Planet Bike Blaze 1W
Planet Bike’s Blaze 1-watt LED headlight is what I consider a high-end budget headlight. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but allow me to explain. In the world of commuter bike lights, you can spend as little as $10 to get an acceptable level of visibility on the front of your bike, and as you eclipse the $20 mark the safety factor goes up dramatically. At $45, the Blaze offers the level of quality and features a serious cyclist demands. In some respects, it even offers some advantages over lights in the $90 to $175 price range.
For example, Planet Bike’s simple Quick-Cam adjustable bracket works impressively well. A rubber strap combined with a cam mechanism allows the unit to fit a variety of bars and doesn’t let the light dip or slip. Like most quick-release mounts, there is a tiny bit of play between the light head and the mount, but it wasn’t enough for me to complain about.
The Blaze also accepts plain old AA batteries, which is pretty economical if you use a set of rechargeable lithium ion batteries. What’s more, if you get caught riding home at night and your batteries run out, you can simply get some from the store—a couple bucks is a small price to pay for safe passage home. With 7 to 14 hours of runtime per charge, a set of batteries should last most commuters a week if not more.
Unlike the high-priced commuter lights in my collection, the Blaze is really just bright enough to be seen, not bright enough to see in the dark. 
It may cast enough light to traverse a flat bike path at low speeds, but I wouldn’t want to rely on the Blaze in the woods or on the dark, hilly roads outside of the city at night. I’m also hoping I don’t find myself running low on batteries and forced to use the light’s stroboscopic SuperFlash mode. I don’t even have epilepsy and I found myself a gnat’s hair away from having a convulsion when it’s on…
Jokes aside, the Blaze seems like a solid value. Based on my experience with other Planet Bike products, including the venerable Beemer headlight, the Blaze is built to last. Planet Bike backs up their products with a limited lifetime warranty, and of course 25% of their profits go to bike advocacy.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:11 am
A Fenix l2d is what you want Jeffy !
May 12th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Let me be the first to say that the “quick cam” attachment is a big bag of shit. I bought a Planet Bike two-pack which included a lower-end version of the light above (black casing) and a rear light. The rear lamp is securely attached to my ladyfriend’s bike on the seat-tube, shining safe blinks during the nighttime hours. The front lamp however…
The little adjustable locking ring is bunk. The “handle” so to speak falls off after more than two detaches from the bike, leaving your lamp homeless. And, even when it was attached, getting the proper amount of grip was nigh-impossible. I give this attachment system a firm thumbs down.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:59 am
I totally agree with Justin’s assessment of the “quick cam” bracket. Everything else that Planet Bike makes is superlative, but not this hunk ‘o junk mounting bracket.
I found out the hard way that the only way to get it to stay put is to cover the handlebar underneath with non-slip cloth “friction tape”. No amount of fiddling with the locking ring or the camming device was sufficient to keep the light pointing in the right direction.
I will say that the bracket will fit a wide variety of handlebars and other cylindrical objects, though.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I’m using the light on a 26.0 polished aluminum bar, and it doesn’t slip. I’ve had it on and off a number of times, and it hasn’t broke thus far. I will say that no mounting system is perfect, and almost anything made out of plastic is susceptible to breaking.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I’ve tried it on polished and beadblasted/anodized/painted finish bars, and the bracket slipped on every one of them…even by adjusting where the little serrated rubber pad hit. Maybe it’s just me, though.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
I 3rd the bracket problem if the Beemer is anything like the Blaze. After fiddling with it for the gazillionth time, I too had to use some frictiony medical gauze tape to stop it from moving up or down. Nice light tho’.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
? I used this light for a few rides before Jeff took it over and never had it slip..
Though now that I’m thinking of it, I typically have a bit of electrical tape around my bar where a light would attach just for this reason with various quick mounts. And the tape comes in handy sometimes.
I thought the ratcheting cam system was great. I’ve always liked cam closures for their easy on, easy off ability, and an adjustable one was great in my eyes. But as said, I always have tape around my bar where the light attaches.
Otherwise, I found the light nice and bright, pretty well agreeing with Jeff’s views. I did find that the batteries or the mount rattled a little bit which kind of drove me up the wall for some reason or another. I don’t like things on my bike rattling, but I’d guess most people won’t even notice.