The HM55R Renegade Is Fenix’s Best Recreational Headlamp Yet

It’s pitch dark as I open the door for a 6 a.m. run. Ah, February. I press the single button on the side of the Fenix HM55R Renegade, and a white beam cuts through the pre-dawn gloom. My dog pulls hard on the harness and leash tethered to my waist, and I lurch onto the trail. Nothing like a good headlamp and eager pup to hold you accountable to those fitness promises to yourself, even in the darkest of months.

And when I mention “good headlamp,” I may be understating the capability of the new(ish) Fenix HM55R Renegade. While small and light enough to carry even on an ultralight mission or in a trail running vest, it packs up to 1,200 lumens for short bursts and can maintain a healthy 350 lumens for more than 8 hours.

Blend those head-turning specs with a fantastic red light, a very nice floodlight, and a wide, comfortable strap, and you’ve got the recipe for one of the greatest recreational headlamps I’ve ever tested.

In short: The Fenix HM55R Renegade should be considered among the top headlamps for general outdoor recreation. Comfortable, powerful, long-lasting, and fast-charging, it’s nearly ideal for most uses outside those that require extremely bright output (such as cycling or search and rescue). For most users, the HM55R Renegade is an ideal headlamp. It may be the best all-around headlamp I’ve tested.

Fenix HM55R Renegade: User Experience

The HM55R Renegade is a compact headlamp with a form and fit very similar to the Black Diamond Spot 400-R or BioLite Range 500. And by that, I mean the entire package, including the strap, fits easily into the palm of my hand. It weighs 3.7 ounces, including the battery and headband.

It has a very wide strap compared with most other headlamps. This strap, which has a little stretch (but not much), slides into the back of the headlamp on a flat panel. That panel then attaches to the main body of the lamp through a round barrel, which allows it to click up and down from about level to down nearly 90 degrees.

On the front, two white LEDs — one Luminus SST25 LED and one Luminus SST20V-Ra90 LED — with fixed lenses provide white spot and flood lights. A small 2835 red LED sits in the middle, offering remarkably bright and useful red lighting to protect night vision.

On the wearer’s right side, a single large button on the side controls all elements of the light. Long-press to turn on and off. Short-press to scroll through lighting modes once on. To switch from spot to flood light and back, you press and hold for 4 seconds. To turn on the red light, fast double-tap from off.

I must admit, it’s not my favorite user interface, but it’s not bad. I’ll get into this more below.

Charging is easy. The USB-C port opens with a rubber tab on the back to refill the replaceable ARB-L18-1600 battery. I haven’t gotten a good sense of the recharge speed yet, but it seems fast. I’ll update with charging details after a bit more use.

Finally, the HM55R Renegade has a replaceable battery. This means it has an extremely long lifespan, as battery life is generally one of the first things to degrade in headlamps. It also means that, while rechargeable, you can buy a second battery if desired to make extremely long service hours as easy as switching batteries.

Fenix HM55R Headlamp Review

Modes

The HM55R Renegade headlamp is one of the brightest small headlamps I’ve ever used. For comparison, most single-battery, rechargeable headlamps under 4 ounces project between 400 and 500 lumens on their highest setting. The HM55R blasts 1,200 lumens on turbo mode.

In the spotlight turbo setting, it’s shocking to see this level of lighting coming from such a small headlamp. It easily lit up trees more than 100 yards away during testing. The light doesn’t run for long in turbo — it’ll dial the light back in less than 2 minutes to avoid overheating — but for short bursts of bright lighting, it’s excellent.

In high power, the light produces 350 lumens for up to 6.5 hours. That’s a healthy runtime at a super-useful power output. Dial it back to medium (130 lumens) for more than 12 hours of runtime.

The light also has a nice, even floodlight setting. This mode eats battery faster on high, but is more suitable for close quarters, where lower settings make sense. Medium power (70 lumens) will run for 19.5 hours on floodlight mode.

Last but definitely not least is red light mode. This really stands out on the HM55R Renegade, as the red light projects up to 43 feet. That is dramatically farther than most small headlamps that barely light the trail with their red light.

I use red lights a lot. They preserve your night vision and are less disruptive to wildlife. And they don’t blind your friends nearly as much as white lights. And the red light on the Fenix HM55R is among the best out there, especially on a small headlamp.

Comfort

Now let’s talk comfort. I’d give the HM55R Renegade a B+ rating here. It’s pretty light, and the strap is wide and comfortable. It’s not quite as comfortable as the BioLite Range 500, as you can feel the hard aluminum plate that holds the primary light against your forehead.

I’m nitpicking here, but as a direct comparison, there are a couple of other models that are a little less noticeable on your head.

I wore the HM55R Renegade while running and found it rides quite well. It did not bounce at all. Slipping was minimal and entirely manageable by tightening the strap. For running, I found the medium spotlight mode to be plenty powerful, and was surprised that the red light, on high, allows for quick movement over rough trails.

Drawbacks

Finally, my other nitpick: The user interface, while easy enough to use, is a little clumsy. I’ve grown accustomed to its single-button system over a couple of weeks, and it works fine. But it does require a little more thought than some competitors that use two buttons to control on/off and brightness settings.

Again, this is a minor detail. The button works well, even with gloves, but you can expect a slight learning curve to hit the correct setting every time.

Fenix HM55R Renegade Headlamp: Who It’s For

The Fenix HM55R Renegade is the best headlamp for recreational use that the brand has ever made. It’s compact, powerful, long-lasting, fast-charging, durable, and comfortable.

At the time of publication, you can buy one for $75, or about $5 more than the Black Diamond Spot 400-R and BioLite Range 500. And for that extra $5, you get a much more powerful turbo mode and a superior red light. The tradeoff is that the Fenix HM55R Renegade is about an ounce heavier, which you will notice on your head.

Which one you choose will depend on your preference: a little more brightness or a little more comfort. With Fenix’s introduction of the HM55R Renegade, consumers get an exceptional new option with top-shelf performance.

To wrap things up, I want to call out that I gave one of these lights to my hunting buddy, as I received multiple from Fenix for testing. He’s notoriously tough on gear and critical of headlamps. He texted me unsolicited last week, with this simple note: “Random but didn’t want to forget while it was on my mind, but the latest headlamp you gave me is in my humble opinion the G.O.A.T.”

I think many will agree. It should have a broad appeal for anyone in the outdoor recreation space.

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