Are Smart Lights any good?

simon74 · October 2009

Are these lights any good for commuting on well lit roads? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=31337

PedalPedant · October 2009

simon74 wrote:

Are these lights any good for commuting on well lit roads? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=31337

I recently got myself a set of these and am pretty happy with them, the brighness of the rear is particularly impressive.

My only gripe would be that the switch on the rear light is a bit of a fiddle and doesn't provide any tactile feedack so you can't reach under the seat and switch it on without stopping.

I doubt you'll find better for the money (I paid £14 for them at Wiggle and thought it was a bargain).

PP

roger_merriman · October 2009

yup good wee blinkies.

antlaff · October 2009

i have B&M set on my bike - i then recently bought the smart set from wiggle and i really notice the extra room cars give me on the open road - very cheap and simple to mount/work. brilliant buy for £14

RufusA · October 2009

They are good, but personally I'd spend a few quid more and go for the next set up, the Smart Polaris 5.

The 1/2 watt rear is worth its weight in gold as it keeps motorists from tailgating you, the front is also brighter and usable (at slow speeds) in unlit areas.

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/smart-po ... 97102.html

I had my Polaris 5 for nearly two years, until the front went awol after leaving it on the bike at the station in error!

Get some decent "hybrid" rechargeable batteries, front takes 2xAA rear 2xAAA.

HTH - Rufus.

laughingboy · October 2009

RufusA wrote:

They are good, but personally I'd spend a few quid more and go for the next set up, the Smart Polaris 5.

The 1/2 watt rear is worth its weight in gold as it keeps motorists from tailgating you, the front is also brighter and usable (at slow speeds) in unlit areas.

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/smart-po ... 97102.html

I had my Polaris 5 for nearly two years, until the front went awol after leaving it on the bike at the station in error!

Get some decent "hybrid" rechargeable batteries, front takes 2xAA rear 2xAAA.

HTH - Rufus.

What he said.

Smart make effective, cheap lights. I have just upgraded one of my rear lights from the 7led light to the 1/2 Watt. The intensity of light is easily worth the extra cash.

As a general point, use NiMH rechargeable batteries: ordinary alkalines tend to start bright, but light output steadily diminishes - this is noticeable by the time they are, say, half spent. Rechargeables start just as bright, but only seem to dim when almost spent.

PedalPedant · October 2009

RufusA wrote:

They are good, but personally I'd spend a few quid more and go for the next set up, the Smart Polaris 5.

The 1/2 watt rear is worth its weight in gold as it keeps motorists from tailgating you, the front is also brighter and usable (at slow speeds) in unlit areas.

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/smart-po ... 97102.html

I had my Polaris 5 for nearly two years, until the front went awol after leaving it on the bike at the station in error!

Get some decent "hybrid" rechargeable batteries, front takes 2xAA rear 2xAAA.

HTH - Rufus.

I've just popped out and double checked and I actually have these rather than the Polaris II from the OP.

Apologies for the mistake, Wiggle are still doing these for £14 delivered.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Smart_5_LED_Front_and_317_Rear_Light_Set/5360026000/

PP

purple rain · October 2009

I have 2 sets of the polaris 5 led and the 1/2 watt rear on my bike, motorists give me plenty of space on fast roads and for the price at wiggle you just can't go wrong...they even come with batteries!

cjcp · October 2009

Just bought two sets of those, plus two Smart rear lights for £4. I ride along lit roads, so can't go wrong. Waiting to see if they work better than my Cateyes in the rain. In the sense that they actully work. No reason to suspect they won't.

RossMu · October 2009

I use them for my commute, no problems so far. Good lights for the price.

schlepcycling · October 2009

Can't comment on the front light but the 1/2 watt rear is awesome!.

shouldbeinbed · October 2009

for an extra few quid I'd recommend the lunar series, you'll be seen from space!

My ride is mixed urban/rural but I wouldn't be without them. Its the same brilliant 1/2 watt rear and the front is the only light I've had that makes cars dip their beams, I often see them pull to the right a bit more when its on steady mode.

DevUK · October 2009

PedalPedant wrote:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Smart_5_LED_Front_and_317_Rear_Light_Set/5360026000/

PP

I use these too. I have two of the rear lights (had one for a few years). Both front and rear are feckin' bright! Good for the city commute. I tried them out on some country lanes last night, and while they weren't amazing in the pitch dark, they coped pretty well. The front light is better than my Electron 9LED front light which I always thought was good. I used both up front and it worked quite well.

For commuting in the countryside I'm going to look at something more powerful, but out in the city this set is good

Edit: It's worth pointing out that the 1/2watt rear light has been re-vamped and has a different flashing pattern on the very latest versions. Wiggle's sale is the older flashing pattern (at least when I bought mine 2 weeks ago). My mate bought one of these rears from the LBS this morning and the new flashing pattern is quite cool. Two lower power flashes, two high power. Very strobey

zanelad · October 2009

shouldbeinbed wrote:

for an extra few quid I'd recommend the lunar series, you'll be seen from space!

My ride is mixed urban/rural but I wouldn't be without them. Its the same brilliant 1/2 watt rear and the front is the only light I've had that makes cars dip their beams, I often see them pull to the right a bit more when its on steady mode.

I'll second this. Just got the Smart Lunar 35. It's a great light, very bright with a good spread. I'm very pleased with it.

Dazzza · October 2009

I would recommend the rsp astrum for the rear, it's two 1/2 wat led's, drivers give me a very wide berth.

simon74 · October 2009

Thanks for the advice guys I've opted for a set of these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Smart ... 360026000/

PARIS75 · October 2009

simon74 wrote:

Thanks for the advice guys I've opted for a set of these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Smart ... 360026000/

I have those....rear light is great...I use two...front light will get you noticed but wont light your way on an unlit stretch

RufusA · October 2009

Zanelad wrote:

I'll second this. Just got the Smart Lunar 35. It's a great light, very bright with a good spread. I'm very pleased with it.

