Despite my initial skepticism, these lights are the real deal. They: are small (2 fit in a coat pocket without bulging), attach easily to any sized handlebars in 2 seconds, stay in place without rotating, have decent visibility at a distance, detach easily either with gloved hands or one handed and have switches that do not easily get switched on by mistake in your bag (I have wasted too many batteries this way).
While the Beetle is about average in performance when attached to the bike, the small size and ease of attachment and removal set the Beetle apart from its competitors. This light easily attaches to your funny shaped OS carbon bars and then in seconds,
can be switched to your 26.0 mm fixy for a ride to the store after returning from the Womp. Mountain bars, seatposts, seatstays, courier bags, headtube, helmet you can literally attach this light anywhere.
Better yet, you can easily remove the light from your bike without leaving behind an ugly bracket.
If you are running into the store, you won't think twice about taking the light in with you. If you use them on your race bike, you won't be forced to use tools to remove brackets or race with extra garbage on your bike (think Womp).
The Beetle creates a bright flash in a small package.
As an advocate of always using lights at night, I find the Beetle be visible enough that I feel safe with one in front and one in back.
Furthermore, it passes muster with the Cambridge Bicycle police, who have been citing cyclists in and around Central Square recently. And it is is not much bigger than the minimalist Knog Frog or hipster fame.
I many different sets of lights.
I keep stashes of them around, extra blinky lights in my most frequently used bags and a catchall by the door.
The convenience of the Beetle have won my over. All of my other lights have sat in the catchall since we got a stash of these. Included in that catchall are other Knog lights (I am not enamored with the whole product line), this light has won me over.
11 comments:
do these seem to hold up over time? the single LED hypster cysts have become fairly useless due to unreliability (cant turn on, cant turn off) since I got them when they first came out two years ago - though their convenience keeps me trying.
Are the beetles really enough light for the whole ride back from Wompy? There are some dark stretches on that trip, especially early in the season...
I have had no reliability issues with them yet.
I guess that you'd have to judge for yourself if you think that these would be enough for a ride home from the Womp. I agree that the route is sketchy.
RMM,
If you're looking for a solid, high powered light that's easy on off, check out Dinotte.
http://www.dinottelighting.com/
Not sure if it's overkill for what you need, but they get the job down out here in the 'burbs.
Bailey:
Them's expensive lights. Real purty, but expensive.
If I move out of town, I will get a front and a back one.
Hey B-Bike-G
- Mike here from KNOG. Yeap - gotta say we had a bit of a dodgy batch of Frogs through production a while back - that returned far more faults than is anyone was happy with. This issue has now been rectified. And FYI. our lights have a two year warranty - so feel free to take them back to where you bought them from and swap them over at no charge for new ones. If this is not doable - get in touch with the KNOG shop - shop@knog.com.au - and they will sort it out for you.
Ride Hard
Mike from Knog:
While I have been happy with your lights, I have not ever gotten any response when I emailed Knog.
I wasn't emailing for service, but Knog's responsiveness is suspect.
Sorry, just have to put that out there.
Thanks for that feedback RMM.
The two key emails for KNOG that you'll always get a response on are info@knog.com.au and shop@knog.com.au
Micro:
I hate to contradict you, but I used the "info@knog.com.au" email address and got no response (I expect that "normal" response times are less than 3 months). I have the sent email still if you'd like to see it.
I hate to call you out, but your comment begs the response.
We appreciate your comments and your effort in responding to the comments here.
Hi RMM.
Always good to be called out. As the ionfo@knog.com.au email comes directly to me. And I am on top of answering every email that comes in (or directing it to the right person at KNOG) - There can only be one of two options for missing your mail! - Either I totally fucked up on my communication and missed your mail (if this is the case, total apologies) - or - it landed in my junk mail ... and to my slackness i don't check my junk box ever - so apologies again.
Anyhow - if it something we can still help you out with - send it through and we'll be on top of it.
Cheers
Mike:
I double checked the address that I sent the email to, it was correct.
But more important, I have lots of respect for people who own responsibility for mishaps.
Most importantly, your lights seem to be evolving and getting better over time. Keep up the good work and work on that communication so that we can have all good things to say about you all in the future.
yeah, they're cute and convenient. but super easy to lose. i lost 2 within 2 months, before giving up on 'em. i'll stick with a light that won't go missing in a few weeks. i can't justify replacing 'em over and over for the convenience.
bobw-nyc
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