RRP: £50 Weight: 82g (including supplied rechargable battery – slightly more with standard AAAs) Petzl – which began life as a caving gear company – made its first headtorch in 1981 and has been refining and expanding its range ever since. The last Petzl torch I used, bought in a hurry to replace a lost one, broke after fairly light use and the experience put me off the brand. Testing this new lightweight model over the last few months for winter walks and regular night runs has changed my opinion – this is an excellent, reliable torch with many useful…

RRP: £80 Weight: 235g per pair (small) When is a mitt not really a mitt? With the Rab Blizzard, the mitt outer conceals a glove-shaped inner supposedly to give the best of both worlds; I’ve been testing it over the winter. This is a gauntlet-style mitt with box wall construction in a pre-formed shape with single finger inserts. I found them to be close fitting – the women’s small really is small, particularly in width and unlike normal mitts the finger inserts mean there is little extra room inside. However the fit is well-designed, giving good articulation and being comfortable…

Osprey Hydraulics Reservoir RRP: £34 Weight: 21g (2 litre) I switched to using hydration bladders over bottles about 10 years ago and despite the faffing involved with cleaning and drying I wouldn’t go back. I drink more, find the reservoir is more comfortable in my rucksack, and they are generally easier to fill from streams than bottles. In recent months I’ve been testing a 2 litre Osprey reservoir and as it’s been winter, the optional insulated tube and bite valve cover that goes with it. The resevoir is made from BPA and PVC-free flexible thermoplastic polyurethane, which despite feeling thin…