# User Review: Shadow BL20



## Kir (May 30, 2013)

This is a sample review of one of my bike lights, posting it to see if there is any interest in such reviews  Sorry for any possible errors or weird spelling - english is not my native language. Feel free to ask any questions about this light, I'll try to answer all of them.

Shadow BL20 was bought here:
https://www.fasttech.com/p/1359100
This light is sold only in 2 stores and nobody seems to have it, so there is no information about it anywhere. Lets fix this 

*«Shadow BL20»* all pictures are available here, you can also view high-res originals (click on any picture, bottom-right corner will list all resolutions, use google translate if needed)

*PACKAGING / CONTENTS
*Simple cardboard box, with Shadow sticker on the top and small sticker with model name on the side:


Box arrived slighly damaged, but light and contents were ok. Here is what you get in the box, protected by 2 layers of foam:

Light, battery, charger, extension cable, manual. You can find pictures of manual in the main album, if somebody can translate it - please post translation in this thread.

*DESIGN

*First of all - its basically a Shadow TC750X flashlight with bike mount, you can read detailed review about it here:
SHADOW TC750X (2 x XM-L U2 | 2 x 18650) Review
But there are some modifications and differences which I'll describe later.




Light dimensions: 65x60x35mm (without mount), weight: 170g. Its a bit larger and heavier than most other 2 XML lights, but still small enough to be used on bike. Here is a comparison pic with my other 2 XML lights:

It also has a larger reflectors than other lights:

This should give it a bit more throw.

Light has nice CNC-machined body with grey/titanium finish, looks very good and different from the usual black lights. Bezels are made from stainless steel, body is made from aluminium, its big and heavy enough to handle 2 high-current leds.
It also has a very interesting custom mount - its a 2 piece design, made from sturdy plastic:

Its attached to the light with 1 hex screw with a rubber spacer to keep it in place. You can also rotate light head from left to right if needed. 
To attach it to handlebar you simple unlock the mount, place it over the bar and lock it by moving the bottom part up. It has ratchet-style locking mechanism, with a row of teeths on upper side and a pawl on bottom - which work very well and very fast. There are also 2 rubber inserts glued to mount which will grip the bar and prevent light from sliding up/down, here is how it looks when attached:

Overall - very nice mount design, I really like it. Can be attached/removed in a few seconds to handlebars from 32 to 22mm.

*BATTERY
*This light uses custom connectors for battery, with 2 small pins side-by-side in the connector, rubber o-ring for water seal and screw-on cap to prevent disconnection. This connector looks very simular to Niteye connectors and while completely non-standart it works very well, here is it compared to Niteye B20:

Light and battery have 2 very short cables attached to them - this is intentional and made for mounting light and battery close to each other (for elight on the handlbars and battery on the stem). There is also a long extension cable if you need to mount the battery further from light.
Battery is a simple 2S2P pack made from 18650 cells, most chinese lights use such batteries:

Battery capacity is marked as 4400mAh, actual capacity measured on my Imax B6 charger at 0.7A current was about 4700mAh, here is a discharge graph:

Battery protection activated at 4.5V, which is good for this light since it depends on low discharge for battery indication (explained later in the review). Battery can also handle 3.5A charge and is probably made from good cells unlike most other chinese bike lights batteries.
But battery is *not protected from water!* Be sure to give it additional protection by wrapping in plastic bag/rubber balloon or something, this is very importand - or it could be damaged in the rain.

*UI
*Simple UI, controlled by the button on top of the light. From turned off state one press of button wil turn on the light, modes are switched with single click between 3 levels (Low, Middle, High). Double click will turn on strobe mode, single click in strobe mode will return light to previous constant-light mode. To turn off the light hold down the button for a few seconds. There is no mode memory so light is always turned on in low mode.

