Make your own bike lane wherever you ride with a green laser projection of a bike symbol that comes in this bike light. Simon Vincett tests and reports.
Your own bike lane. Doesn’t that sound like a great idea? Beautifully made, with the best bracket I’ve ever seen on a light, I really wanted to love this product. But it didn’t stand up to testing.
The most exciting bit was the laser. It’s a cleverly foreshortened image that projects a perfect bike shape on the ground 6m ahead of you. You can display this on flashing or steady at the same time as you display the light on flashing (100 lumen), standard beam (100 lumen) or high beam (300 lumen).
The problem is that it’s really only useful when you’re riding in a straight line and can be distracting and confusing otherwise. For instance when I came to a T-intersection and waited for my turn to go, the bike symbol was projected out into the passing traffic. Afraid of causing an accident, I turned it off. It’s a simple push button to scroll through flashing steady and off but I found I turned it off so often I forgot to turn it on again. Besides I choose bike lanes and paths as often as possible, so it was redundant.
Then there’s the light performance. Head-on visibility is acceptable and the flash rate is effective but, crucially, the angled visibility is poor, giving a score of 50% for overall visibility. The high-beam steady mode provides more light output (300 lumen) but the angled visibility is still poor due to the recessed LED.
Apparently tested to IP7 for water, the unit can be immersed up to a metre. It’s hefty though at 225g, including the bracket.
Unfortunately, the laser is useful on occasion but not enough to justify the expense, especially since the unit under-performs as a light.
More info and to buy www.blaze.cc
Rating 70%
Function 20/40
Quality 36/40
Price 5/10
Appearance 9/10
£125 (~AUD$245)
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Stupid idea.