At this time of the year, days are shorter and the nights are longer. What’s an uber-active musher, skijoring and all-around outdoorsman and dog lover to do? Kevin Roberts isn’t scared of the dark… now that he’s got Head-Lites LED Collars on his pack. He tried them out for a few months and here’s what he has to say about them.
Now here’s a bright idea – LED light up collars! I’m always on the hunt for collars that light up the dark. Because I’m out skijoring and sledding with the pack in the winter, daylight is a rare thing around these parts. In order to maximize my time outdoors, I need some illumination to light the trails for me. And that brings me to my latest review.
Head-Lites is a Canadian company that makes LED collars and leashes for dogs. I was sent three collars – all made in the Great White North, which I love – to test on my pack. Burger and Belle both went in for the camo collars (one in green and one in pink) while River-dog prefers to dress in blue. The pack was impressed how even the LED strips in the collars could be ordered in different colors! That’s a pretty interesting twist – you can choose both the collar and the LED style.
I think that the Head-Lite Collars are a bright idea (literally). The LED strip on the material collars lights up for improved nighttime visibility. The collars run on two AAA batteries, which are included in the package. You can replace the batteries when they wear out, which turned out to be a couple of months. The lighting strip is removable, so you can wash the collar when it gets dirty or swap in a different color. It also comes with a strong Alu-Max Buckle to keep it attached to your dog.
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To ensure that they really worked, I used the used the collars for a few months before wroting this review. I really wanted to test them out, to see how long the battery lasted and what kind of abuse they could endure. And let me say that I was not disappointed.
Time to Walk the Walk (At Night)
When you are walking your dog with a leash attached to the collar, it’s easy to keep the bright LEDs in this collar pointing at the ground, simply by having the clip attached to the leash. With my dogs walking by my side, the LED collar acted like a flashlight and illuminated the ground in front of me. Pretty handy!
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We took the collars on some night walks in the city, and anyone we passed commented on the brightness of the collars. I have to agree – I have never had a dog collar that shines so brightly.
The dogs also went “off-roading” with them, wearing them around our site when we went camping. The Head-Lites proved extremely useful in the forest, as they lit up the area and helped me keep track of three black dogs in the dark (they just blend right in to the night!). When the dogs were off-leash, the weight of the battery pack pulls collar into a position so that the LED strip is facing up. Here’s a news flash – these collars were so bright, when one of my dogs crossed my path or stood under me, my night vision was compromised. Have I mentioned that these collars are bright?
When I took the dogs out mushing, the dogs are out far enough that the Head-Lites collars didn’t affect my night vision at all. For mushing at night, anything that helps other trail-users see us coming is a bonus. The collars did settle in closer to the dog’s neck, so they lost some of their effectiveness because their coat hair covered the strip.
In short, the Head-Lites collars held up to our dogs’ crazy wrestling matches, camping out in below zero temperatures, and being used nearly every night for eight weeks. Now that is the kind of product testing most manufacturers can’t promise!
Yes, without a doubt!
The LED strips are not waterproof, and when Burger’s collar got filthy, I took it took off to wash it. I like how the LED strip and the battery pack come out so you can wash the collar. I washed and dried the collar, but I had some difficulty getting the LED strip positioned in its original spot.
These collars are very bright – which I may have mentioned once or twice – and I will certainly use them when out mushing or walking the dogs. However, they are really only visible from the sides of the dogs, so I will continue to attach a light-up tag to the dogs’ collars for extra nighttime visibility (you can never have too much light on the wintery trailer.
These Head-Lites LED Collars come in a range of sizes and styles. At $48.99, it’s not cheap to outfit an entire pack. But are they worth it? Totally – they are the brightest collars I have ever come across, and with the long battery life, I would suggest you check these out!
Note: PetGuide.com was NOT compensated for this review. Our reviewer received three Head-Lite LED Collars to review. The opinions expressed in this post are the author’s. We provide unbiased feedback of the products and share products we think our readers would enjoy using and learning more about.
