Knog is an Australian product design company excelling in making bells and lights for cyclists. From basic bells to the most powerful of lights, Knog makes them highly functional as well as stylish. From Knog’s ‘Be Seen’ range of lights, we got the opportunity to test out the Blinder Mini Chippy Rear LED Light and here is what we thought.
Knog has come up with an innovative series of rear and safety lights for cyclists as a part of their “Be Seen” collection, that enables the riders using knog lights to be easily spotted on roads, even in broad daylight. The Blinder Mini is a series of small but effective bicycle safety lights that come in various arrangements and LED types. The brightest in the collection is the Blinder Mini Chippy, which has a COB LED arrangement for maximum visibility and enhanced viewing radius.
The Blinder Mini Chippy is compactly built and comes with an inbuilt Li-Po rechargeable battery that can be charged via a conveniently chargeable USB stick that can be plugged into any USB drive. Mounting the light on the seat post is also super easy, thanks to a small metal-lic clasp that is attached to the end of the rubber strap used to hold the light in place. Knog has been very smart in providing rubber straps of three different sizes that enable the light to be fitted on any part of the bike from the thin seat stays to the thick handlebar and seatposts.
The Chips on Board (COB) design of the light is a unique arrangement of the LED where the LEDs are arranged in an open setting on top of the board, and are not covered or con-cealed by any type of lens. This means that the light will emit the intently bright and sharp glow of the LEDs directly, resulting in a very bright display. The COB display also allows for a wider angle of visibility of the beam, and the Blinder Mini Chippy boasts of having a visibility angle of 120 degrees, the highest of all Knog lights. With a visibility of up to 750 meters, this Knog light is quite powerful for its miniature size.
The ON/OFF switch is a small rubber button located conveniently on the side panel of the light. A long press of the button is required to turn it ON or OFF and a single click toggles be-tween the 5 different light modes. The battery lasts around 6 to 12 hours based on the mode. There is also a band of reflective material around the LED setting on the light, that serve to re-flect light from external sources even when the light is not switched on. This seems to be a smart little hack to enhance the safety feature of the light.
Overall Rating
Among many of the safety light available in the market, the Knog Blinder Mini Chippy Rear LED Light impresses with both its design and functionality. Priced at Rs.1,995 (as of 30th May 2019), it is also not too expensive compared to its peers, but isn’t the cheapest either.
Prices and Specifications/Components are subject to change by the brand, without due notice.