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Categories: all aviation bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater Fri, 14 Nov 2008I saw a sign a few weeks ago that struck me (although I don't remember now what specifically it was advertising): Get the
www.something.com Note to signmakers: I don't think those quotes mean what you think they mean. Posted at 17:10 permanent link category: /huh I've now had a chance to use the Planet Bike Blaze a few times (and I should clarify, this is the one-watt version, which is comparatively new). I have good and bad to report. The good news is that this is one bright light -- bright enough to use as a primary. So the optics are designed "right" in that sense. The reason I say it's bright enough to use as a primary is that it's about as bright, in its central hotspot, as the light I'm currently using as my primary headlight, a NiteRider MiNewt.X2. The downside is that the Blaze's beam pattern is still that you get wtih cheap optics. With a carefully crafted reflector, you can have a center spot with a tapering sidespill, which is how the MiNewt works. With it, I can see what's about to roll under my front tire, such as when traversing a tricky gravel path I use most days. With the Blaze, there's really no sidespill to speak of, so that although I can see what's in the center spot, the rest of the world is in darkness. This is a typical artifact of using a lens instead of a reflector. The real problem I ran into is that the Planet Bike mount offers exactly zero capacity to rotate that I can find. If you can't find a piece of handlebar that aims dead ahead, your light is aimed off to the side. Particularly with a light as tightly focused as this one, that's a huge detriment. There are almost no perfectly-straight/flat bars out there, so this model is going to spend a lot of time illuminating the side of the road. To PB's credit, the mount does seem to offer the option, albeit poorly thought out, of rotating 90°. However, it's just not capable of a 10° deflection like I want. I'd welcome corrections on this point, but I spent some time investigating it when I was working with my W-shaped bars, and was disappointed. I solved the problem for myself by rearranging items on my handlebars, and regretfully giving up my front reflector -- I'll have to apply some SOLAS tape to make up for it (something I should do anyway). I also had to tape up the handlebar to keep the light from rotating down. Sure enough, within 10 minutes on my first ride with the light, it was pointing at the ground. Although the mounting system offers the promise of pretty fine adjustability, it didn't quite deliver for me. It's possible I could have solved the problem with more futzing, but as I had to move it anyway, and the tape was handy, that was a good solution. The other bit of updating is that my MiNewt has developed a new and obnoxious problem. It appears to have a broken wire in its connecting cable, so that unless the wire's held in a certain position, it comes on with 1/100th its normal output, and can't be turned off. If the wire is bent around to complete the normal circuit, it functions correctly. Interestingly, this has roughly coincided with the charging brick randomly not receiving power. Fortunately, NiteRider is good about their support, so I've got an RMA number from them, and will be sending the whole kit and kaboodle in to them for repair. Good thing I've got a good back-up light! Posted at 11:22 permanent link category: /bicycle Categories: all aviation gadgets misc motorcycle theater Written by Ian Johnston. Software is Blosxom. Questions? Please mail me at reaper at obairlann dot net. |