I wrote about the Supernova Airstream as a bonus in the G VOLT70 article,
but that also got pretty long, so I've made it a separate post.
The title says "I bought it," but I actually owned it before the VOLT6000, so it's been over three years now.
This is a Supernova AIRSTREAM front light.
The mounting bracket is a Cateye H-34 bracket, but I'll get to that later.
According to the Japanese distributor's specs, it maxes out at 370 lumens,
but I'm pretty sure that's not true. It's not that bright.
That said, when I checked, there actually is a source claiming 370 lumens,
so the distributor isn't actively lying—they're just translating what's out there.
The finned body design is just too cool, you know?
With Cateye's high-brightness LED front lights—say, the VOLT800 or VOLT1700—if you set them to high and touch the tip of the body, you can feel it heating up right away.
With the VOLT6000's max mode (called Dynamic, not High), at 6000 lumens, you can't even hold your hand in front of it because of the heat.
But with this Airstream, even on its brightest "Mode 1," you barely feel any heat.
Is it because the cooling fins are doing their job? Nope.
I tested it stationary, where airflow wouldn't help, and it was the same.
Well, I thought that anyway, but while researching for this article,
I let it sit in Mode 1 for several minutes and it did get pretty warm.
When you mount it on the handlebar and ride, the fins don't actually need to cool anything—air cooling happens naturally,
but whether it cools noticeably better without fins... I can't say for sure.
It's reasonably bright. The Airstream states outright that it's
"the brightest front light in the world compliant with StVZO regulations,"
and that might have actually been true before the G VOLT50 and VOLT80 came out.
Supernova, by the way, is a German manufacturer.
↑This hole houses an LED element, and
it looks like there are three of them spaced 120° apart,
but that's not actually the case—only the single LED in the center lights up.
The Airstream's lens also has a circular depression in the center.
When I point it at a nearby wall, it looks like this,
and when actually illuminating the ground from around handlebar height, it looks like this.
The beam pattern is rectangular, with overlapping light forward,
and both the color and distribution are perfectly tuned.
For lighting asphalt at night, I'd say it's better than a simple circular beam light at revealing surface texture and contours.
But in theory, since the beam is narrower—especially in the overlapping center section—the brightest Mode 1 should be brighter than the center of a VOLT400's High, but in reality the Airstream is slightly dimmer.
I suspect the Airstream's Mode 1 is actually under 370 lumens,
but I also think its beam distribution and visibility at the same lumen output are superior to competitors.
The important question is "can you use it for night training," and the answer is yes, absolutely.
Compared to a VOLT400, I'd be torn. But
right now, with the VOLT800 existing as a model that dominates on sheer absolute brightness,
the price-to-brightness ratio is pretty rough,
so I can't really recommend it unless you're buying for the design (though I personally like it).
The problem isn't Supernova—it's just that Cateye's price-to-brightness ratio is so good.
By the way, the Japanese list prices (pre-tax) are:
VOLT400 at ¥8,500, VOLT800 at ¥16,000,
and the Airstream at ¥27,000.
I'm an actual owner, and I think I have the right to say what I want, flaws and all.
I doubt whatever I write here changes the sales of a ¥27,000 front light anyway.
About that beam pattern: if I flip the light 180° without changing the body height or optical axis,
the beam shifts pretty far forward.
To get the same beam pattern when flipped, you'd have to point the body almost straight down,
so the Airstream can't be mounted upside down either.
About the Airstream's modes:
From off, you double-click to turn it on.
It always turns on in Mode 1. A short press cycles brightness,
but within the normal mode range, there's no blinking (which is really nice).
Double-clicking during Modes 1–4 switches to blinking.
The runtime for blinking mode isn't specified, but since Mode 4 constant gives 24 hours,
I'd guess the blinking lasts several tens of hours on a full charge.
A short press from blinking returns to constant mode, but
regardless of which mode was blinking, it always goes back to Mode 1.
A long press while lit turns it off
(though it's not shown in the diagram, you can also long-press while blinking to turn it off).
Mode 1 and Mode 2 don't differ much in brightness.
When you switch, it gets just slightly dimmer—you barely notice it.
The button area has tiny green and red LEDs
that show battery status in four levels:
green only → green and red → red only → red blinking.
After about an hour of Mode 1 use, it switches from green-only to green-and-red.
The light body and bracket are held together with hex socket countersunk screws.
In the factory state, the taper surface contact pressure of the screw is set to that sweet spot where
you can change the angle by hand, but vibration won't cause the body to sag downward.
It's hard to replicate that balance, so best not to touch it
(you shouldn't need to anyway).
