With the falling back of the clocks, it becomes more and more likely that we'll encounter some riding after the sun has sunken beyond the horizon. This means that safety (as well as the law in many states) dictates that lights be installed on your bike to keep you visible to others. Of the many offerings on the market, there are a myriad of different ways to attach lights to your bike: brackets, bands, clamps and velcro wraps. One of the easiest to install and remove comes from Knog. The real question is how good are they and are they worth the (recently increased) cost.
Knog Frog
The original Frog was famously termed the "hipster cyst" by BikeSnobNYC due to its appearance on myriad fixies throughout New York. Hoever, the old version of the Frog and this updated model are substantially different.
The first generation Knog was a simple single LED and battery wrapped in a silicone casing. The hook used to attach the light to the bike was flimsy, the LED was weak, and the silicone was easily torn. The LED had no reflector around it either, so the only light that the old Frog gave off was what the LED produced (something in the neighborhood of 7 or 8 lumens.) The old Frog was really more of a functional decoration than a light, but thankfully that's been changed with the latest generation of Frog.
This new version puts the LED in front of a reflector, reinforces the hook and bulks up the silicone housing to make it more resilient. Available in both red and white (for rear and front lighting respectively,) featuring 4 modes of operation including several strobe options and 25 lumen output, the Frog is great execution of a simple strobe light. Notable is the fact that it's waterproof and has an 80 hour burn time, which makes it a perfect set and forget tail light that won't take you a day to figure out how to install or remove. For $15.95, it is a pretty solid deal compared to other lights out there, and will last long enough to make the investment worth while.
Knog Beetle
$22.95 will net you the 2 LED Beetle. Running off two CR2032 coin cell batteries and putting out 30 lumens, this little lightning bug burns for 160 hours and is available in red or white LED varieties. While it seems like an upgrade from the Frog, it seems to suffer from one fatal flaw that the Frog does not, and it's not an uncurable case of hipsteritis.
The design of the battery compartment and the way it sits within the silicone shell means there is poor interface between the contact(s) and the batteries. This leads to the light malfunctioning and dimming or going out if pressure is removed from the battery case. It can be fixed by wadding up a sticky note under the light when it's strapped on the bar or seatpost, but really, nothing should need a wadded up piece of paper underneath it to make it function. When it IS working, it offers four strobe settings and a constant on setting (which isn't bright enough to see by, FYI.) It's waterproof and fairly solidly built otherwise, which makes it good for wet weather, if it actually works. That being said, while a Frog on 'roids is a pretty good idea on paper, it needs some retooling to make it a solid, reliable unit. Put $7 toward a beer and get another Frog instead.
