Rave about Adventure Lighting iBlaast!

[Raph]

I got that iBlaast front light mentioned in a recent thread. It's pretty awesome. It's sort of stupidly good, the only thing it could do to make itself any more ridiculously OTT would be if it made you breakfast in bed and danced a jig.

I've just done a ride from Banbury to Brecon and back, and not being an early riser, each way involved about 5 hours riding in the dark. I had the iBlaast on its third-from-lowest setting most of the time, and when I got to brecon I'd still used less than 15% of the 4.4Ah Li-ion battery, I didn't bother charging it, and when I got back home, after another 5 hours in the dark, the battery STILL wasn't more than 15% used, as indicated by the charger, which has indicators for bulk or top-up charging, the threshold being the top 15%.

Two things worth mentioning, I kept the dynamo light on all the time, a Solidlights 1203D - this is because I hadn't yet got a decently fitting socket on the iBlaast cable and was afraid of it working loose on bumpy downhills, which it did a couple of times, so I wanted another light on as a backup. But I reckon that brightness setting is perfectly adequate even without the dynamo going, though obviously there's plenty of leeway to have it brighter. On the very lowest power setting they reckon you get 90 hours with a 4.4Ah Li-ion battery. There's chart on the website for currents used on various power settings so you can work out what the respective runtimes will be.

The programmable bit is where it gets silly - there's an "admin mode" in which you programme how the one single switch works while your riding. You can set it to three different scroll modes, just simple on/off, or low/high, or low/med/high. In each of those you can set each level, there are countless increments for each level, except the high level which is either pretty gorgeously bright or somewhat brutally bright. There's a third setting of even a tiny bit more brutally very bright, but that apparently is not usable with the current LEDs, it's there for a future upgrade.

There's also a flashing mode which scrolls between five or six flashing patterns.

As if that weren't enough, you can set it for three different typical battery types, voltages being 12, 13.2 and 14.8, as in lead-acid, NiMH and Li-ion respectively, and as long as it's set for the correct type it'll warn you at given increments as the voltage drops, also it'll automatically go to a low power setting as the battery's getting towards running out, then warn you when it's about to cut out to avoid trashing the battery. You can over-ride this cut-out if your life is more important than your battery's, though I haven't tried that yet, cos quite frankly compared to the cost of a Li-ion pack I think my life can be considered worthless.

Anyway after that it starts playing note-perfect Rachmaninof and dancing Swan Lake.

I did get a few soakings on the ride back, enough to ring home for a lift from Stow on the Wold (shame on me!), it was cold and wet enough for the Garmin GPS to die (it was only on for moral support anyway) and even the speedo bit the bullet after the third downpour, BUT the front light didn't flinch.


I've been very happily using a Lumicycle HID for about 3 years, totally happy with it except for two things:

1) It doesn't like being switched on and off too often, as in you switch it on at the beginning of a ride and off at the end and you leave it on if you stop for a quick waz, since "striking" (switching on) significantly reduces the bulb's lifetime, i.e. the bulb's life is determined as much by how many times it's switched on as the time it's run for (£75's worth of bulb by the way)... and if it gets accidentally switched off it takes up to 10 seconds to re-light, by which time you've gone head-first into a tree.

2) it's fragile, possibly more so that a normal filament bulb, though as you can imagine I haven't experimented to find out exactly how fragile it is!

Neither of those are much of a problem, but they make it a bit fussy to use.

The chargers and batteries I have of theirs have been totally excellent, no nasty surprises and no drop in performance in three years, which makes them effectively quite cheap even at prices which seemed high at first.


The narrowest iBlaast beam is slightly wider than the 6deg Lumicycle HID beam, brightness on highest power is roughly equivalent, and I think at that setting runtime is roughly the same. The only way to change the beam angle in the HID is to buy another bulb (another £75), the iBlaast does it by changing the lens, (I think). The Lumi is better at pointing a spot 100yds and more up the road, which is good for fast rides, I think I'll carry on using it for those, But for long rides, maybe over a several nights, the iBlaast is a liberation cos as long as you're not addicted to turning night into day, you can make it last over a week of long nights, and you can still give it a blast of top power for short stints without significantly running down the battery.

The iBlaast bracket is a bit flimsy and works with this weird velcro stuff, but actually in use it makes sense, and you can flip it up very easily to flash motorists that don't dip their headlights, also because of the flexibility of the bracket you don't have to grind the clamp down too tight cos it bobbles about over bumps rather than swivelling round on the handlebar, even though it seems a bit wibbly wobbly at first. Having said that, I haven't used it off-road yet but it did get some fairly major pot-hole shocks and didn't move at all on the bar, even though it was loose enough to be swivelled by hand to dip it for towns at rush-hour.

I ordered the iBlaast with bare wire ends, and had to solder a socket on for the Lumicycle plug.


