The Gerber Meridian headlamp consists of a three point headband system, a rear 3 AA battery pack, and a front lamp assembly which contains separate "pods" for a Luxeon LED, a green 5mm LED and a red 5mm LED. A regulator circuit is advertised as included to help maintain constant output.

Body: "Unconventional" seems to be the watchword for the design of many of Gerber's new lights. This headlamp has a fully adjustable three point elastic headband system and a rear 3 AA battery compartment which all seems pretty normal. The light is made mostly of plastic, and a cable connects the battery compartment to the light module in the front. The lighting module on the front of the headlamp, however, is a bit different from most.

Bezel: Looking at the front of the Gerber Meridian you see three "pods". The largest one contains a Luxeon LED and collimator lens, while the other two contain reflectors colored green and red and each has a single 5mm LED inside that matches the color of the reflector when energized. Each pod has its own reflector. The Luxeon has its own switch while the red and green LEDs share a switch. Selecting between the red and green LEDs is done by clicking the switch in series. Holding the switch for 4 seconds causes the red LED to blink.

Output: The Luxeon LED puts out a heavily greenish-yellow tinted light as can be seen in the fairly accurately-colored beam picture, below. The red and green LEDs produce ringy beams. All three LEDs do produce a good amount of light. The white Luxeon is the all-purpose light. Red will help preserve your night vision, while green is supposed to be less likely to spook game animals and is also compatible with electronic night vision equipment. The Luxeon appears centered well in the lens and the green beam overlaps the white, but the read beam is skewed hard to the left.

Beam at one meter at target center; Luxeon, green and red LEDs

Runtime Plot: The runtime graph is for the Luxeon only. This was actually a big surprise - great runtime!

Runtime completed with Gerber brand batteries. More information on runtime plots is available HERE.

Switch: The switches for the Meridian are small rectangles protected by raised ridges around each switch. Cutouts in the ridges allow easy activation while helping to prevent accidental activation. The Luxeon switch is on the bottom of the Luxeon pod while the red/green switch rests on the side of the headlamp between the two pods. Both the Luxeon and the red or green LED can be active at the same time.

Seals: I'm not too sure about this one. The battery pack seems to rely on the rubber cover to seal itself against the hard plastic battery case. I just can't tell about the lamp module. I'd say it's splashable, but I'm not too sure how far I'd push it. If it gets wet inside just open it up as much as you can and let it dry before next use.

Ergonomics: The lamp module is very small, and the headlamp is about as comfortable as any other. Nothing bad to report in this area.

One problem that did surface is how the strap is made. Looking carefully at the left side of the battery compartment you can see that something appears wrong with the straps. Sure enough, the folks who sewed the strap together put a 1/2 twist in the strap. The only way to fix it is to completely replace the strap or cut the stitching and re-sew. Poor quality control at its best...

Batteries: 3 AA alkaline cells power the light. To open the battery compartment you have to loosen the straps (why do so many headlamp manufacturers do this???) and then peel open the rubbery compartment cover. Place the cells in as indicated on the inside of the compartment, replace the cover and replace the straps.

Accessories: Batteries are included.

What I Liked: Three types of light output, Impact resistant, Regulated/good battery life, Bright output

What I Didn't Like: Not sure about water resistance, Poor color tint Luxeon, Red LED out of alignment and not adjustable.

Other Things I Noticed: Must loosen the straps to change the batteries.

Conclusions: An OK headlamp. Not great, but not junk either. Good light volume output, but the Luxeon has a strong tint. Having three colors of light available is nice depending on your circumstances.

Quick Facts Table: