CloneWerks
Well-known member
PREFACE:
I have a truly excellent Milwaukee flashlight setup [Reviewed here] that I've been using for my headlight and it most assuredly does the job, but when you are addicted to playing with lights it never ends. For this review I decided to try and find a really cheap, bottom end, light with the only requirement being that I could direct-wire it up to a 48v bike system without any modifications.
What I settled on was the "Keenso Universal 12v-80c High Brightness Electro-Tricycle LED Light" ($14.00 on Amazon)
===============================================================
Intended Use: Visibility and Illumination for Bicycles. (Front light)
Power Source: Direct wire to eBike electrical system
Average Cost: $14.00 (USD)
What you get:
The light came wrapped in bubble wrap inside a plain generic box. It's 90% plastic though it does seem to be pretty well molded and assembled. Since the housing is plastic, it's very very light although that means it won't act as a heat sink for the LED array. Internally it has some-kind of voltage regulator but I haven't disassembled it so I don't have any specifics. The bare wires are long giving you plenty to work with in terms of wiring to your bike. The overall build quality seems to be at least on par with the cheap "retro" LED headlight that came with the bike.
Switch/Controls/Modes/Indicators:
None.
Output (Per manufacturer):
There are no manufacturer claims for light output so I had no real expectation. To my surprise the 12 LED array puts out a good amount of light, my eyeball estimate is around 1500 lumens in a broad, wide, swath.
================================================ ===================================
Real World Use:
I mounted the light just above my front fender and wired it directly into my bike using an actual plug (the one that came off the old light). Wiring consisted of soldering two wires and sealing them with heat-shrink tubing, very low effort.
When I turned on the bike and activated the light my first impression was... not good. The outer edges of the beam have horrible interference patterns creating a halo of various blue/purple hue lines and a few dark spots. However the central beam is powerful and relatively controlled meaning you can aim this light to give you visibility, but also so that you aren't blinding oncoming cars. The 12 LED array is biased towards "spotlight" so it has distance throw that is more than adequate for bicycle speeds (I felt very comfortable on a 30mph downhill run in pure darkness). The light also gives you a good side to side beam allowing you to evaluate a turn before you make it.
When riding on the road the "purple halo" was actually far less noticeable. Nobody is going to call this a "high quality beam" but it was actually very good in use being even and bright and delivering high visibility confidence while riding while having sharp enough "edges" to the beam that you could properly aim it to avoid blinding others. I did notice some "light leak" on a seam which indicates that this light is -not sealed- at all so it's water resistance out of the box is pretty questionable. I intend to mask the lens and then spray it with Flex-Seal to improve that.
I rode for an hour and the light stayed a lot cooler than I expected. Assuming that was due to wind-flow I also parked in garage for 20+ min with no airflow and still the light only warmed up to a small degree. It is pretty apparent that the array is not over-driven which means it should last for a while though the reviews online indicate a seriously mixed bag of quality with some lights dead on arrival and others failing rapidly. Again, it's a $14 Chinese light, keep your expectations low.
I actually enjoyed riding with this light.
===============================================================
CONS:
Summary:
Surprisingly good for a dirt cheap light especially for full-night riding. However, because production is apparently so spotty I'd caution users to attempt some waterproofing and also have a backup plan in the event it fails (in my case I left my Milwaukee light mounted as a plan-b"). I suspect if you get this light past a 10 hour break-in period without incident then you can probably trust it.
===============================================================
Final conclusion:
3 Photons (out of a possible 5) (recommended with caution).
I have a truly excellent Milwaukee flashlight setup [Reviewed here] that I've been using for my headlight and it most assuredly does the job, but when you are addicted to playing with lights it never ends. For this review I decided to try and find a really cheap, bottom end, light with the only requirement being that I could direct-wire it up to a 48v bike system without any modifications.
What I settled on was the "Keenso Universal 12v-80c High Brightness Electro-Tricycle LED Light" ($14.00 on Amazon)
===============================================================
Intended Use: Visibility and Illumination for Bicycles. (Front light)
Power Source: Direct wire to eBike electrical system
Average Cost: $14.00 (USD)
What you get:
- Front Light with built in mount
- That's it. nothing else. I mean, it's a dirt cheap Chinese light what more do you want???
The light came wrapped in bubble wrap inside a plain generic box. It's 90% plastic though it does seem to be pretty well molded and assembled. Since the housing is plastic, it's very very light although that means it won't act as a heat sink for the LED array. Internally it has some-kind of voltage regulator but I haven't disassembled it so I don't have any specifics. The bare wires are long giving you plenty to work with in terms of wiring to your bike. The overall build quality seems to be at least on par with the cheap "retro" LED headlight that came with the bike.
Switch/Controls/Modes/Indicators:
None.
Output (Per manufacturer):
There are no manufacturer claims for light output so I had no real expectation. To my surprise the 12 LED array puts out a good amount of light, my eyeball estimate is around 1500 lumens in a broad, wide, swath.
================================================ ===================================
Real World Use:
I mounted the light just above my front fender and wired it directly into my bike using an actual plug (the one that came off the old light). Wiring consisted of soldering two wires and sealing them with heat-shrink tubing, very low effort.
When I turned on the bike and activated the light my first impression was... not good. The outer edges of the beam have horrible interference patterns creating a halo of various blue/purple hue lines and a few dark spots. However the central beam is powerful and relatively controlled meaning you can aim this light to give you visibility, but also so that you aren't blinding oncoming cars. The 12 LED array is biased towards "spotlight" so it has distance throw that is more than adequate for bicycle speeds (I felt very comfortable on a 30mph downhill run in pure darkness). The light also gives you a good side to side beam allowing you to evaluate a turn before you make it.
When riding on the road the "purple halo" was actually far less noticeable. Nobody is going to call this a "high quality beam" but it was actually very good in use being even and bright and delivering high visibility confidence while riding while having sharp enough "edges" to the beam that you could properly aim it to avoid blinding others. I did notice some "light leak" on a seam which indicates that this light is -not sealed- at all so it's water resistance out of the box is pretty questionable. I intend to mask the lens and then spray it with Flex-Seal to improve that.
I rode for an hour and the light stayed a lot cooler than I expected. Assuming that was due to wind-flow I also parked in garage for 20+ min with no airflow and still the light only warmed up to a small degree. It is pretty apparent that the array is not over-driven which means it should last for a while though the reviews online indicate a seriously mixed bag of quality with some lights dead on arrival and others failing rapidly. Again, it's a $14 Chinese light, keep your expectations low.
I actually enjoyed riding with this light.
===============================================================
CONS:
- Horrible "purple halo" around the outer edges of the beam (not nearly as noticeable when actually out riding)
- No guarantee of assembly quality or durability.
- Water resistance is probably pretty much non-existent.
- More than bright enough to piss off motorists if you don't take some care in aiming it.
- Absolutely DIRT CHEAP
- Good overall light output (somewhere in the ballpark of 1500 lumens total)
- Direct wire to any 12v-80v system
- Good to excellent amount of light
- Reasonably well distributed and controlled light beam
Summary:
Surprisingly good for a dirt cheap light especially for full-night riding. However, because production is apparently so spotty I'd caution users to attempt some waterproofing and also have a backup plan in the event it fails (in my case I left my Milwaukee light mounted as a plan-b"). I suspect if you get this light past a 10 hour break-in period without incident then you can probably trust it.
===============================================================
Final conclusion:
3 Photons (out of a possible 5) (recommended with caution).
