Blackburn Dayblazer 1500 lumen review

Blackburn’s Dayblazer 1500 lumen bike light, as the name would suggest, puts out a claimed 1500 lumens in its brightest mode and also offers modes suited to daytime riding. 

The day mode is facilitated by what Blackburn calls a ‘TIR’ (Total Internal Reflection) lens, which creates a more focused beam of light, reportedly increasing daytime visibility with a ‘spotlight’ to help drivers see an oncoming cyclist. 

We tested this light as part of a four-light grouptest, the goal being to find the best bike light - Blackburn's competition was the Exposure Strada MK10, Knog PWR Trail 1100, and the Lezyne MacroDrive 1300XXL.

Blackburn Dayblazer 1500: construction

As per two of the four lights on test, the Dayblazer 1500 mounts to a handlebar via a rubber strap. However, the strap is much slimmer than that on the Lezyne MacroDrive 1300XXL. 

This perhaps aids the lower weight, Blackburn claims 140g and our test unit dropped onto the scales at 143g, making it by far the skinniest beam on test - all of the others came in over 200g. 

The brand advertises that this light comes with an ‘action camera mount’. To an extent it does, but this is a small piece of black plastic which can fit the light to a helmet mount, you’ll need to already own (or buy) a mount that actually sits on the helmet, as well as the small screw which connects the two. Effectively what you get inside the box is an adapter, it is easy to fit, via a small Allen key bolt. 

Blackburn has built in three solid modes - from 400 to 1500 lumens, and two flashing modes, one being a pulse. Battery life is indicated when you press the button to change modes, which does mean if you want to check it, you’ll have to power down (or up) briefly.

When you have 100-75% battery, you’ll see a green light, 75% to 25% is orange and it’s red when you dip below 25%. This relatively low threshold for the red light means you get an early warning.

There is some side visibility and the light comes with an IP-67 rating which means you shouldn’t need to worry about water ingress or grit.

Charging is via a USB and the battery life is a claimed two hours in the max mode, the RRP is £89.99/$95.

 Blackburn Dayblazer 1500: the ride  

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The Dayblazer 1500 is a slimline unit, and the weight difference between it and other models on test was noticeable from the outset. 

However, the thinner strap wasn’t a winner for me. I had to use a fair amount of force to loop the strap around the bar and pull it onto the fairly high attachment, and in doing so, I broke one of the rubber eyelets - which of course then meant that I had to use a tighter setting at the next use. 

I also wasn’t hugely impressed by the helmet mount adapter, as you will already need to own a handlebar mount base and GoPro style screw.

Finally, to get all of the niggles out of the way before moving to the positives, the hole for the charging cable is round whilst a standard micro USB is quite square, Blackburn does provide a cable that fits well, but if (like most riders) you sometimes use a generic micro USB, this can be easily knocked out of position.

In terms of the actual beam projected, this was in line with the competition. Blackburn's TIR focus means that you get a bright centre, with a little less peripheral lighting than some of the others on test, but I had more than enough brightness to light my way. The light stayed put, and it was easy to adjust the position whilst riding, with the swivel function working as expected. 

One feature of Blackburn's light that did really impress me was the battery life. The brand claims two hours burn time, when run in the brightest mode. I tested the light on a two hour ride, finding that it still had plenty of juice when I got home. In fact, after an elapsed duration of two hours 20 minutes, the light was still on. Battery life is impacted by a range of factors, including heat, so I'd not recommend users attempt to push the two-hour claim, but, it was impressive to see the unit surpass this. 

At £89.99/$95, the Blackburn light is the cheapest of the bunch - but only by 1p - and in this case, the Lezyne's overall package wins out.