Blackburn Flea 2.0 USB front & rear combo bike lights

About a month ago I went to my local bike shop to buy a decent pair of bike lights as I commute 30min each way to work every day and the days were getting shorter. The guys in the shop convinced me that the Blackburn Flea 2.0 USB lights were the 'mutt's nuts' - the best thing in the market, super bright and well worth the rather steep GBP 45.00 price tag. Plus they came with a life-long guarantee apparently...

Initially I loved them, they are small and light weight and definitely super bright. But after using them every day I realised that the 'shine time' seemed to get shorter and shorter. I now do not even get two day's worth of commute out of the front lights and that is just about 100min - and that on flash mode! That's far from the 3 hours on steady and 5 hours on flash the manufacturer claim for the front light. The back light is a bit better, it's always on flash and I will get three trips out of it - about 150min while the website claims 6h runtime on steady and 12h on flash. Far off!

Within the month that I had one of the velcro straps has started to disintegrate as well which is a bit annoying after such a short period of time.

And to top it all off, the time it takes to charge the lights seems to be steadily increasing as well and is in no acceptable relation to the time they shine. Yesterday I had the rear light plugged for 4h and when I took it off it still was not fully charged. I then plugged the front light for 1h and it did not even last my 25min trip home.

There is a chance I got a faulty pair and I will take them back to the shop today and see what happens. Generally I love the little lights if only they delivered..! So I am more than happy to give them another try and will amend my review if I am proven wrong.