*TEARDOWN
*Lets try to open it up and see how its made :thumbsup:
Starting from the front its possible to unscrew the bezels, then remove the glass and o-ring under it, then remove the reflector:

Interesting thing - reflector has orange peel coating, is made from aluminium and actually has threads on it, so you have to unscrew it from the body:

Led inside the light:

This light uses XM-L2 leds which are about 10-20% brighter compared to the XM-L. Leds are mounted on 20mm stars, stars are glues with thermal glue/thermal silicone to the body. Mounting looks very nice and clean, with just the right amount of glue and will give the perfect thermal transfer to outer case. Unfortunately this also means that its almost impossible to replace the leds, this thermal glue is VERY hard to remove (I tried to do it on other lights and usually its impossible to remove glued stars). 
We won't get inside from the front, so lets assemble the reflector and try from the back:

Back cover was very hard to unscrew, threads are covered with same thermal silicone. From the view inside you can really see that its just a flashlight modified for bike use - 2 wires are soldered to battery connectors. Battery cable is also fixed with a zip-tie, that should protect it from pulling from the case.
Next step - unscrew the retainer ring, again very hard to do with threads covered in glue. This gives us access to the driver:

And unfortunately thats where I'll have to stop the teardown and I won't be able to measure current on the leds 
This light is clearly not made to be taken apart, everything is glued together, wires are too short to unsolder from driver. I could cut them and remove the driver but then it'll be very hard to assemble it...and since I paid for this light myself I don't want to destroy it.

Some notes about the driver - its a usual buck-type driver, converts high voltage from battery to lower voltage for leds. Leds are connected in series, driver has click switch mounted on the side - you press on in through the rubber button on top of the light. 
2 chips in front of the driver are PIC and MOSFET (these chips weren't present on TC750X flashlight driver, so BL20 uses another, more powerful driver), large inductor on the other side, underneath it are some small SMD resistors/capacitors.

*ELECTRONICS*
Manufacturer specs for this light are:


> Luminous flux: 1600 lumens (high mode/2 hours), 450 lumens (mid mode/7 hours), 120 lumens (low mode/40 hours), 1600 lumens (strobe mode)


I won't be able to measure current on leds to confirm them, so lets try to measure current from battery. Current is measured on UT61E multimeter using custom-made 18AWG cables with very low resistance. Battery was about 90% charged.

*Current draw*:
Standy (battery connected, light turned off) - 0.007A (driver draws a very small current from battery in standby, so be sure to disconnect the battery if you're not going to use it for a long time)
Low - 0.074A
Middle - 0.638A
High - 2.285A
Strobe - about 1.3A, basically high mode with strobe.

These numbers confirm the manufacturer specs. While they're a bit overrated this light should be able to give about 1300-1400lumens in high mode. Runtimes are also correct (it should actually work for 50-60 hours in low mode).
I also really like the modes arrangement. Low mode is your parking light, useful for city conditions when you only need to make yourself visible without blinding everybody in front of you. It can also be used on an almost discharged battery to give yourself a few hours runtime to get home. High mode is VERY high and gives huge amount of light - considering that BL20 uses XM-L2 leds it could have the highest output of all 2 XML lights. Strobe mode is hidden and activated with a doubleclick.

Battery indication - as you can see this light has no visual battery indicators (green-red leds usually placed behind buttons on other lights), but its not a problem at all. Buck driver used in this light can only regulate output as long as the input voltage is higher than the voltage on leds (Vf, about 3.2v) - so as soon as the battery voltage drops under ~6.4-6.6v (about 20% of remaining battery capacity) you'll notice a brightness drop. Brightness will then start dropping to zero and you'll have enough time to notice that and switch the light to low mode (which is really low and will give you a few more hours of light) or replace the battery with a new charged one.
For example current draw from battery at 6.0v is:
Low 0.02A, middle 0.18A, high 0.89A - brightness is about 3 times lower than on full battery and its very easy to notice that.

*BEAMSHOTS AND BRIGHTNESS
*This section will be added later, I'm currently building a database of brightness measurements with my light meter. Beamshots in the city/forest will also be made later, for now here is a simple beamshot on the ceiling:

Beam profile is good - wide hotspot with smooth transition to the spill area.

*CONCLUSION
*Shadow BL20 turned out to be a very good light. Its not perfect, uses too many custom parts, not made for any modifications. But it has a nice mount, good battery (and believe me, good battery is a very rare thing for chinese lights), good UI, XM-L2 leds with a very high output in high mode and a case that can handle heat from such leds.
Its more expensive than other 2 XML lights, but in this case price increase is worth it for the battery alone.
Personally I wouldn't buy it because I like to replace leds with warm white leds in all my lights - but I can recommend it for others.