The Lumi HID costs about £180, the iBlaast was £109 direct from New Zealand, but customs added another £25 and a certain bunch of clowns that have always been incapable of delivering a box of chocolates to their own grandmother without reversing their van over it and leaving it at the wrong house... charged me an extra £8 for the privilege of going 20 miles and fetching it from their depot. They shall remain nameless but they are the default carrier and their name rhymes with "horse" (I use the term "carrier" in its loosest possible sense). Even at that total cost and that extra hassle, it's a superb deal.


By the way, I have no interest in this other than I've just used the thing and I think it's superb. Check out: http://www.nightlightning.co.nz/endurenz%20details.htm



PS - that B&M Big Bang thing looks even more awesome in that you can get a proper dipped beam - but I think I saw it somewhere on sale for about £500...

[Raph]

Went on a short spin round the local lanes tonight with both the 6 degree Lumicycle HID and the iBlaast on the bike side by side, just to confirm that overall brightness seems to be about the same. Lumicycle do 6deg and 13deg bulbs, the iBlaast is right inbetween at 10deg.

Incidentally the two work really well together, the HID reaching beyond where the iBlaast doesn't quite make it, though it's a bit of an extravagance having them both on, also slightly harder to shield them when cars come along the other way.

So the iBlaast seems good value, no hassle with switching on/off, hi/lo programmable settings, the only drawbacks being waiting a week or more to get it in the post, then having to deal with the KGB to get your hands on it.

[Rcartes]

Raph, It certainly looks impressive, but it does seem to be a lot more than the £95 (plus various extortions) that you quoted.

The (assembled and tested) light itself is variously £95, £106 and £118, but adding in the Li-ion 4.4Ah 14.8V battery & fast smart charger adds an extra £128 and the handle bar mount another £8, so I don't see how you can get away without paying at least £231 - or have I misunderstood?

Richard

[Raph]

Hi, I think you have misunderstood - I didn't quote £95, I said it was £109. The only thing I realize I should have mentioned was the postage from NZ but that's a tenner or so. Including postage it was £120, plus all the charges when it got here - that's what I'm comparing to the £180 of the HID from Lumicycle (which doesn't include postage), and neither includes the battery so it's a straight comparison.

The Lumi HID system with a Li-ion battery cost me £330 about three years ago, at the time the lamp unit was £175 - the iBlaast cost me in total about £153 including the postage, the VAT and the mafia extortion money, all of which I did mention above.

I didn't bother to compare the battery prices since I already have one and I'm more than happy with it. All I was comparing was the light units themselves, and the iBlaast comes out as much easier to use and a bit cheaper.

[Raph]

Just checked the records - what I actually paid was £102 for the light, £7 for the bracket and £11 for the postage. Then approx £25 to Alistair Darling and £8 to Al Capone.

By the way, I've just remembered I went to get the light from the depot the day it arrived because I was leaving for Brecon that day and wanted to use it on the ride - the mafia would have attempted to deliver it a few days later if I'd paid the ransom by phone.

Assuming the quoted £106 for the light and everything else roughly the same, it's £157 total - I don't think that £4 more would sway me to say it's a duff deal.

[Rcartes]

OK, fair enough - but you already had the battery; for anyone else starting from scratch it would work out at much more than the figure you quoted.

Thanks for clarifying this: sadly, it looks as if the iBlaast will have to remain on my wishlist (maybe Father Christmas reads this list....).

Richard

[Raph]

"work out at much more than the figure you quoted"

I can't quite understand which bit you don't understand... I didn't "quote" for an entire system and I didn't pretend to - I think I was pretty clear in saying it was the cost of the light unit, compared to the equivalent Lumicycle light unit. The Lumicycle HID for £180 doesn't include a battery either. The only thing I missed out at first was the postage, which should be considered part of the cost, but at £11 that's not terrible.

Just in case it wasn't clear enough - the iBlaast LAMP UNIT cost me a total of £153 inc post and the Lumi HID LAMP UNIT cost me £175 three years ago not inc post, and now costs £180 (give or take that 1p!). In either case the battery is an extra expense - I haven't looked into comparisons between the two batteries or their prices cos I already have a Lumi battery. The only advantage in getting a battery from NZ would be that it would already have the correct connector, but the cost would have to include the VAT you'd get stung by customs, plus what the local Kray Twins then choose to add on (anywhere between £8 and £13.50 I'm told).

By the way, you don't have to use the iBlaast with a Li-ion battery, you can use any sealed lead-acid battery which will be a lot cheaper, or sort out your own pack of NiMHs. Maplin do a 2.2Ah SLA for £15, a 3.3 for £18 or a 4.2Ah for £23ish. For less weight you could get a couple of 6way AA battery holders, a 12pack of AA NiMHs from Maplin or similar and make up a 14.4V NiMH pack. If you don't mind soldering it all up and strapping it together or sewing a bag for it you could make a serious battery pack for very little dosh. The iBlaast people mention their light works with anything from 12 to 18V, so there are various cordless drill batteries you can use, e.g. a pair of 1.7Ah Ryobi batteries with a smart charger cost £60. If you solder a connector to each you can take one as spare and still get a good four hours runtime on top power - the only downside, the low battery warnings etc won't work above 14.8V. I only haven't bothered with any of this myself cos I've already got the battery.

