Thanks for tuning in, this is The Sweet
Cyclists and today we're going to be looking
at the Light & Motion Vya Pro smart
headlight. Here we have the Light &
Motion Vya Pro smart headlight in its
packaging. It is a very unique and
innovative light from Light & Motion that
we are excited to review today. We'd like
to thank Light & Motion for providing this
light for review. This is one of the
brightest and most advanced lights in
the Vya product line which includes both
headlights and tail light. Let's go over
the specifications for the Vya Pro
smart headlight and has a retail price
of $49.99. It has 250 lumens of output
from a single Cree LED and as with other
Vya products the USB connector is
built directly into the light. This
means you don't need an additional
cable. It's IP67 rated which means that
it is fully dust proof and water resistant up
to one meter which is great for wet
weather commuting or falling into
puddles. The smart part of the title is
earned by featuring both an ambient
light sensor as well as a motion sensor.
Using the two sensors the Vya Pro smart
automatically adjusts the light output
between a day mode which is a smart
pulse mode that's good for 6 hours, and a
solid night mode which is good for 2
hours. Additionally it can turn the light
on when motions is detected and goes into
a standby mode when it's idle for more
than 30 seconds. These features make the
Vya Pro very unique compared to
other lights on the market. Now let's
take the light out of the packaging, I'd
like to point out that Light & Motion does
a really great job in terms of being eco
friendly by minimizing the amount of
plastic waste and really minimizing the
overall packaging itself. This is very
similar to the Vya Switch with very minimal
design and a basic receptacle to hold
the light. There is a user manual at the bottom
and this nice cardboard design.
Looking at the contents we get the basic
package, we have the mount itself with
the rubber mount already attached and the
user manual which is very basic.
Here we see the light, it's a very
unique form factor as well. This is very
similar to the Vya Switch and as we
mentioned there's no USB cable as the
USB port is directly built into the
light itself which is a really unique
feature. Now let's take a second to look
at the weight of the Vya Pro smart
headlight. Weighing just the light head
itself we're at 32 grams and if we add
both the mount and the stem mount
that brings us up to a weight of 50
grams. This is really light which is
not surprising considering the small
form factor of the light itself.
Now let's take a closer look at the Vya
Pro smart headlight, this features a
single Cree LED out front that produces
250 lumens of output. It has a smooth
reflector with a flat lens that slightly
protrudes out the body. There's no on or
off button here, so to simulate it being
in the mount you can hold the
USB port. As you can see you get a
pretty good side visibility with these
built-in side lights as well as that
protruding lens which reflects
the light. On top we have the Vya pro
labeling on here and the
rubbery plastic feeling body.
This is made out of plant-based
materials and is bio renewable. So it's a
very unique design that is slightly
transparent as well. If you look closely
you can actually see the circuit board
on the backside here with the Light & Motion
logo imprinted. Here's a little divot where
the Light & Motion Switch
has a button. On the sides it
has this scalloped
indentations to make it easy to handle.
On the back side we have the
built-in USB port, this is very unique to
the Vya product series. Typically you
have a USB port that you have to plug in
with this you simply plug it into your
computer to charge. This does mean it
takes up a little bit more space due to
the width of the light itself so you do
have to be aware of that, but by not
requiring any cables it's very
convenient to use. Additionally it has a
gasket built into this connection to
enable that IP67 rating.
As I mentioned there is no on and off
button or mode switch button. You simply plug it
in and go or simulate it here with your
hand. Let's take a look at the mount,
this is another unique feature of the
Vya series. This is shared
between the Switch, other
headlights as well as the taillights.
The mount is two parts, you have
one part that stays on the bike itself
and this is the handlebar mount. Although
they do have a GoPro adapter that's
available optionally and these
use a little plastic stem post here
where the rubber mount sticks into for a
pretty secure feel. This is not the
typical really thin rubber mounts you
see with some of the cheap lights this
is really thick and looks like it should
be able to be robust to multiple uses.
