The Knog Blinder
We tested the Standard Blinder rear bike light which comes kitted out with four LED’s in a square pattern and gives out 44 lumens, which in layman’s terms means ‘bright’, with Knog claiming light is visible at over 800 metres.
It would appear that the ‘Blinder’ moniker is spot on then!
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: When you buy through links on our page we may get a small commission if the retailer has an affiliate scheme. You can find out how this works in our affiliate policy. Thanks for supporting us in this way!
Knog Blinder review – first impressions
The Blinder is a stylish piece of kit – very tactile and feels great in the hand. Weight wise it comes in at 39 grammes, which is heavier than some bike lights but does give a sense of solidity. At the front, there is a hard wearing anodized aluminium cover that is available in a variety of colours to keep your kid happy, while the rear is made from a tough polycarbonate, with a UV-resistant silicone strap and stainless steel clasp for attaching the light to your bike. It’s good to see that the materials chosen for the Blinder are intended to last, and avoid degradation from the sun and dreaded corrosion!
How do I charge the Knog Blinder Bike light?
The Knog Blinder is a petite little thing. With a front face measuring 42mm x 42mm it’s the length of an AAA battery, so you wouldn’t get one inside. However, flip the Blinder over and there snuggled into the casing is a connector to stick into your computer and get some charge.
I’ve successfully plugged it into all ports on two laptops, but if your ports are very low down on the casing, say 6mm between table and bottom of port, then you might struggle. There are two solutions to this: you can position your laptop near the edge of the table, and hope little people don’t knock it off, or you can buy the Knog Blinder USB extension cable
Fitting a Knog Blinder light to your bike
Knog advise that the Blinder will fit on seat posts ranging from 22mm up to 32mm diameter which covers the majority out there, so unless you have something unusual going on then it should fit fine.
Getting the light on the bike is straightforward and involves wrapping the silicone strap around the seat post, hooking onto the clasp and then snapping it into the closed position. On the test mule, the light felt very secure and could not be budged offline. Another positive is that the light is angled so that the LED’s project their light out towards the traffic and not at the floor.
How easy is it to use the Knog Blinder bike light?
A single button is used to switch the light on/off, and also for moving through the four flash modes. With the light on steady, Knog claim you should get around 3 hours of light, increasing up to around 50 hours with the mode 4 flash.
Switching on the Knog Blinder requires you to hold the button in a tad longer than you’d expect (0.75 sec), but this is a useful feature that stops accidental activation. Moving through the modes takes just a tap on the button while turning off requires a longer push (0.5 sec) to stop you from plunging unexpectedly into darkness.
In the Winter Glove test, the Blinder passed with flying colours due to some clever design, with the area surrounding the button being curved just enough to let a podgy finger find its way to the target.
Wet weather resilience is always towards the top of my list, so I was impressed when the Blinder passed a test in the shower without hitch and would have endured the torrent of water for much, much longer than the two minutes test condition.
My 6 year old son has no problem in operating the Blinder when it’s in position and enjoys deciding which flashing mode to select.
Knog Blinder review: The final verdict
As is the norm with Knog products, the Blinder bike light has been designed with the cyclist in mind. Classy looking and well made, it fits securely to the bike and provides a good, strong light that will make other road users aware of your presence.
The fun range of shapes, together with the cool name, means it’s a light that will appeal to kids of all ages too, which is helpful when you’re trying to make sure they’re visible during the winter months.
We used the Blinder daily throughout the depths of winter and were very impressed with both the amount of light it gave out and the fact that it still looks like new. It’s certainly a product we’ll be using again this winter.
Where to buy the Knog Blinder bike light
The Knog Blinder is available either as a single front or rear unit, or as a twin pack and there are a wide range of shapes and colours.
Buy Now – Knog Blinder Bike Light
Other posts you might find useful;
- The best bike lights for kids – Winter 2021
- Family Cycling Safety for Winter
- The best childrens winter cycling gloves 2021
- Best kids road bikes for Winter 2021
- The best kids bike trailers Winter 2021
The Knog Blinder was provided to Cycle Sprog for review. This article was originally published on 8th November 2012, and updated in February 2021.
Comments