I probably mountain bike at night more than most folks – usually once a week year ’round, including the summer. One thing I’ve found is that nothing takes the fun out of a night ride more than having a bad light. A proper mountain bike light should be durable and reliable while offering proper illumination on the trail, allowing you to ride the same way you ride during the day. The Light & Motion Seca 800 does all of the above better than any light I’ve owned.

So let’s start with the stats. On paper the Seca 800 features 6 LEDs pumping out 800 lumens for 2 hours and the whole package (battery and head unit) weighs in at 341 grams. In the real world the numbers turn out even better – I got at least 2:15 run-time on high at 328 grams. There are settings for low, medium, high, and flash mode; charging time is about 2.5 hours. Viewed from the side the Seca 800 looks like a bank of stadium lights torching the singletrack.

On the trail the first thing mountain bikers will notice about any lamp is the beam pattern and projection. Light & Motion likes to point out that lumen count is just one factor in determining a light’s effectiveness; the pattern the light forms is almost equally as important. And this is where the difference between the Seca 800 and a single bulb and reflector unit is readily apparent. The Seca 800 beam is hotspot-free and works equally well mounted on the bars or the helmet.

That last bit is a big deal (to me anyway). A bright single bulb light works OK as a helmet lamp because you can turn your head to point the light where it’s needed at any given time. But oftentimes that means making unnatural movements or worse, taking your eyes off the line in front of you when you can least afford to do so. Mounting the Seca 800 on the bars also places the weight of the light and battery on your bike rather than on your helmet or in your jersey pocket.

Even mounted on the bars and without a supplementary helmet lamp, the Seca 800 does a great job illuminating short drops and low hanging tree branches, better than any other light system I’ve used. On the trails I typically ride I’ve found I can get away with keeping the light set on low or medium for most of the ride, though I suppose if I was a faster rider I’d need to ramp up to high more often.

The included bar / helmet mount clamping system is really simple and effective – just pull the rubber strap tight and hook it over the plastic pin. Once the strap is in place it doesn’t move; in fact it’s so stubborn that whenever I need to angle the light up or down slightly I have the release the strap – it’s that tight.

Light & Motion uses robust cable connectors that create serious suction to keep everything connected during the ride. There’s nothing worse than having a cable snagged and suddenly being left in the dark. In more than 2 months of riding with the Seca 800 I haven’t had a cable jiggle loose or get disconnected.

The Seca 800 features an intelligent power management system that warns you when you’re running low on battery power. In my tests, after about 2 hours, 15 minutes on high the lamp dimmed a little. According to the manual, the green LED on the power button should start blinking at this point but mine never did (this isn’t really helpful anyway if the light is on your helmet). After the initial dimming I got more than an hour and fifteen minutes (!) of additional run-time on high, though at a slightly lower light output level. With just a few minutes of run-time remaining, the Seca dropped the light output again and flashed the main lamps. At this point the green LED on the power button should also flash rapidly. With such a conservative warning system, I never worried about being caught out in the dark by surprise.

High, medium, and low settings simulated using Adobe Lightroom software. Can’t see much difference? You get the same effect on the trail at night – switching from high to medium doesn’t change the beam pattern, just the intensity (and even that’s subtle as you toggle from high to medium to low).

I love the sleek headlamp design and even the battery is well thought out with a groove on one of its three sides to fit snugly against a frame tube or stem. The power button could use a little work in my opinion – it’s hard to find, especially with a gloved hand and it’s also hard to tell when you’ve pressed it since the button “click” isn’t very positive. A rubberized button might be just the trick here so the texture stands out from the smooth metal and plastic surface on top of the lamp.

If you’re looking to extend your mountain bike season with a new light this fall, don’t let lumen counts and battery life numbers blind you to what’s really important: performance on the trail. The Light & Motion Seca 800 ($499 MSRP, $129 for an extra battery) is easily the best light system I’ve owned and offers reliable, effective illumination in a variety of terrain. Don’t get caught out in the dark this fall!

As the days get shorter and daylight savings comes to an end we’ve been finding ourselves doing more and more night riding. Not that we ever took a break – nighttime is our favorite time to mountain bike here in the south during the hot summer months. We recently got a chance to test out the new Push bike light from Princeton Tec and it’s quickly becoming our go-to light as a backup and secondary fill light.

