Blackburn Quadrant and Mars 3.0 Combo Bicycle Light Set
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List Price: Category: Sports See more product details |
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Description of Blackburn Quadrant and Mars 3.0 Combo Bicycle Light Set
With the powerful and versatile Quadrant up front and the exceptionally bright Mars 3.0 in the rear, the Quadrant Mars 3.0 pack provides long run times and ample illumination for commuting and errands.An essential measure for any safety-conscious biker, the Blackburn Quadrant and Mars 3.0 Combo Bicycle Lights will help make sure you see the road and drivers see you. This combination of lights includes one Blackburn Quadrant light and one Blackburn Mars 3.0 light. The Quadrant is constructed in a tough, water-resistant case and utilizes four super-bright white LEDs. This bicycle light features optically-boosted center LEDs that light up what is ahead, and wide angle side LEDs with side-light pipes that provide 180-degrees of visibility. Blackburn's Quadrant light runs on four AA batteries (included) for 110 hours in steady mode, or 300 hours in flash mode.
The Mars 3.0 is constructed in a tough, water-resistant case and utilizes seven super-bright red LEDs. This rear bicycle light features lens optics that increase its visible distance, and side LEDs that provide 180-degree safety-boosting visibility. Blackburn's Mars 3.0 runs on two AAA batteries (included) for up to 50 hours in steady mode, or 150 hours in flash mode.
About Blackburn
In 1975, Jim Blackburn set out to design stronger, lighter, more innovative and more reliable cycling products. The first were bags and racks designed for touring. From there, Blackburn grew. Over the next 30 years, Blackburn's spark of innovation would lead to many revolutionary products, like the first high quality aircraft aluminum rack, the first dual stroke minipump, the first oversized mountain minipump and the first dual stage/dual stroke floorpump just to name a few. For 2005, Blackburn's creative spark is burning brighter than ever. And as we head into our 30th year, Blackburn is re-dedicated to designing smart, reliable, no nonsense accessories that are essential to your riding experience.
Sports reviews of Blackburn Quadrant and Mars 3.0 Combo Bicycle Light Set
Customer Review: Best bike light deal out there.
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
Fantastic set - all you need for night time commuting. The MANY other reviews reiterate much of my experience with these lights. I ordered two sets, for the commuter bikes that my wife and I ride. I consider myself a skilled bike mechanic, and I've had lots of other lights...
For me, these were replacing an aging NiMH water-bottle-battery and dual beam headlight setup. For a city commuter, I needed something smaller, lighter, and with LEDs up front so that I could remove it easily when I lovk the bike up.
The front light is a good size - big enough to be bright and not too big, so it's not bulky and it doesn't eat up all the free space on your bar. I find it plenty bright enough, although I haven't hammered through any off-road trails in the black of night - for that type of activity at high speed, you might be better suited to a bigger light setup, but this Blackburn really is great.
The button to turn it on is easy to use and waterproof (rubberized buttons are always better than switched in this regard) and the construction is really innovative and simple. A built in thumb-bolt is integrated into the design, and secured the whole thing together quite nicely. Hard to describe, but when you get one you'll see what I mean.
My only gripe for the front light is that the mounting clamp for the handlebar is perhaps too fancy and overengineered. While I like being able to mount things without tools, I would much prefer a simple allen-key setup, for no other reason than to thwart theft. The mount that comes with the light is very nice, but is has a knurled plastic bolt so that anyone walking by could remove the mount in a few seconds from the handlebar. I know - only a jerk would do such a things - but that's what bike thieves are. In time I will probably hunt down a small allen key bolt that I can use in the place of the thumb screw.
The rear light is great as everyone says. VERY bright and multi-directional. The mounting bracket for the rear is over-engineered as well - loads of adjustability, but it cannot be mounted horizontally. This may seem strange, but given my rear rack - my preference would be to be able to it on the horizontal tube of the rack, but if I do so, my light will be sideways. A very small complaint, but worth mentioning.
Overall a great deal! I mean heck - it is the light set that I bought! (Plus, my LBS sells the front light alone for $25...)
