Editor's Note: This article is part of Mtbr and RoadBikeReview's 2016 Bike Lights Shootout. See the 2016 Mtbr Headlights Index and the RoadBikeReview Commuter Lights Index.
The Lowdown: Blackburn Central 700 Front
Last year, Blackburn intrigued us with the Blackburn Central Front with its robust construction and unique features. But it was a little bit of a miss with its high price, low output and light sensing technology that was not really that useful to most riders.
This Central 700 seems to hit all the marks however. It is bright and handy at 710 measured lumens and a simpler strap mount. And it really focuses on the most important aspect of the product, the beam pattern. Instead of making the smallest light with that requires a small reflector lens, they opted for a bigger one that could host two lenses, a near and far optic, much like a bifocal. This provides a light that provides good visibility seeing far ahead on the trail and close by for slow, techy maneuvers.