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On test: Light & Motion Vega, August 3, 2005
Commuting solution
John Stevenson takes to the mean streets with Light & Motion's compact LED headlamp to light his way.
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The days when the only front lights for bikes were feeble affairs using a dim bulb powered by a couple of zinc-acid batteries that inevitably leaked and destroyed the battery casing are thankfully long gone. Companies such as California's Light & Motion offer a wide range of lights, using technologies such as halogen and HID lamps and nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries to improve performance and save weight.
The latest buzz in lighting circles is high-power white LEDs, which promise high efficiencies and extremely long service life; the Vega is Light & Motion's entry in the LED lamp stakes.
At the heart of the Vega is a three watt Luxeon white LED, overdriven to 3.8 Watts (which Light & Motion rounds up to four Watts in its marketing). Power comes from a nickel-metal hydride rechargeable battery and the whole unit is a single, sealed lump with a switch on the back, a mount on the bottom and a charging socket bottom rear with a silicone plug to keep the weather out on the road.
Double-clicking the switch turns it on in high-power mode, and then single clicks cycle through three other settings: medium, low and flash. The four modes provide claimed run times of two, four, eight and 24+ hours. To turn the light off you hold the switch down for two seconds.
The lamp unit itself is pretty impressive, but what earns the Vega two big thumbs up for convenience is its dedicated charger. This is light enough to throw into a bag and take to work if you forget to plug in the Vega overnight, and will run off anything from 90V to 260V with the appropriate adapter for your local wall plug. It takes just two hours to fully charge the lamp, and can be left plugged in without damaging the battery. This is a massive bonus if, like me, you are occasionally a bit forgetful about putting lights on charge and unplugging them when they're done.
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The Vega comes with a handlebar mount that works with 25.4-31.8mm bars. You clamp on the mount, slide the lamp unit on and you're in business. No battery packs, no wires, no fuss - another big convenience feature.
Double-click the switch and you're got a broad, slightly bluish beam that's visible from at least a hundred metres - plenty of time for other traffic to know you're there.
Of the four power settings, the high beam is plenty of light to be seen, and enough to see with as long as you're not trying to do 40km/h on completely unlit roads or trails. One short section of my commute involves exactly that, a gentle downhill on an unlit path, and I found myself wishing for a bit more than the Vega put out. For everything else, including some gentle trail pootling, it was fine, though I found the blue tinge to the light slightly unpleasant.
The medium setting is also enough light to be seen with, and if you had a long ride to do in the dark it'd be adequate. The low setting is definitely a 'get you home because the batteries are running low' option. I want more light than that to mix with traffic, thanks.
And then there's the flashing option. Flashing front lights are daft. Flashing rear lights are bad enough. If you have ever driven up behind a rider with just a flashing rear light on a completely unlit road, you'll know what I'm talking about: the flash duration is so short and the source so small, that you can't actually tell how far away the rider is till they're in your headlights, at which point the presence of a light is moot. Flashing white front lights are just obnoxious, especially when they're this bright. There's no safety benefit in dazzling oncoming motorists.
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To be fair to Light & Motion, the flash mode is probably intended as an emergency signaling "here I am" facility, and not for use on the road. But if you provide a function, people will use it wrongly and the belief among cyclists that flashing equals visible is strong.
The Vega also seems robust. I've dropped the lamp unit a couple of times and it's come to no apparent harm, though I did manage to crack the foot that mates with the handlebar mount. The aluminium bezel around the LED is beefy and the plastic lamp body has proven to be tough.
Grumbles about the flashing mode aside, it's extremely hard to fault the Vega as the ultimate commuting light. Plenty of light to be seen, enough to see and a charging regime that really does seem to be foolproof (or at least, that has so far resisted this charging fool's efforts to stuff it up).
The question that has to be asked, though, is whether it's worth the slightly staggering asking price. In the US, a Vega costs US$175; in Australia AU$289 and in the UK, UKP125. That's quite a lot of coin for a big LED, four NiMH cells and a charger; I can hear cloth cap and soldering iron types already saying "eee, Ah cud make one f' 'alf that!" (Don't ask me why they have Yorkshire accents).
I admit I was skeptical about the value for money issue, but a few months of use of the Vega and I'm sold. What you're paying for is integration and convenience. It's just so damn simple to use. It charges quickly enough that a flat battery can be fully charged after lunch; you can leave it on charge over the weekend without frying the battery; it's compact, tough and substantially lighter than systems with separate batteries and lamps.
A certain level of knowledge of information technology goes with the territory when you work on a publication that's as IT dependent as Cyclingnews, and I've even dabbled in IT journalism a couple of times over the years. On the way I've developed a cordial dislike of the enormously over-used word 'solution' - why is everything to do with computers a problem? But being seen when you're commuting definitely IS a problem, and this compact, easy-to-use, bright LED front light is an elegant solution.
In short, the Vega is downright practical, and in a piece of kit for commuting, that's the highest praise I have.
Weight: 230g
Typical retail prices: US$175; AU$289; UKP125
Colour: Black
Pro: Plenty of light; thoroughly thought-out commuting tool
Con: Flashing mode
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