OxyLED BL15 Headlight Review [UPDATED]

I’m always interested to see how people are going to design a headlight.  OxyLED has taken the concept for designing a headlight nocturnally.  The BL15, when you open the packaging, looks like an owl.  Owls are typically nocturnal in nature.  It was intriguing to see that OxyLED would develop a headlight around this animal.  Jumping right in…

The packaging of the light was nice.  A good move on OxyLED’s part, because they’re up against some heavy hitters in this category.  If you’re looking for name brand bike lights in the 1500 lumen range, you’re going to be looking at Serfas, Light & Motion and Gloworm (although the Light & Motion got pretty bad reviews) and they will all be $350+.  It’s important for OxyLED to pay attention to these finer details when their target audience for this light will be riders expecting quality products.  My only complaint here was that the instructions were printed on a single side of the page.  We’re bikers.  We care about the planet (for the most part)!  That and the instructions had no indication on how to turn the strobe on.  Or where the power button was.  Or where the mode button was.  Or any pictures that would show how to use the light, for that matter.  If you’re going to leave some blank paper, you may as well fill it up and make use of it, so the user doesn’t have to guess.

Speaking of how the light functions, it wasn’t hard to figure out.  There are only two buttons and within 15 seconds, I figured out that the button on the left was the Power button, the button on the right is the Mode button and that long pressing the Mode button gives you the strobe option.  Make sure to plug the battery pack in before you use the light.  Like most electronics with a battery, the batteries do best when they start out with a full charge.  I left the battery pack plugged in overnight to prep for testing the next day.  The wall adapter conveniently tells you (with a green or red LED) when the battery is charging (red) or when it is complete (green).

Once the battery pack was charged, I had to play around with it a bit to see how dang bright this thing is.  Whoa!  1500 lumens is a lot of light!  I was getting antsy to get out on my bike at night after seeing how it lit up my garage.  The light provided a nice, clean white light when turned on.  Then, I realized that I had two other modes to cycle through.  I had been on the lower mode.  The BL15 kicks out some crazy light.  I tested the strobe next and nearly got sick.  It is very  strong and quick.  When the light is this bright and the strobe is that fast, it made my head spin a bit, so I quickly set it back to full-on.

I didn’t notice the light getting over heated while I was testing it.  There is a safety check on the light that will automatically dim when the light is overheating.  I’ll take note of this to see how often this happens (or if at all).

The BL15 comes in a variety of colors to match your bike.  You can check them out on Amazon in Black, Yellow and Blue.

You may be asking yourself the same question at this point: how long is this light going to last?  It only costs $40, which means that you can buy it on Amazon and get it shipped for free to your house.  This will save you about $310 over buying a brand name light that kicks out the same amount of light.  I intend to answer this question for you and will report back in the next couple of weeks.  Check back then for my update.

Update:

So, I’ve been using this light for the past couple of weeks.  I’ve got to say that I am very pleased with this light!  This light is bright; super bright.  This light will set you back $40.  This light isn’t that heavy (25 ounces).  Yes, it is measured in ounces; not grams.  This light is awesome, though.  Let’s dig in.

The price of this is $40.  Yes, I said it again.  $40 for 1500 lumens of “I’m going to light up everything in the path goodness”.  And it really lights everything up.  I most likely would have ridden right past this (link is slightly gory) had it not been for the OxyLED BL15.  Check other lights out at your local bike shop or major retailer.  See what you’re going to pay for 1500 lumens.

My next concern, of course, is the expected life of this light.  So, I asked OxyLED.  They kindly responded to my question stating that this light will last “over 3 years”.  Keep in mind that this is an unofficial statement from a company representative.  It was also pointed out in this email that you will get this expected life if you make sure to protect the electrical components of the light system (don’t leave the battery with a low charge for a long time and don’t overheat the light).  At $40, anyone has the correct concern that they’re buying a low quality product.  I did not get the impression that this was a low quality light.  Are there things that I would change on it?  Sure.  I’m a picky engineer and can usually find something that should be improved on a product.  Nothing is perfect.

Now you’ve heard the pros about this light.  What is wrong with it (or could at least be improve)?  Most importantly:  there is no side illumination on this light.  None.  See the image below.  The only light that you can see coming from the BL15 is headed straight forward.  The design of this would clearly accommodate some side illumination.  This is a machined aluminum housing (very nice, I might add) with two CREE LED’s.  A simple change to the housing design to move the side wall back, change the LED casing to remove some of the side wall and angle both of the CREE LED’s out by about 5 degrees.  All of a sudden, you have some side illumination and a net loss of forward light at pretty much zero.  This would improve safety dramatically.

 

No side illumination.
No side illumination.

The second thing that I did not like about this light were the mounts.  Were they difficult?  Not at all.  They were surprisingly simple and this was great.  But during my testing, I went down some stairs (on purpose) on my road bike and off of a curb (again, on purpose).  In both cases, the light moved to a less than optimal (sometimes very much so) position.  I had to reposition the light so that it illuminated the path in front of me again.  I immediately thought of the promotional picture in OxyLED’s instructional pamphlet of this light mounted on a mountain bike.  Yeah, right! is what I thought.  I would have rattled this light upside down on my handlebars on a mountain bike.

The battery mount was a bit better.  It was basically a 2″ wide Velcro strap that held the battery onto your frame.  Simple and effective.  It didn’t move at all and the Velcro strap held the excess wiring.

Battery pack mounted on frame.
Battery pack mounted on frame.

In regards to the battery, I have not had the battery fail on me or die yet.  I’ve used it about 5 hours on high and am still going.  This seems like a pretty good deal to me.  Especially when you can remove the battery pack easily from your bike, plug it in overnight and be ready to ride the next day with a full charge.

At the end of the day, I’m really happy with this light.  The weight is probably the biggest detractor for this light.  700 ounces is a lot for any cyclist paying attention to the weight on their bike.  For those that don’t (like me), it doesn’t matter.  You’re not going to notice the extra pound compared to the $400 model lights.  You’re going to enjoy the extra 0.75 pounds of dollar bills still in your wallet (I did the math).

If you’re looking for a very bright light for little cost that will last you a few years, I would highly recommend this light.

If you’re interested in other light products, Hisgadget (maker of the OxyLED BL15) is having a holiday sale. You can find their deals here.


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