Innovative Lighting560-1110 Portable LED Bow Light with Suction Cup

SUCTION POWER. WATERPROOF. LONG BATTERY LIFE. I bought this product ~4 years ago to use on my one person outrigger canoe - about 22 feet long. You are not required to have a red/green light (only a white one) At that length but since it is the correct coast guard complaint lighting for longer boats, I also use it on dragon boat and outrigger canoes (40-45 ft long) at those dusk practices. It’s not so bright as to disturb my vision and paddling, as seeing the light reflect off my top arm was also an annoyance to me. To be clear, this is not to illuminate the water or the area around you, only for you to be seen by other boaters. It’s COMPLETELY waterproof. Dunked this guy, even lost him in the harbor to soak and it still worked. It takes 4 double AAs, I think, but I’ve had it for years and I only remember having to replace them once. The suction cup is stronggggg and will adhere to any smooth surface, sticking even through a battering of waves and the times I’ve flipped over too. It only lost some suction power after about 4 years of using it at least once a week, which is when I bought another one without hesitation. Loyal to the death with this product. You can also adjust it so that the light faces straight up, which is ideal to make you visible from all directions. Just make sure you orient correctly!! Red right returning

I use this for evening/night paddling with both my kayak and paddleboard. It's easy to attach and seems to provide enough light for visibility. The suction seems strong (you have to have a smooth surface for proper attachment). I wish it came with a lanyard, but attached my own paracord lanyard for cheap insurance.My other comment is that the on/off switch is surrounded by a slightly raised lip. I understand that this makes it hard to turn on accidentally, but it makes it virtually impossible to use my paddle to turn the light on at dusk. While this is not a major problem on my SUP, the light sits far enough forward on my kayak that I have to beach the boat and get out to turn it on.

I have to ding it one star simply for using an M6 mounting screw. Why not something more standard like a 1/4-20? If you want to mount it as opposed to using the suction cup you can do that either on the bottom or the back end. Problem is, if you are mounting it on an aluminum boat you should use aluminum screws. M6 aluminum screws are proving to be difficult to find. 1/4-20 is the standard for photographic and other equipment that uses similar mounts world wide, even in countries that use a real measurement system (metric) as opposed to the idiotic English system. I wish the metric system would be adopted by the US and devices that use things like 1/4-20 world wide would be switched to metric but that's not likely to ever happen. So I really wish they had used 1/4-20 for this device. End of rant-- maybe I should just salute them for making an effort to change things! Otherwise, it works great, it needs four AA batteries and although I haven't yet determined how long a set of batteries will last, being LED it's likely to be a very long time.mk

This is a fantastic system for my wife's sit-in Wilderness Systems 120 Pungo kayak. No drilling required and the suction cup hold strongly on the kayak's smooth surface. It gives great light for other evening, night, pre-dawn, and fog-engulfed water traffic on our busy 800 acre inland lake. The brightness of the light for the other traffic does not impact her forward, port, starboard, or night sky views.One suggestion. Tie a long lanyard to the light. Have it reach all the way from the light when mounted on the bow and attach it to the seat of the kayak. If the suction releases ... which it has done only once all season ... my wife can easily retrieve the light and re-stick it right in front of her without getting out of the boat. We also love and use the companion stern light made by Innovative Lighting.

It was the big weekend and everyone was coming to Cedar Creek Lake for boating, water skiing and fishing at night on my 2010 Chris Craft. To my surprise, the boat's Nav Lights suddenly stopped working the day before and I was not having success tracing down the problem. So, I bought the Innovative Lighting Portable LED Bow Light and it worked like a champ! It comes standard with green and red sides and includes a suction cup for easy placement and installation on the bow.The inexpensive Nav light arrived the next day and all I had to do is place the battery powered light and suction cup on top of the boat front bow and turn it on. We used it all night and it never failed us. And, the suction cup held rock-solid even when the boat was moving through some choppy water.LakeHouseLifer is an outdoor recreation site that celebrates boating, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, camping and the outdoors, SO WE UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF PERFORMANCE AND SAFETY FOR ANYTHING MARINE RELATED! I highly recommend you buy and keep an Innovative Lighting Bow Light as a spare in your boat for when you might need a Nav Light in the middle of a lake!

Update:Unlike some of the other reviews, I received great customer service and they replaced the lights. I have not used the new lights long enough to see if the same issue is avoided, but I am sure to open up and air dry the inside of the lights immediately after use.Original Post:I bought two of these and they were great for a couple of months. The suction cup on these held to a flat surface superbly well. These were on two separate rowing boats that were always stored inside and the lights were never submerged. Yet both managed to gain considerable moisture inside, so much so that the inside would get coated with rust. The coils that connect to the negative battery terminal rusted so much they fell off.Of the two that I ordered, one didn't last long enough to have the batteries replaced, the other lasted slightly longer, but suffered the same fate.Several other teammates sprung the extra $10 for the similar Aqua Signal light and have had no issues to date. I regret not doing the same.