UK and Europe · Public discussion

Cateye HL EL-500

Started by Mark Thompson · · Last activity · 2 posts · 527 views

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UK and Europe
Published
5 November 2004
Last activity
5 November 2004
Original author
Mark Thompson
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  1. Got one this morning. Cyclexpress.co.uk send 'em off for £38 and a bit
    with free postage. They were fast too and send confirmation emails when
    you've bought it and when they've processed it ready for Royal Mail to
    pick up.

    Seems as bright as a regular light rechargable halogen light, but has a
    30 hour battery life. Judging from the graph on the side of the box the
    light will lose 20-30% of its brightness over that 30 hours.

    Build quality seems good, but I had to gently bend two metal contacts
    that connected to the switch electronics before it would work - a
    testament to Cateyes fine tolerances and lack of quality control perhaps?

    The bright 'spot' is very narrow, and outside of that the light it's not
    very bright at all. It may have been better off with a less concentrated
    spot and more light to the sides.

    Initially the light was tilted down slightly, but after being cut up by
    an idiot (4x4) driver turning left through me (without signalling) it
    will be mounted dead level, shining into their wing mirrors. The old
    light is mounted next to the cateye on flashing mode.

    The bracket is cunningly designed to let the light swivel a few degrees
    to each side, presumably for swept handlebars.

    Pros
    Long battery life for such a bright light
    Lightish (weighs a bit more than 4 AA battries, strangely enough)
    Completely waterproof

    Cons
    Outside of the central spot the amount of light is disappointing.
    Only has a steady mode (not that you'd want it flashing - would be an
    instant migraine for oncoming cagers, peds and cyclists.
    Didn't ruddy work until I'd prodded bits.
    How much!??!

    Conclusion

    The small spot and mediocre brightness outside of the spot lets it down.
    At £40 not an essential purchase

  2. Mark Thompson said:

    Pros
    Long battery life for such a bright light
    Lightish (weighs a bit more than 4 AA battries, strangely enough)
    Completely waterproof

    Cons
    Outside of the central spot the amount of light is disappointing.
    Only has a steady mode (not that you'd want it flashing - would be an
    instant migraine for oncoming cagers, peds and cyclists.
    Didn't ruddy work until I'd prodded bits.
    How much!??!

    Conclusion

    The small spot and mediocre brightness outside of the spot lets it down.
    At £40 not an essential purchase

    Thanks for the opinion. It does look a nice toy but it's too much for
    my pocket, given the alternatives. I can't help feeling that the
    Cateye branding attracts a price premium not altogether justified.

    The narrowness of the beam would worry me too. I buy front LED lights
    to get me seen, not to illuminate the road so I prefer the wider
    pattern of some of the other lamps in their range. I remember I
    returned a Cateye LED lamp a while back because the beam was so
    directional, forget which model, one of the other single LED
    "opticube" ones I think.

    I've also had problems with Cateye internals, switches particularly.
    It's been often enough that I'm not sure I'm going to buy another
    Cateye front lamp. Over the last couple of years I've used at least 4
    Cateyes from the EL range and have had dodgy switches on three of
    them. The latest one went wonky just a week or so back. It had been
    sitting on a shelf untouched for several months (it's a spare) and all
    of a sudden, without any prompting, it decided it wanted to be ON all
    the time. Damn thing will not turn off unless the batteries are
    removed. Grrr.
    --

    "Bob"

    'The revolution is just a T shirt away'

    Email address is spam trapped.
    To reply directly remove the beverage.

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