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TECH NEWS
2021 Otto HeroShotOTTO Bike Light with automatic smart lighting launched on Kickstarter
A fully automatic smart bike light which doesn’t requiring turning on/off with a button or app has been launched on Kickstarter. The OTTO bike light has lots of interesting features including braking alert flash patterns, wireless charging and one handed mounting. It has a goal of £40,320 which needs to be reached by Friday 12 February 2021 for the go-ahead of the product.
By sensing the movement of the bike and detecting ambient light levels, the OTTO bike light is said to work “auto-magically”. A button or app is not needed to turn this light on and off, nor do you need to press a button to shift through the different modes.
The light uses the data collected by these sensors to choose a brightness level and a flash pattern, of which they are five options.
Behind the development of OTTO, creator Geoff Johnson says: “OTTO maximises your visibility while simultaneously maximising battery life.”
The OTTO uses four CREE LEDS and is said to be “insanely waterproof”, with a goal of being IP67 rated. This should cover rainy rides and cause no damage to the light.
Making further good use of sensors, the OTTO detects when you are slamming on the brakes and automatically flashes a pattern which is designed to attract attention. It is claimed this only activates under heavy braking and so is not for common, slow speed stops as you approach traffic lights.
There’s also a Peloton mode for telling if the rider ahead of you is speeding up or slowing down. Using onboard motion sensors which can detect small variations in speed, it is said to display this with an array of amber LEDS.
There’s no need to plug the OTTO in to charge, it has wireless charging compatibility with industry-standard Qi chargers. An impressive 30 minute fast charge is also claimed.
With only one hand free, the OTTO can be easily attached with a Garmin standard 90-degree rotational clip, which supports both horizontal and vertical orientations. Enabling you to easily swap the light between bikes, the OTTO will also come standard with two mounts.
Taking the OTTO off the bike will turn it off, but when shaken, the light will wake up for 60 seconds. This could prove useful for navigating the alleyway round the side of your house in poor lighting.
Bluetooth connectivity has been included in the OTTO, so that new features can be rolled out in the future. User defined modes, turn-indication capability and detailed ride diagnostics are hinted at on the Kickstarter page.
Delivery to backers is said to be from October 2021 and you can find the OTTO Kickstarter page to pledge support here.
The OTTO will cost $45 (£33) for early birds and $60 (£44) standard price.
All the usual Kickstarter rules and regulations apply which can be found here.
Anna has been hooked on bikes ever since her youthful beginnings at Hillingdon Cycle Circuit. As an avid road and track racer, she reached the heady heights of a ProCyclingStats profile before leaving for university. Having now completed an MA in Multimedia Journalism, she’s hoping to add some (more successful) results. Although her greatest wish is for the broader acceptance of wearing funky cycling socks over the top of leg warmers.
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26 comments
Wishing Geoff best of luck with the Kickstarter project. The real problem with bike lights, though, is not lack of automation. It's battery life. Fix that and you'll have a winner.
I have a dynamo driven light and it's absolutely brilliant. But cost and complexity prevent it from being more widely adopted.
What would be really useful is to know how much time you have left if you were to use any particular mode. Use the app for that, not user defined modes and ride analytics.
After Kickstarting Blaze (now Beryl)'s Burner and See Sense's Ace I won't be backing any more sensor-plentiful smart lights. They design themselves into a corner and have to do a lot of redesigning, abandoning and negotiations for machining with China. You also end up beta testing and what you end up with is never the original you are sent as a backer - as it goes back. WYSINWYG. That said Blaze's magnetic mount is a great feature -but not their mag-charging and Ace is quite useful but with a barely usable bluetooth system/ app.
See.sense claim: "Based in Northern Ireland, we design our products in-house, and manufacture locally."
Hi NPlus1 - I truly appreciate that comments and criticism of past Kickstarter projects AND ours. Funny enough I bought both Blaze and See Sense (post Kickstarter) and they were partly inspiration for what we did NOT want to build with OTTO.
We have spent literally 2 years ensuring we can deliver on our promises. A few things we have done to make sure we do it:
1. While OTTO is a "prototype" it is actually the 5th generation that we have designed and made. I use it every day in my riding and it has held up! My co-creator and I built hardware for our first company so I am confident we can deliver.
