Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Long Term Wrap Up: Lezyne KTV PRO LED Riding Light

Image courtesy of Lezyne

Lights on bicycles have, especially during daylight hours, thankfully, become a lot more common these days.  However, they are not all created equal.  There are basically two kinds of lighting setups for cyclists: See, and Be Seen.  The “See” kinds are the ones that you can actually see where you are going in the dark.  The “Be Seen” types are the one’s just bright enough to alert your presence to others and are meant purely for daylight use.  The new Lezyne KTV Pro is marketed as a “Safety Light,” which means it is a bona fide “Be Seen” lumen producer.  And, it is not a bad one, at that.   
 
The KTV PRO has six, different light functions in its tough aluminum body (see “Specs” listed below), and I run it on what I call “787” mode (a flash-rate similar to the anti-collision beacons on Boeing’s wonder-plane), which gives good, distinct, half-second flash bursts.  This particular mode is not only very conspicuous, but it is far easier on battery life, which works out in real-world practice to be about six-seven hours, putting out 30-lumens, before being completely drained.  The battery status light (Lezyne calls it an Intelligent Power Indicator) also tells you how much charge you have left while in use (a handy feature), showing green for “Full,” Amber for “Getting Down There,” and finally Red for “This Suckers Going To Die Soon.”  For the record, “Full-Blast” mode is good for 70-lumens.

The KTV’s Twin-LED’s put out a darn a good light pattern, even off to the side via the “Wide-Screen” lens design (offering 180-degree beam dispersal). The mount is a plastic, swivel affair, fastened via a rubber strap, making fitting to a multitude of bar sizes possible.  The mount/light unit swivels to make putting on and taking off the unit much easier, as you have to remove the unit to plug it into your PC’s USB port to recharge (after removing the back of the light, which is a stout, weather-resistant, rubber end-cap).  Once fully charged, the on-board status light goes from red to green when ready.  It is plenty bright enough to alert people to your presence, even during the day.  And, for the record, since I have begun using a flashing headlight on my day rides, the number of occurrences of vehicles turning left in front of me is down by about 90%. 

                                                        Where the KTV PRO now resides.

In conclusion, it is indeed a pretty cool, little light for the money.  However, it had some big shoes to fill from my previous home-made riding light.  That light was an LED flashlight from Costco, putting out 200-lumens, running on three (3) AAA batteries.  With a homemade mount, the system was blindingly bright, and lasted for up to two-weeks of riding four-to-five days a week.  That’s pretty impressive (and cheap)!  I would indeed recommend the KTV Pro for those wanting a good “See-Me” light at a good price-point, and are not in the mood to make their own lighting set-up.  It is built like a tank, has incredible weather resistance, a smart mounting system, and it just looks completely innocuous on the bike.  For a lot of people, that last one can be a deal breaker.    

So, why then did I buy a light with a lower output?  Well, I was curious to try out the latest crop of LED’s on the market, and I wanted a clean looking, clean mounting, smaller light than the one I was previously using, and being under $20.00 USD, on sale, I was even more curious.  Besides, I reasoned if I did not like the light on my trusty Trek 2.3 Frankenbike, I could always move the light to my Nishiki steel “Fun bike.” 

Well, the KTV PRO is still on my Trek. 

The Specs:
  • Machined Aluminum body
  • Clip-On System via rubber strap
  • Intelligent Power Indicator light
  • USB Rechargeable
  • Side Visibility (180-degrees)
  • Weather Resistant
  • Max Lumens: 70
  • Recharge Time: 3:15 hours (varies, Ed.)
  • Weight: 55g
  • Available in Silver, Black, Red, or Blue body
  • $25.99 USD

Run Times (times may vary, Ed.):

  • Economy: 30 lumens / 2:00 hrs
  • Blast: 70 lumens / 1:00 hrs
  • Flash 1: 30 lumens / 6:00 hrs
  • Flash 2: 30 lumens / 6:00 hrs
  • Flash 3: 30 lumens / 6:00 hrs
  • Pulse: 30 lumens / 4:00 hrs

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