Blackburn's System X8 has the power, versatility and reliability to get you where you want to go. The dual 3 watt Luxeon lights, you have both a wide angle and narrow beam light pouring out up to 170 lumens. Plus, you can adjust the lights from flashing to 100 to 70 to 30% power to use only the amount of light you need, saving battery juice. This great light also boasts a small, light, frame-mount Li-Ion battery that's reliable and powerful. And, the X8 won't overheat or fade with time thanks to Blackburn's Constant Current technology. There are also easy-to-use quick-release handlebar and helmet mounts, too. Mtbr Bike Lights Shootout - over 50 bike lights reviewed, photographed and measured here.
Submitted by
Aussiebikeboy
a Weekend Warrior
from Adelaide
Date Reviewed: May 22, 2011
Strengths: Well constructed lights and mounts
Weaknesses: Poor quality workmanship in the circuit board. Have had to have the dry solders fixed twice by a third party. Fortunately he was able to fix it both times.
Bottom Line:
Look at getting something else that is brighter and cheaper.
Submitted by
sweetfilly7
a Cross Country Rider
from Ontario
Date Reviewed: October 9, 2010
Strengths: Solid construction, easy to mount
Weaknesses: For xc, your helmet-mounted light is crucial to see around tight corners and switchbacks. For the Blackburn X8, you have 2 lights and one battery, you can either mount one on your helmet, or two on your bars. It's just not safe to do one on each as you are essentially attaching your head to bike.
But the single helmet-mounted light just not bright enough. If someone is behind me, the Blackburn light is not strong enough to fill in my shadow, leaving me unable to see directly ahead of me. I have since bought a stronger light (with smaller battery!) for my helmet, and saved my Blackburn as a 'loaner' for friends without lights.
Bottom Line:
Decent light system, better suited for handlebar-mounted commuting than helmet-mounted cross country.
Submitted by
avioknight
a Weekend Warrior
from kansas
Date Reviewed: May 2, 2010
Strengths: The light is bright when it is working.
Weaknesses: I have two of these and the first one had trouble after a few months of use and the customer service said since I bought it from Amazon vendor they would not cover the warranty of one year. So, I bought a second one so I can replace the first one by exchanging it from a different dealer. After I got the second one, the first one started to work fine. Now after 6 months are so both lights are not working. When you push the button for a light, the light goes on and then off, but won't stay on. Both sets are like this and I think it is because they are both defective. NEVER buy a BLACKburn product!!! The battery pack appears as if it is leaking a bit because I do see some shiny glossy lock when i ope the connectors to the wire. This would mean the batteries are bad, but why does the lights go on and off without me pushing the buttons and when I do push them they don't stay on.
Bottom Line:
Blackburn lights stink (I have two none working lights that are hardly used and is not working) and their warranty is worthless.
Similar Products Used: I have two of these Blackburn X8 and both are not working.
Bike Setup: Specialized Stumpjumper Elite
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
CK
a Weekend Warrior
from NSB, FL, USA
Date Reviewed: April 6, 2010
Strengths: Good Beam, Rugged
Weaknesses: Charger broke after less than a year.
Bottom Line:
I've owned numerous Blackburn products (System X8, System X4, Flea) The bottome line is: DON'T BUY ANY BLACKBURN PRODUCT! The charger for this system failed in less than a year. I wrote their customer support and it took three emails to even get a response. Their response was "you can buy another charger at this website." HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!
Submitted by
caseym
a Cross Country Rider
from la crosse, wi
Date Reviewed: August 12, 2009
Strengths: good beams, many settings, quick setup and fastening
Weaknesses: bad battery. don't ever expect blackburn to help you if you have trouble with this light system. while their website says that they still manufacture this light system...THEY DON'T as it is discontinued...but it is still on the website?? anyways, look elsewhere if you want a solid light backed by solid customer support.
Bottom Line:
See weaknessess above as it details the bottom line on this product. It would be solid if the company had a reputable customer support program and quit the false advertising. At this point I wish I would have never bought the product now knowing the product would not be supported. Sorry blackburn, but this is the last time I will ever purchase or even recommend one of your products.
