putting the Blackburn X3 headlight through its paces

I did some night riding last night to see how good the new X3 would prove.

After a quick adjustment (literally took a matter of seconds in the pitch black) to move the light beam farther ahead of its initial placement, I found myself hauling tail through sharp turns and steep downhill grades (sometimes both simultaneously) at a maximum speed of 27.6 MPH in the dark.

At no point in this did I feel uncertain or unsafe.

Granted, these are roads I know well. But the visibility granted by the X3's 85 lumens seems quite sufficient for serious road riding under low-light and very dark conditions.

The instructions assert that you can stow the battery assembly in one's water bottle cage, and at least a few people on the web claim to have done it. I was able to do so, but found it unsatisfying. Fortunately, it looks to be quite trivial to mount it on any of several other locations on the frame.