Melissa, Pennsylvania - "Very sleek, impressive looks. Great remote switch!"

Bob, Connecticut - "And on the first night God said, 'Let there be light.' And the woods lit up."

Shannon, Iowa - "I bought it because I had heard nothing but praises for TurboCats!"

Darrin, Iowa - "This system rocks!! An awesome way to add more hours of riding."

Rob, Arizona - "I'm so happy to finally get rid of my ------ system. Now I can ride in the desert when it's cool outside and the UFO's rule the sky!"

Paul, Kentucky - "Your lights are the best. Excellent construction, performance, and price."

Jon, Tennessee - "Excellent product and your sales and service department is top notch. Thank you."

Alan, Massachusetts - "I'm impressed. Thus far everything that you have claimed is true."

Adam, APO, Europe - "Bitchin system, dudes!"

Mike, Oklahoma - "Best lite on the market period!!!  Have tried higher wattage systems - but see better with yours. Thanks."

Mountain Bike Action
December 1996

TurboCat S47 Review

The TURBOCAT S-47 is by far the most well-thought-out system in this test. With super-effective reflectors and slightly bumped-up battery voltage, TurboCat's tiny lamps put out a hot, white pattem both in high-and low-beam modes. Both lamps are individually adjustable, and the 47's chassis can accommodate a wide range of handle bars and control situations. The lamps swivel on an alloy shaft well forward of the handlebar.

This configuration steers clear of all the cable housings and prevents glare from the powerful lamps from blinding the rider when the time comes to move up and out of the saddle.

Two miniature seatpost quick releases clamp the chassis onto the handle bar, and strips of adhesive-backed rubber protect the handlebar from potentially dan gerous stress risers.

For the amount of light this dual-beam puts out, the Super Series 47 is surprisingly compact and lacks the garage-technology look of so many other lighting systems. All the 47's external wiring is reinforced with shrink tubing, and a great amount of attention has been given to sealing the system. The high beam is activated from a handlebar-mounted switch and the low beam can be controlled from the main power switch on the TurboCat's water bottle/battery case. The TurboCat's dual beams must be preadjusted with set screws and have no provision for in-flight realignment.

While the TurboCat's quick-release latches enable the unit to be installed or removed in seconds, its elegant construction and unobtrusive profile en courage its owner to display it on the bike.

INSTALLING THE TURBOCAT '47

Turbocat's directions are thorough and easy to follow. Included in the box is everything a '47 owner will ever need to in stall the light, including an extra fuse, a host of Velcro bands and zip-ties to route the power cable. To fit the '47 to your bike, you will need a l.5mm and a 2.5mm Allen wrench and about 15 to 20 minutes.

First, the small quick-release levers are adjusted to clamp the handlebar snugly. Slip the Ni-Cad battery case into a sturdy cage, hook up the power cable and adjust the chassis until the low beam focuses about ten feet in front of the bike. Using the tiny l.5mm key, adjust the high beam. Velcro straps are included to secure the battery/bottle and power cable. An adhesive-backed Velcro pad is used to fix the remote high-beam switch to the handlebar. Apply the pad in an accessible po sition and stick the switch to it. The pad remains on the handlebar.

GRABBING THE CAT BY THE TAIL

Once the TurboCat '47 is dialed in, it's riding as usual-the '47 needs no further fiddling. Its high beam projects an elongated oval pattern and its low beam is a much wider, diffused flood. Both beams are hot white in color, which makes maneuvering through dubious sections in low beam a real possibility. Ascending moderate singletrack was no problem with only the 47's 12-watt lamp burning, and that's a good thing.

The TurboCat is conservatively rated at 2.7 hours in low-beam mode, and with both beams burning, you would sap the batteries in 40 minutes! The best performance was attained by punching up the high beams at speed and as-needed in tech nical sections. In this manner, we could easily get two hours out of the '47. At speed, test riders learned to trust the TurboCat, partially because it cranked out a heap o' light, but the real plus was its whiter-than-average brilliance.

Earth tones suck up much of the yellow spectrum, and the '47's snowy beam enhanced the contrast and textures of the terrain, noticeably improving depth perception. The TurboCat's low beam was strong enough to enhance both the width and brilliance of the base of its high beam. This made negotiating twisty singletrack a more enjoyable experience.

When the time came to attack the descents, the TurboCat looked far enough down the road to allow big-chainring speed; however, none of the lights in this test allowed us to downhill without reservation. The 47's beam concentrated a lot of light about 30 feet in front of the bike, which seemed to work well at speed (Nightsun and Cat Eye also shared this performance secret).

TURBO TRAVAILS

There was little to dislike about the '47, but MBA's detail detectives did have a couple of concerns. One was the tiny, 1.5mm Allen key that fixed the set screws on each lamp. We figured that we would strip the wrench or lose it. Imagine the difticulty of finding the microscopic key if one accidentally dropped it on the trail. The other peeve was the relatively short run time of the '47.

TURBOCAT DETAILS

Power: 12-watt low beam; 35-watt high beam; 47 watts combined.

Battery type: 13.2-volt Ni-Cad battery (bottle-mount case).

Burn time: 2.7 hours (low beam); 0.6 hours (high beam); 1.5 hours average.

Total system weight: 2 Ib. 7.5 oz.

Price: $289.

TC comments: All hex keys supplied. Haven't heard of stripped allen or lost key yet! Once set, you don't mess with the allens. After initial setup, installation takes about a minute. S32 provides longer run time without much sacrifice in performance.