4 days ago
The Best Bike Lights for Getting Home Safe
These stylish yet affordable lights are impressively secure, but easy to take on and off, twisting neatly into place on their magnetic mounts. The mounts are rubber and adjustable to fit on a wide range of tube sizes, and the rear mount has a practical angle built in, which is perfect for a seat post. Each light offers four modes, with two levels of solid light and two flashing. There are no disruptive flash patterns, though, which is a pity. Battery life is impressive, and charging is simple with USB C (the lights flash green while charging) and only takes two hours. They're IPX4 showerproof, which is fine too, although don't drop them in a puddle. They're surprisingly bright for small lights and keep pace with the Trek Ion 200 RT / Flare RT light set below, but they do have a narrower beam. The lens at the front lights up, so there's a line of visible light from the side. The Treks were more impressive and a bit smaller, but these cost half as much, and they attach and detach from their mounts brilliantly. Specs Dimensions: 1.8 x 1.8 x 1.1 inches front, 2.8 x 1.5 x 1.9 inches rear Weight: 1.2 oz each Lumens: 120 lumens front fixed, 300 lumens front flash; 40 lumens rear fixed, 105 lumens rear flashing
Much more than a rear bike light, this premium option includes a 'rearview' radar and camera. It's solidly built with a superb mount, set at the perfect seat post angle. The light is fairly bright (two levels of fixed brightness, two flash patterns, one disruptive) with excellent side visibility.
To use, you either pair with a Garmin bike computer, or sync to your smartphone via the Garmin app. It doesn't display live video, like a rear view mirror, but videos are stored onboard, allowing you to download them to your phone if needed. The Varia's accelerometer can also automatically detect a collision and saves clear footage (up to 1080p/30fps) from before, during, and after the incident. By day, the camera gives clear footage stamped with date, time, speed, and location. You can usually make out license numbers too. There's no night vision, though, so at night it just picks up what your rear light, and any street lights, illuminate.
The built-in radar alarm loudly alerted me to cars approaching from behind. I could see on my smartphone screen (mounted securely onto my handlebars) how many and how far away they were. It's a great feature, but it is only sensitive to relative movement, so if a nice driver hangs back till it's safe to pass, they vanish. I also paired it with a Garmin Edge 1050 ($600) bike computer, and you can even turn lights on and off from the computer itself. Whether you ride with a map or stats onscreen, radar alerts appear at the sides, again with an audible beep. If you don't already ride with a bike computer, I actually preferred the simplicity of the smartphone screen. Specs Dimensions: 4.1 x 1.7 x 1.3 inches Weight: 5.2 oz each Lumens: 20 lumens fixed, 65 lumens flashing
