Fenix Bikelight BC30 - Neutral White,1800lm

lautamas · Jul 4, 2014

Retailing @$99.50. I believe it will ship out next week from Fenix
http://www.alatselam.com/product_images/j/424/BC30__91028_zoom.jpg
http://www.alatselam.com/product_images/uploaded_images/bc30-poster.jpg

Image tags removed see Rule #3 Do not Hot Link images. Please host on an image site, Imageshack or similar and repost – Thanks Norm

kj2 · Jul 4, 2014

99.50?!!!! wauw!

Then I will definitely buy one

More talk on the BC30 -> http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?379056-Fenix-2014-catalog-new-products

kj2 · Jul 4, 2014

BC30 is already in the list for product registration, on the Fenix website

Mr. Tone · Jul 4, 2014

This looks great and I am really glad they are offering neutral white, too.

WalkIntoTheLight · Jul 4, 2014

That big blue beam in the picture sure doesn't look neutral white!

martinaee · Jul 6, 2014

It's a promo pic. It probably isn't even the same light on that bike.

Also.... photography and editing. You could make it seem like it's shooting fireballs if you want. And if the photographer was shooting at a low Kelvin temp (or edited the raw file) the "neutral" light will look blue. Your eyes adjust the same way. Ever notice how when you walk down a street at night tv's in people's houses usually look bluish? Everything is relative.

WalkIntoTheLight · Jul 6, 2014

You're right, it's probably all faked. But, if that really is some evening light that's providing general illumination of the scene, then a neutral white light should not look blue. But it's probably flash equipment or something like that. Still, if it's done with flashes, the bike light should be on the yellow side, not blue.

Photoshopped.

I still think it's a stupid photograph if they're advertizing a neutral white light. Fire the ad agency.

martinaee · Jul 6, 2014

LOL I agree. Actually flashes have a pretty high kelvin temp usually anywhere from 5000 to 6000 kelvin. They *can* look sort of bluish if your eyes or your camera are adjusted differently. What flashes do have going for them is amazing color rendition within the kelvin spectrum. The problem I usually have with "cool white" leds at the moment is they DO look bluish and more washed out. However they are getting better and hopefully more go the way of higher and higher cri.

I have talked about this before--- lights with multiple emitters of cool white and neutral. Fenix even released the TK76 recently which does have both from what I hear. I'd like to see a light though with both color emitters that have the same reflectors for each emitter. If you have led lights of both color tints laying around try shining one at a time on something colorful. Then do both at the same time. The results are much closer to what you'd see with overcast sunlight or flash photography.

MAKE IT HAPPEN FENIX!

Oh... is there any word on the 4aa light similar to this one from Fenix? I'm hoping that one isn't 100 dollars.

kj2 · Jul 7, 2014

Fenix Outfitters and Fenix Store has the BC30 pics up, on their Facebook. Should be in stores soon then

kj2 · Jul 7, 2014

Exp release 18 July. $99.95

martinaee · Jul 9, 2014

Is there more info available about the BC30 on/off function---- is the remote pressure switch the only way to turn on the light or is that only for the burst mode? Can you turn the light on and off on the light itself? I thought the top was a button, but is that only a warning indicator?

magicstone12 · Jul 9, 2014

martinaee said:
Is there more info available about the BC30 on/off function---- is the remote pressure switch the only way to turn on the light or is that only for the burst mode? Can you turn the light on and off on the light itself? I thought the top was a button, but is that only a warning indicator?

the remote pressure switch can activate the burst mode no matter the light is on or off if you press it.There is a button on the light,you can click it and trun it on or off and [FONT=&quot]cycle through the brightness levels[/FONT]

kj2 · Aug 3, 2014

Well this sucks!!

StandardBattery · Aug 3, 2014

That is crappy. Hopefuly just a tollerance issue maybe shave a little off the plug housing. Unfortunately that connector is completely inappropriate for this application, even if it seated better.

Sherbona · Aug 3, 2014

^^^ I think that video was one that someone on a bicycling forum did as part of a discussion. They were later told by someone else there that they hadn't pushed the plug in far enough. I can confirm when I received mine the other day (even before that video), I thought I had this exact same issue. But then I tried pushing the plug in much harder than I normally would do and found it went in further and then all was good. (FYI in the other forum it was said that the O-ring on the plug has to be pushed in past the O-ring in the jack.)

I had a 'gotcha' moment with mine on a ride last night. I kept pushing the switch to get to a different mode but nothing would happen, it seemed frozen as far as brightness mode changes. Yet double-push would get it into flash mode, and a long push would still turn it off. Later I figured out the problem - only a very quick push/release on the switch will change the mode, a slow one doesn't do anything. This is probably because it takes a long push and hold to turn it off, so what I was doing was too close to that. I hope this information helps anybody else who might think that their unit is 'frozen'.

