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review

Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 300 rear light

8
£50.00

VERDICT:

8
10
A great choice if you value your visibility day and night
Weight: 
53g

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The Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 300 Rear offers a huge range of modes to cover any and every possible situation, day or night. Although some might consider some of the 11 modes to be redundant, there is no doubt that they are striking and the massive 300-lumen 'Day Flash 1' will ensure you are clearly visible to all road users in dense traffic, foggy or rainy weather, or simply from a distance on a long 'fast' road.

  • Pros: Super-bright daylight mode; low output modes to eke out battery; quick recharge for decent output
  • Cons: Mode overkill; mounting bracket not perfectly compatible with large, rounded seatposts

Eleven modes is pretty overwhelming, but they are at least ordered into three functional sections within the mode cycle: constant, flashing and day flashing. The light is basically a more powerful version of the Strip Drive 150 Rear that Stu reviewed recently. There is a mode for every single eventuality.

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Blast (50lm/3hrs), Enduro (25lm/5hrs 30mins), and Economy (5lm/22hrs) make up the constant modes. The Blast mode is outstanding in country lanes, getting you seen from a long way off. It's equally as impressive for town riding, holding its own against car lights. Enduro and Economy are great for preserving battery life but I steered away from the latter in all circumstances; it's simply not powerful enough to get you noticed.

Lezyne has kept things as simple as possible with regards to the naming of the eye-dazzling 'Flash' modes. Flash 1 and Flash 4 both give out 35 lumens for a claimed 8 and 6 hours respectively. The former has an on-off pattern, whereas Flash 4 always has at least two of the five LEDS glowing at any one time. I prefer this. Flash 2 and Flash 3 throw out 25 lumens for 6.5 and 7 hours respectively. Both modes are great for urban riding, so two options here seems overkill. Flash 5 stretches out its 10 lumens for 22 hours; I basically used this when the battery was running low, but I didn't trust it on its own for most riding. The last Flash mode (6) really is rather weak; it cycles through one LED at a time. This is the one that will run for 53 hours, but you're really going to have to be pretty desperate to need it.

> Buyer's Guide: 17 of the best rear lights for cycling

When I first started testing this light, I was commuting both ways in daylight and I can honestly say that I will never daylight commute without a day-specific flash light again. The Day Flash modes on the Lezyne really make cars notice you and I've genuinely found that I experience wider passes than I do without it.

While Day Flash 2 delivers the same 150 lumens as the Strip Drive 150 (for 7 hours – 30 minutes more than the Drive 150), Day Flash 1, unsurprisingly, doubles this: 300 lumens for 5 hours. The patterns are exceptionally striking and, like the Strip Drive 150, regularly incorporate super-bright pulses. Don't be tempted to use either of them at night – not only will you piss off drivers but you'll also send your own eyes a little crazy!

All of these modes come with a 270-degree range of visibility. This really makes a difference on dark, meandering lanes, as well as in busy towns where you want to be seen from the sides as well as the rear. Any drivers overtaking you will still have a sense of the flash as they come up next to you.

Practicalities

The light is as simple as could be to operate: press and hold to switch on, click the same button to cycle through the modes, keep clicking, keep clicking, keep clicking... press and hold to switch off.

The micro USB charging port is tucked under a tight-fitting cap. The protruding ridges along the end of the cap make it really easy to pull out to access the port for charging. I've had the light on several bikes including one without mudguards, with the cap facing downwards, and I've had no problem with water getting in. The light has also gone in the shower with me and survived.

Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 300 - USB port.jpg

At home it charged in just over 2 hours directly in a wall socket. At work, plugged into the PC, it was closer to 3 hours, perfect for a commuter or keen roadie looking to crack out a few evening miles.

Battery capacity is indicated by a tiny light on the side. States from 100-75%, 75-25% and 25-0% are indicated by flashing or solid red or green lights. Basically, if it's flashing red, get it charged or switch to that Flash 6.

Mount

The mounting bracket certainly favours aero seatposts over round ones. It does sit on a round one but can occasionally slip to one side. This is not excessive but can be annoying. I would reach down and nudge it back in the beginning, but latterly I have wedged it against the seatpost clamp on one of my bikes and between my saddle bag and the clamp on another.

It also fits on a seatstay: on one of my bikes, it was such a snug fit under the saddle bag that I couldn't access the switch without twisting the light round, so I moved it down to the right seatstay. The rear of the light is gently angled for a seatpost, so you still get an almost vertical position if you turn the light upside down and your road bike has accommodating geometry.

Value

If you value your own visibility and are willing to pay for extra power then Lezyne has priced this well for you. You could step down on the power front and save yourself £15 with Lezyne's Strip Drive 150, which has some longer run-times, but the Strip Drive Pro 300 certainly isn't overpriced. The Niterider Omega 300 is similarly specced with an RRP of £45 – okay, £5 cheaper, but Stu had issues with water ingress. If you look at it from a point of view of pence per (max) lumen then the Strip Drive Pro 300 fares well at 16.7p/lm – Niterider's Omega 300 is 15p/lm.

