Black Diamond Spot vs Black Diamond Iota

The Black Diamond Spot is a great Headlamp for its $40 asking price.

The Black Diamond Iota, however, is merely passable at its $24 price point. If you're considering buying a Headlamp in the $20 range, you might want to check out some of its competitors.

The Black Diamond Spot has managed to impress reviewers from some of the most highly trusted sources on the internet, including Wirecutter (NYTimes) and OutdoorGearLab. It performed great in their in-depth hands-on roundups - it was awarded the "Top Pick" title by Wirecutter (NYTimes) and "Solid Performer at a Good Price" by OutdoorGearLab in their respective Headlamp roundups. That's high praise, especially when coming from such high-quality sources.

As for the Black Diamond Iota - OutdoorGearLab, a source that conducts reliable hands-on testing, has featured it in its Black Diamond Iota Review roundup. However, it didn't make it to any of the top spots.

When we thoroughly analyzed their review scores, we learned that all of the sources that tested both Headlamps, including OutdoorGearLab, preferred the Black Diamond Spot over the Black Diamond Iota.

We also took a look at which sources they managed to impress the most. The Black Diamond Spot was liked best by OutdoorGearLab, which gave it a score of 10, while the Black Diamond Iota got its highest, 8, score from OutdoorGearLab.

Lastly, in order to better compare them to the rest of their competition, we averaged out their review scores. The Black Diamond Iota managed to get 8.0 out of 10 - considerably better than the 6.0 review average of Headlamps in general - whereas the Black Diamond Spot earned 10.0 points.

It should be said that doing a direct Black Diamond Spot vs. Black Diamond Iota comparison might not be entirely fair due to the difference in their prices - some sources don't put much weight on value for money and thus tend to give better review scores to more expensive products.