Submitted by
mikkelz
a Cross Country Rider
from Cape Town, South Africa
Date Reviewed: July 16, 2009
Strengths: Light quality (clarity) and strength (distance). The actual light housing, brackets and recharger all look & feel solid to withstand tough mountain biking conditions and should last a lifetime. The "SuperCharger" which is meant to maintain and increase battery life is appealing.
Bottom Line:
I've recommended this set of lights to all my family and friends.
Submitted by
S_Owen
a Cross Country Rider
from Ortonville, MI, USA
Date Reviewed: March 27, 2009
Strengths: Excellent Value. I actually purchased the Blackburn X8'SL' system (not X8), with 240 Lumen Luxeon lamps, and extended run time. Easy to use smart charger. Nice bright Spot and Flood lamps with intensity adjustments (or strobe). Easy set-up on bike, and run-time is more than sufficient for 1.5hr commute.
Weaknesses: Charge plug-in socket on battery faces frame tube which it is mounted to. Requires loosening battery in order to charge. I over tightened the handle bar mounting clamp, and broke the clamp near the hinge. My fault, but clamp could be beefier. I called Blackburn Customer Service, and told them "I screwed it up", and they were nice enough to not only replace the broken mounting clamp, but they also sent a spare clamp.
Bottom Line:
Excellent - excellent value (MSRP was $260) $125!
I could not find this much light for this price, in other brands looked at. I recommend this system, it seems very well designed. Do not over tighten the bar clamps, and there should be no issues. And, obviously Blackburn offers pretty decent customer support.
I had some additional questions and correspondence with edicountbike regarding the product, and they were very friendly to work with.
Bike Setup: 'Beater' mountain bike used for commuting 18mi (~1.5hrs), one-way, to work. Mounted lights hanging under the handle bars for better protection, and mounted battery pack on front side of seat post, just under seat. With battery centered, does not rub inner thigh. Wire routed along top tube, with brake/shift cables.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Christopher_CK
a Cross Country Rider
from NSB,FL,USA
Date Reviewed: January 17, 2009
Strengths: Super Bright Light, Li-Ion Battery, Current doesn't fade, Comes w/ two handlebar mounts and a helmet mount
Weaknesses: Doesn't mount itself to the bicycle
Bottom Line:
Great light! I read all of the negative reviews about the battery on the X6 and decided to pass on it (even though it was SOOO cheap). I decided to go with the X8 and was IMPRESSED during my first (and second) night ride w/ the light. It's a good buy.
Similar Products Used: only lesser lighting systems
Bike Setup: Used it on my Trek EX and my Redline Monocog 29er
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
shredbetty
a Cross Country Rider
from Sacramento
Date Reviewed: December 31, 2008
Strengths: Bright light, long lasting battery, weather resistant, good wide beam and spot, easy set up, fast charging battery, variable beam strengths with strobe option (great for making yourself visible while commuting through dense fog).
Weaknesses: Clunky battery, only one battery so using lamp on bar and lamp on helmet is tricky since they both have to connect to the same battery, cables a bit unwieldy.
Bottom Line:
Good light set for use on very dark trials at an incredibly reasonable price, illuminates all the roots and rocks and crevices in the trail; lasts for a very long time excellent for extended night rides; maybe a bit intensely bright when you come across on-coming riders (I recommend just cupping your hand over the lights to minimize blinding your fellows, if you come across on-coming cyclists). This seems to be a variation on the older VistaLite Nightstick, which has a nearly identical but updated design for lamps and mounts, but which came with more than one battery so you could connect your helmet lamp to a separate battery and stick that in your back pocket. With this Blackburn set, you get only one fairly clunky battery which you either use to connect to your helmet lamp or to your handlebar lamp, but if you try to connect both to that one battery then either your head is attached to your bike (if you mount the battery on the bikeframe) or your handlebars are connected to your jersey pocket with cables wrapped all around you (if you have the battery in your pocket). A bit of a silly "choice" constrained entirely by the design.
Similar Products Used: Cat eye everything, VistaLite Nightstick.
