I’ve been looking at the Hope Vision 1 light for a while. I’ve owned a set of Blackburn X8sl bike lamps for about 5 years now and I have always been quite fond of them. The battery life is very good, they are extremely well made and the lights themselves work very well in terms of allowing me to see where I’m going. I did, however stumble upon a problem, namely oversize handlebars. Unfortunately the Blackburns were designed and made in a world before the advent of oversize bars and as such, they don’t fit around the increased circumference on my new Boardman road bike.

So, I needed a new light that would fit (I decided the helmet mount for the Blackburns wasn’t a suitable option for regular commuting in the dark). It had to be bright enough to see in total darkness on road at night without forcing me to slow down to a crawl, reliable enough to use every day and had to last for at least 2.5 hours, preferably 3 between recharges.

Merlin Cycles, conveniently, sent me an email showing that they had a sale on for Hope Bike lights. For those of you who don’t know who Hope are, they are a British concern that make some truly bomb proof mountain bike components. They started in 1989 making hubs and brakes in Lancashire from billet aluminium and for a long time were considered the absolute best that money could buy. Today, the quality hasn’t changed, the parts are still made from billet and finished to a very high standard, but the range has expanded significantly. Now Hope Technology make hubs, brakes, bottom brackets, chain rings, stems, seat posts and a myriad of other components including lights.

So, for only £53.99 (£59.99 – 10% online discount) I bought the Hope Vision 1 LED front light, which arrived this morning.

Unboxing the Hope Vision 1

The box itself is quite simple with little or no fanfare. Hope rely on the contents to do the selling for them and, in truth, it is rare that you will see this box on a shelf anyway. Items like this tend to be locked away in shops, with the display units in a cabinet without the packaging anyway.

Unboxing the Hope Vision 1

Inside the box you find the light, a handlebar bracket, a helmet mount, a wrist strap (for when you want to use it as a torch), a small bag of rubber bits and a mounting screw and the instructions. On the inside of the lid is a warning about the lack of low battery warning. Most lights turn down to a low power setting automatically as the batteries get towards being empty. The Hope Vision 1 just turns off. No warning, just darkness. More on this later.

The Hope Vision 1 Hardware

On first impressions, the hardware looks very nicely made. The light itself is turned and machined from billet aluminium and anodised to give an excellent finish. There are several sharp edges on the light, especially on the bottom, which is common with this method of manufacture. They aren’t enough to cut yourself on but they are a surprise if you are used to castings or injection moulded plastic. The machining is actually very impressive, especially when you consider the price of the light. The weight of the finished item is very low at 110g and feels impressively light in your hand.

The unit itself is a large diameter (approx. 42mm) cylinder with a large, knurled rear cover that screws off to reveal the battery compartment. The top has a large rubber button, ideal for use with thick gloves on, that controls the on and off functions, as well as cycling through the various power modes. Turning the unit on and off is a one-handed operation, as is adjusting the power output between the 4 available power modes and the obligatory flashing function for making motorists aware of you.

Battery life and changing

The Hope Vision 1 uses  4 AA batteries, as opposed to the Li-ion rechargeable battery pack you tend to find on more expensive units. Battery life, is therefore dependent on the type of battery you use. Hope claim 30 hours life using 2700mAh rechargeable batteries (these are quite high end but readily available NiMH batteries), dropping to 2.75 hours on full power. Of course, being AA batteries means that you can carry spares with you for when the light turns off, which it does with no warning remember.

As an aside, I’ve bought some Sanyo Eneloop batteries for use in these lights. The Eneloops  are very good quality batteries that are quite unique in having a long shelf life. Sanyo claim that they will keep up to 85% of their original charge after 12 months of sitting in a drawer. I got fed up of always having to charge batteries every time I wanted to use them so these are a godsend. Overall capacity is ‘only’ 2000mAh, but they last 1500 charges, so after about 50 charges they should outperform the 2600mAh batteries I had before at the same number of charges.

Fitting the batteries into the Hope Vision 1 is a bit more involved that you would originally think. The batteries are held in the main body of the light, in a removable caddy. Removing the large knurled rear cover is easy, even with gloves on. This allows you to remove the battery caddy. This is where things get fiddly. The batteries clip into the caddy and are held in place with large plastic wings. Getting the batteries back out, even in the warm on a table is tricky, I imagine trying to do this in the dark and the cold, while it’s raining is going to be a chore. additionally, you need to make sure you put the battery caddy back in the right way around. Whilst it is obvious that the end with the foam pad is at the opening end, it is possible to rotate the caddy by 180 degrees by accident, which means that the contacts don’t line up and the light doesn’t work. Still, as long as I don’t use maximum power for the whole ride, I shouldn’t ever have a problem with battery life. Still, I wish the battery swap was a bit easier.

Mounting

The handlebar mount can be set up to fit either oversize bars or normal bars by changing the rubber shims in the clamp. These attach quite firmly by pushing the lugs on the back of the shim through the clamp itself. Once in they aren’t going to come out easily so make sure you get it right first time! The clamp itself is made from reinforced nylon and feels very tough. The brass pivots look like a work of art, with extra machining to save a few grammes. Being an engineer I do love this attention to detail.

What I don’t like so much though is that the light screws directly to the clamp. This makes it very difficult to swap between the helmet mount and the bar mounts. I had hoped to use the Hope Vision 1 on my helmet when I go mountain biking and on the handlebar clamp when on my road bike, however, the fact I have to start removing screws to do this will mean that I probably won’t bother. In comparison, my old Blackburn X8sl lights have a quick release mechanism, making the swap from bars to helmet the work of seconds. I would like to see Hope add this sort of mount in the future, even at the expense of a few grammes. I do also worry that the screw may vibrate loose, causing the light to fall off the clamp while riding. Time will tell if this is actually a problem.

Performance

As a light I find the light spread quite focussed, more of a spot beam if you will. This makes it very good when mounted on your helmet. The actual light is not all that bright though, I was expecting a bit more. I’m not sure what LEDs Hope is using but I think they should look into some of the newer models. LEDs are still a developing technology and just a couple of years can see the output increase markedly, with little or no effect on power draw, and therefore battery life.  Without a Li Ion battery pack to draw on, there have to be compromises and I suspect that the LED and power circuitry have been designed with battery life in mind as opposed to maximum power output.

Overall then I am pleased with the light, but the fiddly nature of the battery change and clamp changes do sour the experience somewhat and I am constantly worried about the possibility of the unit just turning off from a flat battery, with no warning. Given that this is a <£60 light though, if you are after a bomb proof light then the Hope does represent good value for money. There are brighter lights with rechargeable battery pack available at this price, but the quality will be nowhere near what Hope has produced. I feel this light will probably outlast me, it will certainly take everything I intend to throw at it over the next few years.

Good:

• Very robust, looks and feels like it will last a lifetime
• Made in the UK
• Easy to use in the dark with gloves on

Bad:

• No Li Ion battery pack
• Not as bright as some at this price

Ugly:

• Fiddly to set up, the clamp design is not easy to change between helmet and bars
• Difficult to change batteries and easy to get wrong
• No low power warning, light just turns off!