CatEye considers itself the world’s leading manufacturer of bicycle computers and lights. The Osaka, Japan-based company has been making bike gear since the 1950s, producing the first flashing bike light in 1964 and the first LED headlight 2001. Today, cyclists around the world use CatEye devices to know how fast they’re going and how far they’ve gone, to see the road (or trail) ahead, and to make sure they’re seen by motorists, pedestrians, and their fellow riders.
CatEye bike computers are small and slim, but their screens are designed to be read at a glance. They all serve as speedometers, recording current, average and maximum speed, and odometers, tracking trip and overall mileage. Some provide additional info, such as cadence (pedal revolutions per minute) and heart rate. Most start running automatically when the bike is moved and go into sleep mode when stationary. Many are wireless, with fork-mounted sensors counting revolutions of spoke-mounted magnets and relaying them to the computer on the handlebars.
The wireless Padrone features CatEye’s largest screen, at 2.7 x 1.7", has a stopwatch function, and comes in seven colors. The Micro Wireless has an LED-backlit LCD screen for easy reading. The Strada Wireless anchors a family of computers that includes the Strada Digital Wireless, which displays data from a heart monitor (sold separately), and the wireless Strada Slim, which comes with a sensor so low-profile you might not even notice it on the fork if you didn’t know it was there. The Strada Cadence isn’t wireless, but it measures cadence, a valuable metric for many cyclists who train seriously. If you’re fitness-minded, you may like the Urban Wireless, which reports the number of calories you’ve burned. Entry-level CatEye cyclocomputers include the Velo 7, with its exceptional battery life of three years at one hour of use per day, and the Velo 9, which also tracks calorie consumption.
Since that first CatEye LED headlight was introduced in 2001, light-emitting diodes have become universal in the cycling world, thanks to their tiny size and big output. The Volt line of rechargeable headlights includes models with peak outputs of 400, 800, and 1,600 lumens. They have low, medium, and high settings along with flash and Hyper-Constant, a highly visible hybrid of flashing and steady modes. They’re generally designed for handlebar placement, but the Volt 400 comes with a helmet mount, too. CatEye’s HL-EL135N headlight is somewhat lower tech—it runs on AA batteries—but it’s considerably smaller and less expensive, and boasts an exceptional run time of 320 hours before the AAs need replacing.
Headlights allow you to see, but CatEye has a wide selection of safety lights that let you be seen. The Rapid Mini, Rapid X, Rapid X2, and Rapid X3 are small, lightweight, vertically oriented, rechargeable rear (red) lights with superior visibility from alongside, as well as from behind. The most robust taillight is the Rapid 5 Rear, with five LEDs. There are front (white) and rear versions of the Rapid 3, with three LEDs, including the Rapid 3 Auto Rear, which is activated by motion and darkness, whether the darkness is caused by nightfall or a tunnel. You get a five-LED array in the basic Omni 5 Rear and Omni 5 Front; the three-LED versions, the Omni 3 Front and Omni 3 Rear, are CatEye’s least expensive safety lights, and they get the job done. (For convenience, B&H carries two CatEye kits, one with an HL-EL135H headlight and an Omni 3 tail light and one with front and rear Omni 3s.
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