2. We are planning to avoid China as much as possible (using Korea, US, and Europe where we can). PLUS we are workign with an ex-Apple engineer who lead the team that did the waterproofing for the iPhones... he has made me confident that the mechanicals are solid.
3. We have designed OTTO with enough power and memory to receive continuous updates to fix any bugs but more importantly add or adjust features. The bluetooth design is one that has been validated in other production systems that Jonathan Fiene has built. So again, not our first rodeo with electronics design and manufacturing.
We really love Kickstarter becuase it is a way to launch products with having finalized them. We truly welcome all comments and I would love you to become a backer since I can tell you are a truly discerning customer.
Please consider joining us and lets make a light that shows Blaze and SeeSense what they should have built!!
BUYER BEWARE. Is this the same OTTO that produced a gizmo with an app for tuning your gears and then stopped supporting it a couple of years later?
David, this is NOT NOT NOT the same company.
This is our first product launched and we have nothing to do with the gizmo you are referring to. I would appreciate it if you removed your comment as I do not want to mislead people.
Thanks for looking out for us all though!
If you have to take it off every time you park the bike, how ist that "automagical"?
My Busch&Müller is permanently attached to the rack so it's always there and doesn't get stolen, it turns on and off automatically so I can really simply forget it, and it has the advantage of using standard AA batteries.
For disorganised people like me the biggest problem with any clip-on light is that I simply would forget to take it in the morning and then not have it with me when it gets dark.
By the way, flashing lights are not legal in Germany and probably other EU nations, but then they can't export them anyway now after Brexit. But be aware when you're planning a cycling holiday.
they would appear to be in Austin, Texas. What's the Brexit angle?
Stephen, great question.
You do NOT have to take it off (we need to make that more clear and I appreciate you illuminating that!). We simply wanted to show how easy it is. So you don't have to clip on and off unless you are needing a charge OR needing to use OTTO as a night light
OTTO turns off automatically and turns on based on bike movement. We are going to release a video of that soon so it is clear.
On the flashing you are spot on, my co-creator lives in Germany. We plan to have a mode that will NOT flash that you can click into.
Thank you for the comments, we would love your backing, we need all the feedback and you clearly have some great thoughts!
The auto on/off is something I'd appreciate. I'd like to be able to just get my bike out of the shed, go ride, and then put it back at the end, all without thinking about the rear light. The single-handed Garmin mount looks nice, bonus if it can bolt on to a standard carrier plate (50mm centres).
The closest I have got to that ideal is a dirt cheap battery (2xAAA) powered rear light. The batteries seem to last for ever and it draws zero power when off. I keep a couple of spare AAAs in the saddle bag as I never know when they will run out. I do have to remember to switch the light on, and off (each is forgettable). Whereas the front rechargeable I have to remove and recharge every ride, which entails not forgetting to find it (!) and put it back on the bike etc.
So this light would need to switch on when I start my ride, switch off when I put the bike back in the shed, and not run down the battery whilst in sleep mode. It needs to tell me when it is down to one ride's worth of power so I know to recharge it - hopefully not too often. Also it (battery especially) needs to be frost-proof.
I don't think it's one of those solutions for non-problem things. I'm always forgetting to turn my lights off at work and about 20 minutes later someone will come up to my desk and tell me.
Then this won't help. Best I can make out it turns off when you detach it from its mount. There is a hall effect sensor to detect the mount.
Edit: Oops. My bad. It's there in the FAQ, it does turn off with no motion as well.
So do See Sense ones. But See Sense also turn off prematurely at traffic lights despite their denials that it can happen as the timer is a few mins. I need to track stand more I guess.
Hi Rick, Sriracha and NPlus1 (again)!
All great points, as someone pointed out we need to do a better job showing that the light will automatically turn off even if it is still attached when it senses no motion.
We plan to make that timeout configurable via an "optional" app. SeeSense and its issues is literally one of the reasons we built OTTO.
We would truly love all of your support and need feedback like this to ensure OTTO launches with the best set of features and functions it can!
