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First Impressions: The Tree Melting Cateye Volt 6000 mega-light

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Of all the products I saw at Interbike, there were a few that I absolutely couldn’t wait to try. The Volt 6000 from Cateye was one that left our entire staff impressed. Having both excitement and doubts regarding the punch of light being as glorious as it was over-kill, I had the Cateye Volt 6000’s battery charging less than a minute after it arrived at my doorstep.

Beam past the break to get my first impression of the brightest light we’ve ever tested…..

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When Caboose McRib, (break a rib on a less than graceful fall when bringing up the rear, you get a name), calls out for a night ramble and a 6000 lumen light shows up on the day of, there is nothing else to do but put “work” first and light this thing up! Our ramble is part groomed trails, urban dipshittery, and even some bushwhacking in undeveloped areas below the flood plane, followed by food, beer and laughs. It was the perfect setting to break in the Volt 6000 and get some reactions from others, such as…. Jeff: Wow, that is insane”, Conner: “I’m turning my light off”, and Caboose: “A 6000 volt battery sure sounds like a lot to lug around” *smacks forehead*.

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The Cateye Volt 6000 comes in a tidy little package that comes complete with what you would expect including the light, charger, *large* battery, extension cable, helmet & bar mount, and a sweet little bluetooth remote. Because I was in a hurry to get it charged and never need instructions, *eh hem*, I fumbled with how to charge the @#&^ thing. Even after reading the less-than-helpful micro-print instructions, it took me a bit to figure out how the “knob” worked and that forcing the (tightly fitted) control unit off the battery wasn’t going to break it. Finally I plugged it in, waited for the little red light to turn green, and success!

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Looking inside the powerhouse, you know this thing means business. The LED COB (Chips on Board), module takes all the individual “LEDs” and sandwiches them together making a a giant panel of sorts.

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The unit houses a fan that runs constantly regardless of what setting it’s on. Though not loud, it’s not quiet either. On one occasion someone initially thought I was losing air out of my tire. I would eventually forget about it, then react as if there was a leaf stuck in my fork. Regardless, even on full blast, it stayed just a little above room temperature! Because the “Control unit” is attached to the battery the light itself doesn’t weigh much even with the built in fan. 20151211_105727

This is what the bluetooth unit looks like inside after the rubber cover falls off. It still worked just fine but being this is just one of the two “pre-production” Volt 6000’s in existence, there could be some revisions to little details like this on the final version.

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There have been a lot of assumptions of this light being way overkill and would practically wash out and reflect too much light off of near by objects defeating the purpose of that much light. My initial impression was that the light was somewhat underwhelming…. but in a good way. Though it is powerful, it doesn’t throw a ton of light in one spot or even area. It throws a solid, even amount of light EVERYWHERE. I had Jeff stop in front of me in a narrow corridor of saplings just to show how only the sapplings in my face got a little “reflective”, but my path and everything around it was clear as day.

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Look closely at the upper left of this pic. The whiter area of light is from my personal Niterider Pro 1800. The calmer color of the Volt 6000 keeps colors more realistic thus not washing them out. You can see it in the previous pic when comparing the surroundings with that of the light Jeff’s helmet is casting. If the Volt 6000 had a light color similar to that of other lights, it would likely do more harm than good.

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Regardless of performance, I do have some initial beefs. The bluetooth switch like many things nowadays, uses a silicon rubber band to hold it on the bar. This is fine with something that didn’t need to be “touched” constantly, but it kept moving on me causing my thumb to have to “hunt” for it. Speaking of mounts, I tried the bar mount first to see how it would do on the trails, (I never felt like I needed a helmet mount). I initially mounted it backwards setting the unit rearward of the bars. This caused the light to be in my face when standing up and pedaling. I discovered then that it could be flipped around in the forward position (above) fixing the problem. However, the mount did not match up to the rest of the unit’s build quality. It uses an unattached plastic nut that threads onto the mount’s threaded strap to secure it. It held well, but when fumbling with it, I dropped the nut and had to crawl around looking in the spider infested *shudder* space under my workbench.

I will be doing a long term review and light comparison in the near future, but my initial impression has me less than thrilled to have to go back to my “more than adequate” light when I’m done testing the Cateye. I have an astigmatism which gives me less than perfect night vision, so I like a lot of light and the Volt 6000 has plenty.