This is the stock bracket.
It rotates relative to the body, so as shown in the image it can mount to a handlebar,
and rotated 90° it can mount to the stem above the clamp.
The adapter comes with two sizes of rubber spacers.
This one is the thicker version, supposed to work with 26.0mm diameter, but
Supernova's stock clamp band is oddly thick,
and it won't grip properly on 26.0mm—let alone larger sizes.
I used Topeak's band for their portable pump instead.
But that wasn't ideal either, so I modified it and swapped in a Cateye FlexTite bracket.
I normally use the VOLT800 on Low/200 lumens.
When I hit a dark section with no streetlights, I briefly double-click to switch to High/800 lumens,
but the Airstream's Mode 1 is brighter than the VOLT800's Low.
So it's definitely over 200 lumens.
The Airstream currently in Japanese distributor stock comes with
an anodized finish that's like a slightly lighter Ultegra gray,
and it's the same unit I've been showing in the photos.
But about two years ago, the Airstream (henceforth I'll call it Airstream 1)
was replaced in Germany by the Airstream 2 model, and the homepage now only shows Airstream 2.
Airstream 1's manual lists runtime for each mode and that
the color temperature is 6500 Kelvin, and that Mode 4 and blinking don't meet German traffic law requirements for a headlight,
but it doesn't specify any brightness in lumens or lux.
I found a source online stating that Airstream 1's max is 370 lumens,
so that was definitely the claimed spec back then.
The distributor was probably just translating that.
The Airstream 2 has a black anodized body and appears on the current homepage,
and its brightness is clearly stated as 205 lumens.
The runtime for Modes 1–3 is the same as Airstream 1,
with Mode 4 being 14 hours (down from 24 hours on Airstream 1—and that spec comes straight from the manual, so it's reliable).
The battery is listed as 2500 mAh (milliamp-hours) for both 1 and 2, though I can't confirm if they're actually identical.
How is that even possible?
Same discharge capacity, but one's supposedly 370 lumens and the other 205,
yet Modes 1–3 have identical runtime?
I've never seen an Airstream 2 in person, but I doubt
Airstream 1 is actually 205 lumens.
Just going by eye, as I mentioned before,
Airstream 1's Mode 1 is definitely brighter than VOLT800's Low/200 lumens.
There's no way it's just around 200 lumens.
And compared to VOLT800's Mid/400 lumens,
the VOLT800's Mid is only slightly brighter than the overlapping center section of the Airstream 1's beam,
which covers most of the circular beam area. So
Airstream 1's Mode 1 is clearly under 400 lumens, and it's questionable whether it hits 370...
(if pushed to choose between 205 and 370, it's definitely closer to 370, though).
If Cateye's most compact high-brightness LED light (※) was the VOLT400,
I'd have said earlier that I'd go with the Airstream 1 for night training instead of "torn."
The beam distribution really is excellent.
But the reality is that VOLT800 exists, and once you get used to the convenience of being able to crank it to 800 lumens for total-darkness sections,
the Airstream 1 rarely sees the light of day.
With VOLT, you can swap batteries on the road, so for long nighttime riding rather than just training—like brevets—there's basically no alternative to VOLT.
※Stated weight: VOLT800 is 140g, VOLT400 is 120g,
VOLT1700 is 256.3g (bigger body though), VOLT400XC is 95g, and Airstream 1 is 165g.
The recently released VOLT400XC has a High/400 lumens runtime of 2.5 hours,
same as Airstream's Mode 1, and if you believe Mode 1 is 370 lumens,
then it's basically the same light when using the brightest mode.
But VOLT400XC has both Daytime Hyper-Constant and blinking in its normal mode cycling,
and its constant modes are just High and Low, with Low at 100 lumens/13.5 hours—
long runtime but a bit dim. That's the downside.
The notation "Daytime Hyper-Constant" (not "Daytime Hyper-Constant")
isn't a typo—
that's actually how it's listed on the Cateye homepage for the VOLT400XC only,
so I interpreted it to mean the official name for this model's Daytime Hyper-Constant is "Daytime Hyper-Constant"
(though there's a separate "Daytime Hyper-Constant" listed below—never mind that).
About a hidden advantage of the Airstream:
In this image, I've tilted the Airstream bracket all the way forward,
and when I pull it back as far as I can, it looks like this.
↑VOLT800
↑Airstream
Since the Airstream's light source sits further back,
it illuminates more of the Polar screen mounted at the stem front.
This is possible even with the stock bracket, not just with my Cateye mod.
The Airstream has this part that pointlessly glows when lit.
It looks cool.
