimizing eye strain when doing tasks that require attention to detail at night. Nitecore likens it to the noonday sun.

Next is the 4500K neutral white. Soft and clear, this light is very natural looking and is a great middle ground.

Finally, there’s the 3000K warm white. I just like the vibes of this setting, but it also has a functional purpose: it does the best job of penetrating fog and rain and minimizes glare when crossing snow. So in challenging conditions, warm white is your friend. (I tested the headlamp in misty conditions and can confirm that it really makes a difference).

You can toggle easily between the three temperatures to find the one that best suits your needs depending on the conditions.

3000K Warm White Mode

Having multiple color temperatures available is really nice. The warm white mode is definitely my favorite — I find it beautiful and soothing on the eyes. Also, I see real value in a feature that will minimize glare and let me see through fog and rain. I was fortunate enough to encounter a bit of mist and fog while jogging with the headlamp, and I did think the warm mode improved visibility. It’s like using your low beams instead of your brights when driving: the fog is still noticeable, but the light penetrates through it rather than shining back at you.

The fact that I can adjust the brightness within each color temperature makes this feature incredibly functional. I can choose the lighting mode that will work best for me based on my activities and the conditions of the moment and still have the light as bright or dim as I want.

Modes on Modes on Modes: All the Lighting Modes a Girl Could Ever Want

Table: Nitecore

It’s great to have a variety of lighting options on a backpacking trip. The NU27 MCT headlamp boasts five different brightness settings on white light, all five of which are available in any of the three color temperatures:

• Turbo (600 lumen)
• High (400 lumen)
• Mid (200 lumen)
• Low (70 lumen)
• Ultra-Low (6 lumen)

It also has two red light modes, handy for preserving night vision, lighting your surroundings without inviting every moth and mosquito in the neighborhood to dive-bomb you, and sitting across from your camp friend without blinding them every time they try to look at you:

• High (15 lumen)
• Low (5 lumen)

There are also three special modes that are useful when you’re trying to draw attention, such as in a rescue situation:

• Slow-flashing red (15 lumen)
• SOS (400-lumen, white)
• Beacon (400-lumen, white)

For the special modes, SOS alternates three long, slow flashes with three quick ones (Morse code for SOS). Beacon is simply a white flash at regular intervals. Slow-flashing red is exactly what it sounds like.

Power Indicator Lights

A vertically stacked series of four blue LEDs on the front-right of the headlamp indicate the NU27 MCT headlamp’s state of charge. If all four LEDs light up, that means the headlamp is between 75 and 100 percent charged. If three light up, it’s between 50 and 75 percent, and so on. You’ll never have to guess at your headlamp’s state of charge again.

Lockout Mode

It gets crowded inside a backpack. Ever shove your headlamp into a stuff sack or your hipbelt pocket, only to have some other object accidentally press the button and turn the light on without you noticing? There’s nothing quite like getting to camp as the sun sets and fishing out your headlamp, only to find that it’s been on all day and the battery is dead or almost dead.

Fortunately, that will never be an issue with the MCT headlamp because it has a lockout function. Basically, if you long-press both buttons simultaneously for two seconds, the headlamp will lock so that it can’t accidentally turn on during the day. Then you just have to repeat the same two-second long-press to unlock it again when you want to use your light.

USB-C Rechargeable

The Nitecore NU27 MCT headlamp has a built-in, rechargeable 850 mAh lithium-ion battery. It has great battery life — as much as 57 hours on the lowest light setting and a very respectable 6.5 hours of continuous use on medium brightness (which is what most hikers will use around camp). That’s plenty of juice to get most thru-hikers comfortably from one resupply to the next, and you can always top it up from your battery bank if needed.

Multi-Purpose Clip

Photo: Nitecore

The headlamp comes clipped onto a standard adjustable headband. Most hikers will probably be happy with this setup as-is. But the light itself can be removed from the headband and used in other ways. I love the versatility here, and ultralighters will too.

Ultralight enthusiasts can take advantage of the NU27’s four-way clip to affix the lamp to a hat brim or backpack shoulder strap and leave the headband at home, making this 56-gram headlamp even lighter. Or you could shave grams by swapping Nitecore’s reflective headband for a bit of shock cord.

The clip itself can be oriented in different directions depending on your attachment needs. It preserves the headlamp’s tilting function so you can adjust the angle as needed.

Water, Dust, and Impact Resistant

We all go into the backcountry with the best intentions to take good care of our gear, but the reality is that backpacking is a rough activity. I need gear that can withstand a certain amount of rain, dirt, and accidental dropping.

The NU27 is impact-resistant up to one meter, and it’s rated IP66 for water and dust resistance. IP stands for ingress protection, and the 6-6 means it is (a) as dust-resistant as it gets and (b) it’s resistant to “powerful water jets” but isn’t really meant to be submerged. Fair enough.

The moral of the story is that, yes, this headlamp is durable enough to stand up to the rigors of thru-hiking.

What I Love About the Nitecore NU27 Multi-Color Temperature Outdoor Headlamp

Broad, high-quality lighting, the removable headband and hat clip, and straightforward controls are just a few of the things I love about the Nitecore NU27 Multi-Color Temperature Outdoor Headlamp.

