Hello to everyone
Thanking them for the trust, today we will review the Imalent BG10 that was kindly provided to me by Banggood .
CLICK HERE to go to the official page of the product on the Imalent website.
I want to clarify that my reviews are made at an amateur level, so without the aid of science fiction tools or tests in secret and cutting edge laboratories. Therefore, among the lines that follow, there will be my humble observations and even my humble opinions.
Official features:
- flashlight head and body can be adjusted from 0-90 degrees. Convenient and pratical
- utilizes the latest CREE XHP50 LED, with a lifespan of up to 50000 hours and a maximum output of 2300 lumens
- the multi-functional OLED display can show various parameters and settings
- built-in 2000 mAh Li-Ion rechargeable battery
- size: 77 mm (length) x 37 mm (head diameter) x 60 mm (body diameter)
- net weight (battery excluded): 120 g
- high efficiency constant current circuit will maintain constant brightness
- anti-reverse battery protection
- built-in thermal control module will automatically adjust the brightness to ensure comfort
- ultra-clear tempered glass lens. Coated with toughed ultra-clear minerals and anti-reflective coating
- Aluminium OP reflector
- Aerospace-grade aluminium alloy body, wear-resistant Type III hard-anodized surface treatment
- IPX-8 standard waterproof (2 metres submersible)
- 1,5 m impact resistant
Where to buy it
The Imalent BG10 can be easily purchased from the Banggood website by clicking here.
The package and the accessories
The BG10 is contained in a rectangular rigid cardboard box which offers good impact protection.
On the front stands a nice picture of the flashlight attached to the bike stand, in the upper left there is (well in evidence) the name of the model with its maximum lumens that can be dispensed and in the lower right there is a sticker that warns us that the flashlight it is covered by a 5 year warranty (in the manual we find the details).
On the back we find the description of the product and a table that shows the specifications of the various modes. Below the table there are the company information and the RoHS and CE certifications.
On one side there is a QR-code and next to it there is the Imalent website.
On the other side there is a photo of a cyclist with the flashlight beam highlighted with the words "The Guardian, ride in safety and comfort" in the middle.
Extracting everything from the package we will find:
- BG10
- the bike support (attached to the flashlight)
- a nominal 2000 mAh 26350 battery (inserted in the flashlight)
- USB cable -> proprietary magnetic connector of about 1 meter long
- 2 spare O-rings
- the manual in two languages (CN/EN)
And here is the scan of the only part in English of the manual (the other part is in Chinese).
The flashlight
The BG10 is Imalent's first bicycle flashlight. The general dimensions of the flashlight have made possible to obtain a battery compartment for a 26350 (included in the package), the main energy source of the flashlight. Alternatively the BG10 can also be powered by a powerbank but we will see this feature later.
The flashlight body is mainly made of aluminum alloy with the classic black anodization. Laterally it has vertical grooves which improve the dissipation of the flashlight body and, immediately below them, on one side there is the inscription BG10
and on the other side the brand name Imalent. As can be noted, the writing is in relief on aluminum.
Also you can see part of the blue coloring bezel and the tailcap knurling that allows access to the battery compartment.
Under the whole there is the support for the bike but for now ignore it, we'll talk of it in a separate chapter later.
The head of the flashlight looks like this: The blue bezel without crenellation is to protect the lens (which comes with a protective adhesive), immediately below there is a LED XHP50 of CW (slightly greenish) tint surrounded by an OP parabola .
Part of the lens and bezel are covered by that plastic semicircle that has a brightness sensor in the middle (that little whitish rectangle) that, when active, weakens the light output when we cross with a light source. Useful to not blind any driver who comes from the opposite direction to ours.
The semicircle, moreover, has the task of reflecting downwards part of the light produced.
The lens, as you can clearly see, has anti-reflection treatment. The holes on the bezel give to the BG10 a bit of character and I must admit that they are beautiful to behold.
Seeing the BG10 from above we can see that there is an OLED screen (which can not be detected when switched off) which, when switched on, is easily readable in the evening's dark. In any case some of the information reported, which we will see later, will disappear within a few seconds.
Immediately below to the screen there is the electronic switch that controls the UI. It protrudes slightly from the flashlight body, has a short stroke and is slightly (not excessively) noisy. It is not backlit and in the dark and with gloves you might have difficulty finding it.
Finally, under the switch, there is the magnetic connector that has the task of recharging the battery through the integrated recharging circuit or, alternatively, to power and make the flashlight work when the cell is low. The handy thing is that you can use the flashlight even when there is no battery in it, just close the tailcap and connect a powerbank. But be careful, with the powerbank you can enjoy a virtually unlimited power supply but the maximum output that can be used will be only 250 or 400 lumens.
