Had my first proper night run with the Silva Alpha last night and was pretty impressed.
When I picked it up I thought that the headstrap seemed a little stiff and was worried that it might be uncomfortable without a hat. However it is such a good shape and so easy to adjust whilst wearing that it was probably the most comfortable of all the specialist super bright lights (Hope Vision4, Petzl Ultra & Silva Alpha).
The light unit was easy to adjust for angle and the button was easy to find and use with gloves on. The power settings, of which there are 4, are a little unusual. The first 3 are Full, Medium and Power save, but the fourth setting allows the focused beam LED to be on full whilst the other 2 remain on power save. This gives OK proximity light and a really good beam in a more battery friendly way. One touch of the button in this mode puts all 3 LEDs at full power which is logically the next thing you might want.
I can’t comment on the battery life as I only ran for just over an hour, so more testing required.
I am off mountain biking tonight and have mounted the Alpha on my bars. The multi mount system was a doddle to fit and the beam angle adjustment is done without changing the angle of the bar mount which I thought was a nice touch. Will post again after my ride.