As the purists that we cyclists tend to be, when we encounter the crossroad of quality and cost, as we often do, it is quality that usually wins out. And this is a good thing; it’s why you read BikeRumor, to keep apprised of the latest and greatest. Well, we’ve got another one for ya. Xlerad is reinventing the lighting game and they want you in on the ground-level.
How do you improve something as relatively straight-forward as a light? Recently everyone has been answering that question by making the light brighter. And that’s kinda like camera manufacturers jamming more and more megapixels into their point-&-shoots; it made sense up to a point, but then it became just another marketing ploy. See how Xlerad has revolutionized your next light with auto illumination (sans any ploys) next…
Auto Illumination utilizes several integrated sensors including temperature, battery and a three-axes accelerometer. Xlerad states this technology allows its buttonless light to sense riding conditions (plus its own internal performance) and self-adjust into the best possible lighting level for its top-end CREE single-die LEDs. Your light will now think for itself. But in the case you wish to do the thinking yourself the Xlerad is manually override-able via tapping the light itself. (Checkout the above Kickstarter video for further details.)
And the complex algorithm that this baby runs data through spits our some common sense. Picking up speed on the downhill? Xlerad turns up the lumens. Hitting a banked turn, or simply taking a left at the intersection? Xlerad bumps up the brightness. When you are simply cruising Xlerad will drop the power down and conserve juice. All this ramping up and down (200 to 1000 lumen range) occurs in an elegantly seamless manner. And with the aforementioned internal assessment Xlerad will grow more conservative in its lumen output as its 5000mAh Lithium-ion battery approaches depletion – meaning a highly impressive battery life of 3.7 to 45 hours (depending on how you ride).
Now let’s mention size, cuz, it matters. Xlerad takes up little handlebar real estate. And with its ability to self assess and auto adjust, this waterproof light will never overheat (a longterm performance risk with high-output LEDs). What does this mean for you, the cycling purist? It means the Xlerad has the highest maximum power (1000 lumens) of any light in its size category. Xlerad can be yours exclusively through Kickstarter until January 1 for a highly reasonable $189 (March 2014 delivery). Merry Christmas to you!
