Adventure Lighting iBlaast LED front light
Just have to rave about a front light I got recently from new zealand. I've been using a Lumicycle HID for about three years, which is excellent, but switching on/off isn't entirely straightforward and there's only one power setting, so I got this iBlaast front light sent from NZ, it cost £120 including handlebar bracket and postage, on top of which I got stung about £25 VAT and import duty, and £8 by parcelforce, so total a smidge over £153. (The Lumi HID is £180).
It works great with the 14.8V Li-ion Lumicycle battery I've already got, I just had to solder a suitable connector onto the light. The battery from the iBlaast people only works out a little more expensive than the lumi one after tax and comes with the right connector so might be worth getting if you're going for the whole system - I think it might tip the scales at around £300 total.
Have a look at http://www.nightlightning.co.nz/endurenz%20details.htm.
I've already ranted about this on another forum and got into a strange argument - so just to make it clear, "front light" means "front light" - i.e. just the front light, er, how can I put it, only the front light. The battery, the charger, the wall socket and the bicycle are NOT included.
Having done a ride to Wales and back with this light I'm massively impressed with the ease of use, the fact that you can programme it to work as a simple on/off, with the brightness level (therefore runtime) adjustable, or you can set it to low/high or low/med/high, in all cases all the levels are individually adjustable. The spread of light is excellent, it throws a beam almost as far up the road as the 6deg Lumicycle HID, and makes a much more useful spread of light, though not as wide as the 13deg Lumi. I've had them both side by side on the bar and can say the iBlaast seems to give more useful light overall on its highest setting, which gives about the same runtime as the HID, but the lower settings increase the runtime hugely, the lowest giving 90 hours with a 4.4Ah battery, and it's not all that dim, you can do a perfectly good ride with it at decent speeds. On the webpage above there's a chart of current levels that correspond to brightness settings so you can work out runtimes between min and max brightness.
There are different versions at slightly different prices - a lamp with the switching electronics on the back of it, i.e. one unit, a lamp with the electronics in a separate pod, and a simple on/off one with no low/med/high stuff, just on/off, but with the switch in a separate pod. I suppose having the separate pod means you can have the switching nearer a brake lever so don't have to keep reaching up to the lamp itself to dim it for oncoming cars...
The handlebar bracket seems really flimsy at first but in practice works really well, it's a bit wobbly but in a way that's good because it wobbles over bumps rather than swivelling on the bar, and it means you can have it loose enough to be able to swivel it by hand if you want to, yet it doen't shift going over potholes.
I'm nothing to do with this company but when I come across a product that does what it says on the in, and does it so well, I have to go on about it, cos especially in the area of LED bike lights there's a lot os rubbish about.
It works great with the 14.8V Li-ion Lumicycle battery I've already got, I just had to solder a suitable connector onto the light. The battery from the iBlaast people only works out a little more expensive than the lumi one after tax and comes with the right connector so might be worth getting if you're going for the whole system - I think it might tip the scales at around £300 total.
Have a look at http://www.nightlightning.co.nz/endurenz%20details.htm.
I've already ranted about this on another forum and got into a strange argument - so just to make it clear, "front light" means "front light" - i.e. just the front light, er, how can I put it, only the front light. The battery, the charger, the wall socket and the bicycle are NOT included.
Having done a ride to Wales and back with this light I'm massively impressed with the ease of use, the fact that you can programme it to work as a simple on/off, with the brightness level (therefore runtime) adjustable, or you can set it to low/high or low/med/high, in all cases all the levels are individually adjustable. The spread of light is excellent, it throws a beam almost as far up the road as the 6deg Lumicycle HID, and makes a much more useful spread of light, though not as wide as the 13deg Lumi. I've had them both side by side on the bar and can say the iBlaast seems to give more useful light overall on its highest setting, which gives about the same runtime as the HID, but the lower settings increase the runtime hugely, the lowest giving 90 hours with a 4.4Ah battery, and it's not all that dim, you can do a perfectly good ride with it at decent speeds. On the webpage above there's a chart of current levels that correspond to brightness settings so you can work out runtimes between min and max brightness.
There are different versions at slightly different prices - a lamp with the switching electronics on the back of it, i.e. one unit, a lamp with the electronics in a separate pod, and a simple on/off one with no low/med/high stuff, just on/off, but with the switch in a separate pod. I suppose having the separate pod means you can have the switching nearer a brake lever so don't have to keep reaching up to the lamp itself to dim it for oncoming cars...
The handlebar bracket seems really flimsy at first but in practice works really well, it's a bit wobbly but in a way that's good because it wobbles over bumps rather than swivelling on the bar, and it means you can have it loose enough to be able to swivel it by hand if you want to, yet it doen't shift going over potholes.
I'm nothing to do with this company but when I come across a product that does what it says on the in, and does it so well, I have to go on about it, cos especially in the area of LED bike lights there's a lot os rubbish about.
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