The new Voyager 4.0 will boldly go where no commuter light has gone before. With a potent Luxeon 1 watt LED emitter churning out 45 darkness-scalding lumens through a sophisticated beam-shaping optical lens, there is plenty of light to see the road or bike path. And unique to Blackburn, two independently controlled amber side LED's provide 180 degrees of feel-good, be-seen visibilty. The emitter uses the same anti-dimming Constant Current Technology as our powerful System X lights, and four AA batteries will provide 4 hours of runtime at full brightness or 10 hours on low. There is also separate flash modes for the side LED's and the main beam.
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Product Details
Package Length:
6.2 inches
Package Width:
3.5 inches
Package Height:
2.2 inches
Package Weight:
0.65 pounds
Average Customer Rating:
based on 13 reviews
Features
One headlight Luxeon Bicycle Headlight
Two independently controlled amber side LED's
Constant Current Technology
Provides 45 lumens of light
One year warranty
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: ( 13 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 24 found the following review helpful:
The low powered cyclop has arrived Nov 28, 2007
By N. Nguyen Safety is everything when you're in the dark, and require any light to get out of danger.
Headlights in comparison:
- Blackburn X3.
- Generic 5 LEDs torches
- Luxeon 2 LEDs custom mount flashlights
Adaptive Design:
The light can be mounted on virtually all bike handle bars. I have a custom hybrid road bike, my wife is a Sidewinder FX mountain, my 8 year old son's is BMX, and my little 1 year old is a Schwinn Mark III trailer. The quick release handle bar mount accommodate a handle bar tube as small as 1/4 inch, up to 1.75 inches. This is practically the sizes for 99% of the bikes' handle bar tubes and trailers' frames. The cool thing is, the mount also has an adjustable side-to-side angle for your light. It's perfect when you need a quick adjustment on your light beam from left, to right, and back to center, based on your travel path. If you need a quick use of the light as a flash light, the mount allows you to quickly remove the light by squeezing in the V-clip, and slide forward for a fast dismount.
Visibility:
- Morning hours: At dawn, with just a crack of sunlight in the horizon, your light only gives you enough lumen to see about 5 feet away. But, to motorists, your light is bright enough to be seen at 1/2 mile away.
- Night hours: When the sun starts to sink into the horizon, your visibility increases significantly. If there's still some light before dusk, you still able to see about 7 feet in front of you, and you can be spotted at 1/2 miles away. When there's no light left, and all you have are street lights, you can see about 10 feet in front of you, quite clearly, within a 3 feet spot light circle. The halo around your spot light (4 feet in each direction) gives you enough light to see obstructions, but not enough to clearly identify the obstruction, such as a log, or a shredded tire piece. You can bet you can be seen by motorists up to 1mile away. In total darkness, you can see 15 feet in front of you within the 3 feet spot light circle, and the halo around the spot light area can be seen quite clearly to identify everything, down to a 1 inch bolt. You're now can be seen as far as 1.5 miles away at level ground, and as bright as a motorcylists headlight. When the vehicle is close by, the LEDs can be quite blinding. If you mount the light onto your head with a helmet mount, you bet you can temporarily blind the drivers, like I have. There are passengers screaming out indicating that the LEDs are way too bright, and drivers honking horns to tell us to crank the brightness down. Sorry, can't do that. Our safety goes above the irritation the drivers may have.
In comparison with the Blackburn X3 (2.3 watts and uses tons of power), this 1watt (powered by 4 AA-batteries) gives enough light to get you through the dark nights, or a fraction of the price. Combine with the X3, or another Voyager 4, you can light up the roads regardless of how much street lights are on, and how bright they are. Rather than spending hundreds on the expensive lights, the Voyager 4 can act as your first 10 feet supporting light on your handle bar, and your X3 helmet mounted light can act as your mid and long range spot light. In combination, these two lights illuminate my paths on my long commutes.
If you're going into dark trails or riding downhill faster than 15 mph, using only this light, you will outrun the light. This only gives you a good visibility of 15 feet ahead of you if you travel at 10 to 15 mph. You need to use this in combination with a good spot light for a far forward visibility. X3 is a good combo, since it only cost $60, rather than the $150+ for the X6 system, or the more expensive LEDs and Halogen/HID systems. This will give you the effective 20+ feet of illuminated path for less than $100, and you can max your speed out at 40 mph like I do with my road bike down the hills.
Side marker LEDs:
There are two yellow blinking LEDs that acts as side markers. These proves to be useless on all levels. They're not bright enough as effective visible markers, and they're draining the batteries for nothing.
Power usages:
There are three settings and three level of power usages:
- Solid highest brightness: The LEDs are on continually. The power usage at this state will eat up your Duracel batteries within 4 hours, and rechargeable NiMH within 3.5 hours.