On the flat tail there is the writing "Smart-Adapt Bicycle Light", the name of the model and of the brand together with the CE and RoHS certifications. The lettering is perfect and free of smudges.
The first time we turn on the BG10, we will have to unscrew the tailcap and remove the protective plastic disk in transparent plastic that prevents accidental ignition during transport.
The flashlight can only be divided into 2 parts. The tail flows well thanks to the greased thread and, thanks to the anodization, it is possible to use the physical lock-out.
According to the specifications, the O-ring ensures protection against liquids according to the IPX8 standard.
At the negative pole there is a large golden spring
while at the positive pole there is a contact, always golden, slightly raised from the surrounding visible circuitry.
The battery and the charging system
The BG10 includes an Imalent's brand 26350 that comes with a voltage of 4.04v. The cell is a protected button top and has the MRB-263P20 code. Nominally it has 2000 mAh and on the discharge test (at the speed of 500 mA) results to have about 2174 mAh.
As I said, it has the protruding positive pole
while the negative pole is flat.
Here are the various writings on the sheath:
The recharge of the 26350 happens thanks to the charging circuit integrated to the flashlight. To power the charging system you will use thes supplied cable that has at one end the classic male USB port and on the other has a circular magnetic connector on which the Imalent brand is relifed on one side
and on the other side of it there are the two contacts (one positive and one negative) that will be magnetically attached to the circular connectors on the BG10.
Here is the cable attached to the connector thanks to the magnet. The grip is strong enough to maintain the contact but, if we do not pay attention, everything can move. Note how the cable connector protrudes slightly above the key, which will give a little annoyance when we try to interact with the UI when charging is in progress.
The recharge, with the battery completely discharged from the flashlight (about 3.3V), starts immediately at 0.70A. On the screen will be shown the picture of a battery and the notches will move to simulate the recharge, a bit 'as happens on our smartphones.
After just under 5 hours of charging, the battery is considered recharged and its voltage freezes at 4.22V.
The handlebar support
The BG10 can be attached to the handlebars thanks to a silicone support that is attached to the flashlight thanks to a plastic attachment.
On the front, the support has underlined the name Imalent
and on the opposite side the silicone band is still attached to a plastic coupling.
Thanks to 4 different notches in the silicone, we will be able to adapt the flashlight to multiple handlebars of different diameters.
The whole part on the right, where the screw is, is made of hard plastic but, although the beam does not wobble during the asphalt road race, it would have been better to equip the flashlight with a further part maded in silicone below it to improve further the grip on the handlebars in case of a possible passage on rough road and to avoid finding the handlebar slightly marked by the screw (it did not happen to me, but you never know).
The screw unites the support to the rail and allows the flashlight to rotate 360 °, however, locking in 26 pre-established positions. Useful when we are perhaps on a bike with a slightly curved handlebar or we can not hook it right in the middle of it.
The flashlight remains attached to the rail thanks to that plastic pin
pin that just lower to be able to remove the flashlight from the rail.
And here is the rail on the support
that matches perfectly with the one on the flashlight.
To attach everything to the bike just lay the support on the handlebars,
pull and hook the silicone band
and insert the flashlight into the specific rail.
Here is the flashlight hooked on the handlebars.
I remember that, if we will need, we can turn it freely to the right
or to the left.
How does it work
The Imalent BG10 has five selectable modes, of which four are normal and one is special (the STROBO).
According to official Imalent data, normal modes have the following characteristics:
- Turbo -> 2300 ~ 800 lumens for 4 + 55 minutes
- High -> 1200 ~ 800 lumens for 8 + 69 minutes
- Mid -> 500 lumens for 1 hour and 33 minutes
- Low -> 250 lumens for 2 hours and 16 minutes
NB There is also a 400 lumens phantom mode, which can only be activated when the flashlight is charging. Data on its duration are not declared because it will depend on the capacity of the power source that we will use.
Power On / Off
A single pressure on the electronic switch allows us to turn on the BG10, a prolonged pressure will turn it off. Although it is written in the manual that the flashlight has the memory, my sample has always been lit at the minimum mode
Change modes
With the flashlight on, a single press of the electronic switch will cycle all four modes in ascending order. For every few seconds, the monitor will switch on the lumens of each mode.
As I said before, the 400 lumen mode will only light up if the flashlight in recharge.
Access to the special mode
A quick double pressing of the switch, with the flashlight off or on, will turn on the Strobe which, as for normal modes, will be signaled on the monitor.