The Push features a single LED capable of shining 100 lumens on the trail and comes in a svelte quarter-pound package including the mount (115 grams to be exact). The light uses 3 AAA batteries and sports pulsing red lights on the sides to improve visibility to other vehicles (you can turn this feature off on the trail if you find it distracting). With three light modes (high, low, and flash) you’ll get about 4 hours of run time on high from a fresh set of AAA’s.

Ok, so at first glance these specs may not seem all that impressive for mountain biking and admittedly we didn’t get it at first either. Then we realized the Push would be a good light to throw in the hydration pack for emergencies because it’s lightweight and will stay juiced for years unlike a rechargeable system – perfect for those epic rides that accidentally spill over into darkness.

We could also see ourselves using this as a bikepacking light since it can be infinitely powered via a stream of AAA batteries (no charger necessary). Bikepacking is all about minimizing weight, where again, the Push really shines (no pun intended).

Admittedly 100 lumens isn’t a ton of light (see element22′s recent review of the Seca 1400 which pumps out 14-times as much brightness!) but we found the circular beam pattern provides just enough illumination to fill in the gaps left dark by our helmet-mounted lights. In fact we recently replaced our 2-pound bar-mounted light system with the Push on regular night rides and shaved 1.75 pounds off our load!

Beyond mountain biking applications the Push works great for bike commuting. The bar mount is simple to attach and held the light solidly in all our tests – both on and off road. There’s even a quick release on the light so you can pop it off when you lock your bike outside the office.

For an inexpensive secondary or emergency trail light that’s always ready to go, check out the new Push from Princeton Tec. At just $50 MSRP this versatile light is a great value!

Thanks to the folks at Princeton Tec for providing the Push bike light for review. Check out princetontec.com to see additional color options available on the Push.

My last experience with NiteRider’s big 1200 rig left me with stars in my eyes, so I was eager to test a light that is a little more modest, a little less glam-rock, and quite a bit lighter on the wallet. On Friday night I got the chance to test out the MiNewt.350, a new and improved addition to NiteRider’s 2011 series of bike lights. On the trail, on my bike, and in my hand, this little baby brought some serious firepower.

The Niterider MiNewt.350 punches out three brightness settings: high mode at 350 lumens, medium at 180 lumens, and low at 100 lumens with expected battery life of two hours, four hours, and nine hours respectively. As with all the other NiteRider lights, the MiNewt.350 has the sweet smell of high-quality manufacturing and durability. The rubber cables are thick and resilient, and the aluminum lamp housing has a sturdy feel and a nice coat of paint. This light is obviously made to last.

The 350 system doesn’t include an extension cable or a helmet mount right out of the box so initially you’ll have to mount it to the bars. Using the included cables, the battery, which is about the size of a Hostess Ho Ho, has to be mounted on the bars or stem within about 8 inches of the light. The 350 light style uses rubber o-rings that wrap around your handlebars to keep the light mounted on, essentially rubber-banding it into place. The small mount under the headlamp is about the size of a quarter and is concave so it seats flush against the round tubing of your bars. The mount also allows the light to rotate so you can twist left or right a little bit to line up your beam. Bottom line, the system is designed so it can be attached and removed quickly from your bike – I was able to set up the light on my bike in about 45 seconds.

I took the MiNewt.350 out to my favorite trail, a 6-mile, flow country, roller coaster of roots and leaves that was perfect terrain to see if this light was going to hold up to real use in the back woods. At about 9pm, I pressed the ignition button. The 350’s reflector seemed to offer a nice mix of a flood and a spot light, leaning a little bit more toward flood. When the beam was aimed about twenty feet in front of me, it lit up about eight feet of trail from side to side, and gave me a reasonably good impression of what was coming at my wheels. I did have some trouble with visibility on tight corners and hairpin turns, but I was able to ride through them as long as I went slowly. Without going into too much detail of my experience, the 350 alone was more than sufficient to get along on a cross-country trail, as long as you are riding carefully. However, without additional lighting, racing on this would be quite a challenge.

I am left with the impression that the 350 falls somewhere between a pro racing lighting system and the best commuter lighting system, filling what I call “the fun zone.” The MiNewt.350 will certainly serve your commuting needs because it is bright and extremely easy to install and remove from your bike but it also rocks the trails when the sky turns dark. It is tiny and light enough to carry in a cargo pocket or throw in your bike bag just in case your afternooner turns into evening under the dark canopy of the forest. Some riders may undervalue the benefits of ease of use and quality of build, but for me, at $199 MSRP and a mere 230 grams, the MiNewt.350 is a steal.