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## juergenor (Mar 30, 2004)

Thank you for your effort - excellent review of this interesting light. Can you comment on the connectors - they are non-standard which would make it difficult to use other batteries and/or to maybe build an adapter.


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## Kir (May 30, 2013)

Connectors are custom, but you can replace them with normal 5.5x2.1mm connectors (they're sold on ebay for about $1 per piece) or you can cut the extension cable and get one additional battery connector.


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## juergenor (Mar 30, 2004)

Thanks - you have quite a collection of lights - which one is your favourite one and/or which one would you recommend to buy as the only one?


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## whokilledJR (Sep 24, 2012)

Thanks for the review Kir! 

I'm not much of an active member on the forum, but I'm a member on another certain flashlight forum and I really appreciate your reviews as I'll probably end up getting a new bike light soon.

I've managed to replace a lot of leds on other shadow light models that are thermally glued (including the JM07 models, VG10 and TC6).

What you need to do is freeze it overnight, then with a flat tipped screwdriver you can force them out. Consistent pressure and patience is key, you'll be able to hear a slight ice cracking noise which confirms you are making progress, even though it may not seem so. It's quite easy once you're used to it and only takes a few seconds, although the chances you'll damage the original leds are high.

I've found shadow lights make excellent mod hosts (once taken apart for the first time) as they are well designed and have good thermal transfer. I've used anti-adhesive to remove glued bezels and driver retaining rings to great effect.
You mentioned this has a pill design? Not that there is anything wrong with a pill, but usually the leds are attached to the host itself for better heat transfer, which looks like it may be the case on this host?

How does the beam profile compare to some of your other lights? Specifically, spill size? I'm just curious as I prefer bike lights that provide a wide spill.


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## kwarwick (Jun 12, 2004)

Kir, that's a really excellent detailed review of the BL20!

I too prefer neutral tint LEDs and have been building/moding lights with them whenever possible. Did you happen to try changing the LEDs in the Solarforce X2? I've got some XM-L2 T6 4C tint inbound and hope to put some into my X2 but was wondering if the LEDs are glued or maybe just thermal paste was used? 

Karl


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## whokilledJR (Sep 24, 2012)

One thing I could also mention, once you remove the leds you could probably use non adhesive thermal compound for better heat transfer, and this will work well as it means you can swap out the leds easily in future as they update. As the reflectors are a screw in design (probably the same as the shadow VG10), I'm assuming that they will force the led stars nice and tight against the flashlight body for excellent thermal transfer, and again should mean you can avoid using non adhesive thermal compound.


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## varider (Nov 29, 2012)

Nice review.


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## Kir (May 30, 2013)

juergenor said:


> Thanks - you have quite a collection of lights - which one is your favourite one and/or which one would you recommend to buy as the only one?


I've been asked this question many times on other forums...and there is no easy answer to that.
You can't choose _the_best_ bike light, they're all different and useful in different conditions. Personally I'm using heavily modified Singfire SF-530 as my main light + looking for 2nd light for city riding. I'll try to post more reviews here so people would be able to choose what they need.



whokilledJR said:


> What you need to do is freeze it overnight, then with a flat tipped screwdriver you can force them out.
> 
> You mentioned this has a pill design? Not that there is anything wrong with a pill, but usually the leds are attached to the host itself for better heat transfer, which looks like it may be the case on this host?
> 
> How does the beam profile compare to some of your other lights? Specifically, spill size? I'm just curious as I prefer bike lights that provide a wide spill.


Freezing the glue is an interesting solution, but I'm not going to do that since I'm not going to use this light. 
No, its not a pill design - leds are mounted directly to the host and the light body is CNC-machined from one block of aluminium.
Can't say anything about the beam atm, I received this light a few days ago and haven't tried it on the roads yet.



kwarwick said:


> Did you happen to try changing the LEDs in the Solarforce X2? I've got some XM-L2 T6 4C tint inbound and hope to put some into my X2 but was wondering if the LEDs are glued or maybe just thermal paste was used?


