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Cateye
HL-EL100 Headlight
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Submitted by
Adam
a Cross Country Rider
from Orange
Date Reviewed: August 31, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$35.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | 1. Much better than a vistalite road toad reviewed below. That's not much of a compliment however.
2. Uses AA batteries which you can find anywhere.
3. Quick and easy install without tools.
4. Drivers can see you.
5. Did I mention this light is better than a crappo vistalite? | | Weaknesses: | 1. The light casing vibrates like crazy. I've tried to tighten the screw holding the light assembly together but this makes no difference whatsoever.
2. The light pattern is a tight little circle in front of you, and a dim blue rather than a bright white. | | Similar Products Used: | -vistalite crap o matic. | | Bike Setup: | gary fisher hardtail | | Bottom Line: | I have mixed feelings about this product. On the one hand, it's clearly an improvement over perhaps one of the most poorly rated products on this website: the vistalite road toad, which I had purchased initially when buying my bike and then exchanged for this cateye.
Once the initial elation of getting rid of the vistalite wears off however, the weaknesses of this product become all too apparent: the light pattern only lights up a small circle immediately in front of you and the light is not white-ish but a dim blue.
I'm strongly considering getting a 5 or 10 W head lamp instead. Cygolite has a 6W lamp for 50 bones at performance. Nitehawk Nomad 5W is 20 dollars at Nashbar. I might keep the Cateye as a back up since it has at least a 20 hour runtime on 4 AA batteries. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Sam
a Weekend Warrior
from Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Date Reviewed: August 12, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Purchased At: | Yamada Denki | | Strengths: | Relatively compact design. Extremely long battery life. Keeps your front end visible. Seems to handle wet weather with no problems. | | Weaknesses: | Conern over mounting system (how strong is it?). Case lid is not held well enough. | | Similar Products Used: | N/A | | Bike Setup: | '03 Trek 8000 stock. | | Bottom Line: | Great light for road riding. Not too sure about track though - worreied about it's mounting strength. Luminescence with new batteries is strong, but this wanes over time. Having said that, I've yet to replace my first set of batteries (3 months riding about 2-3 hours a week at night)!. My main gripe is that every time I press the on/off button, I seem to open the lid of the battery compartment. I'm worried about breaking or losing the lid. I think a different plastic grade would have been better as it seems to brittle. Still, cheap, and a great light for the price. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Nick
a
from Indianapolis
Date Reviewed: November 16, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | any low traffic road or path | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$20.00 | | Strengths: | The beam pool is the important claim to fame here. It is even and streakless like moonlight. Plus, no worries about battery run-down since it could be left on for 3 days! | | Weaknesses: | None | | Similar Products Used: | Cateye 1 and 5 led models | | Bike Setup: | Two on each side of the stem | | Bottom Line: | A truly perfect hold-in-the-hand night-walking light. Not bright enough to be a serious headlight (get the 5-led EL-300 for that), but a great backup. Or for shadowless illumination for roadside repairs. Prefer this to the EL-200 one-led model due to its wider more diffuse beam. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Gaz Brown
a Weekend Warrior
from Bielefeld Germany
Date Reviewed: September 17, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$31.00 | | Purchased At: | GUTERSLOH | | Strengths: | CHEAP,SMALL,LIGHT,VERY BRIGHT.
| | Weaknesses: | SWITCH,FEELS CHEAPER THAN IT IS. | | Similar Products Used: | CARROTS | | Bike Setup: | IBIS SZAZBO, XT | | Bottom Line: | A GOOD QUALITY LIGHT FOR THE MONEY, NOT FOR SEEING BUT BEING SEEN, VERY HAPPY WITH IT. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
dave
a
from Melbourne, Australia
Date Reviewed: July 10, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$30.00 | | Strengths: | Bright blue white light. Long run time.
Great visibilty. Light weight. Quick battery access | | Weaknesses: | Plastic casing (mounting system). Intermittently goes off and back on again especially over rough roads or train tracks (Bad contacts?)
| | Similar Products Used: | Cateye HL-500-2, Vistalite 10/15 watt with nicad bottle battery, Other | | Bike Setup: | Giant ATX880 LX/XT | | Bottom Line: | Compact and reasonably light for the amount of visibilty that you get. It is hard to see the road, but cars can see you.
Used for about 2 hours every day for the past 3 months, rain, hail or shine on my daily commute (25 kms approx each way). Im using NiMh batteries which I recharge each week. Some battery lights used you have to use a coin or screwdriver to get to the batteries which can be a bit of a pain.