Thanks to the team at NiteRider for providing the light for review.

The NiteRider Pro 1200 LED is virtually alone in the upper echelon of lighting systems for adventure sports. Whether you’re mountain biking, motocrossing, or snowmobiling, this is a powerful light system that rivals the brightness of most automobile headlights. I got a chance to field test the Pro 1200 over the weekend at a 24-hour mountain bike race in upstate NY and I was very pleased with the results.

The Pro 1200 is an 850 gram unit about the size of a large kiwi and is split into two LED clusters, each pumping out 600 lumens into two different reflector patterns. The left reflector puts out a spot beam – an intense cone of light that shoots down the center of the trail, with a nice halo into the surrounding area so you can see where your wheel is going. The right reflector puts out a flood pattern, a wide dish of light that seemed to illuminate about a ninety-degree arc in front of my bike for about fifty yards, depending on where I aimed it.

The small red push button on the top turns the unit off and on, and switches through the various pre-loaded light modes (spot light, flood light, or both). But the real innovation in the NiteRider Pro series is the ability to use NiteRider’s own D.I.Y. software to design custom lighting programs. I didn’t get to use the software this weekend but I was able to talk with NiteRider rep Tommy B. about it for a while. Tommy told me the Pro series of lights can have up to four distinct programs, each with six different levels of lighting power that you can customize. I’ve played around with the software for a bit and it seems like you could spend a ton of time tweaking power levels, run times, lumen counts and strobe effects between both lights. This might not seem like a great advantage for the novice rider but for professionals it could make a huge difference in a long endurance race.

My weekend with the Pro 1200 was wet, dirty, dark and foggy which was great for testing the worst possible conditions a light might endure on the trail. Fortunately the Pro 1200 cut through the night like a rock star. The trail was lit up clear as day. Everyone saw me coming from miles away and no one could look away from the supernova that I was proudly sporting on my handlebars.

This is a pic of the Pro 1200 handlebar mount. The offset mount is super versatile. Not only does it allow you to hook onto any handlebar, but it allows you to adjust the angle of the light from left to right and allows you to adjust the rotation of the light head itself.

Here’s a pic of the NiteRider Pro series battery mount, which sticks to the bike and allows for easy hot swapping during the race.

The Pro 1200 bike light is not for the meek. It’s big, tough and bright like an army of a thousand suns. Of course all of this awesomeness does come at a cost: the Pro series lights are expensive and fairly heavy because they’re built like tanks. The heat sinks and rubber parts are solid and the flanges and bolts are not made cheaply like many of the discount lighting systems that you find on the internet. The price tag alone might dissuade some people from making the investment, but for pro-level lighting systems that will stand the test of time, NiteRider is the smart choice.

NiteRider lighting systems are simple, easy to mount, and rugged enough to withstand the worst Mother Nature can throw at you. Not only is the Pro 1200 bright and incredibly tough but the beam patterns are clear and even, making for a spectacular view of the trail in the middle of the night. If the Pro 1200 is this good, I can’t wait to see what additions have been made with the new Pro 1400 LED which is just coming into the market.

Many thanks to NiteRider and Tommy B. for the hookup with the lights, support, and advice during the race!

STELLAAA! I always wanted to say that. Last fall I did a write-up on the top model Seca 900 Ultra from Light & Motion. If you read the review you know the Seca is a seriously powerful light unit. I’m sure that review left more than one person wishing they had one but the price is admittedly not for everyone. Not to worry, the folks at Light & Motion make a unit which is just as good in terms of quality and craftsmanship but at a price most can afford.

The Light & Motion Stella 200L ($249.99 MSRP) sports a single 200 lumen LED with a custom designed reflector to maximize light output. Everything you need is included in the box: the lithium-ion 3-cell 11.1V battery, smart charger, low profile helmet mount, and battery strap. The light includes just the right amount of cord so you can comfortably mount the unit on your helmet or on the bike.

The construction of the Stella is second to none. The light unit is compact and lightweight (72 grams) and features an integrated heat sink. It has a fresh bronze anodizing treatment which will keep the light looking pretty for a long time, even in the dark. The simple on/off button is integrated into the head unit with a sealed membrane to keep water out. A single touch of the button adjusts the light output:  the high setting tosses 200 lumens for 5 hours; medium gives you 100 lumens for 10 hours; and low eeks out 50 lumens for 20 hours (most spots south of Alaska don’t have that much darkness in a single day!). There’s also a flash setting which will burn for 100 hours, perfect for commuting or emergencies. Placing the light in “race mode” allows you to quickly toggle between just high and low settings.

