Blink/Steady £115 rear light now available in the UK

@ David Arthur

You write, "It’s also the only light we know that uses a motion sensor to automatically switch on and off when you start and stop riding"

but what about CatEye's excellent 'Reflex Auto' which does exactly what's described here i.e. sense movement and light levels, turning itself on accordingly?

I bought one for about 30 quid last year and it's the best light I've ever bought - not as stylishly hipster as this one though but 85 quid cheaper..

Cheers

Huh - I have a Cateye light that clips on my bag that has the same basic function - a motion sensor to automatically switch it on and off, plus a delay for the off switch so it stays on at lights. It is easy to take apart to swap the batteries - I use 2 USB batteries so can charge them on any PC, and use this with another light in case on fails.

Cost, well I've had it years, but probably less than £30....

The price of this thing would make me feel I was riding a light with a bike attached to it!

So how does the battery version of the axa riff auto work then? At £20 it's probably not as clever, but has a 4 minute stand light.

Oh and almost every dynamo light does this, like others have written.

I think I will upgrade from this to 5 led vertical rear light with an on/off switch, wait... done.

My rear LED light is on all the time, I never touch a switch, never change batteries, never need to charge it up. It is securely bolted on and permanently wired up.

It is of course a Busch & Muller Toplight Line Plus Rear Dynamo Light powered by a Schmidt Dynamo.

The front light comes on with a daylight sensor but I have the rear light on all the time. It never goes out at traffic lights.

In 12 months I have not had to touch it at all.

As lights should be!

Wait, the "only light we know that uses a motion sensor to automatically switch on and off when you start and stop riding"? I had that front and rear on my commuter 3 years ago!

http://www.cateye.com/uk/products/detail/TL-LD570-R/

And for about 30 quid at the time - I've seen them for under 20 since. Also I reckon the cateye design's better - its a reflector as well as a light, so does the job when the battery runs out.

Not that they're perfect - I lost 1 to an absolutely chucking it down storm, and 2 more to horsing the bike down rough farm roads, shook one off and the other apart.

edited to add: to folk saying you wouldn't know the battery's dead - these ones came on with a combination of motion and darkness. Putting a hand in front and shaking the bike even a little is enough to know.

Price aside my biggest worry is that since you never need to look at it (to turn it off) you could happily ride for days not realising that the battery is dead.

That and the price which is ridiculous.

Bare with me.

And the price.

I hope that they specified 'aircraft grade' aluminium?

Yeah I guess anti theft becomes important when the light costs so darn much

That hope can be had for not much more than half that, though

I bought one of these as an original backer of the Kickstarter (at a lot less that £115). I haven't got a bad thing to say about it.

The battery life is as long as you'd expect for small LEDs, and it's bright and eye-catching. I haven't really noticed it going out at traffic lights (but then it's mounted under the saddle so hard to notice).

Aside from never being stuck without a light, I like that it's always there and always on - taking the Volvo side lights as a motif - a light even in bright sunlight can sometimes be that little bit extra that's useful. At night I then augment it with a solid rear light.

And it's virtually un-nickable, another big plus.

I'm not sure I'd pay £115 for one, but I'm certainly not selling mine.

Or you could get 115 £1 lights! Which would probably be a bit brighter, in total. Even if fitting them on the bike might present a challenge.

My Son could make one in DT for a fiver.

I would rather have a light thats stays on until I decide to switch it off. I'm waiting a lot longer than 30 seconds at traffic lights so I would rather be seen and drain a smidge of battery life than have a car steam into the back of me because of some pointless sensor.

Aside from that, I like the design, agree with the seatpost fitting but can't understand the price tag, I won't be buying one.

Taking the fucking piss,115 quid for a pissing light ,filthy crroks

but with my silky smooth pedaling style and manchesters pancake flat roads wont the accelerometer think I'm stationary and switch the light off while I'm riding????

Good features but cost is a bit crazy.

I quite like having a bright rear light on in the day time especially when the sun is low or if you are going through areas with shade/sun/shade/sun etc. I suppose you could put some tape over the photosensor

Personally, I would be a little uneasy about a light that switched itself off, after 30 seconds when stationary, especially since there are times when I'm at junctions for much longer than that. And what if I had a prang on a dark country lane? Would I want my rear light to turn itself off 30 seconds after I had "hit the deck"?

Also, I'm curious about the sensor that determines whether the light should be switched on or not. Given the dirt that's inevitably flicked up onto seatpost mounted lights, is it possible that dirt covering the sensor will "fool" the light into thinking that it is time to turn itself on? And, perhaps more alarmingly, if you've got a flash motor coming up behind you, with high power HID headlights, will the sensor be fooled into switching the light off?

But fair play to the designers for realising that seat posts are not usually perpendicular to the ground (and incorporated an appropriate "bend" in the bracket), a situation that designers of some recent "seatpost" lights have either failed to grasp, or have hoped that cyclists are mug enough not to notice.

ooohh Shiny

* You can't take it off without removing seat post. You need wrench for that.
* You can't put it on your new bike with different seat post diameter.
* Your lights will be on when bike is carried by car or train.
* You can't change battery. You need Torx key for that.
* "only" £115

Whaaaat? That must be the worst deal on the market for rear lights!

Ch-ching!

Better to trust the user to switch the light on and off and integrate a small video camera into the light that records to a SD card when the light is activated (if they could get decent picture quality in low light conditions). At least that'd go some way to justifying the cost.

Loving the way you need to unscrew and invert it to switch between flashing and steady. And no side visibility from the looks of it.

I'll stick to my £20 cateye rear lights, ta.

A non-solution for a non-problem. Well done

I always struggle to switch my light on and off, Im always leaving it on as well! An absolute bargain at under 120 quid, me thinks I'll get a couple.

Is 30 seconds long enough for traffic lights?