When a legit company is claiming that they haveĀ a soon-to-be-produced 6000 lumen light on hand, you make like a moth to…. well, a light. No joke, Cateye, once again almost 20 years after shockingĀ us withĀ the ahead of its timeĀ Stadium light,Ā aimedĀ another “brightest of all time” light at us with the Volt 6000.
Maybe more impressive than the 6000 lumens is the fact that the light stays cool to the touch…
Not many realize that it was Cateye that first introduced us to bike specific HID lighting with the Stadium Light. The stadium light used a metal halide gas filled bulb that produced an arc, that put out about 85 watts…. well, that’s before “lumen” was a common enough term, butĀ compared to Nightrider’s top of the line Classic light (that had 12 and 20 watt bulbs), the Stadium light wasĀ like a blue sun going down the trail.
The Volt 6000’s light unit comes in at only 100 grams while the combined control unit and battery weigh in at 550 grams. The light mounts to their simple yet effective HP Flextight handlebar and HP helmet mount which also fit numerous other Cateye lights in case you have a commuter or back up light like their new Volt 800.
What appears to be just a bunch of cooling fins at first glance turns out to be the housing for a very silent fan that adjusts its speed according to the light’s output to keep things cool. The fan draws air into the sides of the unit and out the back to keep it cool, even when not moving thus making it safe to touch, (the Stadium light was NOT safe to touch), and surely improves its efficiency.
The Volt 6000 comes with a wireless control switch to keep switching between the unit’s 6 modes simple. The unit’s battery takes about 5 hours to fully charge and contains the control unit to keep as much weight as possible off the light unit. Retail on the Volt 6000 will be $800.
Run times are as follows:
- 6000lm – 1 hour Ā –Ā Dynamic Mode
- 4000lm – 2 hours –Ā High Mode
- 2000lm – 4 hours –Ā Middle Mode
- 1000lm – 8 hours –Ā Low Mode
- 500lm – 12 hours – All Night Mode
- 2000lm – 11 hours – Hyper Constant