Thursday, December 22, 2011

Knuckle Lights Review


Do you run in the dark? Are you dissatisfied running with a flashlight or head lamp? Do you want better visibility?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions then you need to get a set of Knuckle Lights.


What are Knuckle Lights? From their website, "Knuckle Lights™ are worn on the front of your hands, in a perfect position to light your path and be seen by traffic.  The extra-wide flood beams move with the natural motion of your arms and provide super-bright illumination to light up the entire area in front of you."

Dan Hopkins, Knuckle Lights Founder, was nice enough to send me a pair of these lights to try out.  I got the blue pair, but they also come in black, silver, pink, or yellow.  As an additional bonus they come with 4 AAA batteries.  If that wasn't enough they offer free domestic shipping.

I have had them for a few weeks and my wife and I have used them several times.  With winter settling in we find ourselves running in the dark more so I was anxious to give Knuckle Lights a try.

In the past, my wife and I have used small flash lights when running in the dark.  Your standard small flash light is really a pain to run with as you have to hold it in an uncomfortable position to light your path.  When you do find the right way to hold a standard flashlight while running it doesn't provide a good beam to constantly keep your path lit as it bounces all over the place.

Most of my runs are done in town.  So I will go from well lit streets to streets with no lights during a run.  The Knuckle Lights provide bright illumination that light your running path.  The lights provide 45 Lumens of double flood beams for maximum light.  These are wide beam lights so don't expect these lights to light your path 20 yards ahead of you.  The wide beam setup provides a constant and bright light directly in front of you.  You would think that with the natural movement of your arms while running would cause the beams of the lights to bounce around on the ground.  That's not the case with Knuckle Lights.  These lights provide a nice even light that moves with the natural motion of your arms while running.

Not only do they do a great job of lighting your running path but they do an exceptional job of making yourself visible to cars. I have encountered numerous vehicles on my dark runs and each car coming my way moved over at least 30 yards before they got to me.

Here is a quick video that visually illustrates what the lights look like in the dark.  I got lucky when I shot this video that a car happened to come around the corner.  As you can see the lights are very bright and are almost hard to miss.



Feel and Weight

The lights fit very comfortably and naturally on your hands.  The strap that wraps around the back side of your fingers is a comfortable silicone strap that is adjustable.  The clamp that holds the strap at your desired fit is somewhat uncomfortable.  You can move the clamp up and down to get where it is comfortable, but I think a thinner clamp would feel much better. 

I have noticed that I really don't need to tightly grip or squeeze the straps while I am running.  They are very light weight and I hardly notice them. 

The on/off switch is on the top of the lights and can be operated with your thumb. The only thing is that I wish the switch was set a little further back. For me its a little bit of a reach for my thumb.

The lights also work well with gloves on.  All you have to do is loosen the strap up and then fit them over the gloves.  I usually carry a water bottle with me on my runs.  Before Knuckle Lights I would have a water bottle in one hand and a flashlight in the other.  It was a real pain and was constantly switching the flashlight and water bottle from hand to hand.  With the Knuckle Lights I am able to carry my water bottle naturally as if I were running in the daylight.  A great thing about the Knuckle Lights is that they are so light, fit naturally on your hands, and really require no effort to keep on your hands so that you can run the way you do in the daylight.  Oh, and did I say that they provide a great wide beam of light as well?



My Recommendation

I highly recommend this product to anyone who runs in the dark that has had trouble with carrying flashlights or wearing head lamps.  Head on over to the Knuckle Lights website and try them for yourself.



Other Photos