Customer Review: Blackburn Quadrant +
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
This is a great bicycle light (I've had it for 3 months or so). I did a ridiculous amount of research before buying this light. Should I spend the $$ on an expensive Cateye? I have a cruiser, and it seems that all the lights out there are either small and ineffective, or big and ugly. I finally settled on this light because of the reviews. It fits all of my criteria. 1) It works. I live in a really rural area with no street lights. It works great on a dark night with no moon and no other lights around. Of course, I am no road biker. If you are planning on going really fast at night around lots of cars, there are plenty of $100+ systems out there for you. For the casual rider who just needs to get from A to B, this light is great. I also like that it has two lights that focus a beam in front of you, and two that kind of light up to the sides of you. The way it's designed with those kind of side-shining bulbs also make you more visible to others who aren't looking at you head-on. I don't really mess with the modes. "All on" is what I need. Also, because it's LED, the batteries last forever. I really don't know how many hours I've used it. Probably 50-100 hrs, and I haven't had to replace the batteries yet. 2) It's not too big. It's maybe 4 x 3 x 2 off the top of my head. 3) I like the way it looks, and it works especially well on my cruiser. The styles blend well. So I'm shallow. 4) Price. I really didn't want to spend more than $25. I'm just a casual rider.
As for the reviewers who have had a problem with the light staying clicked in place, mine has been fine. It stays in place perfectly (and I unfortunately have to ride over poorly maintained dirt roads to get to the bike path by my house) even over big bumps. And it releases easily when I want it to. I also didn't have any problems replacing the battery. No offense to the other reviewers, but that was one of the first things I looked at after I received it. I didn't even look at the instructions and had NO problems figuring it out.
If you are looking for an inexpensive light that does the job, buy this light.
Customer Review: Great Light Set
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
I recently rode my mountain bike in the Houston Moonlight Ramble at the end of Oct, which is a 20-mile ride at night (2-4am) in downtown Houston. About a month before the ride I was looking for a good light set that wouldn't break the bank as I do not do a lot of night riding. I could tell the cheapie ones at Target/Walmart just were not going to make me happy.
Was very pleased to come across this Blackburn combo here at Amazon. It was just a few dollars more than the Walmart versions that surely would not have been as bright. Plus the styling of these lights look SOOOO much better.
The optional modes are nice. For night riding I prefer the front solid w/flashing sides. The pure flashing mode is like a strobe but is good for dusk type situations where there is adequate light for riding but lots of shadows, so you are not really using the headlight to see but to be seen.
The tail light is all about being seen. As others have said, it is SUPER BRIGHT. But that's a good thing. You can have constant on, or the more attention getting flashing or chase modes. I used chase mode (goes up and down so a light is always lit) as flashing gets lost for half a second so you can't tell change of direction immediately like you can with constant on.
I would highly recommend this light combo set for casual night riding and/or commuting with mostly city lights. If you do a lot of night riding in dark places, I would suggest a stronger headlight and get the Mars 3.0 tail light by itself (great tail light).
Customer Review: Great product for the price and really visible
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
At first I was hesitant to get a battery powered headlight and taillight, but after I installed it (with ease), I LOVED IT!! The LED headlight is very bright and the LED taillight is virtually impossible to miss (I think it is as prominent as some motorcycle taillights). The ability to flash each light and the taillight also having orange lights on the side makes it even more visible. Mounting the lights on my bike only took 15 minutes and only the taillight needed for me to use a screwdriver (to tighten and tweak the angle). The LEDs are really great and so far after using it for over 4 hours, I see no fade in the light power. The headlight has four LEDs with 3 modes (4 steady, 2 blink 2 steady, and 4 blinking (which looks like a strobe light)) and the rear also has 3 modes (steady, steady blinking, and random blinking). Be aware that you will need a jewelers screwdriver to open the rear taillight to install the batteries. Each of the lights detaches from the bike mounts and allow you to use them when camping or to clip on the taillight to your bookbag or clothing for visibility when walking along a highway or where cars are present, and the headlight can be used as a nice flashlight. The only thing I have to say is that you still need to look out for cab drivers in the Big Apple, since they can't stand that your lights are brighter than theirs and seem drawn to bikers while driving. Get this light, you won't regret it, I sure didn't. :-)Customer Review: Super bright
Sport shop rating: 5 Stars
The front light is a bit big but it is pretty bright. I'm being realistic in not looking for a flood light, I was looking more of a way to let motorist know that I'm on the road. The light works so well that it can light up the road pretty well too!
It has to be a bit big because of the included 4 AA batteries in the unit. The locking mechanism has a thumb knob to tighten/loosen the grip on the bar in case you want to aim it higher or lower. I did have a little issue with the light attaching to the clip on unit. I had to sand down the front end of the clip a bit to make the clip "click" on securely to the light. I also like the quick release so I can remove it if I'm parking my bike in a bad area.
The rear light has screw on clip that can be configured to tilt up or down to get the best angle. If your preferred mounting location is more angled you can unscrew the clip and reverse the tilt if necessary. The light is also very bright and it had a orange side bulb so motorist can differentiate your orientation. It runs on 2 AAA batteries which are also included. The light can be removed pretty easily if needed and it can clip to a tailbag or helmet if needed as well.
Very well made and thoughtful light set. I'm pretty happy with it!!