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review
RSP Silicone 3 LED rear light£19.99
VERDICT:
Practical, packed with features and modestly priced. A very good light indeed
Weight:
45g
Contact:
www.raleigh.co.uk
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
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This cute wee RSP Silicone 3 LED rear light has plenty going for it: USB charging, a rubber strap that will fit any bike, a built in reflector and a rrp of just £20.
The LED revolution has worked wonders for rear lights. The addition of USB charging adds versatility and silicone straps mean that clunky mounting bracket are a thing of the past. I'm all in favour of that but what I'm not so keen on is the arms race to produce rear lights that are more like weapons than safety aids.
What I really liked about the Silicone is that while it has enough power to make you visible from miles away, it does so without resorting to the kind of willy-waving boastfulness of other (more expensive) lights. Nor does it have the kind of flashing patterns that would induce a marble statue to twitch. No, you just get three LEDs, one main beam and two supplementary and three patterns - steady, flash and alternate. I also rather like that the three LEDs make the light look a bit like a robot, but that's just me.
The strap is pretty basic - you can't adjust the angle - but it does the job and as this is not a BLINDING BEACON OV DETH it's not such a big deal. The light itself has a nice long clip with security noggins on both sides, which means it's ideal for clipping to panniers, saddle-bags etc.
Charging is dead simple- just pull out the silicone plug and attach it to a PC using standard USB lead. Charging time is quoted at 2.5hrs and maximum runtime on full beam is 11hrs. It make the Silicone 3 a great proposition for commuters. I gave it my usual backyard hose test, which it passed with flying colours, so waterproofing isn't a problem.
Overall I really liked this light. It has all of the good features you'd want from a modern LED rear light but without any of the boastfulness and hubris of pricier offerings.
Verdict
Practical, packed with features and modestly priced. A very good light indeed
road.cc test report
Make and model: RSP Silicone 3 LED rear light
Size tested: n/a
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
None! Nothing! Zip! Which perhaps befits a light that eschews boastfulness.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
1 High performance LED + 2 LED
Integrated reflector
Li Ion internal battery
USB rechargeable
2.5 hour USB charge time
Full beam 11 hours
Silicone strap - swap from bike to bike with ease!
Flashing and constant modes
Water resistant
Integrated bracket
Rate the product for quality of construction:
7/10
Rate the product for performance:
8/10
All round visibility is excellent, it's bright enough to be seen from miles away and it won't annoy or blind traffic coming up behind you.
Rate the product for durability:
7/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
9/10
Do you care about the weight of your rear light? If you do, this weighs almost nothing.
Rate the product for value:
8/10
At a RRP of £20 and online at £16, this is great value for the features and performance on offer.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Excellent.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
Value, practicality and lack of pretension.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Nothing.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.
Would you consider buying the product? Yes.
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.
Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?
A really well thought out light. Lovely.
About the tester
Age: 42 Height: 5' 8 Weight: er....85kg
I usually ride: Kona Dew Drop, Dawes Century SE, Carlton Corsa My best bike is: Guess SC1 scandium
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Experienced
I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, Audax and long distance solo rides
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13 comments
RSP Silicone rear light seems awesome for bicycle lovers and make our journey lot of safer and RSP Silicone 3 LED rear light rate is very less. We can say value for money. Does this light produce 100 lumens...?
Keeping your Li-Ion lights in the fridge will make them last longer.
Bear in mind that the capacity will be reducing significantly during the lifetime of the battery.
There is no way of knowing how long your Li-Ion battery will last. It might last 5 years. In any case, this light will be throwaway once the battery fails.
I have a Philips Saferide as my front light ... it takes rechargeable AA cells that can be easily replaced if need be, and it can be recharged via USB.
Battery University...
"Let’s look at real-life situations and examine what stresses lithium-ion batteries encounter. Most packs last three to five years. Environmental conditions, and not cycling alone, are a key ingredient to longevity, and the worst situation is keeping a fully charged battery at elevated temperatures. This is the case when running a laptop off the power grid. Under these conditions, a battery will typically last for about two years, whether cycled or not. The pack does not die suddenly but will give lower runtimes with aging."
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_...
so exactly the opposite of what you'd expect from normal usage of a bike light, then? that might explain why li-ions in bike lights seem to last. my lumicycle did 8 years, even then it wasn't dead, just superceded by LED technology.
I've tested a lot of li-ion lights over the years and i've yet to have a battery fail. assuming you get more like the maximum of that range (5 years) i'd say that's a fair return. ymmv.
Built in reflector is a good idea. Is the light/reflector combination BS approved though? I do still try to be legal wherever possible.
I don't know Rory. Raleigh don't say and to be honest it's not something that many people worry about too much.
@CanAmSteve - exactly. My wife has a camera with a 10yr old li-ion battery and my old Lumicycle lump (6yrs old now) still works. I suspect that the longevity of this light is more likely going to depend on how robust the electronics are. Ideally we'd run the light until it breaks, but writing reviews several years down the line isn't a great deal of use to anyone and anyway, it would be unfair to judge a product in that way based on a single sample.
I've had Li-ion batteries die after little use and others last for years. I have an old G4 Mac laptop that must be getting on for a decade and the batteries still hold a charge. But I suspect the batteries in these little lights are not the greatest, and that they are probably good for a few seasons of use with diminishing run time as they age.
So be it. For tours get a light that takes AAs or AAAs, and for commuting get one of these USB jobbies. We're still talking about £20 in total.
I know there is a full debate going on about batteries but surely at this price a 3 year battery isn’t a particular issue. Chances are that we would want a shiny new one by then.
I am a self confessed gadget geek and as such don’t have any spare USB ports at work, so I resorted to buying a portable USB battery pack for running my iPhone and lights whilst on my bike.
I went with the Pebble and have written a small piece on it.
http://wp.me/p2pnXB-u6
Hope it helps.
Corkadillo
Oh and the price we quote is always rrp. Parkers currently have the RSP at £11.95.
How does it compare with the One23 (see related reviews above) which got a very good review and is £12.99 as opposed to this one at £19.99? Why would I buy this one.
An advantage of the One23 is that it uses removeable (AAA) batteries, so carry a couple of spares and it doesn't matter if you forget to charge it.
I've not seen the One23, but it looks very much like a variant of the old Smart 1/2w Superflash (my favourite rear light ever) with a different bracket arrangement. The RSP isn't as powerful as the Superflash but it has more than enough to be useful.
Some people might prefer AAAs (long distance audaxers for example, maybe people without regular computer access) and others might prefer the convenience of USB charging. Horses for courses really.
And Mr Brus is talking out of his hat, as usual. I think he must have been scared by a Li-ion at the zoo when he was young.
Quote:
"Lithium-ion batteries age. They only last two to three years, even if they are sitting on a shelf unused. So do not "avoid using" the battery with the thought that the battery pack will last five years. It won't."
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/lithium-ion-battery2.htm
...this is one reason you see heavy discounts on older stock of lithium-ion powered products ... the batteries still have enough life left to avoid manufacturers having to replace them before the warranty expires.
USB Charging ... I'm guessing a Lithium Ion battery. What this means is that this light is throwaway once the battery goes ... around 2-3 years for lithium cells.