I still think the HID is probably the best light I've ever used for road riding, but it isn't convenient to use. The iBlaast is a bit bulkier - bigger "face" but shorter - and it's lighter.

Also it's worth mentioning that Lumicycle are absolutely excellent on service and after-sales support, they always seem to have everything in stock that they advertise, delivery is always quick, they do every little spare part from the tiniest grommet to entire lamps, and the only thing they do which I found miserably awful is the 1W LED bulb to fit the halogen lamps - after buying that I emailed them asking if they might consider making a Luxeon-based lamp... this was a couple of years ago, and now it seems they've been beaten to it by this iBlaast thing. Hopefully they'll come up with an equivalent.

The bods in NZ are also excellent so far, but nothing can reduce how far they are, though the only hassle is waiting ten days then getting a letter telling you your parcel's arrived but you ain't getting it till you pay some more.

[Raph]

Richard,

I've just read my original post and sorry I think you're right I should have made it clearer that I was referring only to lamp units without batteries! Saying "...that iBlaast thing..." isn't very clear - apologies mate!

Raph

[Rcartes]

Thanks, Raph, I was just writing a reply but it's now redundant.

Better give the piggy bank a shake now...

Richard

[Raph]

One thing still bugging me - you say "quoted" as if I'm trying to sell the things and trying to mislead by making them sound cheaper than they are - I'm just a consumer, I bought one and was so impressed I'm raving about it, and at no point suggested the "front light" was an entire system. I have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with them other than being a customer. Sorry to go on about it but I'm keen to dispel the implication that I'm "quoting" a price as if I were selling the thing myself!

[Rcartes]

One thing still bugging me - you say "quoted" as if I'm trying to sell the things and trying to mislead by making them sound cheaper than they are - I'm just a consumer, I bought one and was so impressed I'm raving about it, and at no point suggested the "front light" was an entire system. I have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with them other than being a customer. Sorry to go on about it but I'm keen to dispel the implication that I'm "quoting" a price as if I were selling the thing myself!

Calm down: nobody's accusing you of trying to sell the anything!

Definition of quote: "a passage or expression that is quoted or cited," which is precisely the point: you cited a cost without, as you admitted yourself, making it at all clear what you were describing.

The lesson: be clear in what you write in case people misunderstand you.

[Raph]

"without, as you admitted yourself, making it at all clear what you were describing"

"at all clear"?? You're exaggerating somewhat - note:

"I got that iBlaast front light mentioned in a recent thread" ... "The Lumi HID costs about £180, the iBlaast was £109 direct from New Zealand, but customs added another £25 and a certain bunch of clowns ... charged me an extra £8"

There's the comparison in my original post - for you to be as optimistic as to interpret "that iBlaast front light" as an entire lighting system including a Li-ion battery and charger whereas the Lumi HID is £180 just for a lamp, is something that I admit I should have guarded against. So you need a battery to run the iBlaast - you need a battery to run the Lumi too - seems you didn't even get the bit I was perfectly clear about. You're not accusing me? ..... PHEW - lord be praised I'm off the hook!!

I hope the original point isn't lost that the iBlaast is pretty good. Apologies to others for this strange debate about nothing in particular. On the other hand, even more apologies if anyone else also thought £153 included a Li-ion battery and charger!

[Graham]

Hi Raph,

Thanks for the info. Having read through the website I still cannot figure out the differences between the models at different prices e.g. what is the difference between the "digital" and the cheaper one ??
Maybe I'm being a bit thick ?

[Raph]

Hi Graham, I'm not sure I've got all the info on board either, but I got the iBlaast which has the control module on the back of the lamp so it's just one unit, and it has all the dimming and programming and battery sensing features - I think the DCM version is the same but with the controls in a seperate pod, and then the cheaper one, the "Blaast" without an "i", is set to 1000mA though you can get them to set it at 700mA, and they say "Simple on/off switch. Comes in the DCM format only". I didn't really check out the other stuff they do.

By the way, their prices for Li-ion batteries (including charger) are lower than Lumicycle's equivalent but not that great considering you have to add customs. Lumi do the 4.4Ah pack with a charger for £140 - the only hassle is having to solder a suitable Lumi-type connector to the iBlaast cable, which is integral to the lamp. If I didn't have a battery already I would have got the entire iBlaast system and not have had to nerd around with a soldering iron. I don't know what the VAT rate is for imports - for my £120 I paid £25 VAT, so if that rate is a simple percentage it makes the system somewhere around £300.

Best thing is to email them I reckon. I did the transaction by email and paid by Paypal.

[andrew_s]

Just a comment on your extra charges.
I think you will find that the extra £8 that ParcelFarce charges on top of the duty/VAT was the admin charge for dealing with the Customs people, rather than a pickup charge. Pretty much all carriers have a similar charge - Post Office, UPS, DHL or whoever, though some will deliver first and send an invoice for the duty/VAT/handling charge later.