More over engineered kickstarter lights. I just bought a light for £35 that has 5 modes, an ambient light sensor, 15 hour run time + 30 minute low battery mode and is bright enough at 90 lumens. An 'I'm braking' function is pointless as the driver following you isn't expecting it and won't react any differently.
I have a Moon Arcturus auto something. Does anyone use the automation? I'm happy with the light but only ever use the brightest flash mode (in daylight) and the brightest constant mode (at night). I don't know how to use the auto brightness magic and don't care.
Such things are only really only useful on really long rides or commutes over a week to save power. I prefer as bright as possible on rear lights.
Schlepcycling I appreciate the comments.
I can tell you that 15+ is our minimum goal, we are hoping it goes way beyond that.
On the lumens side I actually just put an FAQ in the Kickstarter because of what you ask. This is what I wrote:
We know 350 lumens sounds like overkill but trust us, it's worth it.
OTTO will rarely enable full brightness but when it does it will be absolutely needed. Examples where a full 350 lumens is critical:
1. When biking during dawn or dusk. At these times the sun's incident light makes it almost impossible for a light in the 100-150 lumen range to be seen. This is when you need to be seen most!
2. When you brake suddenly. 350 lumens means it will be bright enough to draw the gaze of all motorists and cyclists around you.
So the brightness is there when you need it, but most of the time OTTO will stay in the 100-150 lumen range to maximize battery life!
I understand your comments but would love you to still consider helping us. So so so many riders fail to enable their lights, have lights that are way too dim, and we are hoping to change this!
Is the £320 for a celebratory meal when they reach the target or something?
That is a conversion from USD, it is a $55,000 goal. There will be a celebratory meal if we succeed but it will likely be mac and cheese while we buckle down and get the lights built!
Isn't there a very similar product out there already? One that's been in production for years and has improved from the first model, which I have. The 1st gen See.Sense rear light does all that, and the battery life is crazy long - at least 3 weeks of commuting between charges. And I can't believe I'd need it to be any brighter/more visible - in fact you have to dial the brightness down if you're group riding.
I'm on my third See.Sense light.
The first one fell off repeatedly before finally getting lost when I didn't hear it fall. See.Sense assured me their lights never fall off and sent me some exciting videos of their lights not falling off. Coincidentally there are several reviews on their website complaing about them falling off. I'm sure those reviewers are also wrong. Maybe this light doesn't fall off?
Also, it had a rubbish battery life (apparently the Bluetooth causes the battery to run down even when you're not using it). Maybe this one has a better battery life?
I didn't buy another, but I did win one in a competition. Three months later it stopped working. Several people have told me theirs did the same.
At least this time they replaced it under warranty. It's only a few weeks old so far but maybe it'll be third time lucky. Maybe this one lasts longer (I've heard several people complaning about their See.Sense filling up with water, whereas this one claims to be "insanely waterproof").
Neither of mine were the first generation which they no longer make. Maybe that's the problem; they've "improved" it.
Hmm - yeah that's strange, doesn't sound much of an improvement. I agree, the way it attaches to the bike is not great, just a rubber band. I did write to them and they just sent a stronger band..!
Now I think of it, maybe the one I have isn't 1st gen - I have a feeling I sent that one back as it was turned on/off and changed between modes via some over-complicated twisting left/right action. It didn't actually have any buttons. I got mine for £10 as part of a trial where they used the tracking data or something, can't remember now, but I still maintain it's the best light I own. I've ridden it in some pretty grotty weather, though I do have mudguards so maybe that means I've missed out on the water-ingress issue. Battery life still great though, it outlasts every other USB-charged light by literally weeks. But I never have the bluetooth on, perhaps that helps.
They patched the firmware for Ace at least. The bluetooth fully goes to sleep and only wakes up if the light it moved. So it's like a mercury switch sensor now, if you walk near the light it wakes up and does a battery test flash sequence. Battery life still decreases but won't run itself flat in a week of not being used anymore. Did your whole unit and mount fall off or just the light?
Edit spelling.
Which is it, physical movement, or proximity? I'm skeptical either way because I don't see how you design a solid-state circuit that can remain alert to a wake-up stimulus without also drawing power.