Are these lights good? Are the combo packs good deals? What are your opinions.
from my experience the lights are good but the mounts are trash and fly off on anything rougher than smooth pavement
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It’s my opinion you shouldn’t be asking if they’re good, you should consider whether you should be asking if they’re good.
Extra things that have to be charged sound good at first, but verrrry quickly get real old and annoying. IMHO powering the lights from your board battery is a far superior way of doing it, and that would make it moot whether the SL1000 are good or not as they are designed to be charged independently.
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Check out the RN3500 by olight. I have mine mounted on my front truck while I wait for sabredynamics to ship my front claw mount. You will need a Gopro to Garmin 1/4 turn adapter and a go pro mount to slide onto the mount if you go that route.
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They’re compact, very bright, weathersealed lights with integrated mounts and modes perfect for esk8. I swear by mine and have never had issues with the newer models (SL1000/SL300/SLR1), and the customer service is top notch too.
As for charging - yes, it’s annoying that you have to charge them seperately, but on the SL1000’s the batteries last quite awhile if you’re not beaming them at absolute max brightness (Which you shouldn’t need to do, as board mounted lights are more for being seen than seeing). Going the shredlights route also means you can move them to a helmet mount, backpack strap mount etc if you want them to actually be useful for visibility too, which is a great benefit IMHO.
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I have a ton of Shreadlights and they are pretty good quality, I’ve been running them on my off road board (metal bolt on mounts) and my OneWheel (adhesive mounts) with no issues so far. A bit of a hassle to charge but overall convenient
Hot take:
I spent money on shredlights thinking I’d really like them.
I hate them & think they’re utter dogshit
Buy quality lights & mount them w/a picatinny or something on the deck
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The fact that they replace them at the drop of a hat because “good customer service” means the original cost is already priced to include multiple replacements.
Imo you’re paying a 2-3x premium for “skate lights”. Which are really mediocre flashlights and really expensive metal brackets. There’s nothing special about longboards that requires a purpose built light.
You can get a super nice, super bright flashlight for $50-60. Handheld, helmet mount, or 3d print yourself a bracket and you’re good to go. A lot of small vehicle headlights are much better.
But if that bracket and modularity are worth it to you, go for it. Depends on your level of diy.
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I’m with you 100% here.
I wom a set of SL200 on a group ride. Crashed and one got destroyed and the mount broke but they were hyped so I bought another set. Halfway through the season I’m down to 0 shredlights as they’ve all been flung out of their mounts from riding vibrations. I buy another set. After salvaging some street lithium from my 2nd last shredlights remains I resolve to put the last one on my helmet. The velcro detached and I lost it on a trail.
Moral of the story: if it’s not secured well you’ll lose it eventually. The mount I’ve seen on most shredlights isn’t a good mount, even the shitty plastic GoPro mounts are more reliable.
Only thing worse than shredlights IMO is a badly printed PLA light mount
Mine have been working fine, just have to make sure it’s clicked all the way.
Really hate the idea of having a buck converter, wiring and permanent lights on my board…
Pros:
- Less to charge
- More efficient power use
- Always there when you need them
- Potentially able to be controlled by your remote or an IMU or VESC state or other communication protocol
Cons:
- Permanently increase the mass of your board by however many grams the lights are
- may look bulky or protruding if mounting options are poor/limited
- if you have them on full blast all the time, range may be impacted slightly
- more wiring work
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Three out of four of my SL-200 shredlights died after a single ride in the rain lol.
That being said, I absolutely love my SL-1000 light. I use the clip attachment for it to secure it to my backpack, and it’s amazing for being able to see in front of you at night. I also have bicycle and helmet mounts for shredlights, so I swap them between whatever I’m using that day.
If you’re on a budget I think you can definitely find cheaper lights that are just as bright and powered off a 18650 cell (and you can definitely buy the clip <-> gopro mount I use for it off aliexpress), but hey, I’m happy with what I have.
I also don’t understand how people are having their lights fall out – as long as it clicks when you put it in, it’s not that easy to get them off afterwards lol.
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Wait, you had a shredlight pop off and bought replacements? They cover incidents like that, so you should have been able to get atleast the first set replaced for free or shipping cost alone.
Also, as someone who owned SL200’s, yep. The mounts on the bottom of SL200’s were garbage, and you’re correct there. However, the newer SL300/SL1000 are a LOT stiffer and take significantly more effort to pop out. Ill try and find my old set of 200s and grab a photo comparing them, ive been rocking the newest gen shredlights for awhile and theyve never fallen out.
Another con of permanent lights is theyre effectively locked to that board. You cant move them between boards (atleast not practically), or move them to a helmet or backpack mount if you want to, so theyre a much less versatile solution. Dont get me wrong, board powered lights are great, but for alot of people the inconvenience of charging independent lights isnt a huge deal.
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I don’t really think they are a good value at all compared to intl outdoor.
Get a light from Hank: LED Flashlights
Hold it in your hand or find a way to mount it; tie wraps, $5 printed mount. But I find them too low mounted, personally.
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Handheld lights are underrated IMHO
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I am generally a fan of Shredlights.
they are pricey as it is, and I don’t have to pay any extra for shipping since i am in the states.
I have had the SL-200 the SL-300 and the SL-1000
I usually don;t turn the 1000 one full blast because I ride around people. and rarely in complete dark.
the 300s are my go to, but the diffuser on the 1000s is really nice.
i should add i have not tried a hand held or helmet held light, but keep meaning to…
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My experience as well. Ragrets.
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What do you mean by good deal? It’s an LED with a single 18650 cell, so it seems overpriced. I do have the cheaper Shredlights to be seen vs to see. Dollar to value wise I’d say just secure a flashlight to your remote or a bright headlamp to your helmet, just angle it lower so you’re not blinding people.
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i once brought a brand new set of SL 200s out, not even sprinklling, but the ground was wet
started riding and within 400 feet the started to freak out cause of water ingress