Knog, the Australian-based bicycle product company, sent me over some of their new bike lights to test out -- and they did not disappoint! Since it's (already) that time of year when the sun starts setting before I leave the office, I've been able to use them this entire month...
The Knog
Boomer Rechargeable comes as both a front white light and a rear red light - and doesn't require a single battery, hence the name 'Rechargeable'. I just plugged it directly into a USB port -- more on that below. The lighting quality is superbly bright and was particularly impressed with the front light which reflected every street sign half way down the block on my commute home through Brooklyn ('up to 55 Lumens' as noted on their website). They also have 4 modes of lighting from HYPER blinking to solid. Although twice the price of their popular
Frog Stobes you get more then twice the power ♥ hence more visibility ♥ and don't have to buy another bike light battery.
 |
| ready for my commute home |
The Boomer comes in a silicone body which fits varying handle bars/seat tubes sizes and doesn't require permanent hardware -- once locked up I could easily grab them off my bike in seconds. The front light easily attached but I was a bit apprehensive with the way the rear light has a smaller fastener you have to make sure slides in - yet it never slipped off or loosened.
 |
| rear light recharging / lite up green when finished |
So, more about the recharging process... these lights are smart little things. They have a built in warning system to let you when you are soon in need of a recharge and the USB plug is built into the light itself so you just have to slip off the silicon casing and plug it in vertically (I used my MAC desktop). I did notice that once plugged in, I had to push it side to side to make sure it maintained contact and make sure it was recharging. The rear light was easy to remove from the casing which peeled out like a banana while the front light took a little work to remove -- the best way was to push on the bottom to slide it up.
It just so happens that last year I bought another brand's rechargeable light but ended up pretty unhappy for two reasons: 1) in order to recharge it you needed to use a separate USB plug attachment that came with it but was so tiny I misplaced it for weeks; and 2) the bike attachment's Velcro strap, which I thought was nice and minimal, broke in half. I mention this since Knog's design doesn't have either of these issues. For weeks they've been reliable and easy to use + come in six colours so you can accessorize - and who doesn't like to have that option?! Silicone is a sticky material though I had no problem cleaning off grease (along with remnants from the bottom of my bag) by wiping them off with soap and water - after all, they're waterproof!
Also tested out their
Boomer Wearable with an integrated clip ALONG with a removable magnetic plate which attaches to your clothing/bag
(similar to my Flower Power reflectors) -- pretty freakin awesome! The magnetic strength was strong I was able to wear it on my canvas bag and would work great on a jacket. I actually ended up using the clip on my belt (mostly out of habit) but still found it to be one versatile light.
