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Price: about $33, or a two pack for $50
Available here: Online from Hokolite athttps://hokolite.com/products/1400lumens-rechargeable-bicycle-light-set-black
How obtained: Sample from Hokolite
Hokolite, which describes itself as an “innovator in the LED lighting industry,” recently sent me their rechargeable bike headlight/horn-tail light combo.
You can spend a lot on lights for your bikes these days, but for the money, this light/horn unit is a good buy. Putting out 1400 lumens at its high setting means it really lights up the night, and the strobe setting means it works great as a daytime running light to increase your visibility to oncoming drivers, even in bright sunlight.
Although the horn is in the same unit as the light, you sound the horn by means of a separate push button that is connected to the light/horn by a non-detachable cord, 13 inches long. This enables you to place the push button at a distance from the horn if you wish. I mounted the light/horn on my handlebar to the left of my stem and the push button to the right of the stem.
Hokolite doesn’t market the horn as a dog deterrent— the product page says the horn is to “get someone’s attention for safety” — but I couldn’t help but notice that it seemed about as loud as the airhorn already mounted on my bike, which I do use to dissuade dogs from giving chase. In fact, according to the sound meter app on my smartphone, both the rechargeable electric horn in the Hokolite unit and my existing airhorn sound at about 80 decibels. But whereas the airhorn gives a blast similar to the horn on a semi-truck, the Hokolite horn sounds more like a police vehicle siren. (To hear the Hokolite horn, view the YouTube video on the product page. The video also shows everything that comes in the kit.)
Still, I wondered what effect the Hokolite horn might have on charging canines. I wasn’t able to organize a dog chase, but I did sound the horn near some neighborhood mutts. They didn’t show any reaction. So it’s best to consider the horn for getting “someone’s” attention, as Hokolite suggests. Its sound will likely jolt humans less than an airhorn blast would.
I especially like that both the light/horn unit and the horn push button attach to the bike via stretch straps. In my case, some of the handlebar real estate is already occupied by my ebike display unit and by cross-top brake levers, meaning that where I needed to fit the light/horn on the top of the handlebar did not have clear space below it for a stationary light mount. But I was able to offset the stretchy strap and still mount the light securely where I wanted it.
The light/horn can be unclipped from its stretch strap, but the push button cannot from its strap. Because of the non-detachable cord between the two, to recharge the light off the bike, I’d have to remove both the light and the push button. The supplied recharging cable is very short, but by means of an extension cord, it’s easy enough to charge the light/horn on the bike.
The tail light too attaches with a stretch strap, meaning it can be as easily mounted to the frame of your rear rack as to your seat post. The face of the tail light is slightly larger than a silver dollar and it shines brightly, with a good strobe pattern, but the unit is not rechargeable; it gets power from a single 2032 battery that comes with the kit. I listed that as a “NOT!” above, but some riders might consider it a “HOT!” — one less thing to have to recharge post ride. And, of course, we’ve been using non-rechargeable batteries for our bike lights for years until the newer generation of lights came along.
I give the light/horn five stars and the tail light four.
Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.
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