Bike Setup: Old School Gary Fisher HooKoo, Shimano XT
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
jamis_dakar
a Cross Country Rider
from windsor, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: December 3, 2008
Strengths: This is a well thought out light. It is light and built with quality materials, all of this and for such a low price.
Weaknesses: I would like to see narrower mounts, I had trouble fitting them into my bars with my lefty fork, maybe it would have been easier with a standard fork but I don't know.
Bottom Line:
It is a great product in terms of build quality, reliability, price and on top of it all it's guaranteed for life. I recommend.
Submitted by
neverdnf
a Weekend Warrior
from Woodsfield
Date Reviewed: November 24, 2008
Strengths: Price, Burn Time, Dual Lights.
Weaknesses: Can't mount one light on helmet and run the other one on the bars at the same time.
Bottom Line:
For the money, this light is pretty awesome. Burn time is exactly as advertised and charges quickly. I haven't updated the LED's but everyone says that it can up to double the output of the lights of a very small cost. I wish there was a better way to mount the lights so that you could wear one on the helmet and one on the bars, but with the wires going everywhere I don't think it would be too safe. But again, for the price, you could run both these on the bars and buy another set just to wear on your helmet and have spent less than a lot of other lights systems out there.
Submitted by
Jacko
a Weekend Warrior
from Plymouth England
Date Reviewed: October 22, 2008
Strengths: Price - Not sure they're worth the £200RRP, but they always seem to be on offer somewhere.
Versatility - can be mounted on std or OS bars or helmet, and can be run with both lightheads or just one.
Smartcharger - charges very fast, and when not in use the battery can be left pluged into the smartcharger which will condition the battery.
Weaknesses: Switches - the buttons on the top of the lampheads are awkward to press, especially with thick winter gloves on...!
Bottom Line:
The lights bloody brilliant for the money. £130 will not buy you a setup with as much light output, in a good pattern, with a good burn time, that comes with as much kit (battery, wide lighthead, narrow lighthead, pair of bar mounts, helmet mount, spare clip for either mount, std cable, cable for single lamphead use, smartcharger, carry bag), that can be used in as many differant ways, weighs this little, looks after itself (leave the battery plugged into the smartcharger when not in use), and has as many different settings (each head can be 100%/70%/30%/flashing, thats 16 combinatons).
I use mine for commuting every day, and can still get home, stick them on charge for a couple hours, go out for a decent nightride, n then leave em on charge overnight ready for the commute next morning.
Bike Setup: Special Giant Reign & Specialized Langster
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Marcelo72
a Weekend Warrior
from Honolulu
Date Reviewed: October 19, 2008
Strengths: + Battery last longer than speced! (much unlike the X6)
+ Quick charge
+ Carrying bag included (unlike the X6)
+ variety of cables included
Weaknesses: - outdated LED
- don't recommend using one light on the handlebar and one on the helmet.
Bottom Line:
I returned my Blackburn X6 because the battery sucked. Jenson was kind enough to fully refund me after six months of use. Though I'd give the X8 a chance knowing they changed the battery and I've been pleasantly surprised by the X8!
The battery is MUCH smaller (about half) that of the X6 and I got 3h @ 100% out of it after the first charge.
The Luxeon III LED that comes with it is quite old so bought a couple of Cree Q5's (and SSC P4's) from Dealextreme.com. and popped them in. 10 minutes later I had blasting bright LED set-up at a really affordable price. Stoked!
Only reason I don't give it 5 chillis on the overall is that Blackburn should've upgraded their LED a long time ago but the Lumens/$ using this system with the Cree's is hard to beat.
There are no reviews on the Blackburn System X8 Led Light but there are plenty on the X6 and they pretty much suck. Does anyone know if the X8 are supposed to be better. Here is Read More »
I was thinking about buying a Blackburn system 8 and upgrading the led?
what would be the led to upgrade to?
can I do the p7?
or the Q5 or p4?
also what about lens would I need Read More »
What is the difference between the Blackburn System X8 and the Blackburn System X8SL? I've looked all over the internet, including Blackburn's website, and haven't found an answer Read More »
Hello All
I have the X8 light set and lost the battery charger.
I have a multi use charger but I need to know what the polarity is?
If you have this light set could you let me k Read More »
