BBB SCOPE 1500 MTB bike light review

I have been riding through the night for at least 10 years, constantly. Nature of my work. In Dublin I was working in the Fitness industry, as a lifeguard, swimming instructor, gym rat and personal trainer and now here in France, when I finish 19:30 at the evening, it is already dark. 

For security reasons, a good front light is necessary, to be seen and for the actual sight as well. The stronger the light is, the better you go, and in my opinion as bike light goes, under 500lumens there is no point to get anything. The speed and nature of the cycling movement really demands a powerfull beam. You would also need a helmet installation system, as it is less annoying near your Gopro and Garmin handlebar mounts, but also not messing up your shifting and break cables. For mountain bike offroad riding, two lights are the best set up. A bar mounted light showing you everything around the wheel and in the first 10 to 15meters and a helmet mounted stronger light giving you info about the obstacles from 5 to 100m. This also can follow a turn as your head tilts, while the bar-mounted light would still beam ahead. In case of a very sharp U-Turn it is just obligatory. 

Our first light is the Scope 1500, what is the successor of the 1300 and is a helmet and handlebar mountable 2 LED bike light. It is not the end of the power war or the highest end technology yet. However to optimise battery life, the development of high capacity, low volume batteries seem to be at a limit. We need breakthrough in this section of the science, as GPSes, electric car batteries, mobile phones and all other stuff, would benefit highly from a 15000mAh battery in a small package. I-Phones, Galaxies and BBB highpower lights would arrive in a small package, with a sun-cell charger. 

I can see it happen, lower total electricity consumption in the world, by decreasing electric-current-reliant recharging .

The BLS-69 codenamed Scope has a 3200mAh 7.2v 145g lithium battery, what is able to fuel the lamp for a short period of time on beam mode, what is about an hour and half to 3hours in okay heat conditions, but by decreasing the power output, just by pushing the one single button, you  can significantly increase battery life, while still having largely enough light for commuting for instance. Riding a mountain bike however needs serious power output. One long push to turn it off !

So actually the maximum light output of this type of LED chip is 1040lumens. This means that there are 2 of these included in the light and they are controlled by the electric circuit to output a maximal of 2 x 750lumens by the two LED lights. As battery sizes will decrease, BBB will be able to keep their LEDs  and have a 2080 lumen output, from the same head units. 

For small sizes - 110g - like we need for a bike light, one of the big challenges, is the actual heat production of a the LEDs. The company of course can purchase the XML LEDs from Cree, but it has to find a way to have insulation for the battery in case of cold conditions to protect the lithium against loosing it's efficacy and a ventilation system for the actual light. This can be done by adding some radiators attached to a heat conducting metal platform, basically an "Airflow cooling system". The light still heats up a lot, but normally it shouldn't reach the 150°C operational upper limit (Maximum Junction Temperature) . It is still damn hot and if you miss the power button, you might have a hot surprise . 

Near this cooling system, the mirroring of course is the most important part of getting a good bike light into the market. Get it wrong with too wide beam and have all the power lost in front of you, or have too much focus far ahead but no coverage just ahead of you. I tried a lot of lights during the years and as mirroring science is like an ancient art, companies usually get it done very well. Recently I tested a headlamp for running, I couldn't not write a review as it was completely useless, despite the Cree LED in it with 500lumens of constant power ! On the other hand I also had a cheap headlamp prototype unit with some really minor comfort flaws, in the 30 to 50 buck price range with a great beam.
Either ways, big companies, with just a bit of time and effort, can easily have a good mirroring design, so does BBB.

The Scope has a very useful light-beam and a ratcheted angle adjusting mount. It easily fixes on your handlebar, but on any helmet too. I always liked weird helmets like Kask or Poc and own a Lazer, Ekoi and Catlike helmet - they go on any of them, using the helmet mount system, with it's long velcro strap. You cannot feel it under the "hood", either ways, I always wear a casquette under my helmet, so that would give me enough cushioning to absorb the pressure of the strap, if I it was needed.

We have a long 110cm cable included with two openings, in case you wanted to put the battery in your pocket, backpack or saddle bag, however the battery has also a rubberised anti-slip surface with a velcro strap around it, so you can actually fix it on your frame. When riding hard off-road, I still recommend to have it somewhere hidden in a pocket, not on the frame. Too much impact would be effecting it and better not to drop it. I just lead the full cables through my jersey and insert the battery in my pocket. The lamps and all the cable attachements are waterproofed against rain, fog, drizzle, but not for swimming or underwater use !

It is recharged by a wall charger, with unfortunately no USB possibilities. This has to be done. Actually, companies will come out soon, with lamps usable with any USB device. I mean you can use your smartphone as a battery, use any external battery or even a solar panel directly, if you needed more light during the day, weirdly. So when you are doing a long hike or bike ride, you could have one single battery for utilising your lamp, recharging your phone and GPS device. Off you go, some advice to BBB.
Takes about 90min to 2 hours for a full charge. It also indicates how charged it is by a 2 color coded LED light on the 220v charger plug.
(There was a USB exit port on the battery of the Scope 1300, but they discarded it for whatever reason. I that one can be waterproofing. Using this round plug design makes it so much easier to make the device watertight. )

I find the lamp to be functioning very well and do not think of it as a better, worst or average than other brand's devices in the market. There are some neat functions like, automatic dimming if outdoor temperature goes 85° (don't ask me it is Celsius or Fahrenheit ) , but it also has 4 modes to have lower beam modes. No flashing or red light however. It could be good for security reasons. People might use the light for skiing for example, so the emergency functions might come in handy, but also for mountain bike accidents.
It retails for 239.95€ what is a lower price than the original 299.99€ of the older Scope 1300. Probably, because of the USB plug removal from the battery and the efficacy in production developed in the last couple of years.

I would give a good 8/10 to the BBB Scope 1500, cause it rides well, stays light on the helmet what is important, but would be happy to see a flat, light and flexible USB cable and extension cable instead of the rigid "tubing" they used. As Exposure, Niterider and Hope lights and the new Cateye 6000 lumen light are setting the current market, this little BBB sits very well at the bottom of the price pool for a very good build quality, easy and solid functioning, rapid helmet and bar mounting and okay battery life. 

http://bbbcycling.com/accessories/lights/BLS-69
http://www.cree.com/LED-Components-and-Modules/Products/XLamp/Discrete-Directional/XLamp-XML
www.chullanka.com
Thanks to BBB for supplying the lamp and for my workplace Chullanka for the connection.