Review: Knog Cobber Bike Light – Colloquialism, Ahoy!

It’s autumn here in Sydney, Australia. Daylight saving is over until October and poorly lit bike riders are now getting caught out as the light fades quickly. You can barely see those bike-ninjas and can’t help thinking, “how can you be so unprepared?”

LED lights in the $20 price and less bracket are readily available and there is no real excuse for being unlit. But if you want to take it up a notch, you will notice that LED technology is still evolving and is leading to the introduction of light units such as the Cobber from Aussie brand Knog which we have for review here on BNA. As you would expect, the front and rear Cobber bike lights are compact and bright. But they feature a key difference to most lights, they deliver a much broader spread of light that helps you get seen.

Neat idea, neat package

Knog, to a degree, seem to be the Kings of Quirk when it comes to accessories. The Cobber is no exception. Although I must admit in this instance, this is a ‘quirk that works’ instead of ‘designing merely to create a point of difference that looks kinda cool, right’ type of quirk. 

It is interesting that the name Cobber was used, perhaps it is a connection with the Australian roots of the Knog brand although Knog don’t really push their Australianess. The only time I ever hear the word Cobber is when the English try to do Australian accents. Let’s forget about the symbolism of the name and concentrate on the lights.

Knog have already shown that they can create LED lights for cycling and make them blink in fancy ways. But this time there are a lot of LEDs crammed into such a tiny packages.

The Cobbers are packaged according with Knog’s usual minimalist approach. The contents are simple: the light, two mounts, three o-rings of different lengths and a short USB cable. The instructions are also minimalist and essentially refer you to the website. There is an instructional video on the Cobber page although I didn’t spot an actual user manual on the website. You are also referred to Knog’s ModeMaker software… more on this later.

In the Cobber series there are three different sizes (for the front and back), the Lil’ Cobber is 32mm high, the Mid Cobber, which I am reviewing is 62mm high and the Big Cobber is 92mm high. 

The bigger the light, the more LEDs it contains, the brighter it is and the higher it is priced. But you also have to consider mounting. Some people might struggle to find locations to mount them, particularly on the front of the bike. Luckily, I ride big bicycles, so head tube real estate is easy to come by. For most riders, seat post is abundant, though depending on your bike, there may also be ample space on the seat tube as well. In short, mounting on the rear is easier. I think the small sized Lil Cobber bike lights would fit anywhere. The larger Big Cobber lights however need more thought to how and where you would mount them before you commit.

Get em’ out Cobber

The lights come with two mounts so can suit both round and aero tubes. I don’t have any aero tubed seat posts or frames, however the aero mount provides more flexibility to get the right mounting setup. For example, the aero mount is handy for my Fuji  commuter which has a large diameter head tube. The round mount seems to be best suited for tubes under 30mm diameter and has a little trouble coping with bigger radii. Though I should also mention that the mount for round tubes comes with a bonus of being magnetic and this improves the ease of use. Both mounts feel solid enough and I never got the feeling that the light unit would bounce out of the mount. 

The short USB cable providing for recharging is handy. Like a number of other Knog products, the ‘male’ USB charging port protrudes from the light and attempting to plug this into a laptop to charge will tend to be a futile exercise in fighting for space among other cables and ports. 

To be honest, these external type charging ports on the Knog lights scare me a little because of the vision of them breaking off. The green USB cable solves this and I also use it for other Knog lights I have that came without the extender cable.

No surprises powering the rechargeable lights: red means charging, green means done. Rather that timing the recharging cycles, I will share my practical experience which I think will be more typical for riders. After two or three evening commutes at 45 minutes with the lights, the recharge time was about 30 minutes. 

The on-off button is positioned on the top of the light nicely in the middle of the illuminated ‘power-level’ ring. All Knog systems being equal, this should start glowing red if you’re running low on juice while out and about.

The lights are also stated to be waterproof and all indications suggest that this will be the case as the construction of the lights is solid.

