Bike Light Database

The Planet Bike Super Flash may be the most popular bike light of all time. The first light to introduce a high-power single LED design with a strobing pattern, it's ubiquitous on streets and paths in any city where people commute by bike. In recent years it's been overshadowed by the new kids on the block, with fancy USB-recharging lithium batteries.

The original Cygolite Hotshot 2W was the first USB rechargeable taillight to hit the market, and won our approval as the "grand master" of the 2012 taillights review. It's undergone some minor improvements since then, but the design and features are essentially the same. This fall, Cygolite released the Hotshot SL, a nearly identical light at a lower price point.

The Hotshot SL is literally identical to the Hotshot 2W we know and love – it has the same LED, battery, buttons, and design. The only difference in the light is a smaller selection of flash patterns, and the package doesn't include a stay mount (but comes with the standard seat post mount). The mounts are still interchangeable, so you can always get a mount separately from Cygolite's small parts store or from online vendors.

There's no denying that Knog makes some of the classiest looking bike products out there. Silicone straps, anodized aluminum, built-in USB chargers, and eye-catching colors bring a sense of style that's lacking from some more strictly utilitarian lights. The Blinder Road is Knog's first foray into lights designed to see by, not just to be seen by. The company's name was once synonymous with its small coin-cell operated lights (and the many knockoffs that followed), but that's all changing now as Knog breaks into the high-intensity bike light market.

I was impressed with the Cygolite Metro 300 when I first reviewed it last year, and the Streak 280 packs all the same features (plus some new ones) into a smaller, lighter, cheaper package.

Don't let the Streak's small size fool you. It's only 3 inches long and weighs just 90 grams, and at 280 lumens it won't be lighting up the woods for off-trail riding, but it's a great light for commuting, road biking, and riding around town. It was bright enough to illuminate debris on city streets and to ride comfortably on unlit bike paths. The Streak lasted a full two and a half hours at maximum brightness on its built-in USB rechargeable battery. In flashing mode it could easily run all day.

I've tested a lot of lights, and most of them are pretty similar. There's a button that cycles through different brightnesses and flash patterns, and an LED behind some plastic that puts out a round splotch of light. Light and Motion's Taz 1000 is different. Three LEDs behind a carefully engineered reflector. The top two LEDs are like high beams, shining far into the distance. The bottom LED is behind a wide-angled frosted lens that casts a wide swath of light, illuminating anything near your bike.

As its name implies, the Taz 1000 puts out a maximum of 1000 lumens between the 3 LEDs. L&M also sells the Taz 1200, which is identical other than a maximum output of 1200 lumens. More important than the raw lumen number though is where the light goes, and that's where the Taz blinds the competition. The triple-LED setup with custom optics provides a beam much smoother and wider than many entry-level lights, while still reaching far ahead. Riding on a dark road at night, I could easily see a couple hundred feet down the road, and at the same time every pothole, stick, and rock was illuminated right up to my wheels. The bottom LED's spread is so effective that it illuminated the reflective strips on my front fender.

Differences compared to the Urban 550:

• Brightness: I went for a night ride with the 550 and 700 side-by-side, and alternated between using them. Initially it seems like the Urban 700 is only slightly brighter - and at the center of the beam, that's true. However...
• Reflector design: The Urban 700 introduces a new reflector design with what L&M calls "micro peens" to reflect light to wider angles. The center of the beam is brighter (though not much) than the previous generation, but way more light gets spilled to the sides, and lights up an even wider path. The Urban 550 was already had some of the best optics for spreading light across the entire road or trail; the Urban 700 takes it even further by pushing light almost 180 degrees.
• Battery life: Despite pumping out an extra 150 lumens, the Urban 700 actually lasted 5 minutes longer in the battery test than the 550 did. Advancements in LED efficiency mean that extra brightness won't sacrifice battery life.
• Flash mode: The Urban 700 replaces the flash mode with a pulse mode. This is nice at night since it's a bit more eye-catching than no flash at all, while still illuminating the road and not giving you a headache. However, I wish L&M hadn't eliminated flash mode completely, since it's far less visible during the day than the original strobing flash mode was.

So far, the Urban series has been one of my favorites. Starting this fall, all L&M Urban lights have a new button lockout mode: press and hold the power button for 6 seconds, and the button locks so that it won't turn on if bumped in your pack. To unlock, press and hold for another 6 seconds. The new Urban 700 I tested has this feature, and as a student with lots of items in my bike bag, it's been a welcome development.

