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review

Knog Boomer 1 LED Wearable Rear Light

6
£20.49

VERDICT:

6
10
Handy versatile rear safety light, good for when you want it mounted anywhere but the clip needs some work
Weight: 
54g
Contact: 
www.todayscyclist.co,uk

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

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The Knog Boomer Wearable is very similar at first glance to its big brother, the Boomer Rechargable, being a brash, bright LED illuminated rear light. But this is where the similarity ends, since for one thing, the Boomer Wearable is battery powered (using 2 AAAs), and if you're wondering about that name, it IS also wearable.

With a sturdy plastic clip to the rear being part of the molded design, the Boomer Wearable hides a sneaky little secret, there's a tear shaped extra piece to the clip, which stays put with strong magnets until you need to release it. The idea is that this functions as a normal clip on light, but if you don't have anything to clip it on to, you can magnetically attach it to something like clothing or a bag instead, using this little panel. The light has three flashing modes and one continuous, and its single super bright LED is genuinely bright enough (30 lumens) for urban riding or dark country lanes.

It's a handy little light, throwing out a terrific lot of illumination and is very obvious. The clip means it fastens easily to any light tab on jackets, bags, wedge packs and the like, which are getting to be more and more common in riding specific kit. It stays put very well, unphased by bumpy terrain, but the magnetic panel can occasionally be knocked loose when clipping the light onto stuff, so it's worth keeping a bit of an eye on that. One of the road.cc team did lose his commuting in to the office and didn't notice until he'd got there - he reckoned it went when he knocked his backpack against a wall when he stopped to do a bit of shopping - he was just using the clip though and not the magnet. UPDATE: Did I say one of the road.cc team? Make that two almost as soon as the review went up another member of the team reported that he'd lost his at some point mid-ride too.

For those times when you don't have a lighting tab to hand, the magnetic attraction of the panel is very useful. It's a strong magnet, even keeping the light secure through a fairly thick softshell jacket, but I was still sufficiently paranoid that it seemed a good idea to place the magnet inside the rear pocket of my jacket. You can find a flashing light easily enough if it pops off (provided you notice) but not a small unilluminated magnet. However, it did not pop off anyway, although it wouldn't be too hard to dislodge if you caught it against something.

Build quality is pretty good and it's water resistant. The only snag with the soft touch silicon body is that it's quite tricky to get the light apart to change the battery. Fortunately, you don't have to do that too often.

Comes in six colours.

Verdict

Handy versatile rear safety light, good for when you want it mounted anywhere but the clip design needs some work. Originally (well, earlier today) we gave the Wearable Boomer a 7, but we feel that it has to go down a point given that two out of three of ours got lost even though I managed to hang on to the test one.

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Knog Boomer 1 LED Wearable Rear Light

Size tested: Blue

Tell us what the light is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Aimed at being a versatile back-up light, emergency light, or just as an easy way of carrying your rear light on your person rather than on the bike.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the light?

Single super bright high powered red LED

30 lumens output

3 flashing modes, 1 continuous

2 AAA battteries

Silcon body- water resistant

Rate the light for quality of construction:
 
7/10

Well made, silicon is nice material but does cause problems with changing batteries.

Rate the light for design and ease of use. How simple was the light to use?
 
8/10

Very easy to switch through settings. Clip effective and magnet surprisingly good. Magnetic panel did occasionally come loose when clipping on light.

Rate the light for the design and usability of the clamping system/s
 
4/10

Clip easy to use, and I found it secure, but that didn't go for everybody on the road.cc team. Magnet easy to use and effective, even through quite substantial fabric. Could be prone to being knocked off easily though.

Rate the light for waterproofing. How did it stand up to the elements?
 
7/10

Stood up to pretty heavy rain on a regular basis.

Rate the light for battery life. How long did it last? How long did it take to recharge?
 
7/10

Battery life was fine.

Rate the light for performance:
 
8/10

Bright, visible and easy to use.

Rate the light for durability:
 
6/10

It's not waterproof (it's water resistant) and that silicon does deform when you change the batteries, so this isn't going to last as long as some.

Rate the light for weight, if applicable:
 
7/10

Not bad.

Rate the light for comfort, if applicable:
 
7/10

Didn't feel heavy hanging off a jacket.

Rate the light for value:
 
7/10

For a back-up light, this is a versatile choice with a lot of options for mounting it, and I suppose there is always a premium to pay for knog designeryness, but if you nicely looking stuff floats your boat then what's wrong with that?

Tell us how the light performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Very well.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the light

Versatility, brightness, colours

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the light

Silicon body bends when changing batteries

Did you enjoy using the light? Yes.

Would you consider buying the light? Probably.

Would you recommend the light to a friend? Probably, or maybe buy as a gift. Although considering we lost two out of the three people

Anything further to say about the light in conclusion?

Unusual and versatile light- ideal as a back-up light for the winter.

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 37  Height: 1.65m  Weight: 67kg

I usually ride:   My best bike is:

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, general fitness riding, mtb,

 

Lara has been riding bikes for longer than she'd care to admit, and writing about them nearly as long. Since 2009 she has been working as part of the road.cc review team whilst championing women's cycling on the side, most notably via two years as editor of the, sadly now defunct, UK's first and only women's cycling mag, erm, Women's Cycling. 

Believing fervently that cycling will save the world, she wishes that more people would just ride a bike and be pleasant to each other. 

She will ride anything with two wheels, occasionally likes to go fast, definitely likes to go far and is always up for a bit of exploring somewhere new and exciting. 

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2 comments

Avatar
yarrump | 12 years ago
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Well the light itself looks pink to me not red. Is it just my perception of what red is that is at fault. Does a tail light have to be red?

Avatar
nick_rearden replied to yarrump | 12 years ago
0 likes
yarrump wrote:

Well the light itself looks pink to me not red. Is it just my perception of what red is that is at fault. Does a tail light have to be red?

The lens on this one - there are loads of colour combos with my own one actually being clear - is pink or pinkish but the important thing is that once turned on the actual LED bulb is very red and yes it does formally have to be red for a rear light.

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