SSX2 uses leds on 16mm stars with long wires to them and thermal paste, its very easy to change leds on it.



whokilledJR said:


> One thing I could also mention, once you remove the leds you could probably use non adhesive thermal compound for better heat transfer, and this will work well as it means you can swap out the leds easily in future as they update. As the reflectors are a screw in design (probably the same as the shadow VG10), I'm assuming that they will force the led stars nice and tight against the flashlight body for excellent thermal transfer, and again should mean you can avoid using non adhesive thermal compound.


Yes, you can use thermal paste and screw in reflectors to press the led to the case. Its kinda hard to grab the edge of the reflector to screw it in, but its possible with the right tools.

So, the reception for the review seems to be positive :thumbsup:
I'll post more reviews for the other bike lights in my collection here, in a few days when I'll have some spare time to write them.


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## varider (Nov 29, 2012)

I think what people really need is a way to decide which light to buy versus another. Or at least that's what I need. Haha. Probably the biggest differentiator between all the lights is the beam shot. That's one of the things that makes the mtbr light shoot-out so special, the ability to directly compare the lights to each other. Of course this is only possible because he takes the pictures in the same location with the same camera settings every time. That's the key. It would be awesome if you could pull off something like that with these lights.


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## androgen (Apr 28, 2005)

cool review, but i think it could have used a few more beam shots. not a criticism though.


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## mike95 (Sep 11, 2011)

thanks for the review.

I considered this light a few weeks ago, but went with the SSX2 because i couldn't find any info on it.

Id be interested to know how you compare this light with the SolarStorm X2.
would you say the beam is more floody than the SSX2?

seems like it would be a good light for double duties as both a mtb trail light for the handlebars on med, hi, & a commuter light for the roads on the low


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

varider said:


> I think what people really need is a way to decide which light to buy versus another. Or at least that's what I need. Haha. Probably the biggest differentiator between all the lights is the beam shot. That's one of the things that makes the mtbr light shoot-out so special, the ability to directly compare the lights to each other. Of course this is only possible because he takes the pictures in the same location with the same camera settings every time. That's the key. It would be awesome if you could pull off something like that with these lights.


IMO beamshots are mainly helpful if one knows what beam type they prefer or works best for them. My first LED light was a barlight. I went with a flood style pattern because that's what most people said I should use. It sucked for me. I have consistently tried to move toward tighter spot patterns in each successive light both bar and helmet.


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## ironbrewer (Oct 17, 2012)

Thanks for the great review KIR. I for one would like to see more reviews from you.


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## Kir (May 30, 2013)

androgen said:


> cool review, but i think it could have used a few more beam shots. not a criticism though.


Yeah, I know that I really need to add beamshots to complete this review - but I want to make a proper comparison between all lights that I have and that is kinda hard to do. 
When I'll collect every popular light model I'll try to get them added to fonarevka.ru database or at least make a simular shoot-out in city and forest scenes, with all lights compared to each other in same conditions.



mike95 said:


> Id be interested to know how you compare this light with the SolarStorm X2.
> would you say the beam is more floody than the SSX2?


Just compared it with SSX2 (actually with one of the clones of SSX2, but iirc its the same as original). 
Beam is about 10-15% more floody that SSX2 and has smoother and better looking transition from hotspot to spill. And its actually about 10% brighter in high mode too, thats very noticable when both lights are projected on the wall near each other. It has almost the same current draw from battery as SSX2 so extra brighness comes from extra efficiency of XM-L2 leds.


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## androgen (Apr 28, 2005)

edit: moved post to a new thread ...


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## Snakes (Aug 22, 2007)

Must agree with others, great review Kir. Thank you, keep them coming :thumbsup:.

Anyone has any idea how to mount it to helmet? I don't have any reasonable way with this mounting. Is it maybe possible to order classic mounting that fits to:
Cheap Velcro Binding Band for SKU 29489/30864 (35CM)

I've just ordered SSX2, but now I am thinking this might be better option, but if it doesn't have helmet mounting it is no go for me.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Nice review Kir. :thumbsup:

Thermal management looks like it would be very good with this lamp. Assuming you disassembled the SS X2 and 880 clone, would you say that both of those have decent thermal properties? How would they compare to the BL20?