Pros:

• USB rechargeable.
• Extremely bright.
• Sufficiently wide beam, although not as well spread out as the Urban 550 and the Expilion 700.
• Unique button system: locks out against accidentally turning on the light, requiring you to press and hold the button for 9 seconds to unlock if the light is put into storage mode. This is an awesome feature for anybody who has their light jostling around in their backpack all day.
• Pricey, but competitively priced for this much light output.

Cons:

Pros:

• Very bright (adjustable brightness).
• USB rechargeable.
• User-replaceable li-ion battery.
• Unique steady-flash pattern: the light stays in steady-burn mode, but pulses off and back on quickly 3 times in a row about once per second. I'll have a video of this in the final review - it's a nice compromise feature if you want to grab drivers' attention but not give people seizures.
• Update, October 2013: All of Cygolite's headlights, including the Expilion series, have a new feature called "day flash," with rapid high-intensity flashes designed to be visible even in daylight. This mode is not recommended for use at night since it would be too blinding - the steady-flash pattern is designed for nighttime use - but is encouraged for staying visible 24 hours a day.
• Excellent beam spread: this light throws pretty far, but also has a good spread so you don't get a tunnel effect from too much light being puddled in one place. The side-visibility isn't great in terms of being a be-seen light, but enough light spills out that it shouldn't be a big problem.

Cons:

Pros:

• User-replaceable li-ion battery.
• USB rechargeable.
• Very bright (although the beam is too focused for my tastes - see below)
• Versatile mount (takes some getting used to, but great once you’ve figured it out). The light is very, very difficult to clip into and out of the mount, but, the mount is extremely easy to remove from the bike. I've found it easiest to keep the light in the mount, and quickly snap the mount on and off when I need to remove the light.
• Includes helmet mount.

Cons:

Pros:

• USB rechargeable.
• Versatile mount.
• Small size is ideal for helmet mounting (helmet mount is sold separately). I've been using this light on my helmet a lot, and its focused beam is actually an advantage here. With a wider-spread light on your handlebars, a focused light on your helmet is great for putting some extra light wherever you're looking.

Cons:

Pros:

• USB rechargeable.
• Unique design: very wide angle visibility makes it a great be-seen light.
• Versatile mounting (could also be a con depending on where you want to put it, but I think you could find a spot on almost any bike).
• Easy to get on and off the bike quickly.

Cons:

• Same basic design as Blaze 2W and 1W.
• Smaller size (same size as Planet Bike Blinky 5).
• Longer battery life with brighter LED.
• Better voltage regulator keeps the light from dropping off quite as fast.

There is hardly any difference in price between the Blaze 1W and Blaze 2W, although the 1W did have better battery life. However, the 2W Micro beats both on battery life. If you're going to get a Planet Bike headlight, suffice it to say that the 2W Micro is the better light: It keeps everything I like about the previous Blaze lights while adding some subtle improvements to brightness and battery life.

Pros:

• USB rechargeable.
• Reasonably bright.
• Moderate beam spread.
• Has flashing red side-lights to increase visibility. I'm not entirely sold on these, as I think having red at the front of the bike can be confusing to drivers. I'd prefer to see amber lights, like on the L&M Urban 550, or more white spilled to the side, like on Planet Bike's lights.

Cons:

Pros:

• Good flash patterns for daytime and night visibility. I would recommend using one of the strobing patterns during the day, and the subtler pulsing pattern at night. There is also a solid-on mode that provides some illumination, but this is definitely a be-seen light.
• USB rechargeable, with built-in USB plug.
• Versatile built-in wrap-around mounting system (can be a con, but on most bikes it should be easy to mount, and it transfers quickly).
• Four LEDs gives it a larger illuminated surface area.

Cons:

The Knog Frog light is small, easy to quickly strap on your handlebars, and easy to keep in a bag just in case you need it. However, it's not bright at all — it's really only usable as a be-seen light, if even. The CR2032 batteries it uses cost almost as much as the light itself. For the rider who rarely goes out at night and wants to have something in their bag just in case it gets dark, the Frog is useful, but for serious night riding a brighter light is in order.

Pros:

• Very cheap; high light-to-dollar ratio.
• Can be fitted with a spot lens (default) or a diffused flood lens (sold separately).
• Rechargeable, although using a separate non-standard adapter, unlike many lights which use USB for charging.
• Adjustable brightness.