Rain doesn't seem to have affected it. I have opened up the casing to see water inside, but it still works. The metal battery contacts seem to have slight rust spots on them.
The plastic casing seems to be very brittle. The mounting lugs underneath the unit have their edges broken off so that it rattles quite badly.
Also there seems to be a problem with the electrical contacts somewhere inside the unit which I don't think is attributed to the rust. Riding over rough roads or train tracks, the light goes off for and unspecified amount of time. Tapping it usually fixes it until the next bump.
All in all, it has some great features but the quality just isn't there. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris
a Weekend Warrior
from UK
Date Reviewed: June 21, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$33.00 | | Purchased At: | Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op | | Strengths: | Bright, Compact, Long Run Time | | Weaknesses: | Build Quality | | Similar Products Used: | Cat Eye HL-500 | | Bottom Line: | Has longest run time of any light I've used and blue/white light gets you seen on the road. Poor build quality and high price compared to HL-500 lets it down and I am not sure it is very waterproof. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
András
a Weekend Warrior
from UK
Date Reviewed: May 24, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Bright, slightly blue tone (better for being seen). Uses AA batteries, which is good if you use lots of AA rechargeables for other things anyway. Batteries will last forever. Much improved mechanically compared to HL-500II. | | Weaknesses: | Rattlesnake: it makes you the noisiest rider around (at least on road bikes). Also, the switch is a totally stupid design. Unless I push a piece of plastic film in the right place, the light will go on and off by itself all the time (usually off, and in the worst moment). At least it can be fixed as mentioned, unlike the HL-500II. Don't expect to see anything with these lights, the beam is focussed too tight for that. | | Similar Products Used: | HL-500II (not using it any more because of rubbish contacts all over the place). I think it's overpriced, though. | | Bike Setup: | 2 road racers | | Bottom Line: | Big step up from the HL-500II. Now Cateye is not far from making a light that really works. Cateye people, are you listening? Modifying this light and adding rugged contacts and switch would make a light that has NO COMPETITION. Sadly enough, this light is still the best compact light available. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Howard
a
from San Jose, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: May 22, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$25.00 | | Purchased At: | Bicycle Express | | Strengths: | This light is awesome!!! LIke the person before me said, This light has 3 white LEDs. It is super bright and has lasted is claimed to last 180 hours (true??). The light has a bluish tint to it like Mercedes or BMW headlights--looks very cool. I use it to see whats ahead of me (I aimed it to beam light at least 10 ft away....i know it ain't no NiteRider light but still) as well as using it for being seen. Cars have no problem missing me. oh yeah, its also made in Japan!! | | Weaknesses: | Uses 4 AA batteries but with the light being so bright it doesn't matter. | | Similar Products Used: | Cateye HL500--dims quickly | | Bike Setup: | LX rear, Deore front and shifters, Avid SD7 levers, Avid 20 brake arms, Serfas grips, WTB Speed V Comp saddle | | Bottom Line: | Pick this light up. Nice white color too. It has a compact size and is relatively light (to me) with the batteries in it. It is worth your money with the brightness of this light and it dims VERY slowly....u have to use it for a day and a half (meaning the light being ON for 30 hours STRAIGHT before u will notice it dimming....way better than those cheap made in Taiwan halogens. This baby's made in Japan also--very good products from that country. Two words descibe this light: Simply spectacular!!! Great job Cateye! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Joe H.
a Cross Country Rider
from Buckley, Wa usa
Date Reviewed: May 22, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | victor falls/commuting | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$25.00 | | Purchased At: | Nashbar | | Strengths: | This light has 3 led bulbs in it. It is very bright so cars have no problem seeing you. I work Graveyard so these have saved my ass from getting hit a few times(I've been hit once, before I had these, while commuting to work....not fun). Burn time is way long. Check specs for that(up to 180 hrs?) | | Weaknesses: | I would'nt use to see by. Their strength is being seen. | | Similar Products Used: | Other halogen double AA and C versions. Burn times were around 1hr even though listed as 3hrs. | | Bike Setup: | Specialized | | Bottom Line: | I have two of these on my handlebars and have no more problems with cars wanting to pull out in front of me. The LEDS are very bright but don't cast a great seeing zone from my seat if you know what I mean. I recommend these for 2 reasons and I was right on. 1) Others see me coming(halogens were'nt making me visible enough). 2)The burn time is outrageously long compared to halogen bulbs. Understand I only use these on the road(on a mountain bike)for commuting or at night when I'm around any kind of traffic. I give it highest ratings for the reasons I listed. I'm not taking away for poor illumination of the way ahead of me. I did'nt have expectations for that. It will cost ya more for that performance. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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