BodyLite Gear NightVision Light

The BodyLite Gear NightVision Light is a neat secondary light you can wear around your waist, or that can be fitted to your bike using an additional mount. It's bright enough to get you noticed and has a decent battery life. But it's expensive even if you factor in the belt, though the ability to use it for running or walking means if you're an active user you might get your money's worth. However, I'm not convinced it's worth the cost if you're planning to use it solely for cycling.

If you're looking for new lights, our best bike lights buyer's guide rounds up our favourite see and be-seen-by lights at all budgets.

The NightVision is a Velcro-backed unit that consists of a simple strip light with a battery and control pack either side. It's light and unobtrusive, but because of how it's attached I'd say it's better suited to the needs of runners and walkers.

In the pack you get an adjustable belt that wraps around your waist, which allows you to wear the light facing either the front or back. BodyLite also offers various items of clothing that you can directly fit the light to, one of which is its NightVision gilet that we're currently testing.

Because of where it sits around your waist it's only really suitable if you're riding in a pretty upright position as you would be on a hybrid or urban bike.

There's also a bike/scooter mount though you'll have to pay extra for it.

A long press of the button turns the light on and off, while a short press allows you to scroll through the different modes – 250 lumen and 50 lumen solid white, and a flashing red mode that also looks to be around 50 lumens.

Battery life is two hours on High, nine hours on Low and 14 hours with flashing red LEDs, while green lights on top of the battery pack clearly show the remaining battery life.

Charging via a USB-C lead takes about three hours from flat, though this will depend on where you plug the lead into.

For its small size it chucks out a fair amount of illumination. It's not quite bright enough to see by when you're cycling but it certainly helps you be seen when you're walking or running in urban areas.

Its rubberised coating is soft to the touch and protects the unit if it's dropped and against the elements. The NightVision has an IPX4 rating, which means it should be able to shrug off light showers and splashes.

Value

I'd say the NightVision Light's £34.50 RRP is quite steep if viewed purely from a cycling perspective.

After all, you can get a 300-lumen front and 40-lumen rear pairing from ETC for much the same money. Hollis rated it highly for commuting and it has an excellent battery life when used in its 'be seen' modes.

The Decathlon Run Light uses a small harness to attach a 250-lumen front light to your chest and a flashing LED on the rear battery pack. It costs just £29.99 and battery life is a claimed two and a half hours at full power.

Proviz produces the pretty similar-looking harness-mounted LED360, with the front light putting out a healthy 500 lumens for three hours. It's a fiver more than the Decathlon at £34.99.

Conclusion

I think this has quite a limited usage when viewed purely from a cycling point of view – but it offers better usability for other activities and sports such as running, which is where I got the most use out of it. But even from that perspective, I think there are better lights out there at similar prices.

Verdict

Okay as a light – but more suited to running or walking than cycling