Cons:

Pros:

• Very cheap.
• Also doubles as a flashlight.
• Flashing mode is decent (similar to Planet Bike’s Super Flash mode).
• Adjustable lens zoom changes beam from a small spot to an even smaller spot.

Cons:

Pros:

• Very bright (up to 50 lumens, but with dimmer options to avoid blinding others at night).
• Excellent wide-angle visibility. From the raw values measured in our brightness test, the Vis 180 doesn’t appear to be any brighter than the average light tested. However, what’s important to notice is where the light is being put: the Vis 180 is bright across 180 degrees (hence its name), and doesn’t just have a super-intense bright spot with no side visibility.
• Amber side LEDs also improve side-visibility.
• Mounting system is very sturdy – the light locks into place and cannot bounce out. To remove the light you push it back against the post and then slide it out.
• USB rechargeable.
• Battery level indicator gives ample warning when the light starts to lose power. Because of the regulated output, brightness doesn’t drop even at the end of the battery life. The battery lasted for 5:20 hours in solid-on mode.
• Very solid aluminum construction – unlike most lights which are made out of cheap plastic.
• Tested and verified with the FL1 Standard.
• Manufactured in the US.

Cons:

This light is truly amazing – it’s by far the brightest light you can find for under $75, and even outshines some more-expensive lights. It lasts 2 hours on maximum brightness at 60 lumens, and should last about 4:30 hours on the misleadingly titled “low” setting of 35 lumens. Riding with a group at night, I actually wished there were a super-low mode – it’s frankly too bright in some situations. I would be hesitant to even use the brightest setting at night unless on a very busy road.

The Thunderbolt headlight is a top pick for light-weight visibility in the headlights review, and its red counterpart shares an identical design with the same great features. It fits well underneath the seat, on the rack, or on the seat post.

As with many lights these days, it's USB rechargeable, although due to the compact size, the battery life is a bit lower than most other taillights. For a relatively short commute it works well, but for longer rides you might want something with a bigger battery.

Planet Bike recently updated the Super Flash Turbo in conjunction with the release of their new Blaze 2W Micro headlight (review coming out next week!). The new Turbo seems to be almost exactly identical to the old one, with one important difference: the switch. The switch on Planet Bike’s taillights has always been a point of frustration – the plastic would often crack or stick, making it hard to turn the light on and off. The new design has a rubber switch that gives a reassuring “click” when you push it. It seems much less sticky and has better tactile feedback. I’ve only had the new Turbo for a couple months, so it’s too early to evaluate its durability over years of use, but already it’s been a significant improvement over the previous versions of this light. Planet Bike has also informed me that all of their other Blinky series lights with the same design (PB SuperFlash and Blinky 7) have the new switch as well.

^{The old Super Flash Turbo on the left, compared to the new switch design on the right.}

With a 2W LED and USB rechargeable battery, this light is very similar to the Cygolite Hotshot – last year’s light review winner – in both form and function.

Pros:

Pros:

• Wide-angle visibility and additional amber side LEDs. Like the Vis 180, the numbers are misleading: while this light isn’t as bright straigt-on, its visibility at all other angles far surpasses any other light in this price range.
• Cheaper than the Vis 180 while retaining the same great optics.
• Mounting mechanism is built into the light, so you can use it on any bike.

Cons:

Portland Design Works makes two of my favorite non-rechargeable tail lights from last year – the Radbot 1000 and the Danger Zone. They’ve just released their newest light, the Aether Demon. The Demon has a very similar design to PDW’s other lights, with an easy-to-click button and narrow but bright beam with eye-grabbing flash patterns. This light is essentially a USB-rechargeable version of the Radbot 500.

Pros:

The Red Planet is PDW’s cheapest light, at $15. It has five 5mm LEDs, much like the PB Blinky 5, but has only 3 facing directly back, with the other two at exactly right angles. Its brightness readings matched up pretty closely with the Blinky 5 as well, placing it squarely in the “not super bright but works” category. It has two flashing modes – a standard blink, and an alternating side-to-side which only flashes one LED at once. The latter is a bit of a gimmick – having only a single LED on at once severely diminishes the brightness, and leaves you without any rear-facing LEDs illuminated when either of the side-LEDs are going. A seat post and stay mount are both included mounting options.

With the side-mounted LEDs, this light does give off a very bright side profile, emitting 1000 lux at a 90 degree angle. The light has pretty poor visibility from anywhere between straight-on and the right angle though. Getting the batteries out was also a pain – the contacts seem to be very tight, and it’s hard to get a grasp on the batteries.