Now that I figured out above I am loving this light. Sorry, I am not set up to do beam shots etc.., but I can say the light tint is pleasant and the burst mode is great, it is soo convenient having that button right by my thumb. I do have some other bike lights (old magicshine 808, 872 and Fenix BT20 - lately have been using either pair of Nitecore SRt7s or Chameleons on the bars) but this BC30 is going to be my new main light. I hope to set up with the different lights some night soon and offer up some descriptions.

StandardBattery · Aug 3, 2014

Thanks for that information. The manual for the light also says something about using the remote switch to cycle down from highest level, but it's not clear and I don't see anyone mentioning this feature. Can the remode switch only activate turbo, or can it control other things with clicks?

Sherbona · Aug 3, 2014

Thanks for reminding me about the manual, I haven't looked at it yet (oops!)

As far as I can tell the remote switch only activate the 'instant burst' mode (low, mid, high, turbo and instant burst being their names for the modes). Here's the relevant part from the manual:

"Instant Burst Activation - ...[snip ] Releasing the (remote) switch returns the BC30 to the previous level. If the current level is the brightest possible when the light is on, the remote switch activates the next level down until released".

I think the key part of above is 'brightest possible', meaning if you press the remote switch but it can't go to a higher mode due to the state of the batteries, it instead goes to the next lower mode. I haven't run it long enough myself yet at one time to get my batteries to this point, but now that I think about it this makes sense. The instant burst mode seems good to use as a quick "Hey!" attention-getting action, so if the mode you are on is already highest possible for the state of your batteries then having it go down to a lower mode upon while the remote button is pushed seems like a good alternative.

kj2 · Aug 3, 2014

kj2 said:
Well this sucks!!

\/ \/

spankone said:
There's not an issue. He just didn't realise you need to push the plug in properly.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=921370

Check out the link.

spankone · Aug 3, 2014

Sherbona said:
^^^ I think that video was one that someone on a bicycling forum did as part of a discussion. They were later told by someone else there that they hadn't pushed the plug in far enough. I can confirm when I received mine the other day (even before that video), I thought I had this exact same issue. But then I tried pushing the plug in much harder than I normally would do and found it went in further and then all was good. (FYI in the other forum it was said that the O-ring on the plug has to be pushed in past the O-ring in the jack.)

I had a 'gotcha' moment with mine on a ride last night. I kept pushing the switch to get to a different mode but nothing would happen, it seemed frozen as far as brightness mode changes. Yet double-push would get it into flash mode, and a long push would still turn it off. Later I figured out the problem - only a very quick push/release on the switch will change the mode, a slow one doesn't do anything. This is probably because it takes a long push and hold to turn it off, so what I was doing was too close to that. I hope this information helps anybody else who might think that their unit is 'frozen'.

Now that I figured out above I am loving this light. Sorry, I am not set up to do beam shots etc.., but I can say the light tint is pleasant and the burst mode is great, it is soo convenient having that button right by my thumb. I do have some other bike lights (old magicshine 808, 872 and Fenix BT20 - lately have been using either pair of Nitecore SRt7s or Chameleons on the bars) but this BC30 is going to be my new main light. I hope to set up with the different lights some night soon and offer up some descriptions.

Yeah that was me.

lol

Sherbona · Aug 3, 2014

I ran into another issue. I simply could not get my batteries out of the holder without using something to pry them, they were in the holder so tight. And this was with EagleTac 18650s, considered to be short 18650s. I finally happened to turn the battery holder over and noticed the 2 gaps that are there for pushing the batteries out.

So to summarize what I ran into...

1. Plug doesn't stay in, or remote switch doesn't work correctly,
-- Make sure to push it in all the way. Mine takes more force for this than I am used to for this type of plug
2. Light doesn't change modes when the mode switch is pressed
-- press and release the mode switch quickly, voila,
3. Hard to remove batteries,
-- Turn the battery holder over and push the batteries out, easy peasy

@spankone - love your other reviews and am looking forward to your next one!

Fenix Bikelight BC30 - Neutral White,1800lm

Newly Enlightened

Flashaholic

Flashaholic

Flashlight Enthusiast

Flashlight Enthusiast

Flashlight Enthusiast

Flashlight Enthusiast

Flashlight Enthusiast

Flashaholic

Flashaholic

Flashlight Enthusiast

Banned

Flashaholic

Flashlight Enthusiast

Newly Enlightened

Flashlight Enthusiast

Newly Enlightened

Flashaholic

Enlightened

Newly Enlightened

Similar threads