Phantoj

Hello, all.

Recently, I was "just riding along" (as the LBS customres say) and my ancient Vetta blinkie/tailight flexed the mount on my Delta seatpost rack one time too many. The giant AA-powered lamp fell off and broke. It had 4-LEDs and a large incandescent (!) lamp/reflector and had been given to me by a friend. RIP.

Anyway, I picked up a Blackburn Mars 2.0 at the local bike shop (they had it for the terrific price of $10). Here are my reflections on this purchase:

1. Brightness. You must be seen, right? While it won't sear retinas like mechbgon's latest contraption (what's next, industrial-strength lasers?), the Mars is GOOD AND BRIGHT. It's got four very bright red LED facing rearwards. It's a ton brighter than my old Vetta (I fixed it, so I could compare). And my Vetta was about equal to a "5 LEDS under $5" cheapo blinkie I bought from Nashbar.

2. Durability. This thing is SOLID. Hold it in your hand and you don't feel flexy plastic. It's just plain solid. Incidentally, this brings up what may be considered a weak point of the Mars - you "have to" unscrew it to change the batteries. I consider this part of the design its major advantage. The screws provide a positive and reliable means of enclosing the two AAA batteries. You can hit whatever bumps you want, and, if the screws are there, the thing won't fall apart. Furthermore, I've got to think that screwing two shells together with a gasket in between has got to give a more positive seal than just snapping them together like most taillights.

3. Design. I love the design of this thing. Unlike my past blinkies, it mounts easily on a bike rack (standard reflector-type mount). It's got a seatpost mount that is no-tools removable. It has a clothes clip that might actually work (I don't know, I don't clip to clothes or packs). And all the parts look sturdy - nice and thick in high-stress areas. It has one button to turn it off or cycle through the three blinking modes (on, blink, chase). This button is conveniently located and easy to use.

4. Side visibility. It has an amber led mounted on each side, flashing forwards/sideways. Maybe this will keep a car from turning in front of me...

5. Style. It looks wild. A little too wild for an 80's steel road bike. Maybe on a modern MTB or road bike it would fit in better.

All in all, I give it a five out of five. It is a (rare?) case of a consumer product that meets all my needs exactly at a great price. I HAVE NOT actually USED the product yet - I hope that doesn't change my opinion of it!


picture from https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ance&n=3375251

TimJ

I had/have one of those and the attachment hardware failed 3 times, the third time for good. I have a suspension seatpost and I had to mount it so that the arm you attach the light to pointed up rather than the normal down. It coudln't handle the stress that came with the weight of the light tryig to pull it out and down, and twice the screw unscrewed itself (pretty much without warning, I checked it all the time after the first time), dropping the light onto the pavement. The thhird time the whole thing just snapped. Where the post and the arm connected to the light meet, the round part with mating teeth, that just snapped off.

The light, though cracked and chipped, does still work though. So I guess I found the light to be nice but the attachment hardware to be pretty lousy.

Phantoj

Okay, I should change my title to, "The Mars 2.0 Is a Sturdy and Bright Taillight, But the Mount is Only So-So".

I have it screwed directly onto a rack - should hold up there, but I should probably Loctite the screw.

anonymouse99

When I first purchased the light for my wife, I found the plastic in the back to be shattered in the area where the big screw screws in. This was how it came. I exchanged it for another and made a big deal out of checking out the replacement in the store to ensure that that one didn't have the same defect. It didn't, however after taking it home installing it, using it a little, and then moving it around, I noticed the plastic around some of the other screws in the back began to shatter the same way. Therefore, the plastic Blackburn allowed to be used is of inapropriate quality for the application. The plastic would probably work fine for a desktop figurine that is neither touched nor moved, but for a bike light that needs to be durable, I am heavily dissapointed.

Phantoj

Okay, how about this title: "The Blackburn Mars 2.0 Looks Like It Would Be Pretty Good, But It's Basically Crap."

In my hand, the plastic used seemed really nice and strong. Oh, well, I'll give it a whirl and see how long it lasts.

ohjim

If it makes you feel any better, I've been using the Mars 3.0 for over a year and couldn't be happier. I've had no problems. I think it's very well made, weather proof and quite bright.
JB-MAR3.gif

If the quality of the 2.0 is anything like the 3.0 you'll be happy.

Phantoj

Looks like the "side light" execution on the 3.0 is better than the 2.0.

Might or might not be stronger/more durable. It's smaller, so maybe lighter = less stress on the mount = longer life. I'm still hoping for the best with mine. I mounted it upside-down because I thought it looked better that way.

Who makes a REALLY GOOD "won't break" blinkie? Is Cateye good?

ohjim

I think my Mars 3.0 is a really good won't break blinkie.

TimJ

Mine was cracked near the bolt and then cracked some more too, but it didn't really bother me. It seems to be sound even though it's cracked around the bolts.

-=(8)=-

This is the one I use too... It has passed my bike at 35 mph on two occasions
without missing a blink !
Very durable

HardyWeinberg

I had one of those, I liked it. One day it just disintegrated on me, though, the whole back surface just went to powder. I think it lasted 6 months (and 3 accidents).

Reading ahead, I see mine was less durable than others' (or my wipeouts were worse)

mechBgon

I had a Mars 2.0 and found that it clipped nicely to the RocLoc crossbar on the rear of my helmet.

It's not very bright compared to a Cateye LD-1000, though. See pics below, the dim one is the Mars 2.0 and the bright one is the LD-1000. The LD-1000 might be worth spending the extra money if you want longer-range detection or have difficult visibility conditions. However, the LD-1000 does cost about 3x the price too.

Phantoj

So far, so good on the Mars 2.0 - I moved to Washington State and have commuted with it every day for about five weeks, including some rain.

dalmore

Not to hijack this thread but does the ld-1000 have a means to attach to a belt? A clip or something. I clip my mars 2 to my fanny pack's belt - it allows for easy bike swaps that way. I do like the brightness of the ld-1000 though...

agarose2000

Man, somebody really needs to make a simple, reliable rear rack taillights. Please!

0o0o0o

I have two Mars 3.0's they are very bright however they like to jump out of their mounts so had to wire them down.

krazygluon

I have a Mars 3, it didn't like my seatpost (diameter of the seatpost was too small for the mounting) so put it at the union between my seatstays and the seatpost. Seems to fit quite nicely there. as for brightness, nobody hit me in a dense fog the other morning, so I suppose it works well enough for low-visibility daylight conditions.

mechBgon

LD1000's do come with belt clips nowdays. However, the "hotspot" of the beam is small. If you want it to be really effective, you need that hotspot aimed where the viewers will be, so a clip is a bad way to attach an LD1000.

If you want a clip-on light that's very bright and isn't touchy about being aimed just right, look at Lightman amber strobes, the ones with the actual Xenon strobe tube (not the LED ones).

CaptMatt15

+1 to Mars 3.0, i've been using mine for around 6 months, and it gets the attention of drivers, especially on the 3rd mode (2nd blinking mode) i like to call "Dance Party Mode..."