Customer Reviews

Planet Bike Sport Spot 4 LED Bicycle Light with Head, and Handlebar Mounts

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Love this light... mine is mounted to my helmet. Its very bright and has 3 modes-- blinking, full blast and economy. Great addition to my "light ensemble" since I love to ride at night in the city.

This is a great little light. It's very bright and weighs very little. I bought it because it had the helmet strap so I use it in addition to the light I have mounted on my bar. I'm still on the original set of batteries, three months now. I bike commute two hours a day so I think that's amazing. I'd recommend this light to anyone looking for a good "to be seen light".

I am always on the lookout for LED lights and I have several bikes. This light is bright and works just fine on my bike. I think it is more of a "be seen" head light than a "see" light. I was almost hit by a wrong-way biker the first night, but at least he could see me. I haven't tried the light as a lamp on my head, but I like the option.

The Sport Spot makes a great "see me" helmet headlight, especially if you combine it with the Planet Bike Blinky "3H" 3-Led Rear Bicycle Light with Self Leveling Helmet Mount as a helmet taillight. With the Sport Spot, it's fantastic to be able to point a light at drivers just by looking at them. Since the Blinky "3H" swings, it sort of flashes randomly without using the flash mode. (I use a separate flashing taillight attached to my backpack.) These lights are very light weight. I hardly know I have them mounted on my helmet. Most people who see me with them on my helmet think they're great. These two should be sold as a combo since the headlight takes three batteries, and the rear light takes one, so you can easily recharge four NiMH batteries at a time. The only deficiency on the Sport Spot headlight is that it's tough to get the mounting angle right with the limited places to strap it onto your helmet, so you might have to glue a little wedge on it to adjust the angle.

Another great night safety product is the Planet Bike BRT Strap Multi-Use LED Bicycle Safety Light. Nearly the whole strap (7" x 13/16" of it) glows or blinks bright red when it's turned on -- it appears as a yellow reflective surface when it's off. It works great. It's lightweight, easy to use and comfortable, plus fits in my hip-pack nicely. I use it as a leg-light (above my left calf) for night biking or late afternoon inline skating. Having a light move as you pedal, and highlight the left edge of your bike provides a major safety advantage.

If you bike much at night, do yourself and your loved ones a favor and get all three, the BRT Strap, the Sport Spot, and Blinky "3H". I highly recommend all three of them.

I also strongly recommend a bright safety vest, jersey, or jacket for day and night biking. A good one can provide a dramatic reduction in scary incidents -- people turning in front of you or coming by too close. I try hard to always use one -- it makes an amazing difference -- people seem to have an automatic reflex to be much more cautious and wait for me to pass when they see my safety vest.

I use this as part of my night-riding gear and it is great. Having a light that shines with your gaze is invaluable --and its light weight is a luxury. The mounting options that came with the light were unimpressive however. After tinkering with them for a bit, I used an ordinary velcro strap which I threaded through two front vents on my helmet. I clipped the light onto that and have been very satisfied.

I compared a lot of reviews and light models before I bought the Planet Bike Sport Spot. After seeing some video demos and Planet Bike's picture demos of light brightness, I decided this would provide the best bang for the buck.

After opening it I installed the handlebar mount on my bike. I will say it was hard to get it close to center on my GT Avalanche 2.0. It's more like at the midpoint of my left handlebar. It seems many of these mounting brackets are not really made for the thickness of mountain bike frames.

Also, with the headband, it was not clear from the instructions how to remove the strap from the quick release mount to allow you to attach it to your helmet. It turns out the plastic bar behind the strap is actually split into two to allow you to slip it through, but this split isn't visible when you first open the package. You have to slide the strap all the way over to one side to see it. More thorough instructions would be helpful.

In use, however, it works well. For now I just use it as my main headlight, though I installed the helmet mount in case I feel like using it. Note that because it's primarily designed to be used on your head, the lights are actually facing at a somewhat downward angle from the housing. So you can't just point the handlebar mount straight forward. You have to tilt it backs so it appears to be pointing upward, as that will direct the lights to a better angle for road use. You just have to play with it a bit to find the right angle when you install the mount. Once it's set, you're done.

