Good value, lightweight and powerful

Product Overview

Overall rating:

Score 7

Blackburn Central 700 RC

Product:

Blackburn Central 700 RC light review

Manufacturer:

Price as reviewed:

£79.99

We test a lot of lights designed for road riding/commuting, but with off-road pretentions.

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The Blackburn Central RC is one of them. It comes standard with a stretchy rubber bar mount, but the light has a GoPro fitting, so you can bolt it directly to any helmet with this fitment, or share it with one you’ve already stuck in place for a head cam.

We had to order a dedicated Blackburn helmet mount for the Central 700 RC, which is actually made by Giro, and has both tilt and rotational adjustment.

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This mount fastens in place using O-rings, but there are only two sizes and they’re a bit of stretch on helmets with wide vents.

We also had an issue with the light flopping forward while riding, because the grey thumbscrew wouldn’t tighten properly in the clamp.

On full beam, the Central gets a claimed 700 lumens, but it actually pumps out 20 per cent more than that. The beam has a central focus, but the light is diffused closer in, which we found a little distracting.

The Central 700 is good value, lightweight and powerful, but Blackburn needs to sort out that clamp bolt and include the helmet mount for free.

Details

Weight:123g
Lumens:700, 400, 200
Run time:1.25, 2, 4hr
Contact:zyrofisher.co.uk