Customer Reviews

Cateye EL-135 and TL-LD130R Bicycle Headlight and Tail Light Combination

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These two lights make a great combination for the price. The quick-detach mounts are very straightforward to install, the lights come on and off easily and are bright enough for most conditions. I use them for a 25 mile round trip commute at least one leg of which is before or after sunlight. I use the disco mode on the rear light, and the flashing mode on the front except for the darkest areas. Another great convenience is AA and AAA batteries - I prefer to always use rechargables, so I am never at risk of not having a battery when I need one. Overall, these are very good lights and nicely round out the look on my all-black Fuji Patrol bike. I'm contemplating adding a PlanetBike set just for good measure, but these also do just fine on their own. If you are buying lights, don't go too cheap, these are perfect. Also they can handle a lot of rain (I live in Eugene, OR w/ 200 days of rain a year).

Once again, I should've shopped at Amazon.com first. Oh, well...I made the local bike shop slightly richer. This light set is about $27.00 on Amazon.com. About $10 higher at your local bike shop.

What impressed me first is two words you never hear anymore...BATTERIES INCLUDED! Alkaline batteries at that. The headlight naturally mounts on the handlebars & the the tail-light can be mounted on the seat-post, or comes with a belt clip; great for night-time joggers. (You won't find me jogging with my weak back & legs.) Another plus...no tools required for installation.

The headlight can either shine continuously or flashing. The rear has three choices; continuous, flashing, or random flashing. Both use three LED lights. Battery life, according to specs, should be about 150 hours flashing and 80 continuous. The front headlight takes two AA batteries; the rear two AAA batteries. Once again...alkaline batteries are included. Both lights can be removed easily to prevent theft. One click of a button turns them on. Another click puts them into flash mode. Hold the button down about 2 seconds to turn them off.

Would I use these on a dark country road? Nope. But under city lights, you & your bike become much more visible; especially with the rear light in a flashing mode. I shouldn't have to say this...but I will; this product is designed for adult use. Please don't let your kids ride after dark.

I have owned this light set for about three months and am not quite as happy with the product as most of the other reviewers here. In fact, I decided to buy this product primarily because of the many positive reviews. The LEDs are bright and certainly will help make riders more visible, especially when the lights are used in their flashing beacon modes. However, the headlight provides only marginal lighting for unlit roads or trails, as mentioned by others. My main complaint is that the lens and one battery fell off of the rear light when I hit small depression on a paved street. More recently the lens, LED lights and circuitry fell off of the front light when jarred by a not too severe bump. The wire leads from the battery compartment are very small and fragile, so the weight of the LED lights, which are mounted on the circuit board, was enough to break the wires from their solder joints. After some searching I found the parts that fell off, but the wires are very small and will be difficult to reattach to the circuit board, if even possible. The LEDs might not work now anyhow due to possible damage from falling off the housing and hitting the road. I thought it was a pretty nice light set at first, but now I'm not so sure. If I have to replace the headlight I will do so with a different product or perhaps make something of my own design.

The head light works great for city riding. I would not use this for extensive night riding, but excelent to identify a biker.

Both lights will fit easily into your pocket, but still put off a good amount of light. For the price, I couldn't be happier with the headlight - I angle it down slightly to avoid blinding people, and it does a good job of showing me the road ahead. Both the headlight and tail light can be seen from all angles which is great for safety.

They seem to be pretty durable, too - my bike fell over in a gust of wind, with both lights attached. The battery cover and battery flew off the headlight but there were no cracks, and the light still works perfectly.

Batteries included, too! Recommended.

This pair of lights has nice design (the fact it is pair gives both lights matching look) and both work very well for normal bike commuting or non-heavy riding through woods. The only minor hassle was part of getting them mounted - had to spend couple of minutes polishing the sharp edges of the plastic holder (after cutting them). After that it is possible to remove them via single movement/click. The front light has 2 modes of operation (solid/blinking), the tail one has 3 (solid/blinking/disco).

These are great lights for commuters. They're really for visibility - don't plan to use the head light to illuminate the road in front of you. But, I think they really help with visibility - I can see the light flashing on reflective signs and such pretty far away.

One small complaint about the headlight is that the light flashes upward as well as forward. So, if you plan to affix this to your handlebars, you should note that you'll see the flashing light too. I find this a little distracting and may put a piece of duct tape across the top, to dim it.

Other than that, it's a great set.

I purchased this set for myself and Cateye HL-350 and LD170 Bicycle Headlight and Tail Light Combination for my son's bike. Let's just say I should have purchased two of these sets instead.

Mounting:
The mounting clips are very slick - very adjustable and clamp down tight. There are several mounting options, which should make it adaptable for any situation. I used the bar mount for the front and the clothing clip looped through the loop on my Topeak Survival Tool Wedge Pack with Fixer on the back.

Headlight:
The headlight is very small (like the size of 1 cereal bar) but bright enough for city use (too small and lightweight I would think for nighttime trail riding). My one qualm with it is that the battery cover comes off with a coin or flat blade and does not feel like it fits very securely. On my set up, the low profile does result in some of the light being lost as it hits the cables. You need to hold the button to turn it off, which bugs me - I would have rather had a straight on/off without the blinking option.

Tail light:
I am less enthused about the tail light. It is large. It slides into the different mounting options, which means I have it slid into the clothing clip mount, which is slid onto my wedge pack. The other tail lights I have used, use the clothing clip as the default clip and can be adapted for stay mounts if necessary. It would not attach to the mount point on my older Topeak rear rack without the use of cable ties, so if you have a rear rack AND a wedge pack, mounting could be a problem if one does not accept either a post mount or clip mount and you want a easy on/off solution. It is adequately bright and the battery cover is easy enough to remove although like the light, seems insecure with no rubber insulation ring to keep moisture out.

Bottom line: It is a perfect commuting companion for city use and appears to meet legal requirements. It works adequately even on streets that are poorly lit by street lamps, but does not light a wide enough path to be great for trail riding or situations where there are no other sources of light (houses, street lights, etc...). I have no purchasing regrets.

This headlight and tail light combo is definitely worth a buy. Both lights are very bright and provide more than enough light for cars to see you at night. Another nice feature is that they are easily removable, the bracket stays on the bike while the lights clip on and off the bracket. This is nice because you can take your lights with you when you park your bike to prevent them from being stolen. And lastly, both come with batteries included!

This set is good for the price but I found the headlight to be a little too weak. Oncoming traffic will see you but it does not do a great job with lighting up the path in front of you, especially when cycling at higher speeds. The tail light works really well and mounts securely to the bike frame. I will keep the tail light but will have to find another head light so I can ride at night and be able to see the path ahead of me.