Do You Trust You Life With You MTB Lights?

It's a serious question, do you trust your life with your MTB lights? Are you riding full speed at night? Or, are you toning it down because you aren't 100% confident? 

I ask because it's no longer a thought of mine when riding at night. It's rare to find a product that every single person raves about, from shop employees to customers that have spent their hard earned money. That’s why we need to talk about Outbound Lighting.

If you’re shredding trails after dark, you know that your light setup is arguably the most important piece of gear you have. It’s the difference between finding your flow and finding the nearest tree or bush. After years of testing (and breaking) just about everything on the market, I can tell you this: from this moment forward, I will only buy Outbound Lights.

This all comes down to three simple reasons, and you need to read the last one. ;)

1. The Best Light Dispersion: Bright, But Not Blown Out.

A lot of lights I have used in the past have given me that "tunnel vision" hot spot you get from 1 LED / beam. Riding with an Outbound light is like bringing daylight to the trail. Their lens technology creates an incredibly wide and even field of view and all of their MTB specific lights get this amazing lens paired with 5-9 LEDs. You aren't just seeing what's 10 feet in front of your tire; you're seeing the whole trail, the corners, the branches, and the critters.

Riding behind friends can be very dusty (especially here in Southern California). This dust + bright lights can create a blinding effect, but this isn't the case with a nicely dispersed beam pattern, like the Outbounds feature. Running a Trail Evo Bar light also drastically improves your ability to see through the blinding cloud.

When you’re going fast, this even dispersion gives you the confidence to look ahead and pick your line, not just react to what's suddenly in your beam. Outbound geeks out over beam patterns and dispersion and you can absolutely see that in the quality of the light. Honestly, the GoPro footage looks amazing, but it doesn't even do it justice. You have to see it in real life.

2. Proven Reliability: Just Look At The Numbers.

I have a tendency to break products, less from skill, but more from lack there of... ;) But, we’re the "Pros," and that means we are the ultimate field testers. In just the last couple of years, we’ve sold over $30,000 worth of Outbound lights to our community. That's over 160 happy customers running these lights in Laguna alone.

Our total number of issues? One.

That's it. One single issue out of thousands of hours of ride time, plenty of gnarly crashes, and muddy conditions. And speaking of that one issue, it was, of course, the very first Outbound light we ever bought—my own. Which leads me perfectly to my last point.

3. Customer Support: A Team That Actually Cares.

This is the big one, to me, the most important selling point. This is what separates a good company from a great one, especially in the bike industry. 

So, we had that one light that failed. It died after a particularly nasty night ride in the pouring rain. It was one of those rides where you know you shouldn't go out, but your yearning for some miles gets the best of you...

Anyways, my light failed after a 2 hour, soaking night ride, and I reached out to Outbound just to see. I didn't get a robot or a generic "fill out this form" reply. I got a call from Tom, the engineer and co-owner at Outbound the next day. 

He wasn't there to just process a warranty claim; he wanted to know what happened so he could find the weak point and make their product better. He asked me a bunch of questions, and in the nicest way possible, he pointed out that I had mounted the light upside down, which caused water to pool at the charge port, and get sucked into the housing as the light cooled down after the ride. 

It was 100% my own fault. They had every opportunity to tell me I messed up and they wouldn't cover it. And what did they do? They still sent out a new light without hesitation. They believe in their products that much, and they stand behind their customers, even when the customer is a bonehead (like me). That's a company that I will continue to give my business to, without hesitation. 

Our Go-To "Pro" Setup

We get asked all the time what our favorite combo is. For me, it’s the Trail Evo on the bars and the Hangover on the helmet.

The Trail Evo is a self-contained powerhouse that throws that signature wide, even beam to illuminate the trail in front of you. Then, you add the Hangover, which is the perfect helmet-mounted spot light. It’s super lightweight (you’ll forget it’s there) and has plenty of power to run on its own, but its real magic is letting you "look" through the corners and spot your line exactly where your head is pointed.

It's the ultimate setup for anyone serious about riding at night.

Look, we know lights are a big investment. But this is one of those "buy nice or buy twice" situations. With Outbound, you’re buying nice. You are buying killer light distribution, great build quality, and insanely good customer support. We trust them, we stand by them, and they’re the only lights we’re running on our bikes - just ask anyone on the Pro Bike Supply Team. 

Stop by the shop or check them out online. It's time to own the night.