I do question how well the mount is going to work on the BL20. It's just hard for me to believe that something being held in place with just plastic teeth is going to work or last any amount of time. If you could at least do some rides with the lamp to see how well it holds ( the heavier ) lamp when going over rough terrain that would be great.

About the beam patterns and brightness of all the lamps you have; Yes it would be nice to have beam shots to compare all the lamps but I don't think people understand how much of a chore that really is. Personally I'm just happy to read a written description of how bright the lamp is and what type of beam pattern it has. On the other hand it would nice if you could do some 5 meter comparisons with a lux meter. Those are easier to do and give the reader an indication of just how bright the hot spot is. With all the lamps you have it would be a nice comparison.

Just last night I saw this lamp on Kaidomain. It doesn't come with a battery and looks like it might be a repackaged SS X2. That being the case I decided I wanted to buy a SS X2 ( or clone there of ) since I like the original lamp body better. Personally I just want to see how one of these "reflector" dual emitter lamps compares with a dual emitter lamp using optics. I considered getting the 880 clone but since it doesn't have voltage indicators ( as far as I know ) the X2 looks like the best all around choice.

**Oh BTW...thanks for the photo of all the lamps side by side. :thumbsup:


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## mike95 (Sep 11, 2011)

Snakes said:


> Anyone has any idea how to mount it to helmet? I don't have any reasonable way with this mounting.


Imo this light is much more suited to mounting on the bars.
It may be possible to mount on the helmet if you remove the plastic bar mount strap & rig it up to your helmet with cable ties.

I tested out my SSX2 on the helmet over the weekend using cable ties & removing the bar mount it worked well & sat nice & low. No chance of falling off.

I have a similar mount for my helmet that is in your link & i find the light ends up sitting quite high, & i often strike it on tree branches where i ride.


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## Brooks04 (Jun 1, 2004)

Out of all of these dual reflector lights that have come out recently it would be nice to see one using a mix of reflectors. Seems like if one reflector was orange peel and the other smooth it would give a nice mix of throw and spread in the beam pattern. Just a thought.


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## steelhmr (Sep 30, 2011)

This light is a strong candidate to be my new bar light. The Med setting looks to be weak. Not a deal breaker, but why?!?


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## Kir (May 30, 2013)

Snakes said:


> Anyone has any idea how to mount it to helmet?
> I've just ordered SSX2, but now I am thinking this might be better option, but if it doesn't have helmet mounting it is no go for me.


You'll have to make your own mount and I dont recommend to use BL20 as helmet light - its too heavy and button is kinda hard to press from the top. SSX2 is better for helmet use.



> Thermal management looks like it would be very good with this lamp. Assuming you disassembled the SS X2 and 880 clone, would you say that both of those have decent thermal properties? How would they compare to the BL20?


880 clone (D-50) - leds on thermal paste, placed in pills, pills are just placed in the case, you need to add some thermal paste there to improve heat transfer. Worst result from these 3 lights, but not bad after you add some thermal paste.
SSX2 - leds on thermal paste in pills, pills are press-fitted in the case. Better than D-50.
BL20 - leds on thermal glue placed directly on the case, probably the best thermal transfer.

But you also need to consider weight of the light's body. SSX2 is made from extruded aluminium profile and is very light (84g compared to 170g of BL20). While this makes is better for helmet use it'll also heat up much faster and will probably overheat if you'll use it on high while standing still.



> I do question how well the mount is going to work on the BL20. It's just hard for me to believe that something being held in place with just plastic teeth is going to work or last any amount of time.


 It'll probably wear out if you will remove it from the bike every day. If you'll just leave it on handlebars and won't open-close the mount very often - should be fine, its made from a good sturdy plastic.

I will do a brightness measurements with lux meter later. Can't promise anything about the rides though, I hate blue-colored cool white leds


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Brooks04 said:


> Out of all of these dual reflector lights that have come out recently it would be nice to see one using a mix of reflectors. Seems like if one reflector was orange peel and the other smooth it would give a nice mix of throw and spread in the beam pattern. Just a thought.


