Words by Caitlin Dumas
Rarely will you find me weaving in and out of traffic when I ride. The majority of my riding is spent on roads, both gravel, and pavement, connecting towns with less than 5,000 people. So when I use a bike light, it's because I'm chasing down the last rays of light or I'm coming home from a friends house after a day of riding.
Being immersed in technology at my day job, I'm always skeptical of technology touting their gear as "smart." It's a term we hear thrown around almost flippantly with today’s technology.
For technology to be “smart,” I want to it be intuitive, consumer-friendly, and I want it to make sense to someone who doesn't work with all forms of technology every day.
After using the See. Sense Icon Rear Light for a few weeks, I feel they surpassed my expectations for "smart" technology.
When initially connecting my See. Sense. Icon Rear Light to the accompanying app via Bluetooth, I was pleasantly surprised. The configuration took only a few seconds, and I haven't had any problems with the connection since. This was a breath of fresh air when it comes to Bluetooth connectivity.
The light comes with a long list of features, including some you would only expect to see on the latest high-end bike computers.
- Be able to control your ICON with an optional app which gives you crash and theft alerts
- Thermal management - automatically regulates light output for optimum performance
- Turns on as soon as bike moves & turns off after 3 minutes of inactivity
- Over 270-degrees visibility
- Live battery levels and low-level alerts
- Secure tool-less mounting
Water sealed to IP67 standard, which means it is fully protected from dust and can also withstand being submerged in 1m of water for up to 30 minutes.
In the celebration of honesty, I will tell you there are some features I tested thoroughly, others, such as the crash alerts, I admit to not wanting to test that particular feature in any sort of real-life scenario.
Overall, all the features listed above work like a charm and here are a couple of my favorite.
First, while the light is simple to power on and off and change the modes from the light, the app gives you a wider range of control over the bike light. It allows you to not only change the power and modes, but you can control the brightness, different types of lighting, and manage the crash and theft features of the light.
According to See. Sense, the Icon is only bike light in the world able to react to road conditions and motion, by flashing brighter and faster at roundabouts, intersections, and approaching car headlights at night.
Knowing the light would change as I rode, particularly with traffic approaching from behind, gave me an unexpected sense of safety and confidence.
Lastly, on a side note, if you're the kind of person, like myself, who forgets to turn off their bike lights when they get home having the sensors detecting motion is one of those little things in life that make your day.
Ultimately, the See. Sense Icon Bike Light is quite the overachiever when it comes to what you expect from a rear light.
Pros:
- Simple to set up, connect and use.
- The accompanying features are above and beyond what you would expect from a rear light.
- Battery-life is 15 hours, with motion detection automatically turning your light off when no motion is found.
- Waterproof
- Sensors and reaction to road conditions give you a sense of comfort when riding.
- Looks pretty slick
Cons:
- As a short cyclist, and with the geometry of some of my frames, I couldn't fit a saddle bag and the bike light on my seat post vertically. However, this can be solved by attaching it to your saddle bag or being taller.
- Price. While it’s not the most expensive bike light, it does run right around $100.