Lupine 2014 Piko TL MiniMax Flashlight

by John · 03/12/2013

Lupine 2014 Piko TL MiniMax Flashlight

By Alastair McNeill

Lupine 2014 Piko TL MiniMax Flashlight

As the nights draw in and the amount of daylight training hours decrease, the need to ride at night and often in unpleasant British conditions becomes an unavoidable fact. That’s where I’m hoping the Lupine Piko TL MiniMax flashlight is going to come into its own. Described as a “compact flash light” this sample is provided with an optional tool free bar mount, therefore turning it into “the most modern LED bike light in the world”.

Lupine Piko TL Minimax

But make no mistake, a commuting light this is not. Those familiar with German manufacturer Lupine will know that their products sit right up there at the top end of the lighting systems market and they specialise in producing high performance lighting systems for outdoor sporting activities.

Lupine Piko is compact and powerful

The Piko TL MiniMax (or Bonsai as it is also named) may weigh in at only 145g and measure 87 x 42 x 24mm, but it produces a massive 1200 lumens. It also retails at around £260, so this is clearly a very serious piece of kit. Constructed in CNC milled aluminium, with 3 brightness settings of 50 lumens runtime of 36hrs; 470 lumens runtime 3hrs; and 1200 lumens runtime 1.2hrs. It can also be re-programmed to function in a range of other modes, for example, SOS or Eco mode.

Piko comes with a handlebar mount

Hopefully I’ll never need to use the SOS mode, though after my recent Alpine adventure during the Cristalp I could not rule it out. My intention this season is to use the Piko TL MiniMax to get me safely round pitch black Kent lanes, past the deer in Richmond Park after hours and down Surrey single track during evening mountain biking. Full test review to follow.

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