Product Review: Blackburn Flea Lights with the USB that Breaks Your Computer

This post is about the "Flea" bike lights made by the Blackburn company, and why I don't like them.

I remember a few years ago when the Blackburn Rep (who was a really nice guy) brought in the original "Flea" -toting it as a revolutionary light that was not only light, small, and easy to take on and off, but was both bright and fully rechargeable with the help of a little USB. He also said that pretty soon they'd be coming up with with a solar recharger, at which point my co-worker piped, "And what are you going to name that? The Sun Burn? Worst product naming for a worst product."

At the time I thought he was being rude, but now that I've been using the Flea for a full year as both a back-up and a commuter, I see what he meant.

Lets start with the performance. Yes, when fully charged the Flea is very bright. No complaints about that. But those lumens come at a cost: the website says the front light is good for 1 hour on high, 3 hours on standard, and 5 hours flashing. I'd say it's good for about half that.

But what's worse, unlike the famous Knog Frog, or hipster cyst, which also has run-time issues, the Blackburn doesn't give you a warning before it shuts off. What this means is that it doesn't gradually get dimmer to warn you, "Hey, get home buddy!" It just dies. Well, it shuts off first, then you can turn it back on and get another 5 minutes before it dies forever. Now I know there's still some juice up in that battery, and I'm in downtown Chicago at 1 AM on a Friday night and I need to get 5 miles north to Logan Square, this is not the time for a light to just say, "No. I'm done". It needs to at least give it an effort, even if it isn't at full blinder power.

I've been caught dark and dumb a few times now. It happens so regularly that I carry one of my old, nearly dead lights as a spare just in case.

Another issue is the charger: it breaks computers. I'm being a little dramatic. It probably won't break your computer, but what it will break is your USB port. The charger has a weird little half-USB shape that doesn't cleanly fit in the USB port, and when you put it in upside down it will rip the little copper runners off. This happened to me, one of my managers at the shop, and a customer.

Another issue is that the charger is proprietary and connects to the light with these tiny weak little magnets. If somebody walks by and brushes against the light it flies off and disappears into thin air. After you replace it, the charger unit, which is about the size of an atomic particle and black as well, will also disappear forever, inexplicable. The replacement is only $5, but what are you supposed to do before it arrives? Why can't they just use a mini USB like every other rechargable device? Who does Blackburn think they are? Apple?

There are a lot better options out there, especially for $55 a pair. To be honest, I don't really like any itty-bitty lights, but the $25 Blackburn Click lights that offer 70 hours of light (That's 35 hours to everybody who doesn't work for Blackburn) are the superior buy.

Or get a normal AA powered bike light from Walmart that will last a million years with an annual cost of about $3.

Or steal all your lights off other people's bikes at the bike rack. That's how we mostly do it in Chicago.

Your life; your choice.