Cateye Viz Rear Light

Product Information

The Flashing mode dishes out just 15 lumens and is noticeable in the dark, if not exactly outstanding – and again, it's hypnotic in its pattern design. At least its strobing effect is noticeable under streetlighting. Minor niggles aside, the specification and performance are favourable and the price is good, although there's still a fair bit of competition. That doesn't sound very bright, but the 30lm glow from all three LEDs through the transparent case is actually pretty eye-catching outside of bright sunshine or night-time commutes. So, the modes are a bit topsy turvy. The one I got the most use out of, day and night, was the Group Ride mode due to its more subtle flash pattern. With the LEDs being lit longer it gives better side illumination too.

Cycle Centre Congleton Limited 2021. Cyclestore is a trading name of Cycle Centre Congleton Limited. All Rights Reserved Company No. 05107467 | VAT No: 593 733 507 I found the final mode – Group Ride – the most useful. At 100lm it's bright but not tactical nuke bright, and it's actually easier on the eye than the dimmer flash as it always seems to leave something lit. Cateye's previous Rapid range of rear lights offered excellent all-round visibility using a line of LEDs that were visible from the sides and the rear. I still have some that I tested six years ago and they still work fine, which is a decent innings – other brands' lights have not lasted nearly as well. Group ride is also a surprisingly good choice for these duties. That said, something like the Knog Cobber Mid Rear Light is a superior choice for nocturnal couplings, but a good deal dearer, too.

Cateye Volt 1700 USB Rechargeable Front Bike Light

So Cateye decided it would be a great idea to discontinue the cheap and much loved Rapid Mini and Rapid Micro lights just so they could bring out a new product line with more eyeball searing lumens than you'll ever need that does nothing apart from blinding everyone behind you and inflating the price, Just so they could make more money off you. Positioning it vertically has a small but palpable edge, especially at junctions, negotiating roundabouts and just performing turns in the road – particularly so when I've tethered it to my low-slung trailer. Though it has a smaller surface area than I'm usually comfortable with attaching to a trailer or tagalong, the daytime mode more than compensates, especially in such contexts. Very few brands sell lights with removeable/replaceable batteries any more. Environmental concerns aside, this transition is understandable as lithium powered units are so small and efficient and stay charged longer than NiMh (great for infrequent use) while the casing only needs a charge port and no battery door, which should mean that they are more water-resistant.

The Cateye AMPP 100 Lumen Front Bike Light is a solid option for riders looking for the perfect combination of lumen output, weight, and price Bargain on being visible at 125 metres (about the length of a football field) on a clear night, dipping to 80 when it's cloudy.The four modes are: Daytime Hyperflash, 100 lumens (15 hours); Constant, 15 lumens (5 hours); Flashing, 10 lumens (70 hours); and 'Group Ride', a pulsing 35 lumens. Allows riders to place rear lights on various locations in both horizontal and vertical orientations. Obviously that's not a picture (above) of the full brightness, or indeed any of it... use it in the dark and it's likely to irritate anybody behind; not so much because of the intensity, but because of the pattern. The recharge time is 3hrs, dependent on your charging source. An LED on the side shows the battery status. That's all the facts and figures out the way, so how does it work as a light? Easily, as it turns out. The most startling thing about this light is how bright a mere 40 lumens can be when funnelled through effective lenses. The constant mode is very bright when seen from 300 metres away at night, and vastly more so than the higher lumen output from the lens-less Knog Blinder Skull. On this basis, unless your commute takes in a lot of fast daytime dual carriageways (my sympathy), I just don't think a case can be made for needing more than 10 times this output, as here.

Returning to the review, I honestly cannot see how anyone thinks 300 lumens is appropriate for a red light aimed at following vehicles or riders, whether at night or in daylight. I find 30 lumens is more than enough to draw attention. The Viz 150, which appears to have a very similar shape, has more than enough punch and is significantly cheaper than this unit. One thing I did notice though is still the use of micro USB. With the move of many electronics now to USB C, it would be nice to see companies making this change on bike lights as well. Plus with the higher potential power draw for faster charging, there is an additional upside beyond just being able to plug the cable in either way up. I shunned the 30lm Flashing mode (though it lasts a claimed 45hrs) as the flashes are such short bursts, and the pace just high enough to make it look (at least to me) like it'll almost instantly annoy following drivers.Happily, there are less bright, less expensive options from the same range, and for my money the Viz 100 at half the price would be all the light I'd need. Verdict Steve described this mode on the Viz 300 as luridly chaotic and it is – it's not just the bonkers output of those bright flashes but all the various rapid strobing that's going on at the same time, which makes this hard to ignore. Following behind this light in the daytime, I found that from around 100 metres it was very effective at being impossible to miss (and not overly bothersome) but from 10 metres it was pretty irritating. I didn't ride with this mode at night, so cannot report the thoughts of other road users. I would only use this mode if I was doing a lot of riding on fast A-roads in the daytime, and it would make me feel safer in that specific environment. It's hard to tell exactly, as looking at this straight on can literally make your eyes hurt, but Group Ride appears to switch each LED between two brightnesses, and leave either two dim or one bright one on at all times. Thus it's never fully dark, and consequently easier on the eyes (I was looking from the side, in case you were wondering...).

You only get the full beans in the Daytime Hyperflash mode, and only for the briefest of flashes. This mode name has been around for a while but what it does here is different to Cateye's older lights. It used to mean 'always on, with brighter flashes' and I thought it was a great choice for daytime running or well-lit busy night-time environments. Here it goes Full Rave with all five LEDs flashing at different speeds and the full 450 lumens deployed a little over once per second. The shortest claimed run-time is a useful 5hrs, and that's pretty accurate – surprisingly it's not for the eyeball-grilling 300lm 'Daytime Hyperflash,' which can signal nearby planets (probably) for up to 10hrs, but for the 30lm Constant mode. The overall build quality is up there though, and I like the angular style CatEye has gone for on their higher models. It looks at home on a modern aero frame, so won’t be cramping your style for the pursuit of safety (nor performance at only 47 grams)! Although functional and reliable enough, it's a bit fiddlier than others, especially in the dark. Exchanging it for an oversized o-ring type improved matters. Modes Finance is subject to application, financial circumstances and borrowing history. Performance Cycling Limited FRN: 720557 trading as Tredz are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are a credit broker not a lender – credit is subject to status and affordability and is provided by Mitsubishi HC Capital UK PLC. Terms & Conditions Apply.Or buy a Rotlicht instead, where you can replace (and recycle) an exhausted battery. I'm getting the sense that you can't do that with the Cateye? I also avoided the Daytime Hyperflash in anything but strong sunlight, because it's so bright and so luridly chaotic it's like riding around on a distress beacon. Again it's a personal choice, but I don't want to give the worst drivers another excuse to throw a cretinous shut-your-eyes pass.