Cateye.com

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th1npower
th1npower
8 years ago

$800 for a 2000lm 11 hr light vs $20 for 2000lm and 8 hr light w/ my current set-up (see below)… and near infinite light w/ extra power pack or larger pack instead of being stuck w/ a proprietary battery. heck, i can run my light and recharge my phone all at once.

i understand the advantage for higher lumen output in certain conditions, but not even close to worth the added cost currently.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301229303761?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/201269344455?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=500467318629&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Myke
Myke
8 years ago

That battery is way too big and a odd shape. If it’s not tiny, built in or in a bottle I don’t even bother…

Ripnshread
Ripnshread
8 years ago

Yea, I’d like to see pics of the battery mounted. Odd, because Cateye has a history of coming out with super bright lights (Stadium Light), and they used water bottle batteries.

Durianrider
Durianrider
8 years ago

I remember my Stadium back in 2002.

Lights have come a LONG way in performance, size and price since then for sure.

Don’t worry about the spiders Trey cos I live in Australia and we got more bad ass ones here but this video should help you understand spiders don’t want to eat people. 😉

Night Ridder
Night Ridder
8 years ago

that mounting strap and bracket is a huge let down, had some Cateye lights a few years ago that used the same and they would never tighten enough to stop the lights spinning, i haven’t bought a Cateye product since

mudrock
mudrock
8 years ago

The battery looks like it screws directly onto water bottle braze-ons. Smarter that a bottle shape that would rely on someones cage – that battery is too heavy for that. Will it fit in small FS frames?

jeb
jeb
8 years ago

With Myke on this one. You can get all the light you’ll ever need from a couple of USB rechargeables that are light weight and easy to deal with. There is a point of diminishing returns on light brightness.

Will
Will
8 years ago

Had the rep come in doing pre-orders for these last week, even getting it at cost it seems over priced and just how bright do we really need to get?

Ron G.
Ron G.
8 years ago

Flood plain

greg
greg
8 years ago

Some of the Lupines are overkill. Kinda wanted one but never bit the bullet. This thing is so over-the-top that I HAVE to have one. Or two…

Timb
Timb
8 years ago

I love it. My edison 10 needs a need battery. It was overkill when I bought it 13years ago. This just ups the ante again

Tony
Tony
8 years ago

Hard to take seriously. Any review that mounts a light to a handle bar, ahead of a helmet doesn’t ride the sort of trails i can relate to. Maybe the Cateye melts helmets…

Dave
Dave
8 years ago

I have one and it is amazing. Yes it was expensive and yes I could have bought something for less. One of the cool features is the 12 hour at 500 run time. If you are long distance/ 24 hour / touring cyclist this is a great light for you. It is not a light for everyone but we all buy things we do not always need.

Bog
Bog
8 years ago

Does that cooling fan turn the right way to help propel you along?! That would put it over the top.

ascarlarkinyar
8 years ago

Running a 1000 lumes cheap ebay light off my front hub dyno. Plenty of light to see anything. It has a focus to make a spot beam half mile away so bright I can read a book by or bigger flood to show up the whole forest.

I can run two also on the same set up or one and charge my phone. Much lighter for 24 hour races and under 200 total with hub , lights and cords.

MG
MG
8 years ago

When will you ever need 6000 lumens? This is just a pissing contest between light manufacturers. I currently ride with 350 and do well enough. I could understand everything up to 8-9 hundo lumens. And yes I have ridden with 1200 and that was cool but still a bit much.

Everything above that is the equivalent to taking a rocket launcher to a squirrel.

Andrew
Andrew
8 years ago

@th1npower Those lights work, but they’re not an even spread and the light is harsh. PSA: Please don’t buy ebay batteries from random ebay sellers, I’ve had 2 explode. If you’re gonna get an ebay light, please make sure you buy a decent battery pack for it, eg. Gemini.

Caboose McRib
Caboose McRib
8 years ago

The amazing feature was how wide, tall and uniform the beam is; it is really spectacular. That said, the lumens are overkill for all but the fastest of riders/racers and–as has been pointed out–you can buy a pile of “Magicshine” lights for the money. And lots of spare parts.

th1npower
th1npower
8 years ago

@Andrew. sorry to hear about your issues.

I’ve been running this setup for quite some time; typically 2-3+ night rides per week once the darkness sets in and never had an issue w/ overheating, noise, or burning up / exploding. Still can always go down to Best Buy and get an overpriced battery pack and be far ahead compared to the light in this “ad” / review.

T.Man
T.Man
8 years ago

The specs on that ebay light listed above are BS. Per Cree’s website that LED maxes at 1040 lm. It may be worth the $20 but you can’t compare it to a $800 light.

Hummer
Hummer
8 years ago

I tried this light. The fan is LOUD and annoying as heck. If you hate the peace and quiet of a solo night ride you will love this light.

drood
drood
8 years ago

th1npower – 12/11/15 – 5:14pm
http://www.ebay.com/itm/301229303761?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
2000lm… LOL…In fact, hardly 600 lm.

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