The light comes with an AC adapter for charging, and
the connector on the body looks like this, but
there's also a separately available USB adapter cable.
On a different note,
this is the Cateye "Rapid Charger 2" accessory.
Product number 5342620—it's a charger dedicated to VOLT300-series batteries,
↑and it charges like this,
but unlike the original Rapid Charger,
if you twist the end,
it switches to USB power output from the charged battery.
You can use it to charge a smartphone and such.
With the VOLT800, you can't keep it lit while charging.
When charging starts, it turns off.
But the Airstream can stay lit while charging.
The connector has a waterproof cap, which obviously has to come off while charging.
If you're going to use it this way, you'd have to tie the VOLT battery and charger to the stem or something,
which doesn't look clean.
So while technically possible, charging-while-running isn't very practical.
With the VOLT800, carrying a spare battery and swapping as needed
is far more elegant.
Supernova focuses on hub dynamo lights, and
for battery-powered lights designed for handlebar mounting,
the Airstream is their only offering.
Update: There's also the E3 PURE HBM, which is hub-dynamo based and designed for handlebar mounting.
I received a comment about this, so I'm adding it. Thank you.
There's an adapter called "THE PLUG III" that lets you power the Airstream from a hub dynamo.
It's a stem top-cap type part with a USB female connector
(you run wiring down the fork steerer, so full-carbon forks basically can't use it),
and the USB cable from earlier is actually meant for this.
Search "THE PLUG III" and you'll find it connected not just to lights but to GPS computers
and smartphones set up as cycle computers.
Since power comes from the hub dynamo, as long as you keep riding,
the runtime is basically infinite.
The ability to stay lit while charging is designed with hub dynamo use in mind,
but the Airstream manual states
"in Modes 1 and 2, discharge exceeds charging,"
so if you're connecting a smartphone, you should probably also use
a power pack like the one from Cinq mentioned below.
There's a manufacturer called "CINQ,"
and Cinq (yes, Cinq) is the French word for five.
Cinq makes a product called "PLUG III" (CINQ PLUG III),
and Supernova's PLUG III is their OEM version.
Cinq has released newer models on their end, like the PLUG 5 PLUS with a built-in power pack,
so if you're interested, look it up.
CINQ is French, but their homepage's primary language is German
with English as the other option, so they seem to be a German company.
By the way, five in German is Fünf
(FÜNF—I prefer the umlaut spelling to "Huenf" or whatever).
but that also got pretty long, so I've made it a separate post.
The title says "I bought it," but I actually owned it before the VOLT6000, so it's been over three years now.
This is a Supernova AIRSTREAM front light.
The mounting bracket is a Cateye H-34 bracket, but I'll get to that later.
According to the Japanese distributor's specs, it maxes out at 370 lumens,
but I'm pretty sure that's not true. It's not that bright.
That said, when I checked, there actually is a source claiming 370 lumens,
so the distributor isn't actively lying—they're just translating what's out there.
The finned body design is just too cool, you know?
With Cateye's high-brightness LED front lights—say, the VOLT800 or VOLT1700—if you set them to high and touch the tip of the body, you can feel it heating up right away.
With the VOLT6000's max mode (called Dynamic, not High), at 6000 lumens, you can't even hold your hand in front of it because of the heat.
But with this Airstream, even on its brightest "Mode 1," you barely feel any heat.
Is it because the cooling fins are doing their job? Nope.
I tested it stationary, where airflow wouldn't help, and it was the same.
Well, I thought that anyway, but while researching for this article,
I let it sit in Mode 1 for several minutes and it did get pretty warm.
When you mount it on the handlebar and ride, the fins don't actually need to cool anything—air cooling happens naturally,
but whether it cools noticeably better without fins... I can't say for sure.
It's reasonably bright. The Airstream states outright that it's
"the brightest front light in the world compliant with StVZO regulations,"
and that might have actually been true before the G VOLT50 and VOLT80 came out.
Supernova, by the way, is a German manufacturer.
↑This hole houses an LED element, and
it looks like there are three of them spaced 120° apart,
but that's not actually the case—only the single LED in the center lights up.
The Airstream's lens also has a circular depression in the center.
When I point it at a nearby wall, it looks like this,
and when actually illuminating the ground from around handlebar height, it looks like this.
The beam pattern is rectangular, with overlapping light forward,
and both the color and distribution are perfectly tuned.
For lighting asphalt at night, I'd say it's better than a simple circular beam light at revealing surface texture and contours.
But in theory, since the beam is narrower—especially in the overlapping center section—the brightest Mode 1 should be brighter than the center of a VOLT400's High, but in reality the Airstream is slightly dimmer.
