Electron Pod USB twinpack

The Electron Pod light set comprises two small rechargeable lights that give a useful amount of visibility both during the day and at night-time. Available in a range of colours, the Pods are also available singly, so you don't need to buy the set if you only need one or the other.

Modern battery tech, LEDs and optic design mean that lights just keep getting smaller, and these are among the smallest I've used, each a little cuboid that butts up to the seatpost and handlebar. They fix to your bike via simple silicone straps with a couple of holes at each end, giving some flexibility for different sized handlebars and seatposts.

> Find your nearest dealer here

The main light bodies are made from aluminium and ABS plastic and feel well made. Each has a silicone piece at the rear, which simply pushes onto the main unit, a little like a small square (rubbery) piece of Lego. Behind this is the micro-USB charging port, and the pressure that fixing the light to your bike creates between these two parts is what keeps the water at bay. I had no issus with water ingress.

At the front is a plastic lens that does a pretty decent job of directing the light available out. Electron claims 50 lumens at the front and 15 at the rear. The front light is primarily a "be seen" light for use in streetlit night-time riding or to help be sure you're seen in the daytime, rather than one that I'd want to use to see by for any significant amount of riding in the dark unless I was going at a sedate pace.

Operation is pretty simple – you just push the lens of each light. Double-click to turn it on, click to cycle through the modes and hold to switch off. It's a pretty familiar approach that we've seen on plenty of other lights. There's not a whole lot of tactile feedback when operating that switch, it must be said – it feels like the lens is just a bit loose. I'd like it better if there was a nice solid click. That said, it's perfectly easy to operate, even when you've got thick gloves on.

The Pods have lithium-ion batteries built in, and battery life is decent, especially when you consider how tiny they are. The front light will run for 2.5 hours on steady full power, and 50 hours on flashing, with the other modes falling between these extremes. At the rear, you get 4 and 70 hours respectively. I tested the full power modes and the claimed times are pretty accurate, although I'd expect a bit less in colder temperatures.

Micro-USB is pretty standard nowadays unless you're an iPhone user, but Electron includes a couple of short cables which will work in any USB port or charger. In order to charge, you simply pull the rubbery block off the back of the light to reveal the port. Unlike the small flaps that more commonly cover charger ports on bike lights, there's nothing to retain the backs of the lights, so you need to be careful not to lose these blocks; they're a little vulnerable to disappearing into the bottom of a rucksack never to be seen again, in my view, and without them the lights aren't much use.

There are concave indentations to fit the handlebar and seatpost, plus an additional block for the rear light with a V-shaped cutout to suit aero seatposts.

The beams from both lights are of a similar shape, which is to say a relatively tight circular shape, which is really quite bright for a light this size. I used them on a foggy day and my riding companions reported that the rear light made a real difference to rearward visibility.

Outside the central beam the lights are still pretty visible, and there are also small orange side ports that allow a little light out. Output through these ports isn't especially bright, but they're better than nothing, although 90-degree side visibility isn't as good as something like the Cateye Rapid X. 

The front light has quite a blueish hue. Out of curiosity I tried using it on the fast, dark Wiltshire roads I commute on. I was fairly comfortable at 20kph with just enough beam throw to avoid the potholes, but on the faster sections downhill I was more reliant on my memory of the road than the detail I could actually pick out from the light. For this sort of riding, I think that 300 lumens is around the minimum I'm comfortable with.

> Need more power? Check out our front light beam comparison engine

As well as a high and low constant mode, there are also flashing and pulsing modes. Flashing is pretty eye-catching, so works well as a daytime light, though it might not be popular if you're riding with others.

One area where the Pods aren't particularly great is in how they indicate battery charge levels, both in use and when charging. Lacking any separate charge indicator LED, it's all done with the main light. So, if you're running them on a constant setting, they'll flash twice every 5 seconds to warn you the battery is low (Electron doesn't give a percentage). And if you're on flashing mode then it does the opposite – staying constant for 2 seconds every 5 seconds. Once you've had the warning, you've got around 15 minutes on high power constant before they power off, so if you need to go further than that you'll want to switch to a lower power mode.

When you're charging them, it's arguably more opaque still. Connect the USB lead and the light flashes once to tell you it's charging. When you unplug it, it will flash once, twice or three times to tell you the state of charge (0-35%, 36-90% and 91-100% respectively). While charging there is no indicator to show the current status without disconnecting and reconnecting. It works, sure, but it's not nearly as intuitive as the red/green LED indicators that most other lights use.

> Read more road.cc reviews of light sets here

I like these lights because they're so small, unobtrusive and easy to fit. I wouldn't use them alone for my winter commuting, as I need more light for the unlit lanes, but unlike bulkier units I was quite happy leaving them on my best bike to improve my visibility to other road users day and night. At the front in particular, the fact that the light sits neatly in front of the bar rather than on top of it just makes it look a lot sleeker. Probably more aero too, y'know.

At £45 for the set, they are reasonable value given that they successfully combine a decent output with good build quality and the compact size. If you're riding in busy urban streets, you might want to consider lights with more all-around visibility, but for most folk these will do a good job of getting you seen.

Verdict

Surprisingly bright for such dinky lights, and sleek enough not to spoil the lines of your fast bike