The mount features this
indentation here with a slot and that's
where you plug in the primary mount,
this has a little ring on here and you
simply slide it through. It take a bit
of force, you have to
pull it all the way and then there you
go. Its similar to the Vya urban
series of lights in that it has these
little indentations to lock the light in
it's not included with the Vya Pro but
I think with the off-roading lights they
do include that little bolt here to
prevent this from backing out. I've never
haven't noticed any issues with this
backing out or any jitter and with this
kind of mounting design you can
actually
rotate it which is very rare to see
these days. Another thing I wanted to
point out with the Vya Pro is that the low
battery indicator is not very intuitive.
Due to the lack of OLED screens
displays or buttons you have to rely on
the side lights. If I turn it on here
this is the solid night mode and the low
battery indication in solid night mode
is a blinking headlight with a side
light blinking twice as much the daytime
mode. It has a similar kind of indicator in night mode,
blinking of the side lights versus the
headlight to determine whether it's low
battery or not. With the
two hours night runtime I
think that's one of the weaknesses of
the light. Now let's take a look at
some competitors to the Vya Pro
headlight. On the left here we have the
Topeak Headlux 450 USB it is a new
light from Topeak that we recently
reviewed. I'll put a link in the top
right features two Cree LEDsm a metal
body and a similar elongated
low-profile design. If we put these
side-by-side you can see they're very
similar in height and length while the
Topeak uses a external USB
port for charging compared to the more
compact Vya. It's obviously a lot lighter
too, with the Vya being this
plant-based material while the Topeak has
a metal body. Another competitor
here would be the Magicshine Allty 1000.
This is $85 but features 1000 lumens, which
is obviously a brighter light and
features a daytime running light as well
as a single Cree LED. Comparing these two
you can see although the Allty 1000 is
pretty compact as a commuter
light, but the Vya pro is significantly
smaller making it a lot easier for
urban riders. Additionally both in height
and width it's a lot more compact and
easier to mount and
it also featured smarter features such
as the ambient light sensor, a motion
sensor that the Allty does not. Also
note the Allty is $85. Another interesting
comparison here is looking at
Light & Motion Switch tail light you
can see they share a lot of components
in terms of the lens and body
design. What the Vya Switch has is
deflectors on the lens you can see
which distributes the light
horizontally for a better visibility as
a taillight while the Vya Pro has
more of a spot style beam pattern
which you'd want from a headlight. The
bodies are both
plant-based material and have a
rubbery feel. They're both very compact
and have almost the same dimensions. These
protruding lens to improve the
side visibility. Now let's take a look at
the Vya Pro light output, the Pro selects
between a daytime SafePulse mode and a
nighttime solid state mode as you can
see here when I enter a dark tunnel, it
will automatically go to a higher output
solid mode. It then revert back to the
daytime SafePulse mode once there's
enough light. It's also worth pointing
out that the daytime SafePulse mode
does a great job at attracting attention
when riding in the day with its irregular
pulse.
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Now let's go over the pros and cons of
the Vya Pro, one of the things we
really liked is the unique form factor
it's very lightweight and compact. The
integrated USB connector they're really
nice touch you don't need an additional
cable and the automatic output mode
selection is a really nice feature. It's
something that you have to get used to
initially but once you do it's great
that you don't have to fumble with
different output modes or remember
different user interfaces. Some of the
negatives of the light is that the lumen
per dollar ratio is not as great as
other lights with only 250 maximum
lumens in the solid state mode it's a
little bit expensive at 50 dollars. The
non intuitive low battery indicator is
also hard to read.
I've run out of battery a few times
now riding with this light and also the
auto standby delay is only thirty
seconds. While this is a nice feature to
avoid running out of battery, but you can
often find yourself with the light off
while waiting at longer intersections. Now
let's give the light a final rating out
of 10. I would give it a 9 it's a very
intelligent and compact light.
I really like the buttonless interface,
although you do have to get used to it
once you do it makes a lot of sense and
you wonder why other light manufacturers
haven't done this. Although the light
output itself is a little bit lower for
the price I think it does a great job as
a daytime visibility light or as a
backup light and even a primary light if
you're doing more urban riding with a
lot of ambient light. Thanks for watching
this review don't forget to like and
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as well as our website at
thesweetcyclists.com. This is The Sweet
Cyclists reminding you to enjoy the ride!
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