In contrast to other lights with just one or a handful of LEDs such as the Knog Blinder, this light has 144 LEDs in the Mid Cobber and I do wonder how long it will be until these start to fail. Knog will cover the light with a 2 year warranty on defects and have a good reputation for replacing faulty products.

Get em’ on Cobber

In the mid-size, the white front and red rear lights each pack 144 LED’s, spanning a near 180° arc. Knog promote 330° light coverage when you have the ‘twin-pack’ (front and back) but as the lights have a curved LED, you will get the full 360° degree coverage and visibility from all angles. 

The box suggests you don’t look right at these when turning them on, especially in one of the full-gas modes. This is a really a good tip, but just don’t ask me how I know that. The bike lights have 8 modes and the official run times are listed below:

The Max light mode with 200 lumens (listed) for the front white light is no slouch. The bright flashing mode (320 lumens) for the front light more intense, and naturally designed to be brighter than the rear light. The brightest front setting is a tick too bright for semi-lit path use. Given the lack of shielding and the large illuminated area (330° claimed) there are not many nooks and crannies that remain dark.

I wonder if it goes without saying that I mount the front light vertically on the head tube. Technically you could also mount them on the handlebars and a lot of other Knog lights are destined for handlebars. The problem with the handlebar mount is that even when you angle the Cobber down… light can still spill and become blinding or distracting for you as the rider. 

Across the different light modes, some you may light more than others, I feel that Knog have done a fairly good job of managing the light intensity to avoid some of the pulsing/flashing modes from being too bright. 

In a recent review of the Ravemen front light I discussed the glare and dazzle issue with single-point, high-intensity LED lights. Ravemen dealt with this by shaping the beam through the lens, like as a vehicle headlight. Knog deal with it in a different way, sending those lumens on a 165° journey from the unit instead.

The result is that removes the spot intensity and there is nicer spread of light but be warned, if you are close and look directly at the front light it will leave an afterimage on your retinas. The rear light is less intense, though the flash modes appear bright. With up to to 170 lumens (listed) they can also give you an afterimage as well.

What these lights do particularly well is to broadcast your position. No more “that light is too small to get seen” or getting lost in a sea of brake lights. The red glow from rear light can light up the fences and parked cars on the side. The front does the same and it is a good headlight (light to see) in dark areas. 

The rolling flash mode which switches light across both sides is fairly distracting because the left and right side of the street switch between light and dark in your peripheral vision.  

Are these effective in traffic? I would say yes and argue that any other road users who can’t see these lights probably have their heads down and are fiddling on their mobile phone or are intoxicated and shouldn’t be driving. The good news is that at intersections and T-junctions where your bike light would traditionally point ahead and may be lost to traffic approaching from the sides… you are now going to be seen.  

ModeMaker

Knog promote their ModeMaker software on the brief explanation slip in the package. Trouble is, I’ve never been able to get it to work. I’ve corresponded with Knog about this but haven’t been able to solve the problem yet. Once it does work, it is meant to give you the capability of setting custom modes for the lights. Originally intended for their PWR range, it also can be used for the Cobber range, so the slip of paper says.

In the BNA review of the PWR Commuter bike light, the ModeMaker application for Mac was used so I assume that this registration process and functionality is the same. 

Rounding-Up the Cobbers

The price of the Cobber Twinpacks (front and rear light) sits at the top end of the spectrum for portable LED bike lighting. Starting at AUD $129.95 for the Lil Cobber Twinpack, $179,95 for the Mid Cobber Twinpack (which were tested) and $229.95 for the Big Cobber Twinpack, this is in the same ballpark as quality dynamo powered bike lights and high powered lights. 

The price point is a big step up from the classic silicon Knog Frog blinky lights (which Knog don’t appear to be selling any longer… but are still available at some retailers). But there is also a big step in the light power and visibility it lends you as a rider, particularly at intersections.

Urban and commuter cyclists who face a lot of traffic will find the Cobber  appealing. In contrast with a regular high powered bike light, the Cobber delivers enough power to light up the dark plus it dramatically increases your visual footprint.

Further information and purchase options at knog.com.au