Knog's Blinder Mob V Four Eyes is £10 cheaper but with a max output of only 44 lumens (a whopping 90.9p on the pence per max lumen scale) and has limited side visibility.

The Exposure TraceR MK2 with ReAKT is £65, with a 75-lumen max output and six modes (86.7p/lm).

Before you all jump to comment, I'm not suggesting pence-per-lumen should be a direct guide to value – there are so many more things you want to look at – it's simply a starting point if lumens are a high priority for you.

Conclusion

The Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 300 is a serious be-seen light. In my opinion it could do with fewer modes, and the mounting system isn't as versatile as it could be. If you don't deem either of these as negatives, I'd suggest you get your wallet out.

Verdict

A great choice if you value your visibility day and night

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 300

Size tested: 300 max lumens

Tell us what the light is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Lezyne tells us: 'The new Strip Drive Rear Pro has been optimized with our new Wide Angle Optics lens (270° of visibility) and received a massive 32.5-hour increase in maximum runtime for up to 53 hours. It still features a class-leading 300-lumen Daytime Flash mode, in addition to 10 other output options thanks to its five LEDs. Its co-moulded construction is now more compact, and can be mounted to aero or round posts. Equipped with a micro-USB port, charging simple and efficient.'

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the light?

Lezyne lists these features:

MAX LUMENS: 300

WEIGHT: 53g

MAX RUNTIME: 53 hours

RECHARGE TIME: 2 hours

MODES:

Blast: 50 lumens – 3 hours

Enduro: 25 lumens – 5.30 hours

Economy: 5 lumens – 22 hours

Flash One: 35 lumens – 8 hours

Flash Two: 25 lumens – 6.30 hours

Flash Three: 25 lumens – 7 hours

Flash Four: 35 lumens – 6 hours

Flash Five: 10 lumens – 22 hours

Flash Six: 5 lumens – 53 hours

Day Flash One: 300 lumens – 5 hours

Day Flash Two: 150 lumens – 7 hours

Rate the light for quality of construction:
 
9/10

Tidy and robust.

Rate the light for design and ease of use. How simple was the light to use?
 
9/10

One switch: 2 seconds to switch on and off, one click to cycle through. Couldn't be simpler.

Rate the light for the design and usability of the clamping system/s
 
6/10

Doesn't sit perfectly on larger, rounded seatposts.

Rate the light for waterproofing. How did it stand up to the elements?
 
9/10

No issues.

Rate the light for battery life. How long did it last? How long did it take to recharge?
 
8/10

Quick recharge, even on a PC less than 3 hours. Decent run-times to satisfy all kinds of riders.

Rate the light for performance:
 
9/10
Rate the light for durability:
 
9/10

No damage incurred on drop test.

Rate the light for weight:
 
9/10
Rate the light for value:
 
6/10

Not overpriced when compared to alternatives offering similar, or lower outputs, some of which have flaws with waterproofing and beam range. Lezyne has both of these things well sorted, plus an exceptional power output, and you are not being overcharged for this.

Tell us how the light performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Brilliantly, both during the day and at night.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the light

Striking Daylight flash and a quick recharge time.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the light

Mode overkill.

Did you enjoy using the light? Yes

Would you consider buying the light? Yes

Would you recommend the light to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your overall score

Only really let down by the excessive mode choice and the mounting issues mentioned. It's possible that some folk won't find either of these things an issue.

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 39  Height: 173cm  Weight: 64kg

I usually ride: Road  My best bike is: Carbon road.

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, club rides, general fitness riding, getting to grips with off roading too!

Emma’s first encounters with a road bike were in between swimming and running. Soon after competing for GB in the World Age Group Triathlon Championships in Edmonton in 2001 she saw the light and decided to focus on cycling. 

After a couple of half decent UK road seasons racing for Leisure Lakes, she went out to Belgium to sample the racing there and spent two years with Lotto-Belisol Ladies team, racing alongside the likes of Sara Carrigan, Grace Verbeke, Rochelle Gilmore and Lizzie Deignan. Emma moved from Lotto-Belisol to Dutch team Redsun, then a new Belgian team of primarily developing riders, where there was less pressure, an opportunity to share her experience and help build a whole new team; a nice way to spend her final years of professional racing. 

Since retiring Emma has returned to teaching. When not coercing kids to do maths, she is invariably out on two wheels. In addition to the daily commute, Emma still enjoys getting out on her road bike and having her legs ripped off on the local club rides and chain gangs. She has also developed an addiction to touring, with destinations including Iceland, Georgia and Albania, to mention just a few. There have also been rare sightings of Emma off-road on a mountain bike…

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1 comments

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a_to_the_j | 4 years ago
1 like

This is a great light and so powerful - just 2 slight problems  - 1 might be mine but the seatpost angle meant this pointed down so i added a little rubber strap so it pointed slightly upward, 2 - the charging socket might well be ok against all weathers on the bike - but be careful when charging at home/work  that the water / dirt  / grime on the light itself doesnt get into the USB area.

 

 

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