Customer Reviews

Planet Bike Beamer 1 and Blinky 3 LED Bicycle Light Set

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Battery life is good and the whole package seems pretty well-built. My only compliant is that the front headlight is not very bright. It serves to let other people know you're there, but definitely does not sufficiently light up the road in front of you. The rear light works just fine.

For the price, however, I don't think this can be beat. If you're looking for a cheap but usable bike light set, this is the way to go.

I thought this light would suffice for my short ride home from work every night but its has a much more limited scope than I was expecting. If I could do it again, I would have splurged for a bigger light. Works great and has sturdy construction but is definitely the minimum you need for night riding.

Up front, a large disclaimer - I do not own this product, and gave it 3 stars as a 'guessed at' rating.

So why am I writing a review? Well, I thought I'd pass along a very helpful bit of information I received while I debated between this bike light set and a similar, more expensive one from Planet Bike also offered by Amazon. This light set includes the Beamer 1 headlight, while the more expensive one features the 1/2 watt Blaze headlight (also from Planet Bike). In reading the reviews I saw where people had said the Beamer 1 was a bit dim, but that didn't clarify things for me.

What I'd recommend is to go over to the Planet Bike web site and fire up their 'See the Light' feature, [...]. This very helpful web page shows you *exactly* how each of the different products work, and the area they illuminate.

QUICK SUMMARY: I like this product enough to equip all six of our family's bicycles with this combo unit. They're easy to attach to the handle bar (once you understand the mechanism), easy to remove, and do a good job helping others to see you. Don't expect to use this headlight to illuminate a dark road at night, though.

There are six reasons why I like this set:

1) LED lights are much more energy efficient than the old-fashioned, incandescent light bulbs I used to use growing up. Saves money on replacement batteries.

2) The headlight beam, when focused correctly, is very bright and can be easily seen by an oncoming car from a faraway distance. Similarly, the red tail-light, when properly focused, can also be easily seen from an approaching vehicle.

3) The physical size of both the headlight and tail-light are very compact, so they look nice on the bikes.

4) They're weatherproof enough so if you're caught in the rain, both devices should keep working for you.

5) They're easy to mount on the handlebar and seat post. I used one of the rubber inserts to ensure a tight fit on the handlebar. The headlight doesn't require a screwdriver to install; the tail-light does need a screwdriver.

6) The headlight is easy to detach from the bike. I liked this feature when I was nighttime riding, and I wanted to stop and take a look at an armadillo along the road. So, it doubles as a handy flashlight, too. The tail-light is easily detached from the mounting bracket, too, but you'll probably do that only to replace the batteries.

I have four caveats to share with you:

1) The headlight isn't good enough to illuminate a dark road well enough that you can safely ride at night. You can do it, but the road will be dimly lit up. There's only one white LED in the headlight. It's fine if you're riding at night on a well-lit road and you just need a headlight so others can see you. If you need a headlight to really light up the road for you, look elsewhere.

2) Both the headlight and tail-light need to be properly focused so an oncoming vehicle can actually see you. They need to point almost straight ahead so the beam can be highly visible to an oncoming or approaching vehicle. If not pointed correctly, the bright intensity of the LED lights won't help you become visible to others.

3) Even when the lights are correctly focused, the bright light can only be seen from a relatively narrow field-of-vision. I would have preferred the tail-light to slightly offset the leftmost and rightmost LEDs so the tail-light could be seen by a wider field-of-vision. Because the field-of-vision is so narrow, take time to evaluate whether you've correctly installed the lights by moving 50 or 100 yards away from your bike, and looking to see how well the lights can be seen. (It's helpful if you work with another person to install the lights, where one person makes the adjustments, and the other stands far away to evaluate the results).

4) Stupidly, you press the headlight button once to initiate a blinking action, a second time to have a steady beam, whereas the tail-light is just the opposite -- click once for a steady beam, twice to initiate a blinking action.

In short, recommended!

This is definitely made for letting others know you are there not for riding dark trails at night, but, it does that very well and at a great price. Front and back are plenty bright enough for getting attention. Both mounted easily. My only tiny complaint is that they don't default to the same mode one to flashing and the other to solid.

The bar isn't set very high for a multifunction light set priced under $25, but this set does rise above mediocrity in a couple of important areas. There is a lot of versatility, with both lights having multiple functions and the headlight sharing a LED and a regular bulb with low and high power settings. It is also well designed and made for this price point. But the performance of the headlight is a constant reminder that you didn't pay a lot. Only the highbeam is useable when riding at night and it likes batteries. Really, really likes batteries. After just 1.5 hours of night riding the range and intensity of the high beam has been cut by more than half.

My local bike shop offered this set for $15 when I bought my bike, so I really don't have anything to complain about considering I've spent more on a pizza. But the battery consumption has put a rechargeable headlight high on my shopping list.

I've been really happy with these lights. I the front light is bright enough for an average suburban road, and I like the blinking function on the back light. I haven't used them long enough to judge if the battery length is as long as they say, but so far I've had no problems. The bracket for the tail light was strange, I never did figure out how it was supposed to work, but I just skipped the bracket entirely and used the clip that was attached to the light. The clip seems sturdy enough by itself. Overall I'm very happy with them and it was the best price I found around.

Firstly, the lights are very powerful. The 3 LED blinker is much brighter than others I see on the road, it really makes you stand out. The same is true of the "beamer".

However, the mounting mechanisms for both these products are a disaster. The clip on the 3 LED blinker is incredibly weak, I can't even get it to stay attached to a backpack strap and it is much too small to clip onto any part of my bike's frame. The lamp's mechanism is an even greater nightmare. It's unreasonably difficult to open the clasping mechanism and once you do open it, you realize that it is also way too small to attach to any useful part of your bike.

Really, really poor design using good off the shelf electronics. I have ended up taping the lamp to my helmet at night and I have yet to use the blinker as it falls off of everything I clip it to.

These two items literally installed in just minutes. The Beamer head lamp works well in pitch black conditions. I've been told the Blinky can be seen from quiet a distance also.They both appear to be made of quality material as well.
The only set back I've found is when you set the light to strobe it can interfere with the computer I purchased (Bell)as it creates a magnetic field the gives of false readings. You have to either not use the strobe or relocate the 2 items some distance apart.
Other than that I am quit satisfied with the 2 lights.

This is what I have on my xtracycle cargo bike right now. The headlight has performed really well over the years. It's waterproof and the batteries can easily be taken out and installed. You just turn the knob and put the batteries in-no unscrewing the light just to put batteries in which is nice. The only issue I have with the light is that I often take it on and off when i lock up my bike somewhere. Although it easily comes off your bike handlebars, the rubber piece that attaches to the mount can easily get lost.It's bright enough for urban areas with street lights. If you are off road I'd go with something more powerful.

The blinky has also put up with a good amount of abuse over the years. The only issue I have with it is that the batteries are a really tight fit-which is typical i've found of most blinkies. So sometimes it's a pain getting the old batteries out. I usually use recharable batteries.

In addition to a planet bike headlight and blinky I use a Down Low Glow Lighting Kit - Two Tubes-Envy(green) and for darker non-urban areas I will use a Blackburn Quadrant Bicycle Light