Blinkers review: Safer cycling with ultra bright bike lights

As any cyclist knows, riding your bike around town or on the highway can be a dangerous proposition. After a successful Indiegogo campaign, a new set of bike lights complete with turn signals and braking indicators are now available. Our Velohub Blinkers review takes a look at a set of LED bike lights with turn signals designed by Sapetti with the aim to make cycling safer for cyclists, regardless of the time of day.

Check out the Blinkers Indiegogo campaign video for a brief overview before we get started.

Specifications

Blinkers have the following features and specifications:

• Bright 100 lumen front lights
• 30 lumen rear lights
• Remote control turning signals
• IP64 water resistant
• 3200mAh battery with up to 25 hour battery life
• Optional laser projection
• Three rear and front light modes
• Automatic brake light
• Magnetic plug in/plug out
• Micro-USB charging

What’s in the box

• Laser Blinker Unit
• Front Blinker Unit
• Remote Control
• Front and Saddle Mounts with bolts and Allen key
• USB cable
• Coin cell battery for control pad
• Instructions

Design

The Blinkers Laser Set system consists of five main components: the front Blinker unit, rear laser Blinker unit, front and saddle mounts, and a remote control unit.

The Blinker units themselves are about 6 3/4″ wide and are angled slightly down and curved slightly out. The lights are about 4″ deep from the front edge to the back of the mounting area. The front light has a yellow strip between the clear cover and black housing while the rear light has a red strip.

Both the front and rear Blinker have 8 LED lights on either side as well as two lights centered below them. The rear Blinker also has a small laser projector under the two lights (if you get the laser projector version).

The Blinkers slide into the front or saddle mount housing and are held in place with a strong magnet. While the magnet holds the lights very firmly in place, it can take a bit of a pull to remove them when you’ve parked your bike.

The remote control unit has a translucent black top with L, R, and symbols for front and rear Blinkers on it. The top is set into a yellow main housing with a translucent black back rubber pad which is curved to match the shape of most handlebars. The control pad attaches to your handlebar with a rubber band, which holds it firmly in place but also allows for easy removal for when you’re away from your bike.

The Blinkers Laser Set is solidly built and feels like a quality product.

Installation

Installing the Blinkers Laser Set system to your bike is pretty easy. The front mount attaches to the handlebars with a U-clip. It also comes with a rubber piece for added grip and to add circumference to thinner handlebars. Once attached to the U-clip, the mount is tightened with an included bolt and nut. In the case of my bike, I did find that I had to remount it a couple times as the mount tends to slide off the rubber band underneath it ever so slowly. It’s not the end of the world but for some reason, it just won’t stay 100% in place even when fully tightened.

The rear saddle mount clamps onto the underside of your seat. The top piece sits on top of the thin bars extending under the back of your seat and a pair of bolts clamp the rear mount against the bars to hold it firmly in place.

Ease of Use

The Blinkers Laser Set is pretty simple to use. When preparing to go for a ride, simply place your charged front and rear Blinker into their corresponding mount. Once inserted, all or some of the LED lights will light up from left to right to let you know how much battery life is left.

The control pad attaches to your handlebar by way of the rubber band. Once attached, you can use it to control the front Blinker light setting, rear Blinker light and laser setting, and turn on or off the left and right turn signals. The controls are clearly marked and after a couple uses you shouldn’t even have to look to see what you’re pressing in order to change the light settings and/or enable the turn signals.

Performance

The Blinker front and rear lights, including the turn signals, are super bright. While the front headlight boasts 100 lumens, the fixed rear light is only 30 lumens. However, both are bright and extremely visible in both daylight and dusk/night time riding. 

The front light has a solid on, regular flashing, alternating slow/fast flashing, or off setting. Likewise, the rear light offers similar settings. In addition, the rear light can detect when you are slowing down and the red lights automatically come on as a bright 100 lumen brake light.

Our review sample also came with the optional laser projection feature. While only visible in darker conditions, when enabled it projects a green semi-circle on the ground as a bit of a “this is my safe area” indicator for passing motorists. One note about the laser projection feature. Due to the heat the laser generates while on, it automatically shuts off after 10 minutes to prevent damage to the performance of the feature over the long-term. In addition, while the Blinkers fit in either the front or rear mount, the laser projection will only work if fitted in the rear mount.

As far as safety goes, my daily commute to work has one section that is a bit sketchy where the shoulder is maybe a foot wide instead of the 4 or 5′ wide the rest of the trip is. Before I had the Blinkers on my bike, a few vehicles seemed to come extremely close to my bike as they passed by. The first day I had the Blinkers on, all five cars that passed me on that section gave me a bit of extra room. I remember thinking that maybe it was a one-off coincidence but my suspicions were quickly confirmed the following day and beyond. All thanks to the flashing light on the Blinker, I definitely felt safer on my daily commute.

Battery Life

With a 3200mAh battery, the specifications indicate that the Blinkers should last you for two weeks biking 2 hours a day — up to 25 hours of battery life. During testing, while biking on a regular basis for about an hour a day, we managed to easily get three weeks of use on a single charge. Once drained, each Blinker takes about 2 1/2 hours to fully recharge. It would have been nice for two charging cables to have been included with the set to be able to charge both Blinkers at the same time.

The remote control utilizes a regular CR20132 battery. As such, it doesn’t need to be recharged and when it does eventually die (it has an expected battery life of 10 months), you can easily replace the battery.

Price/Value

As far as cycling lights go, Blinkers are pretty pricey. With an MSRP of €169 (~$195USD) for the regular version, the laser set has a price tag of €199 (~$215USD). You can also purchase just the rear Blinker for €99/129 (~$115/149USD) if you’re not in need of a front light or just the front light for €79 ($90USD). That being said, even though the system is a bit pricey, you can’t really put a price tag on safety and given the performance and build quality, Blinkers are worth the price.

Wrap-up

If you’re an avid cyclist and are looking for a pair of lights for added safety, Blinkers are definitely something you should consider.

*We were sent a sample of the Blinkers Laser Set for the purposes of this review.