The Stella is powered by a 3 cell Li-Ion battery which is both lightweight (180 grams) and small – perfect for mounting on your toptube, the back of your helmet, or even in a pocket of your hydration pack. The battery pack features waterproof seals good for submersion up to 20 feet and an internal circuit to protect the battery from overcharging or rapid discharges.

Mounting up the Stella takes only minutes. In fact it will probably take more time to decide if you’re wearing it on your helmet or mounting it up on your handlebars. If you’re using the Stella as a standalone light, I recommend placing it on your helmet since a helmet mount shines the light wherever you’re looking. The beam pattern on the Stella 200 is ideal for a single LED, producing a focused beam with a feathered fill light on the periphery of the pattern. The Stella beam pattern gives you decent distance with enough light on the edges to make out what’s around you.

In the photos below I have set up a test area so you can see the amount of light the Stella 200 produces at night. For comparison I also show the Seca 900 Ultra placed in exactly the same position aimed the same way. The photo markers are placed for scale: the first is 10 feet, the second triple marker is 20 feet, third single 30 feet, fourth single 40 feet, and finally fifth triple 50 feet away. The second and fifth triple markers indicate an average trail width.

The Left **Stella 200L                          The Right **Seca 900 Ultra

Hitting the trails in and around Toronto at night was awesome. Although I took my Seca 900 Ultra, I found that unless I was really going really fast I didn’t have to turn it on. Riding without moon light was really fun as well. The Stella 200 produced a perfectly white light everywhere I turned my head and the beam gave me about a 45° arc of light. At about 50 feet ahead of the bike I got about 15 feet of the spot light and another 25 feet or so of fill lighting. This is really more than enough light for most people but perhaps not enough if you’re racing and going really fast. But for the discriminating casual rider this light will light up your life.

The photo above has been colorized so you can see the spot and the fill along with the feathering.

I also found I could use the Stella for many of my lighting needs in and around my house. Seeing that I am renovating the house, this small unit comes in super handy in tight spots due to its small size. But don’t let the size of this unit fool you – it will burn super bright for a very long time.

Overall I have to say this is by far one of the best lights out there for the money. It’s compact, tough, reliable, and good looking plus it produces a tremendous amount of usable light thanks to a single beam pattern that’s second to none. Get one for 24 Hour racing and keep using it on night rides next fall!

Specs from Light & Motion

A quick thanks to the folks at Light & Motion for providing the Stella 200L for review.

Blackburn has a nifty little light called the Flea that I’m thinking might just be the perfect insurance against getting caught in the dark on late evening rides. Although it’s not bright enough to use for true night riding, the Flea provides just enough light for commuters to be seen and trail riders to find their way off the trail in dusky conditions. The really cool thing about the Flea is that you don’t need to find a tiny battery to fit this guy – just recharge using a single AA, C, or D battery.

The stats:

• Output: 40 lumens
• Weight: 17 grams
• Price: just $29.99 each

Throw one in your Camelbak and get in a late afternoon ride without worrying about getting stuck!

The Light & Motion ARC was the top-rated light system on singletracks in 2008 but the bad news is Light & Motion doesn’t make the ARC any more. The great news is the replacement, the Seca series, makes some huge improvements over the popular ARC line.

The biggest improvement the Seca brings is the use of LED lamps instead of the HID lamps used in the ARC. LED uses less power than HID and is more rugged than other bulbs. The Seca uses 6 LED bulbs to produce 700 lumens when set to “high” – but as we found out raw light output isn’t the whole story.

The Seca is designed to maximize and focus the power of all 6 LEDs into the areas where you need to see the most. Three of the bulbs focus on a center spot for long distance visibility while the other lights illuminate the edges of your field of vision without wasting light around the top edges. The optical engineering that went into this design is pretty high tech as you can see from a prototype of the reflector here. The resulting beam pattern is in the shape of a closed eyelid as you can see in the center of the photo above.

Because LEDs produce most of their heat on the bulb side (rather than the beam side like HID) the Seca has an interesting looking heat sink on the back. Light & Motion sells three versions of the Seca (the 400, Race, and Ultra) but here’s the secret: They all use the same light, just different batteries! So if you can’t afford the top of the line just yet, buy the Seca 400 and upgrade your battery later – sweet.