Yes I suppose having one OP would make a "slight" difference but having both OP would be better ( if you wanted a bit more spill ). Too bad they don't give you the option of ordering additional compatible reflectors. You might find one on the net but my guess is that it would be a very frustrating and time consuming search.

For more money you can buy the Gloworm X2 which uses optics. Gloworm also sells other optics for the X2 so you can pick and choose what you want for your X2. The use of optics gives you the best choice if you like wider beam patterns. Personally, I've never seen a narrow beam pattern ( on a lamp designed for bar use ) that I thought was too narrow. 

( * please note; Gloworm X2 and Solar Storm X2 are two completely different lamps with completely different designs and features. Both however use duel XM-L U2's...supposedly. )


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## Brooks04 (Jun 1, 2004)

I currently run the Gloworm with 2 spot optics on the bar and a Xeccon S12 on the helmet. Gloworm offers an excellent small lighthead and mounting system, just wish it had a little more throw. The S12 certainly offers the excellent throw, it's just a little larger and heavier than I like for my helmet. Overall very happy with this setup. I plan to run this setup again this season unless some new lights with significant improvements are offered at a reasonable cost. I'm just not seeing that so far, but who know what this season will bring. Always enjoy seeing and reading about new bike lights.


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## androgen (Apr 28, 2005)

Brooks04 said:


> I currently run the Gloworm with 2 spot optics on the bar and a Xeccon S12 on the helmet. Gloworm offers an excellent small lighthead and mounting system, just wish it had a little more throw. The S12 certainly offers the excellent throw, it's just a little larger and heavier than I like for my helmet. Overall very happy with this setup. I plan to run this setup again this season unless some new lights with significant improvements are offered at a reasonable cost. I'm just not seeing that so far, but who know what this season will bring. Always enjoy seeing and reading about new bike lights.


this season will bring ... XML2 ( duh ! )


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## -Archie- (Aug 25, 2013)

Kir said:


> It also has a very interesting custom mount - its a 2 piece design, made from sturdy plastic:  Its attached to the light with 1 hex screw with a rubber spacer to keep it in place. You can also rotate light head from left to right if needed. To attach it to handlebar you simple unlock the mount, place it over the bar and lock it by moving the bottom part up. It has ratchet-style locking mechanism, with a row of teeths on upper side and a pawl on bottom - which work very well and very fast. There are also 2 rubber inserts glued to mount which will grip the bar and prevent light from sliding up/down, here is how it looks when attached:  Overall - very nice mount design, I really like it. Can be attached/removed in a few seconds to handlebars from 32 to 22mm.


 This mount is not actually new: it is a full copy of ancient German-made Sigma Mirage (and Mirage Evo) halogen bike light one:


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## Kir (May 30, 2013)

Nice, thanks for info!
Although it seems that shadow run out of these mounts and now offers a screw-type mount, simular to trusftire and niteye:
https://www.fasttech.com/products/1359100


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## mike95 (Sep 11, 2011)

this new mount looks like a copy of the cateye flextight mount. I use this mount on my road bike with the Uno/Rapid 3 combo.

I like this mount & its great for aero seat posts.
Review: Cateye Uno/Rapid 3 Light Set | road.cc | Road cycling news, Bike reviews, Commuting, Leisure riding, Sportives and more

The shadow is a much heavy light than the cateye uno though, so id hope they have done some testing to make sure the light wont move around.

If it works as good as it does with the cateye lights than i think this mount is a upgrade for the shadow BL20


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## edtau (Oct 30, 2013)

Great review and also found your comparison to the X2 very useful - Has definitely helped me shape my buying decision!


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## standa11 (Nov 12, 2008)

*Connector*

This connector looks very similar:

LED Light Strips DC Male to Female Connector Waterproof Cable 2pin Black | eBay

I just hope it fits to the one used on BL20. I measured mine:

thread diameter: 10 mm
barrel diameter: 8 mm

EDIT: I've ordered this one and it fits.


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## standa11 (Nov 12, 2008)

Here's another that look similar:

Wholesale 5pcs LED Light Strips 2 Pin Waterproof Connector Cable DT79 | eBay


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