Sp@eder

Saw some interesting LED lights from Blackburn
https://www.blackburndesign.com/lights.html




I could care less about the outer-space names and looks, but they claim to have excellent side visibility. Which could very well be true because there are all these optics/prisms on the lenses and they use 6 and 7 LED's respectively (which you don't see that often). I'm guessing these are re-branded from some Asian manufacturer or designed specially for them. The one in the middle costs $14.99 at Performance.

Anyone have any experience with these lights?

jeff-o

I don't think they're rebranded Asian designs. They're too fancy.

dee-vee

They look kinda dorky to me. I like my 10 LED cateye.

froze

The Blackburn site gave no indication as too how bright they are. Performance list several LED headlights with a max candle power of 1,000...but 1,000 candle power is still just a too be seen light and not a light to see with. You want a bright light then consider the CygoLite Metro with a total of 13watts with up to 5 hours of run time, or the Rover NiMH 6hr with 16watts; either of these will work for a person on a budget (https://www.cygolite.com/light/main/1products.htm). Or if you want something light weight with decent brightness and long battery life then consider the NiteHawk ViewPoint Gen3 which is said to be equal to a 10watt halogen light-though some have said that wasn't true, regardless it's still way brighter then those other small selfcontained battery lights (https://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=4320).

lockdown

On Friday night I was riding my mountain bike in NYC and was hopping around and didn't notice a pot hole and my rear tire came down on it hard. I had a cateye 550 blinker on the back and the mount snapped in two (the light slammed into the pavement and survived unscathed). So today I ventured out to get a replacement and the bike shop had the lights above. I ended up purchasing the mars 3.0 light which is pictured in the middle above. It has 5 LEDs facing out and 1 LED on each of the sides for a total of 7 LEDs. It has a steady mode along with 2 different flashing modes. One flashing mode all the lights flash at once and the other the lights go up and down. It looks really bright, much brighter than the cateye(my cateeye only had 2 LEDs). The mount looks pretty strong too.

The guy at the shop also demonstrated the headlight for me as well (left most light in picture above...). It is pretty nice depending on what you need it for. It has 4 LEDs. It has 3 operating modes. You can have all 4 LEDs on, or it will flash the right and left LED while keeping the top and bottom LED steady, or it will flash all 4 LEDs. It seemed pretty bright and the mode with 2 LEDs constant and 2 flashing is nice. The light was a little big for my tastes though. I use a cateye hl-el400 opticube on my front which is much smaller. In NYC LED headlights are fine because you aren't trying to see with them, you just want to be seen. If you need a headlight to see on a dark street you should probably look at halogens, LEDs just don't seem to cut it.

steveknight

I bought the second one as a backup for my cateye. it has yellow side faing blinkies. so it is close to the cateye. the bad part is it uses AAA's. but it is nice and bright and cheap. I had the plastic loop holder through some PVC on my rear rack as it is made to only attach to a seat post. I fell over and it broke. so now it is ziptyed in place.
Plus you have to remove screws to put batteries in real small screws.

ruchai

I think the Cat-eye EL-500 is better.

Sp@eder

And?

2manybikes

The rear lights are not as good as the new Cateye 10 led light from the back or the side.

The front light is about average in function. It's good for a marker light, so are many others.

The front light belongs on this Bowden Spaceliner It makes me laugh.

operator

I don't get the gmail link...

slvoid

Holy... put some TT bars on that, disc wheels, and you have one mother of a TT bike on a flat stage heh.

slvoid

The light on the right is pretty cool.
It has some real bright LED's in the center and a set of amber LED's on the side.
Makes you look very vehicular with the side amber led's.

2manybikes

Did I show you my track bike?

slvoid

Yii.......

ruchai

CatEye TL1000

ruchai

CatEye EL 500

I think CatEye EL 500 and TL 1000 may be the brightest led lights available now.

2manybikes

[QUOTE=ruchai I think CatEye EL 500 and TL 1000 may be the brightest led lights available now.[/QUOTE]

The TL LD 1000 is a good light,but not the brightest. The EL 500 has too narrow a beam there are others about the same and others with a better wider beam.



https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=Cat+eye+light

biodiesel

sucks! in my used junk bin!
the light pattern has a big dark spot right in the middle (where the tire is about to go.)

ick.

Juha

Umm... you mean the Cateyes suck or the Blackburns?

--J