Master 860 Lumen USB Bike Light/Tactical Flashlight

I've had this bicycle headlight for about a year. I am a year-round bike commuter in Portland, OR. The first thing I can say about this headlight is that it is a genuinely solid piece of equipment. I've taken this light camping, hiking, used it while working on the underside of my car, and anything else I'd need a flashlight for. It takes extreme heat, extreme cold, and driving rain with an equal amount of fortitude. I'd hammer nails in to a wall with this if I had to, in a pinch. Its brightest setting is truly, blindingly bright and the pulsing lowest setting is still bright enough to illuminate street signs a hundred feet away. I'm not worried about front-side visibility with this light; although maybe you will be if you're the kind of person who feels the need to ride around the city with a fast-pulsing nighttime trail riding headlight on your bike. It's physically held up fine for the past year and the battery still holds a champion of a charge. There are a few negatives about this headlight I'd like to point out, though. First off, the holder it comes with is fine at holding it steady on the handlebars, but it has an exposed screw in the rubberized part that has, over time, scratched a solid line on the underside of the headlight. It's purely a cosmetic thing, but if that exposed screw wasn't there this light would still be physically flawless after twelve months. More crucially, and this might just be an individual defect with my light, is that if I hit a bump in just the right way, the light will totally turn off. I don't know if it jostles the battery or what, but probably once every 2 or 3 rides with this light I'll have to turn it back on after a rough segment in the road. I'd also like for this light to have a low battery warning. As it is, the light just starts shutting off at smaller and smaller intervals as the battery drains, and that has to be your clue that the battery needs to be charged. If you plug it in every night you won't have to worry about this, but I don't, and sometimes I'll be blindsided by a dead battery because of it. Overall I like this light a lot, but I'd preferably get it when it's on sale. If you're looking for a solid rechargeable flashlight to keep around, this is great, and the hit-a-bump thing may be an individual thing with my particular unit. I'd give it a solid 3.5/5, rounded up to a 4.

First, the basics: this flashlight comes with a USB charging cord (so you can charge the battery in the flashlight; which is nice, since I don't want to have to remove the battery and put it in a charger every time I need to), a lanyard, a bag for carrying the flashlight, An instruction booklet, and a battery. Now, for my personal thoughts: I can't BELIEVE this light! It is SO useful in SO many regards! I had a flashlight that I would often use, so I carried it around on my belt. This light is smaller (My previous light was just a little over 6"(152.4mm) whereas this one is an inch shorter; 5"(127mm). Also, the head does'nt have as large of a diameter, and it's 5 TIMES (maybe more) as bright! Also, just an inch shorter may not sound like much, but the fact that I don't have to worry about bumping this light against NEARLY as many things as I had to concern myself with when I was using the other light, is a GREAT relief to me! Also, when I DO bump it against anything (as is certain to happen) it's a LOT tougher than my other light! Another thing, I like the fact that I can carry it around on me for when I may need it, then just pull it out of the holder I use everyday, (I don't use the holder that came with it, but I may, as of yet) and place it into the holder on my bicycle when I go for a ride, AND the fact that it beats the tar out of my other light as far as brightness goes; and I can use it on the trail, street, or whatever I'm riding on that night, makes it THAT much more useful! The other thing I like about it so much, is the strobe mode (hold the button down from any 'on' mode for 3 seconds) since it resembles a dance-club strobe light, but then has a quick 3 flash succession, then dance-club strobe again, and keeps up this cycle until you turn it off. At any rate, it's a VERY noticeable strobe effect, and WILL get you seen if you're riding a bike, I tried it the other night on MY bicycle, and had drivers yelling (and many other things I won't mention here) so I KNEW they saw me, and you WANT to be seen on the road! It seems you have to be EXTREMELY obnoxious to get a driver's attention these days, but (As I've heard said) "If that's what it takes, that's what I'll do"! Another thing that I'm not used to, (but like all the same) is the fact that you can carry a fresh battery with you, and if your ride goes longer than you expect, (which I've had happen a few times) you can just change the battery, and the light is bright enough to be used alone as well! Nice! The last thing I wish to address is the placement of the switch. It's not as simple as most other flashlights where it's located on the tailcap; and when you're in pulling it out in the dark, it's a little tougher to find the 'on' button, but once you do, you're rewarded with a FLOOD of light! Speaking of which, the light beam seems to be the perfect mix of flood, AND spot! I SO badly wish I could give this flashlight MORE than 5 stars!