Thirded on the Lunar 35. I replaced my Polaris 5 with it after it was nicked.

An awsome amount of bright blinkyness. It gives my Dinotte 200L a good run for the money at a 1/3 of the price and all in one neat package (albiet finished in nasty black plastic IMHO).

Rufus.

Chicane-UK · November 2009

Just another vote for the smart rear lights... great value for money and astonishingly bright. Cycling behind my mate with one of these on his bike on some unlit lanes the other night, I found myself trying to get alongside him as much as possible because the light was SO bright it hurt my eyes! Never had any problems with motorists not seeing me when armed with one on the back of the bike

mikeeye · November 2009

PedalPedant wrote:

simon74 wrote:

Are these lights any good for commuting on well lit roads? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=31337

My only gripe would be that the switch on the rear light is a bit of a fiddle and doesn't provide any tactile feedack so you can't reach under the seat and switch it on without stopping.

I got the set that Wiggle are doing for £14, it's not quite the same rear light as the one from Chain Reaction. This is what it looks like:

I agree with PP about them being great lights with the only niggle being the switch on the rear light. I was finding that mine would turn itself on or off all on its own - seemed to be temperature dependent. I think I've improved things by gently bending the switch inwards slightly. Now, it needs a firmer press on the plastic "PUSH" panel, but having taken a photo of it, I see that the plastic is showing some signs of stress, so this may not be without its own issues.

Mike

UndercoverElephant · November 2009

Meant to say, the 1/2 Watt rear lights are down to £8 on wiggle....

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Smart ... 6001/#more

highwaymunky · November 2009

Yes these are great for commuting, I have 2 reds on my seat post and one on my helmet and 2 whites on the front one blinking on solid.

They are fairly weather proof but have been known to go abit in heavy rain. but leave them to dry out for a while (more than a day) and then mine have come back to life.

Batteries seem to last a long time too.

oh and they are cheap... like the budgie!

Headhuunter · November 2009

laughingboy wrote:

RufusA wrote:

They are good, but personally I'd spend a few quid more and go for the next set up, the Smart Polaris 5.

The 1/2 watt rear is worth its weight in gold as it keeps motorists from tailgating you, the front is also brighter and usable (at slow speeds) in unlit areas.

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/smart-po ... 97102.html

I had my Polaris 5 for nearly two years, until the front went awol after leaving it on the bike at the station in error!

Get some decent "hybrid" rechargeable batteries, front takes 2xAA rear 2xAAA.

HTH - Rufus.

What he said.

Smart make effective, cheap lights. I have just upgraded one of my rear lights from the 7led light to the 1/2 Watt. The intensity of light is easily worth the extra cash.

As a general point, use NiMH rechargeable batteries: ordinary alkalines tend to start bright, but light output steadily diminishes - this is noticeable by the time they are, say, half spent. Rechargeables start just as bright, but only seem to dim when almost spent.

Definitely and it's well worth buying an "intelligent charger" like the Technoline one that has been mentioned here before. I recently bought a Fenix L2D torch to use as a front light and was using a standard off teh shelf fast charger and found that the enormous pull that the Fenix takes was burning them out in 20 mins. I bought an intelligent charger which discharges then recharges each cell dependent on how drained it is and then give you a capacity reading in mAh at the end of the charge. Now I am able to put 2 similarly powered batts together in the Fenix (if you put 2 batts with differing mAh capacity, one batt will end up giving most of the power which can damage it) to absolutely amazing effect. 2 relatively cheap rechargeable 2500ish mAH NiMH AA batts keep the Fenix going at full power for a good 100-200 odd minutes and only dim right at the end of their charge whereas Duracell standard batts tend to only last about 80 mins and noticeably dim from about 50 mins in. The recharger is worth its weight in gold!

iPete · November 2009

I think my Lunar Smart rear is fantastic, only issue is that my mate can't draft me on our commute home without the need for shades!

RufusA · November 2009

Headhuunter wrote:

Definitely and it's well worth buying an "intelligent charger" like the Technoline one that has been mentioned here before.

+1 for the Technoline charger. The BL700 costs £25-£30 delivered, but considering it's managed to bring 3 sets of AA batteries back from the grave, it has paid for itself.

The only critism I have of it (apart from the fact it took me 10 minutes to work out how to charge AAA's), is that if a battery is very low in charge, the charger can't "see" it. Therefore sometimes if a battery's run to empty you have to give it a 2 min charge on a stupid charger, before putting it in the intelligent charger.

Rufus.

RufusA · November 2009

Headhuunter wrote:

Definitely and it's well worth buying an "intelligent charger" like the Technoline one that has been mentioned here before.

+1 for the Technoline charger. The BL700 costs £25-£30 delivered, but considering it's managed to bring 3 sets of AA batteries back from the grave, it has paid for itself.

The only critism I have of it (apart from the fact it took me 10 minutes to work out how to charge AAA's), is that if a battery is very low in charge, the charger can't "see" it. Therefore sometimes if a battery's run to empty you have to give it a 2 min charge on a stupid charger, before putting it in the intelligent charger.

Rufus.

jimmypippa · November 2009

Slightly OT, but does anyone either know of chargers that will recharge three batteries, or possibly better, any headtorches with 2 or 4 AA or AAA batteries?

I think you can see where I am coming from...

EDIT: I also have the smart 1/2 watt superflash, and people comment how easy it is to see me. I also notice the cyclists with this (or some equivalents) about half a mile away in the morning drizzle.

Are Smart Lights any good?

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