I suspect the Airstream's Mode 1 is actually under 370 lumens,
but I also think its beam distribution and visibility at the same lumen output are superior to competitors.
The important question is "can you use it for night training," and the answer is yes, absolutely.
Compared to a VOLT400, I'd be torn. But
right now, with the VOLT800 existing as a model that dominates on sheer absolute brightness,
the price-to-brightness ratio is pretty rough,
so I can't really recommend it unless you're buying for the design (though I personally like it).
The problem isn't Supernova—it's just that Cateye's price-to-brightness ratio is so good.
By the way, the Japanese list prices (pre-tax) are:
VOLT400 at ¥8,500, VOLT800 at ¥16,000,
and the Airstream at ¥27,000.
I doubt whatever I write here changes the sales of a ¥27,000 front light anyway.
About that beam pattern: if I flip the light 180° without changing the body height or optical axis,
the beam shifts pretty far forward.
To get the same beam pattern when flipped, you'd have to point the body almost straight down,
so the Airstream can't be mounted upside down either.
About the Airstream's modes:
From off, you double-click to turn it on.
It always turns on in Mode 1. A short press cycles brightness,
but within the normal mode range, there's no blinking (which is really nice).
Double-clicking during Modes 1–4 switches to blinking.
The runtime for blinking mode isn't specified, but since Mode 4 constant gives 24 hours,
I'd guess the blinking lasts several tens of hours on a full charge.
A short press from blinking returns to constant mode, but
regardless of which mode was blinking, it always goes back to Mode 1.
A long press while lit turns it off
(though it's not shown in the diagram, you can also long-press while blinking to turn it off).
Mode 1 and Mode 2 don't differ much in brightness.
When you switch, it gets just slightly dimmer—you barely notice it.
The button area has tiny green and red LEDs
that show battery status in four levels:
green only → green and red → red only → red blinking.
After about an hour of Mode 1 use, it switches from green-only to green-and-red.
The light body and bracket are held together with hex socket countersunk screws.
In the factory state, the taper surface contact pressure of the screw is set to that sweet spot where
you can change the angle by hand, but vibration won't cause the body to sag downward.
It's hard to replicate that balance, so best not to touch it
(you shouldn't need to anyway).
This is the stock bracket.
It rotates relative to the body, so as shown in the image it can mount to a handlebar,
and rotated 90° it can mount to the stem above the clamp.
The adapter comes with two sizes of rubber spacers.
This one is the thicker version, supposed to work with 26.0mm diameter, but
Supernova's stock clamp band is oddly thick,
and it won't grip properly on 26.0mm—let alone larger sizes.
I used Topeak's band for their portable pump instead.
But that wasn't ideal either, so I modified it and swapped in a Cateye FlexTite bracket.
I normally use the VOLT800 on Low/200 lumens.
When I hit a dark section with no streetlights, I briefly double-click to switch to High/800 lumens,
but the Airstream's Mode 1 is brighter than the VOLT800's Low.
So it's definitely over 200 lumens.
The Airstream currently in Japanese distributor stock comes with
an anodized finish that's like a slightly lighter Ultegra gray,
and it's the same unit I've been showing in the photos.
But about two years ago, the Airstream (henceforth I'll call it Airstream 1)
was replaced in Germany by the Airstream 2 model, and the homepage now only shows Airstream 2.
Airstream 1's manual lists runtime for each mode and that
the color temperature is 6500 Kelvin, and that Mode 4 and blinking don't meet German traffic law requirements for a headlight,
but it doesn't specify any brightness in lumens or lux.
I found a source online stating that Airstream 1's max is 370 lumens,
so that was definitely the claimed spec back then.
The distributor was probably just translating that.
The Airstream 2 has a black anodized body and appears on the current homepage,
and its brightness is clearly stated as 205 lumens.
The runtime for Modes 1–3 is the same as Airstream 1,
with Mode 4 being 14 hours (down from 24 hours on Airstream 1—and that spec comes straight from the manual, so it's reliable).
The battery is listed as 2500 mAh (milliamp-hours) for both 1 and 2, though I can't confirm if they're actually identical.
How is that even possible?
Same discharge capacity, but one's supposedly 370 lumens and the other 205,
yet Modes 1–3 have identical runtime?
I've never seen an Airstream 2 in person, but I doubt
Airstream 1 is actually 205 lumens.
Just going by eye, as I mentioned before,
Airstream 1's Mode 1 is definitely brighter than VOLT800's Low/200 lumens.
There's no way it's just around 200 lumens.
