A bike light even brighter than car headlights? Launched on Kickstarter, the diminutive Focus light packs 5,000 lumens into less than 50 g.
An Italian startup is crowdsourcing money for its new bike light now, with a straightforward promise: make riders as visible as cars.
That’s what the Focus bike light aims to do, with a knockout-strength beam that throws 5,000 lumens from a trim profile. A handlebar-mounted button deploys it on command.
Focus Bike Light: Very Bright, Very Small
At first glance, the little gadget looks relatively harmless. But you won’t want to look at it for long on full blast — for reference, most car headlights kick out 2,000-4,000 lumens.
Plenty of modes and adjustable levels are on board, but the signature capability is a handlebar trigger that lets riders flash a full-blast high beam at will.
This one-of-a-kind feature should help any rider stay safer by alerting drivers during traffic surprises. And it could make dark trails with drop-offs or sharp corners easier to handle.
As for its form factor, it’s hard to believe a plastic box the size of a Zippo can turn darkness into broad daylight. But, watching the video of one test, it looks like it does exactly that. (Warning: Avoid the sixth visual component from the top of the Kickstarter page if you’re sensitive to flashing light.)
The company claims the Focus can throw visible light up to 1.25 miles under the right conditions! For comparison, 49 g is a hair more than the weight of a golf ball or about as heavy as a medium egg.
At 2.5 inches long and 0.5 inches thick, anyone except the most scrupulous gram-counters will barely notice the Focus on their bars.
Bike Light Battery, Mounting, Features
The company reveals that the key to its punching power is a battery adapted from racing drones. It’s not only powerful, but efficient too.
A 15-minute USB charge keeps the light cranking for 6 hours on low-beam mode (800 lumens) or delivers 1,000 full-strength flashes.
Writing out the whole list of the Focus’s features would prove exhaustive — it’s got a red taillight mode, various settings for blink and pulse patterns, and even an app that lets you program the light for specific battery life (among other functions).
It also clamps to any bike with a GoPro mount or via multiple custom options. Specialty 3D-printed brackets, for instance, make the list.
50% Off Now via Kickstarter
What does Focus not focus on? We can’t see anything under the sun that the startup’s bright light didn’t touch during development. Focus even lays out a thorough financial plan for the project, right on Kickstarter.
Multiple pledge options are in play. Packages start at one light, plus mounting and recharging accessories, for $138 (50% off estimated retail). If the project gets funded, deliveries will start in October 2022.
Focus had collected about 15% of its $22,000 funding goal as of this writing. It will only launch if fully funded.
