Review of Cateye HL-EL830RC Triple Shot Pro Rechargeable LED Bicycle Headlight

Cateye HL-EL830RC Triple Shot Pro Rechargeable LED Bicycle Headlight
By: Cateye Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 1
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Bright enough for commuting -- just.

On: 2007-12-31

I mounted this side by side with a Topeak Moonshine HID (High Intensity Discharge) headlamp for comparison purposes, and made my normal pre-dawn commute for a week.

The housing seems quite sturdy, and the battery connector is easy to open and close. The lamp mounting bracket has a nice dial-screw on it so its easy-on and easy-off. The HL-EL830RC casts enough light for riding along the road, but its far, far dimmer than the HID. There is no bright cone of light cast on the road and off to either side, as there is with the HID. The narrow light beam is comparable to a conventional halogen light.

The unit creates a startling amount of radio frequency interference(RFI); no possibility of listening to radio while pedalling! When riding in heavy fog, theres a strange rippling effect in the light beam, apparently its flashing at a very high frequency. This thing apparently has a pretty elaborate electronic power supply, one more thing that can go wrong with it... but it has a 2 year warranty.

The on/off switch has a large tab on the handlebar fastener, and it knocks off easily when you try to switch the light while wearing winter gloves. The switch is marked "CAUTION HOT" but I detected no heating.

The battery lasts a long time, as advertised, but the charger is apparently not too "smart" -- the instructions tell you not to leave it plugged in at completion of the charge. So I use a timer.

Given the relatively high price of this light (comparable to an HID), the long run time and possibly long LED lifetime as compared to a bulb, are its main saving graces.