- Solid medium: The LEDs are on continually, but the brightness is reduced by half. The power usage at this state will eat up your Duracel batteries within 6 hours, and rechargeable NiMH within 5 hours.
- Steady fast blinking: The power usage at this state will eat up your Duracel batteries within 8 hours, and rechargeable NiMH within 7.5 hours.
If you use your light on and off, an hour or two each day, you can go as long as 9 hours for the solid light, or as long as 13 hours on blinking mode. Just be warned, when the batteries reaches the 1/2 way point of power spent, the LEDs will automatically dim to solid medium brightness strength to conserve power until the batteries are drained completely. The trick is to use the lights in blinking mode, which utilizes the highest power level or maximum brightness. The only annoyance is the blinking.
Durability:
The shell is nothing to laugh about. Although the batteries is housed in a twistable housing shell, the shell will not snap or fall apart on accidental drops. The shell survives so many of our three to 5 feet falls, onto hard concrete while we prepare for our trips, and launches from our mounts on quick stops because we did not ensure proper mounting attachment onto the mount. There are minor nicks and scratches because of the harsh surfaces, but the brightness remain the same regardless.
Overview:
If I have to invest in an effective headlight that doesn't break the bank to shine my path, this is it. Not only it's inexpensive, but it's a versatile to have on any equipment for good visibility in the dark. A couple of these strapped to your handle bar and helmet, and you're set to venture the highways and byways of the modern day. My suggestion is to use a combination of strong spot light (such as the Blackburn X3), in combination with this light acting as a flood light. With this combination, you can't outrun your light combos.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Battery is the only problem Jul 20, 2007
By Kirill Kachinsky I'll make this as simple as possible:
Pros:
Intense light, people move out of your way before you even get to them.
Good various settings although the yellow flashing things on the side are useless.
Mounts on the bike easily and dismounts just as well.
Price is good.
Cons:
Battery lasts only 4 hours on max setting.
Don't worry, you don't need max setting, trust me.
I'm giving it 4 stars because of the battery, i wish i could give 4.8
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Brightest for the buck. Jan 25, 2009
By F. Conrad
"fchogg"
This was the brightest when comparing to several others under $60. It works well with AA rechargeable batteries. I strongly recommend to NOT use the flashing sidelights. A couple cars pulled out in front of me. One driver yelled out "your turn signal is on". I then realized he was referring to the right flashing sidelight. I now have tape over them for safety. The mounting clip appears to be fragile. I haven't broken it yet, but I'm being real careful. The quality of the light itself is good.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Solid light, needs better mount - DISCONTINUED Jan 20, 2009
By V Shakata This is a really solid light that needs a better mounting method. A lot of light output, good solid feel, and rugged. It fell off my bike and bounced 40 feet down hard pavement. Outside of some scratches, it still worked.
BUT, the reason the light fell off my bike was because the mounting clamp broke. I rode over some really sharp bumps in the road and the next thing I knew, my new headlight was bouncing down the road. The light itself is on the heavy side because of the batteries and how solidly it is built. With sharp bumps, this can put a lot of stress on the mounting point. The mounting clamp provided by Blackburn was not up to the task.
Now I get to find out how good Blackburn's warranty service is.
UPDATE (3Feb09): The Voyager 4.0 has been discontinued according to the Blackburn customer rep I talked to! When I sent in my Voyager to Blackburn, I got a Flea headlight back in return. Judging from the number of people with broken mount problems, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they are trying to redesign the mount.
The thing I'm disappointed in right now is that I spent $45 here at Amazon to get a strong, bright light and now I have a light I could have initially ordered for $20. I called Blackburn about it and they said they go off the list price of the Flea which is $30. And they consider the light comparable. *sigh*
The Flea is pretty surprising for its size. But it spreads the light out a bit more which is both good and bad. Better peripheral light but less straight down the road. My suggestion, if you were thinking about spending $45 for a Voyager, buy TWO Fleas instead for less money and what should be some really nice light.
UPDATE (25Oct09) What? They're still selling this light? Just took a run over to the Blackburn site and I guess they've discontinued it. It's no longer listed. They have a bunch of new Flea's now.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Powerful light with a flimsy clip Nov 26, 2008
By m_deez Great light for nighttime use, lasts about 4-5 hours on rechargeable 2300 mAh Duracells. The clip is garbage though. The light is very bulky due to the 4 AA batteries being housed in the body, and the clip's swivel is not adjustable. The ridiculously small screw that held the base and clip together broke after 4 months of light usage (used the light maybe twice a week).
based on 13 reviews
The low powered cyclop has arrived Nov 28, 2007
By N. Nguyen
Battery is the only problem Jul 20, 2007
By Kirill Kachinsky
Solid light, needs better mount - DISCONTINUED Jan 20, 2009
By V Shakata
