Thanks for tuning in, this is
The Sweet Cyclists. Today we're gonna be looking at
the Fenix BC05R rear taillight.
Here we have the Fenix BC05R tail
light, at its face value this is not a
very exciting taillight with only 10
lumens. However Fenix has packed a lot of
cool features into this light at this
price point. I want to thank Fenix for
providing this light to be
reviewed, let's take a look at the
packaging. You can see it's
plastic on cardboard and I've
ripped this open already. It has a bright
orange color and clear graphics, the
tail light is really prominently
displayed. On the back we
have information about what's
included, size, weight and some features
let's go ahead and take it out of the
package and go over some of the specs.
The taillight has 10 lumens of output and
four different output modes. It's USB
Type-C rechargeable which is a very cool
feature considering that's
only $20 and a 240 mAh
battery that's rechargeable integrated
into the taillight. It also has a
battery indicator here to quickly
check the battery status. Lets go ahead and
take everything out of the packaging.
Aside from the box you get a USB Type-C
cable, and again this is a really cool
feature especially at such a low price
point. We have a user manual and the
taillight itself. It doesn't have a very
exciting name, it's a BC05R. We have
the strap to attach it, and you can see
the strap mounts are actually integrated
into the taillight itself with these
little hooks on the side. We have
this body clip and this is great for
clipping this onto your backpack or a
saddle bag. Now let's take a look at
the weight of the Fenix BC05R, this is
a really tiny light if you just see it
in my hand it's really tiny. It fits in the
palm of your hand, it's a lot smaller than you
expect based on the photos. If we look at
the weight of the taillight by itself
it's 18 grams and if we add the rubber
strap for seatpost mounting. That brings
it up to 22 grams so really light weight
overall. It's a really interesting tail
light at 20 dollars it packs a lot of
features you don't typically
see. You can see it's composed of three
LEDs, if I turn those on you can see
they're each individually operated and
you have a single button to operate the light. A
long hold will turn it on and off, a
single press while it's off will
actually show the battery status which
is a really cool feature especially at
$20. It's surprising to see that they've
invested a little more in the
electronics to integrate this kind of
battery status and it's also great for
riding to check the battery status
before you embark rather than riding and
ending up with a dead battery. You have
the Fenix logo on the bottom, one
downside to this is the actual lens
itself is not raised which
means when the light is on you don't
really get very much side visibility. It
would be nice if they had some cutouts
or more reflective elements instead of
this opaque plastic. On top we have the
exciting BC05R name printed
and on the sides we have the integrated
mounting hooks. It's an
interesting design feature that
reduces the bulk of the light. On
the bottom side of this we have these
thick rubber pads and the USB type-c
port here. Again this is a really cool
feature you don't see in the bicycle
industry very often, and especially a 20
light is very surprising to see. Now
let's look at the mount that they
include. The first mount you get is
a rubber strap, this is really
thick, typically they're a lot thinner than
this. I imagine this will last pretty
long and it's very simple you just
wrap it over the hooks and
around your seat post.
One downside is this is only designed
for a round seat post, if you have
an aero seatpost
this will wobble back and forth.
Fenix doesn't provide an extra pad or
anything to accommodate that. Another
interesting aspect of this is they
include the body clip. This is great
if you want to wear this while running
or attach to your backpack or saddlebag.
What's interesting about this is the
design, it's constructed in such a way
that the mounting strap hooks on the
light actually fit into the clip
itself.
You don't have to attach any
additional pieces or use a tool to do it,
and this clip I found is really nice
compared to my other bike lights that I
clipped to my backpack. Those often times
come loose or fall off, this one has this
nice little hook here, it's a little raised
portion that ensures that the hook
doesn't fall off. It's very secure
and is made of plastic but a lot
thicker and more durable than I would
have expected. On the left is a Topeak
Redlite Mega it's a more
traditional tail light with
AAA batteries. It has a large
form factor, and on the right I have a
Magicshine Seemee 60 that has some smart
sensors and a COB LED design. Comparing
the Fenix versus the traditional kind
of Topeak taillight you can see it's
significantly smaller.
In fact the Fenix is about the size of
the AAA battery by itself so it has
a much smaller footprint. It's
significantly lighter but one downside is with
more traditional tail lights you get a
lot more side visibility and reflective
elements, while the Fenix is just
opaque black. Comparing it to the Magicshine
which is brighter at 60
lumens and also has smart sensors. You see
it's more similarly sized in terms of
height and thickness to the Fenix. It
is slightly thicker because it has the
mount actually built in, but the surface
size is much smaller.
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Now let's look at the light output of
the BC05R, there are two constant modes
a high and a low. The high has 10 lumens
and the low has 2 lumens with 10 hours
of runtime. There are two flashe modes, a slow
flash at 2 lumens with 40 hours runtime and
a fast flash at 2 lumens with 72
hour runtime. Now if we compare the high output
versus Magicshine Seemee 60 which is a 60 lumen
light at probably 15
or 20 lumens. You can see that the COB LED
design of the Magicshine has a larger
surface area for better visibility. I
wouldn't really recommend the BC05R
for daytime use due to the lower
power output. Now let's go over the pros
and cons for the Fenix BCO5R, there
are a number of things that make this tail light
really standout. The $20 price point
is really affordable, its definitely in the
lower price spectrum end the USB type-c charging is
really impressive to see.
The battery
indicator is a feature you just typically
don't see anymore, and also the compact
form factor makes it really easy to
mount with the posts directly built into
the light itself. All you need is a
simple rubber strap and the body clip
which are really easy to use. Some of the
cons for the light are the poor side
visibility with the opaque
extruded plastic design. There's no way
for the light to escape, so you only see
it from the rear. It also lacks a lot of
smart features that are becoming more
common these days.
Finally it's not compatible with
aero posts with the mounting that they
provide. It's only good for a round post
and I don't see any accessories for
GoPro or Garmin compatibility. Now let's
give the light a final rating out of 10.
I would give it a 9, this is really a
modern version of the classic taillight.
They've replaced the AAA batteries
with lithium ion, and you get a very simple
user interface with a battery
indicator. At $20 it's a
steal especially considering that it has
USB type-c charging as well. I consider
this a really great secondary taillight
if you want to put on your backpack or
one you can easily travel with. Thanks
for watching this review don't forget to
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content. This is The Sweet Cyclists reminding you
to enjoy the ride!
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