And compared to VOLT800's Mid/400 lumens,
the VOLT800's Mid is only slightly brighter than the overlapping center section of the Airstream 1's beam,
which covers most of the circular beam area. So
Airstream 1's Mode 1 is clearly under 400 lumens, and it's questionable whether it hits 370...
(if pushed to choose between 205 and 370, it's definitely closer to 370, though).
If Cateye's most compact high-brightness LED light (※) was the VOLT400,
I'd have said earlier that I'd go with the Airstream 1 for night training instead of "torn."
The beam distribution really is excellent.
But the reality is that VOLT800 exists, and once you get used to the convenience of being able to crank it to 800 lumens for total-darkness sections,
the Airstream 1 rarely sees the light of day.
With VOLT, you can swap batteries on the road, so for long nighttime riding rather than just training—like brevets—there's basically no alternative to VOLT.
※Stated weight: VOLT800 is 140g, VOLT400 is 120g,
VOLT1700 is 256.3g (bigger body though), VOLT400XC is 95g, and Airstream 1 is 165g.
The recently released VOLT400XC has a High/400 lumens runtime of 2.5 hours,
same as Airstream's Mode 1, and if you believe Mode 1 is 370 lumens,
then it's basically the same light when using the brightest mode.
But VOLT400XC has both Daytime Hyper-Constant and blinking in its normal mode cycling,
and its constant modes are just High and Low, with Low at 100 lumens/13.5 hours—
long runtime but a bit dim. That's the downside.
The notation "Daytime Hyper-Constant" (not "Daytime Hyper-Constant")
isn't a typo—
that's actually how it's listed on the Cateye homepage for the VOLT400XC only,
so I interpreted it to mean the official name for this model's Daytime Hyper-Constant is "Daytime Hyper-Constant"
(though there's a separate "Daytime Hyper-Constant" listed below—never mind that).
About a hidden advantage of the Airstream:
In this image, I've tilted the Airstream bracket all the way forward,
and when I pull it back as far as I can, it looks like this.
↑VOLT800
↑Airstream
Since the Airstream's light source sits further back,
it illuminates more of the Polar screen mounted at the stem front.
This is possible even with the stock bracket, not just with my Cateye mod.
The Airstream has this part that pointlessly glows when lit.
It looks cool.
The light comes with an AC adapter for charging, and
the connector on the body looks like this, but
there's also a separately available USB adapter cable.
On a different note,
this is the Cateye "Rapid Charger 2" accessory.
Product number 5342620—it's a charger dedicated to VOLT300-series batteries,
↑and it charges like this,
but unlike the original Rapid Charger,
if you twist the end,
it switches to USB power output from the charged battery.
You can use it to charge a smartphone and such.
With the VOLT800, you can't keep it lit while charging.
When charging starts, it turns off.
But the Airstream can stay lit while charging.
The connector has a waterproof cap, which obviously has to come off while charging.
If you're going to use it this way, you'd have to tie the VOLT battery and charger to the stem or something,
which doesn't look clean.
So while technically possible, charging-while-running isn't very practical.
With the VOLT800, carrying a spare battery and swapping as needed
is far more elegant.
Supernova focuses on hub dynamo lights, and
for battery-powered lights designed for handlebar mounting,
the Airstream is their only offering.
Update: There's also the E3 PURE HBM, which is hub-dynamo based and designed for handlebar mounting.
I received a comment about this, so I'm adding it. Thank you.
There's an adapter called "THE PLUG III" that lets you power the Airstream from a hub dynamo.
It's a stem top-cap type part with a USB female connector
(you run wiring down the fork steerer, so full-carbon forks basically can't use it),
and the USB cable from earlier is actually meant for this.
Search "THE PLUG III" and you'll find it connected not just to lights but to GPS computers
and smartphones set up as cycle computers.
Since power comes from the hub dynamo, as long as you keep riding,
the runtime is basically infinite.
The ability to stay lit while charging is designed with hub dynamo use in mind,
but the Airstream manual states
"in Modes 1 and 2, discharge exceeds charging,"
so if you're connecting a smartphone, you should probably also use
a power pack like the one from Cinq mentioned below.
There's a manufacturer called "CINQ,"
and Cinq (yes, Cinq) is the French word for five.
Cinq makes a product called "PLUG III" (CINQ PLUG III),
and Supernova's PLUG III is their OEM version.
Cinq has released newer models on their end, like the PLUG 5 PLUS with a built-in power pack,
so if you're interested, look it up.
CINQ is French, but their homepage's primary language is German
with English as the other option, so they seem to be a German company.
By the way, five in German is Fünf
(FÜNF—I prefer the umlaut spelling to "Huenf" or whatever).