Blackburn Quadrant and Mars 3.0 Combo Bicycle Light Set

Both lights are insanely bright. I'm almost afraid to use them. The headlight does an okay job lighting the path ahead, could be better but is adequate. The taillight does an almost better job of lighting the path behind you. Bright!
Would (and have) suggest to a friend.

This package works really well to let others know you're out there when it's dark. For me, it's adequate for lighting up my path for my ride in to work. I generally start out at 5:45 AM in the dark, but most of the roads and side streets I ride have a bit of lighting. If you're truly riding in the dark, you'll want a more powerful headlight. This will not suffice in zero light situations. Mounting was easy, batteries seem to last forever (I use non-rechargeables so I don't have to keep popping them out all the time). Weight is minimum. They seem like they'll last a while.

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...)

I used the lightset a full riding season before commenting. The price is right. The visibility is excellent. The mounting is simple. Probably the best bang for the buck in bicycle lights. Please note the rear light is functional in both urban and country riding. The headlight is a little suspect out of the urban setting. I would not use the 1/2 strobe or full strobe mode for the headlight out of the urban setting. I highly recommend this product.

I've used these lights for almost two years and have ridden with them in rain and cold (to 40F or so) temperatures. I ride a ten mile commute (5+5) where I come home close to midnight, so I use the lights on a regular basis for perhaps a 1/2 hour to an hour at a time. I ride mostly on city streets with the occasional driveway bump, curb hop or park trail. I rarely ride over rocks or logs or any other rough terrain, though I do fold the bike to bring it indoors or put it into a car trunk.

The front light has four LED's mounted like a diamond, two in the center with one on each side if it. The rubber covered power button it on top near the front of the light and is fairly easy to press. I almost always use it in all-on mode, since the side LEDs seem to add a wider pool of light as I ride. I seem to get about a 5 foot wide 'spot' with a bit of ambient light around it the way I have it adjusted.

The rear shell of the light comes off after you unscrew a small wheel at the rear and allows you to access the 4 AA batteries inside it, also arranged like a diamond. If the bike or light gets a good shock, one battery can come loose from it's contact, but wrapping a small rubber band around the batteries before putting them back in shell keep them in place. I get about 2-3 months of bright light then a month of dimming before I realize I have to swap out the batteries.

The light slides into a small rail on the front clamp, and allows you to ratchet-swivel the light to compensate for angled handlebars. The bar on my bike was a bit too thick to allow me to mount it at first near the center stem. However, after removing one of the two small rubber pieces inside the clamp ring, I found it widened enough mount it closer to the left grip where the bar isn't so thick.

(side note, my Dahon's handle bars seem specially designed NOT to work with some Blackburn products. A bar-end mirror was too thick to fit inside the tube, and needed some Dremel work to get it to fit.)

I noticed after about 6 months that the swivel point had worked loose and the clamp fell apart, allowing the relatively top-heavy light to fall off skittering along the road. The lamp itself faired well, but I was never able to get the two clamp pieces to stay together tightly, so first I used duct tape, then a zip-tie to firmly mount the light to the handlebar. Since the mountain bike style bar has a slight angle to it, the spot of light is now angled slightly to the side. I can use my thumb to slightly adjust the beam in a pinch if I really need to see directly in front of me, but the pool of light is 'almost' enough to not really be necessary. If I could mount it closer to the center of the bar I wouldn't have the angle issue, even with the zip-tie.

The rear light had 3 large LED's and 4 smaller ones. I normally use them in the all-on setting as with the front one. (I think the flashing lights make the rider look a little goofy) The red rear light is bright enough that it can be used as a 'coming home' light if I don't want to bother those sleeping as I come into the house as I look for navigate the house.

The small screws holding the rear shell together is a pain to remove without using a tiny screwdriver. The 2 AAA batteries last me about 3-4 months at a reasonable brightness. A rubber seal on both lights seem to make them weather resistant, as I haven't noticed any water or corrosion inside them when changing the batteries front or rear.

The rear light mounts to the seat post with a plastic 'radiator hose' style clamp with a groove for the pen-clip style clip of the rear light to slot into. I found I could remove it fairly easily after a bit of practice, as I has small teeth holding it to the clamp when you slide it in.

After a few months, I found the rear clamp cracked, allowing it to swing loosely on the seat post. I ended up using another zip-tie to tightly attach it to the post, which holds tightly but now prevents me from using it as my late night entry light. I just cut the tie when I need to replace the batteries and then use a new zip-tie to secure it again.

IF the mounting brackets held up over time, I'd have given these lights 4 stars, and if the front light fit over the thicker part of my handlebar, I'd have given it 5 stars. For the price, they do throw out a good pattern. Just don't trust the mounts