I use this every day. It works pretty well. You do have to make sure the end cap is tight. If it comes loose the battery won't charge and the light will go out. If not charged adequately it will start to flash before it quits altogether. If you take it off to charge, you have to aim it again. It has survived rain without problems. The instructions are amusing. It's not all that bright. It won't stay on the brightest setting for more than three minutes. It automatically drops down. I'm not sure what setting I'm actually using, but it seems to be the only steady one available. It's enough to see and be seen at ten or fifteen miles an hour. I think they mean mili-lumens, not lumens. I had a 75 lumen headlamp that seemed brighter. There is no helmet attachment. The handlebar mount is convenient as long as you have the bike. Mine was stolen for a short time, during which time this light wasn't much use. The charging time varies, but seems rather long. Two hours plus after a one hour ride, generally. Duration seems to vary also. At least once it lasted less than two hours total. Bright enough to be a problem to oncoming bikers or pedestrians if not aimed fairly low and straight.

This thing seems like it could be a pretty good light... but it keeps automatically switching over into this really annoying dim pulsing mode. No matter what mode I try, it just keeps automatically switching over to this mode were it slowly pulses from almost off, to annoyingly dim. REALLY frustrating when you're trying to bike home in the dark. REALLY FRUSTRATING! I've tried putting it into it's various light modes, and it always just switches back to this annoying pulse mode?!?!! I've also tried reading the manual, and the broken English translation almost seems like it might be helpful, but I really can't quite figure it out. I'll quote: "Operation Turn the rear cover open and install the nominal battery. Note, you need to aim the anode at the lamp holder, and screw up the rear cover before it will work. When power is on, there is display of blue color and backlight; Single click on Shift for high luminance 860 lumens - flash 90 lumens - low housing 180 lumens - medium luminance 400 lumens in turn and long press for 2 seconds for flashing. *Gear turn memory It automatically memorizes the brightness gear in the lighting mode but there’s no memory mode. Each time when power is on,works starts in the lighting mode. *Low voltage reminder protection When the power positive is lower to 3V, a blue light flashes slowly for timely replacement of the lithium battery to prevent overcharging. *Overheat protecion MF-M860 will accumulate plenty of heat after it works in high level of brightness for a long time. To avoid too high temperature in the housing that may affect comfort of application, after 3 minutes of continuous exceptionally bright level, it will automatically shift to a medium level luminance.If it is required to work at the high level, please manually switch over once again. *Charging instruction Connect the torch to a computer or power adaptor by USB cable before charging operation.During charging, the key displays blue backlight with blue light out when the battery is full." Anybody out there make any sense of this? Is my battery faulty? Am I not charging it enough? (I have tried leaving it plugged in overnight more than a couple times) Is the light not functioning the way it should? Should I return this piece of ISHT?

So I just got this on Saturday and I'd usually wait a few days to leave my review but I'm really excited about it. And it's my lunch hour. And my boss is out of town (read: not breathing down my neck:-) So here goes : to any of you who are wondering how bright 860 lumens is, let me clarify that it is bright enough for drivers in NJ to see you when you're cycling in N.Y. Jokes aside though, cycling at night in N.Y. is something of a minefield and although most streets are brightly lit there are always those drivers who just DON'T SEE YOU. This Master860 will definitely address that issue. Yes, it's insanely bright but it's more than simply another headlight to add to your collection. This piece has class. It is not big or clumsy, it feels sturdy in my hand, it has all the functions you'll need and more, the button is designed in a way that will not leave you with the battery drained by accidentally turning it on; meaning you need to press and hold a few seconds for the light to start. The mounting part was a breeze as well and the mount itself is very well constructed to fit any handlebar. What else do I love? That nifty little pouch that's included. No, in N.Y. one does not leave attractive headlights on their unattended bike. So I'll be carrying it with me and I bet one day it may save my life. Ok a bit overdramatic I suppose. What else do I like? USB rechargeable check, waterproof check, affordably priced check. In short: wonderful!

