Review: Blackburn Flea USB Light – the best commuter light ever

by redrocksreview admin | Posted on

Its the time of year when I am clearly focused on lights. Pretty dark when I leave for work or head home. A few years ago I bought a Niterider HID which was the answer for my mountain riding at night. But wearing a wired battery pack helmet mounted light is a bit cumbersome for my commute.

I picked up the Blackburn Flea USB light for commuting. It is the best commuting light I have ever used. 

The best part is that it is 40 lumes, weights 17grams, runs 3 hours on full or 5 on blink. Plus IT CHARGES OFF USB! wow

It has a charger that goes in your computers USB port (charge when you get to work…) and the light sticks to that charger with a magnet.
 
It attaches with a velcro strap to a helmet or handlebar.

It has four super bright LEDs.

I have been wearing it on my helmet, while on the road I use it in blink mode. I have had cars actually stop in the road because of the brightness/blink pattern of it. Plus you can aim it a car to get their attention if worn on your helmet.
This is amazingly bright, at $30 for it, not needing batteries I have no idea why you wouldn’t use this. It is many times brighter than a Knog Frog light, which costs close to it. I want the rear version of this now.

I have used it to navigate the doubletrack dirt trails in the park by my house, I had to go slower but it was not a problem.

This is so light weight, bright and small I will just carry it with me from now on. 

Blackburn says:
The lightest, brightest rechargeable cycling light gets USB charging and color options.

– Ultra compact rechargeable Li-Ion headlight
– Uses four super-bright White Nichia™ LED’s
– 40 lumen output
– Includes USB charger
– Flexible and compact mounting system
– Standard, Overdrive and Flash modes
– Superlight at 17 grams
– 3 hour runtime steady, 5 hour runtime flash
– Compatible with Solar 1.5V chargers (available separately)

LED’s: 4 Ultrabright Nichia White
Run Time (Steady/Flash): 3-5hrs
Batteries: Internal Lithium Ion Rechargeable
Charging: USB charger included

Comments

  1. Do you know, or have the ability to find out, what the voltage is at the point where the USB charger connects to the flea? Based on the minimalist design of the charger, I'm guessing that it provides 5V to the flea, and that the flea "bleeds" off the excess while charging its 1.5V battery. If that's the case, then a USB charger could easily be made from an old USB cable. However, it sure would be nice to know before risking damage to the light.

    Reply

  4. Joe,

    Got my Flea lights, and made a USB charger. It seemed to work fine on my Windows 7 PC at home. At the office, I get a warning in XP that the "USB device has exceeded its power limits". Smoke comes out of the flea, but it still works. I'm starting to think there might be some circuitry in that tiny Blackburn USB charger.

    On the rear light, I can barely make out what appears to be a glowing diode (labeled D1, I think).

    There should be a 500 mA limit on USB ports. Are you able to check the current on your charger? Does your USB charger get warm at all, while charging?

    Reply

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