Easy, Reliable Charging

Rechargeable headlamps are the way of the future, in my opinion. AAA batteries are great and all, but they’re just one more thing to buy, carry, and keep track of. Most hikers already carry a battery bank and charge cable, so having a chargeable headlamp makes a lot of sense and helps streamline your setup.

What I especially love about the NU27 is that it uses a USB-C, meaning I can now use the same cable to charge my headlamp and satellite communicator. Big upgrade for me.

The port itself feels solid and produces a reliable connection to the battery bank. It doesn’t feel loose or jiggly at all.

Finally, the charge indicator lights are a game-changer. I have been waiting for this feature and was so excited to find it in the NU27! The indicator lights take all the guesswork out of charging the headlamp.

Straightforward Controls

Two buttons control all the modes and features of the Nitecore NU27 Multi-Color Temperature Outdoor Headlamp.

With so many temperature/brightness configurations, I worried that the NU27 MCT headlamp would be confusing to operate. Fortunately, it’s actually quite simple. Everything’s controlled via two buttons on top of the headlamp, both of which have beveled edges that make them easy to press, even with gloved hands. They differ in their shape and texture as well, making it easy to differentiate between them by feel.

One button powers the headlamp on and off in white mode and controls the brightness. The other powers red mode on and off and controls temperature mode (warm, neutral, and cool white). Double-tapping the mode button activates the three special modes (SOS, beacon, and slow-flashing red). All you have to do is keep pressing the buttons to cycle through all the different modes and brightness levels until you find the configuration you want. You’ll figure it out quickly.

Comfortable and Lightweight

I find the headband on the NU27 very comfortable. I recently wore the headlamp on a long nighttime run. It felt soft against my skin, wicked sweat effectively, and stayed firmly in place with no bouncing. The tightness is easy to adjust, and I liked the perforations in the headband for added breathability. The fact that the band is reflective is also a nice touch. This will make me more visible to other people, even when my light is off. And — more importantly, in my mind — it will make it easier for me to find my headlamp in the dark.

Part of the headlamp’s comfort is undoubtedly due to its featherlight weight. No one likes the feeling of lugging a quarter-pound monster around on their forehead — or in their backpack, for that matter. The NU27 weighs less than two ounces, making it a pain-free addition to my backpack. Nitecore says it designed this headlamp to fit snugly with the center of gravity near the forehead to maximize comfort and weight savings.

Broad, Even Lighting

Notice how much more lighting surface the NU27 MCT headlamp (bottom) has compared to my old 2017 NU25. Despite this, the two lights weigh the same.

Have you ever splashed through what you thought was just a shallow stream at night, only to find that it’s actually several inches deeper than you expected? It’s true: most headlamps mess with your depth perception. The NU27 is designed to mitigate that effect.

Unlike my old Nitecore NU25, which just has one white LED, the NU27 MCT headlamp has four. The light-emitting surface is 4.5 times broader than that of the NU25, throwing a much broader beam and illuminating depth for better visibility.

The NU27 MCT headlamp’s multifaceted design produces a soft, even light, and Nitecore says it features over 94 percent light transmission. Coupled with the headlamp’s broad reflective surface, that means it produces more and higher quality light for the same amount of power.

So Tilty

All good headlamps can tilt, but this one really tilts. It has a full 90 degrees of pivoting power, which gave me the maximum ability to adjust the angle as I was running.

The Adorable Lantern Stuff Sack

When you receive the headlamp, it comes with several fun add-ons. These include the four-way clip I mentioned before, a USB-C to USB-C charging cable, and, loveliest of all, a light-diffusing stuff sack. Putting the headlamp in the sack creates a charming lantern effect that’s perfect for hanging around camp in the evenings.

It weighs very little, and I love having stuff sacks to organize my gear anyway. While hiking I can store small items in it, like the headlamp, my battery bank, and my first aid kit.

Well played, Nitecore. Well played. I’m telling you guys, this thing is absolutely adorable and everyone should have one. It’s a really nice finishing touch on a product that’s already batting 1,000 in my heart.

Overall Value

I really enjoy this headlamp and look forward to using it on my upcoming backpacking trips this year. It’s lightweight, fully featured, and incredibly versatile. I really can’t think of any reason I wouldn’t switch to using this headlamp full-time.

It has a number of features that make it stand out from the crowd: the different color temperatures being the most obvious one, but I also love the four-way clip attachment, charge indicator light, USB-C port (if you know you know), easy-to-use buttons, lockout mode, and the deliciously light sub-two-ounce weight penalty. I also feel like the quality of the light beam is noticeably better than other headlamps I’ve used.

I’ve had great experiences with Nitecore in the past – my old NU25 is as reliable as ever — so I suspect that the NU27 Multi-Color Temperature outdoor headlamp will last me for years to come.

Shop the Nitecore NU27 Multi-Color Temperature Outdoor Headlamp

The Nitecore NU27 Multi-Color Temperature Outdoor Headlamp was donated for purpose of review.

Featured image: Nitcore