Thus light is not worth the money. I bought one about one year ago. Initially, the light worked well. After about 8 months the light would only function for about 3 to 5 minutes before shutting off, even if the battery was fully charged. I contacted CatchaBuy, and a representative told me he would replace the light, but no light was ever sent. I wrote back and the person said they'd "look into it". Nothing ever came of that. The light functions also could be better. The bright 860 lumen setting can only be used for about five minutes, at which point the light automatically reverts to the medium setting. The medium brightness constant illumination setting provides a great deal of light, but the battery life is not that great. It needs to be charged every day for commuting. (My commute was about an hour each way at the time.) There is a flashing mode, but the flash pattern is extremely irritating. The reflections actually bothered me while I was riding the bike. My goal was to be seen, but not to distract everyone else on the road. I thought the flashing pattern of this light could have been less irritating and safer. I usually just ended up using the slow strobe setting, which has a maximum brightness of 150 lumens. That's not too bad in terms of visibility, but it's far less than the 860 advertised. So, when it works, this light works best on 150 lumen strobe, but it's a bit expensive for a light of that strength. The mounting bracket is also not that great. It frequently became loose because the threads that the mechanism uses are flimsy plastic and cannot tightened very much before they slip.

I've had this thing for one week now. PROS: WOW. This thing is brighter than my car's headlights (on high). I have been using it in pulse mode in the streets of NYC for night riding and that alone is bright enough. The three continuous light settings above that just blow my mind. It's blinding. I can't believe this tony little thing puts out this amount of light. Granted, I've only used cheapo AAA battery flashlights on my bike before this, but I'm still very impressed. Charging via Micro USB is easy and you don't have to keep buying batteries. CONS: The included handle bar adapter doesn't inspire long-term confidence. the mechanism for clamping the lower part to the handle bars is made of cheap plastic that "clicks" loose a bit if you tighten it too much. (Sort of like some Poland Spring bottle caps). It takes a few tries to get it to the torque before the clicking threshold, but even then, the grip seems OK at best. The top part that grips the flashlight doesn't go all the way around and it worries me, despite the tenacious grip. Long term testing will reveal whether this is something to worry about or not. CONCLUSION: Go for it. Super bright and fairly sturdy. Unless you mountain bike like a madman and go over the roughest terrain, it should be just fine!

Troubleshooting tips below: So I've been using the MetroFlash all summer, and I think a 3-star rating is totally appropriate. As a stand alone light, the MF is very bright, and it's different lighting modes are great, especially in terms of saving the battery. My biggest complaint with the light, though, is that the battery compartment isn't very tight. When I'm riding over bumpy terrain, the light flickers and dims and almost always turns off. This, as you can imagine, is really troublesome for a bike light. Last week I was riding over some bumpy terrain, the light went out and I could no longer see the road in front of me and hit a giant pothole that gave me an instant pinch flat and blew out the sidewall of my tire. I've had much cheaper lights that, while not as bright, manage to stay on 100% of the time. Beyond that, when I'm riding over said bumpy terrain, I can hear the battery rattling around inside the battery compartment which is incredibly annoying. Anyway, I'm not entirely sure I'd recommend this light for bicycling because it doesn't stay on consistently when you need it most. Troubleshooting: People have complained about the light turning off during their rides. I had this problem too. As far as I can tell it has something to do with the battery getting compressed over timing and literally, physically shrinking. I stuck a folded up piece of aluminum foil in between the battery and the spring and it worked well. The other complaint is that it automatically starts going into a "pulse" mode. This is because the battery is low and needs to be charged. The charged doesn't last terribly long so I'd recommend charging it every day or other day.