A single press of the button will return the flashlight to the state before the Strobe was activated.
Charge indicator
With a rapid triple pressure on the switch, we can, with the flashlight off, know the voltage of the battery. In this case it was 100% charged.
When the battery is about to run out, the symbol of the battery will start flashing on the screen without any bars inside.
Brightness sensor
As I said earlier, the flashlight can decrease the brightness, going to the lowest mode, if in the sensor detects a light that comes in our direction (like the headlights of a car). The nice thing about this sensor is that the end user can choose to leave it active or deactivate it.
Just keep the power switch pressed, with the flashlight off, until the word ON or OFF appears on the screen.
Temperature sensor
The BG10 is also equipped with a temperature sensor that lowers the brightness to 900 lumens when the flashlight reaches 50 ° C. Also, on the screen, the classic triangle that we find on all the flashlightes will flash. Obviously everything will stabilizes when the flashlight will no longer have a critical temperature.
Dimensions: weights and dimensions
The Imalent BG10 measures 7.75 x 4.06 x 3.70 cm. It weighs 105 gr without anything and 155 gr with the 26350 included. The single battery weighs 50 gr.
Next here is the dimensional comparison with a large BIC lighter, a 18650 and 26350.
The comparison with the Nitecore BR35, the only other bike flashlight that I own, is not to be missed.
Lumens, runtimes, candles and beamshot
NB The tests below were made with the 2000 mAh 26350 that come output from the package. Everything was done in a home environment at 22 ° only with forced ventilation.
The following values were taken with the 26350 charge and are to be considered peak .
The following values were taken with the 26350 charge and are to be considered peak .
NB The discharge curves are obviously indicative, the result could vary in positive or negative depending on the batteries used by the end user or the conditions of use that may vary from mine during my tests.
Any slight discrepancies related to the tests carried out on the same mode can be attributed to a different positioning of the measuring equipment in my tests.
The BG10 turns off automatically when it reaches 3.2 / 3.3V.
The following values were taken with the 26350 charge and are to be considered peak .
All the following photos were taken with the white balance set to 5200k.
This photo was taken at a distance of 40 cm from the wall. The upper cut is obviously due to the semi-circle seen in the first paragraphs.
Beam width.
Beamshots at the Turbo, High and Mid and Low modes. The tree line is at 25 meters away. The spill, with the spot facing the infinity on the horizontal plane, starts from about 1 meter from the handlebars but there is a slight sub-spill that reaches up to under our gaze.
Here is how the beamappears seen from sideways for all 4 modes. The first picture is to be imagined slightly less bright. The sub-spill, even if do not seem from the photos, makes slightly more light.
I also take this opportunity to attach a short video that makes better the idea of the potential of the flashlight. Due to the performance of the used action cam, the brightness of the flashlight is less than reality.
www.youtube.com/embed/VgC_P6je4NE
Personal considerations
Aesthetically this flashlight has very attractive lines, it is quite compact and the runtime is in line with the battery supplied. Obviously you can use the flashlight virtually infinitely since you can feeding it with a powerbank but, of course, on the bike we should have a special pocket. The supplied one meter cable helps us in case the power source is placed a little more distant.
It should be remembered, however, that by powering the flashlight in this way we will only have access to the 250 lumens mode, the 400 mode and, in the case that we should have to attract the attention, the strobe.
In my sample, and according to my measurements, the Turbo had characteristics of an optimistic coat, but considering the size of the cell, one wonders "do you really need all these lumens?".
I took a walk in the woods and, on a pavedor or slightly uneven road, the 250 are enough to move forward. The 1000 lumens turn out to be perfect for those more uneven roads or in those situations where you have to proceed very quickly and you have to see some hypothetical obstacles well and in advance. Obviously place an eye to autonomy.
In my opinion they could be added a fifth mode explicit and not recallable only with the flashlight powered by an external source. The 500 lumens could have become 400 or 450 and should be added a mode between 750 and 850 lumens.
All in all it is a nice small flashlight. The support is still firm, although perhaps the silicone band would be better to be made slightly thicker because, with the current size, it seems a bit frail. But only the Time will tell me if I'm right.
You do not hear the lack of a remote key, the one on the flashlight is easily detecable if you are bare-handed. The UI is very simple and there are no major difficulties in interacting with the modes.
If you need a bike flashlight without too many frills, do not make too long trips, are looking for the compactness and, if necessary, do not be afraid of having the charging cable between your feet, then you have found the ideal companion for your trips because this Imalent is definitely for you.
Good cycling to everyone.
What do you think of this BG10? Would you buy it? Let me know in the comments HERE
