Bike headlights with a horizontal cutoff beam

Most bike headlights in Europe have a beam pattern that is similar to that on newer cars: there is a horizontal cutoff that keeps other oncoming cyclists from being blinded. Historically almost all bike headlights sold in North America have a simple cone shaped beam like a flashlight.

Recently, Trek started advertising two new headlights with a feature they call “kind beam“. I was reminded that I already had several older lights with this feature, so I decided to pick up one of the Trek lights, and to compare it with the others.

The first one was a smart headlight that I heard about from Kent’s bike blog.

It meets the German standard in terms of having a properly shaped light pattern, it has a photocell to adjust the light brightness, and it was relatively cheap. Unfortunately it is no longer available, and I wish I had ordered several back in January 2020.

Next up: the Planet Bike Blaze 600 SLX.

It is supposed to have had a “clean beam”

However, my impression was that the beam didn’t really have a clear horizontal cutoff, although the beam pattern was clearly wider than it was high. Unfortunately the light was stolen off of my bike before I got around to taking any pictures of the beam pattern.

I was left with comparing two lights: the Portland Design Works Pathfinder USB, and the Trek Commuter Comp R. Both come with a simple mount that is secured with a rubber strap, and both charge with a micro USB cable.

Here is the PDW light. It retails for $38 USD, but I do not know if there are any dealers in Canada. 85 grams.

Here is the considerably more expensive Trek light. 113g.

Both lights have an LED at the top of the light opening, and a reflector below it to shape the beam.

Trek (left) PDW (right)

Here are the two light patterns. The PDW is the more rounded pattern. Both have a reasonable sharp horizontal cutoff, but not quite as good as the German generator lights that I have on two of my bikes.

PDW

Trek

Trek (left) PDW (right)

I took advantage of some foggy weather to take some other picture of the beams, from the front and the side. Here is the PDW:

Here is the Trek:

Both do a good job of putting a fair amount of light down on the road without being blinding to someone standing in front of the light.

Of the two lights, I’ve used the PDW more as I’ve had it for longer. I do have two complaints about the light. I might have a bum sample since the run time is much less than advertised. Here the light is down to 3 out of 5 bars after about 40 minutes of running on the pulse mode.

Not anything like what they claim.

The other thing is that the rubber button worked loose after not much use, although I was able to squeeze it back into position. It does make me wonder how waterproof the light is.

The Trek light appears to be much more solidly built. Of course it is not cheap. ($92 CDN). I’ll report back on the Trek light when I’ve had more time with it.

If you want this type of light in a battery powered model, both are reasonable choices that didn’t exist a couple of years ago. They are both considerably cheaper than German battery lights that are $150 USD and up.

German dynamo powered headlights are cheaper, but you have to factor in the cost of a front wheel with a generator hub.