Reviews

CatEye EL300 Headlight

Reviewed on 05/23/2003

The time had come to buy a new headlight as the mounting bracket on my old and trusty Trek light had broken.  After much research and dismissal of the sales ploys from the local bike shop posers, I decided on the CatEye EL300.  It is a simple headlight consisting of 5 very bright LEDs.  It is powered by 4 AA batteries which are supposed to last up to 150 hours of continuous burn time.  I can't verify that as I am still on the first set of batteries and haven't reached 150 hours of burn time yet, but so far so good.  The manufacturer says that the LEDs will last for thousands of hours.

The EL300 is without a doubt the brightest of the small, battery operated lights out there.  I also researched dynamo and power pack (rechargeable) lights.  I found all of these to be extremely expensive but several of them did offer higher light output.  If I traveled on many dark country roads at night I may consider a brighter light but for dusk commuting, the EL300 is perfect.  It gives plenty of light to see by and more importantly plenty of light to be seen.  The light can also be seen from the sides, which is very important while riding in traffic.  I also use it as my around camp light.  It attaches to the handlebars with a simple locking clip and is rain resistant(not waterproof).

I was able to buy mine on sale at Performance Bike for $26 but I think the price has gone up a bit now.  I have been pleased with my EL300's performance so far.