Finally, Bike Lights You Don't Have to Remember to Turn Off
If you ride a bike, you’ve been there. You’re about to ride home, the sun is setting, you go to click on your bike light and... nothing. Maybe if you’re lucky it’ll give you a feeble red flash letting you know it needs to be charged, or it might even eek out a beam of light as bright as a keychain flashlight, then, darkness.
There goes peace of mind. Aside from the very real risk of getting a ticket, it’s just a terrible feeling, a vulnerable feeling.
So, the last few weeks I’ve been testing out the Vya Pro Commuter Bike Light combo, and I think they have the solution. The set of front and back lights protects you from the greatest source of dead batteries, your own forgetfulness.
The biggest upgrade is that the lights know when you need them, and more importantly for battery life, when you don’t. A built-in motion detector knows when you are riding and turns the lights on, so you don’t have to. They also know when you aren't, so just toss the bike in the garage and forget about it. Your lights will shut off automatically and be ready to go next time you ride rather than dying after illuminating that cluttered corner of your garage for a day and a half. A built in delay ensures your lights won't turn off when you're lingering at a stop light.
While this is the big draw, they are otherwise well-designed bike lights. The headlight is 200 lumens and the rear is 100. The set detects ambient light and automatically adjusts to give you the greatest visibility: A pulse during the day, and a solid beam at night. And they’re made of bio-renewable plant material. Waterproofing to one meter also means if it its down poring your lights aren’t going to die.
Of course, there are some downsides. If you double up on your bike light as a flashlight, the fact that this one does not have an "On" button is going to make it difficult to use for anything other than biking. There are also times and places where I did not want my bike light on, and without a button, there is no way to easily turn it off. I opted to remove the lights in these situations and the small size meant that I almost lost them a number of times.
All in all, though, these lights are great. Even without the smart features, they are bright, easy to use, and in a package that installs simply to any bike. I started to not think about these lights, which is exactly what you want. Especially when all you want to do is get home in the dark.
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