Like the Planet Bike Superflash, the quick release mount works well. It's easy to remove the light and take it with you when you park your bike. Unlike the Superflash, however, this one has a raised button on top to turn the light on, off, or switch modes (I believe there are four--flashing, all 4 LEDs on, middle 2 LEDs on, outer two LEDs on) which makes it easier to tell where and how hard you need to press. Pressing briefly switches modes while pressing a little longer turns the light on or off.

The world of bicycle lights is divided between cheap lights that give off just enough light to see at night (and that have good battery life), and expensive lights that give off a lot of light (but have poor battery life). This light is from the former group. The light is enough to see your way on a bike path or dark street, but it isn't bright enough to negotiate a trail in the woods or in some other natural setting. You can't expect to go very fast with this light -- I never go over 10 m.p.h. with it. The light is not bright enough to clearly reveal debris on the road too far ahead (but see the next paragraph). However, I still like the light. It's main advantage is that it casts the light evenly, unlike some lights which cast a bright oval on the pavement head of you, while everything remains dark. It casts a soft, diffuse beam of light 15-20 feet ahead of you, and enough of that light is cast to the sides so that you can see the path on either side. My biggest criticism is that the button is hard to press with gloves on. In lieu of buying an expensive light, you could buy two of these lights. With two of them lighting your path, you'll have a much better view (I say that, but I've never used but one). Regarding the price, it wasn't that many years ago that Amazon sold this light for about $15. Apparently, when they went to free shipping, they doubled the price. So the light is definitely over-priced.

Added later: For a long time I was using the light with dying batteries, and naturally enough that influenced my opinion of it. When I put fresh batteries in and moved the light to my head (using the headband), I was surprised by how much brighter it seemed. I assumed that keeping the light on my handlebars would make it brighter, since it would be closer to the ground; but the opposite seems to be true. With the light on my head, it illuminates a larger area more evenly (and further ahead), and it makes the road signs pop with light. It seems that when I had the light on my handlebars, I was aiming it too low. With it on my head, it is at a perfect angle to illuminate a wider area.

Someone at Planet Bike told me that the light now comes with a "QuickCam" bracket, but it turns out that's a mistake. The bracket is the standard screw-on bracket that this light has always had. That's GOOD because the QuickCam bracket didn't work for me when I tried another of their lights.

This is a great light for riding in cities. It's very bright for being seen by drivers and pedestrians and even for maneuvering though some rough patches of asphalt on dimly lit streets. While there are four modes, the only ones to use are all lit or all blinking (I don't see the point of having just the two outer or inner LEDs on). The battery life is also fairly long, but definitely not 100 hours as claimed, even on blinking mode.

I've used this light while riding through moderate rainfall and it has worked perfectly. The handlebar mount is very stable and it's easy to release the light when locking up (yet it has never fallen off due to bumps). The small size is another benefit when carrying it in your jacket pocket.

I've used the light as a headlamp while camping and don't like it much for that. The headband is very uncomfortable since there's no cushion on the mounting bracket. I'm left with a sore indentation on my forehead. The light also does not tilt like a good headlamp should.

I've added this light to my collection to fill in those spots where my headlights don't hit. This light is great when you're on a curvy bike path to light up where you are going. It has 3 options. Wide angle, focused and all on. I usually use the all-on setting as it provides both a focused and wide angle view. It was easy to mount to the helmet, although the strap can be a bit small, but it will work with a bit of trial and error. I also like how it comes with a headstrap, so I can use it around the house. As for the light itself. It's very bright and definitely fills in the dark spots on the trail. Plus it's very useful for aiming towards drivers that are about to turn in front of you, it catches their attention. It's very lightweight and combined with the helmet taillight, I don't notice the extra weight at all. I highly recommend this for anyone who does commuting both on dark bike trails and on city and residential streets.

A lot of light out of this compact unit. Bought two of these for a friend who rides busy city streets as this light, while having 4 LEDs, doesn't offer a 2-on, 2-flashing option like my Blackburn Quadrant. He uses one flashing on his handlebars to be seen by traffic/pedestrians and the other on his helmet for illumination. He loves them. Plus the headband option is great for camping.