The Knog Blinder Pro 700 Front Light and Plus Rear Light set represents a tale of two halves – the opposite of business at the front, party at the back.
The Blinder Pro 700 is a very strong front light in a distinctive cuboid shape, putting out up to 700 lumens from four small LEDs.
On the road, the beam is spotlight-style, with brightness tapering from a noticeable central point. The beam spreads well, so there’s some good peripheral vision too. This is a front light I could ride happily at more than 25km/h in the dark.
In the most powerful setting, it discharges completely in 2hrs 40mins, with very little power down – the brightness dims a little before switching off suddenly.
Like most bike lights, you’re given warnings via the power button flashing red, but here you won’t get the ‘recharge me now’ cue of a distinct low-power mode for long.
The light modes sit on two levels – three static modes on one and two flashing with one combined mode on the other. A double press of the power button toggles between the two levels, with the usual long press to switch the light on and off, and single press to cycle through modes. It also remembers which setting you last had it in.
The bracket is a simple band-on design, but rather than a catch it features a cradle. The Blinder Pro 700 clips into this via corresponding lips on the body shaft. It’s held very firmly and looks no more likely to rattle free than a common slide-on/off design, but that firm grasp means it can be a bit of struggle to remove it.
All-in, it’s a very good front light that ticks the major boxes, and it looks quite distinctive too, if that’s your thing.
The Plus rear light feels like a bit more of an afterthought given the strength of some of the rear lights packaged in competitor sets.
Given the set costs £74.99, it even feels a bit paltry when Giant’s Recon set, for example, costs the same but is so much more powerful out back.
While the Plus light will do a job, it can only put out 20 lumens in its most powerful setting. That’s fine if it’s the only artificial light source around, but many may feel more comfortable with something more powerful to draw attention to them in a busy built-up area, during the day or in misty weather.
On the brightest static setting, I got only 1hr 10mins of burn time before it switched off – 50 minutes less than claimed – and a repeat test to check this wasn’t an error revealed the same.
How we tested
I tested these bike light sets using two local test loops over the course of nearly two months – one largely street-lit, criss-crossing through a local urban area, and another almost exclusively un-lit on country back lanes. Both were ridden at night (meaning some late starts and early mornings), while I also used each light set for local rides during the day.
I also ran a battery burn-down test – discharging the lights from empty on their most powerful setting. This gives a good indication of the minimum battery life you can expect and flags when power-save modes kick in.
In my experience of testing over 100 lights, there’s usually a small discrepancy in burn times from one unit of the same light to the next, so my figures are intended as indications, rather than guarantees.
All front lights featured at least a 500-lumen maximum output and each set costs under £100.
Light sets tested
Pull hard enough, and the light body detaches to reveal a male USB-A connector for charging. This is particularly easy in theory, because the cradle can remain installed on the bike and it means you don’t need to carry around a cable to charge it.
That said, of course, you need access to a free USB-A port, and given the pins don’t extend beyond the rear section, you may struggle if you want to use a recessed port in a wall socket plate, for example.
Knog doesn’t supply a cable for the USB-C port on the front light, or any bracket alternatives in the box. That said, it’s worth noting that Knog’s packaging is particularly eco-friendly and recyclable, with low use of ink. Kudos where kudos is due, there.
Knog Blinder Pro 700 Front Light and Plus Rear Light set bottom line
The Knog Blinder Pro 700 Front Light and Plus Rear Light set will do a job, but it feels like an unbalanced light set.
The front light is very good and offers good power and visibility, but for the money one would rightfully hope for a more powerful, longer-lasting rear light.
Product
| Brand | Knog |
| Price | €89.99, £74.99, $84.99 |
| Weight | 172g |
Features
| Light type | front_and_rear |
| Remote switch | no |
| Integrated battery | yes |
| Features | Knog Blinder Pro 700 (front) ● Weight: 155g ● Material: Aluminium ● IP rating: IP67 ● Lumens: 700 ● Runtime: 2-120hrs Knog Plus (rear) |
