Thanks for tuning in today we're going to be reviewing the Trek Commuter Pro
RT headlight. [Music] When it comes to cycling lights most people assume brighter is better.
The reality is that bright lights can often be blinding for oncoming riders and traffic
which is why Europe has adopted the StVZO certification which includes a beam cut off.
Trek's new commuter lights lack that StVZO certification but they do offer a sharp beam
cutoff which Trek refers to as a kind beam. You can see an illustration on that kind beam here
it has a nice sharp cut off that doesn't blind people above the height of the light.
Trek also offers a more affordable version of this we have the highest end Commuter RT Pro RT but
they also have a Comp R variation that ditches the dual LED display and the Bluetooth connectivity but
has that same reflector lens design with that beam cut off so you have quite a few options.
The packaging you can see it's pretty nice. We have two options here we have the
standard one and then we have the combination set which also includes a Flare RT tail
light. You can see they're actually the same size which is pretty cool it's just slightly wider.
You have a nice graphic on the front, Trek branding on here instead of Bontrager which is
kind of interesting because the Flare lights are actually branded as Bontrager currently. They may
change that in the future illustration of the beam some of the nice features like the daytime flash
and other specs on the side. So lets go ahead and take this out of the box. We'll focus on the
headlight by itself or for now so let me take it out of the box and we'll go over the specs.
Retail price on this really depends on which one you pick this is $159.99 dollars and
the combo set with the flare RT comes in at $209.99 so quite expensive.
The Comp R which is a lower output is 69.99 which is more affordable. This is 1000 Lumen
so plenty bright for on-road or off-road use and it has of course their kind beam technology
which has this nice reflector design that really focuses the light downward.
You have three modes mode: low high and in daytime flash. You get up to 12 hour run
time which should satisfy most riders. What's really cool about this RT Pro variation is that
you get Bluetooth connectivity to the Flare / Ion RT so you actually have one button control you can turn
on both light at the same time and alternate the modes independently so it's really cool you don't
have to turn them on separately. You also get a dual battery gauge here with five LEDs on each
side to indicate the exact battery state for each light. Inside here you have a 4800 milliamp
integrated lithium-ion battery which gives you a nice run times. In terms of what comes with
this you can see we get a standard instruction manual. I do recommend reading them as there's
quite a few features here really simple packaging which has cardboard dividers
and then you have the mount. So adjustable handlebar mount so it's tool free with a
little tab and the thumb screw along with a shim to handle different diameter handlebars.
You have a USB C charging cable it's really great to see products are finally moving away from micro USB
charging ports and then of course the headlight itself. Now let's take a look at the weight of
the light so the headlight by itself no mount comes in at 192g so fairly heavy for what it is.
Then the adjustable handle bar mount without the shim that comes in at 30 grams.
Trek markets it's the Commuter Pro RT as a do-it-all front light with enough output for commuting or
off-road cycling. The exterior of the light has a standard rectangular profile with what feels
like metal for the main housing and then a plastic front extension. You have Trek written on the side
which is a little bit interesting. Normally it's a Bontrager product but here they've gone with Trek
Commuter Pro RT. Printed on there 1000 lumen advertised on top and then same thing on the
other side the rear is really simple. You have an integrated 4800 milliamp
lithium ion battery and a USB type-c charging port right here. This charges in five hours from
empty and you can see a nice cover just kind of slide it on and then you're ready to ride again.
On the side you can see you have a beveled bottom which accommodates the mount
very simple mount. It's almost identical to the Flare RT and other products so you can
use a lot of the existing Blendr adapters that go from this adapter to another GoPro
or Garmin style interfaces. There are a lot of options there but you do have to buy them separately. What they
do include is the handlebar mount it's a nice tool free design so thumb screw on the bottom
you open it up so really simple. Obviously if you have a road bike or something a little sleeker
you're going to want to put this underneath your computer which requires the Blendr adapter so we
do recommend investing in those. What's really cool about this is obviously the lens so you can
see a top mounted LED there but when you look straight at it there's quite a few reflectors
here that really focus the light. So if I turn that on you can see a nice sharp beam cut off
that prevents a glare compared to normal lights which have a
cone shape. So if you put it sideways you can see most of the light is along the horizontal line
which gives you a nice sharp cut off and this is great to see most lights in the US at least don't
really use this and go in favor of a standard cone beam which really distributes light everywhere.
You also saw these translucent orange cutouts and that helps with side visibility so even if
the person can't see your light they can see that orange indicator as it lights up and its a nice feature.
The big thing here is the user interface Trek has tried to keep it pretty simple so you have a one
button interface on top with this nice glossy display. A double press turns the light on which
is a little bit unusual instead of a long hold then you have the LED indicators on the bottom.
The left row indicates the battery status of this light the right
side has another five LEDs which indicates the tail light or if you're using this as a power
bank as you can connect that to a power bank. The power button is also backlit now it's not
as nice as some other lights we've seen but you can see a little LED on top and depending
on which mode you're in it will actually show a different color. So pulsing white is daytime Flash
then you simply have the low and high so low is just standard white and then high would be blue
so nice feature not sure if anybody's gonna remember this when you're actually riding.
It is nice to have it there and it also will pulse blue to indicate that the Bluetooth is on.
So when you first turn it on this will pulse briefly just like the Flare RT or Ion RT lights.
What's really cool about this is they've kept it very simple so three modes cycle through now
you'll notice that you have to cycle through flash which is really annoying for nighttime riding.
Something other like manufacturers avoid by using double presses here they actually have a mode to
disable it entirely. So with the light on hold it for eight seconds and then wait for a flash
so we should see it within about eight seconds and then let go.
Now you'll notice if I turn the light on I don't even have the daytime flash anymore.
So it's a nice option it's a little clunky as you have to entirely block out the mode.
To re-enable it you actually have to hold for eight seconds again but it's a nice way so if
you're doing nighttime riding and you remember the instructions you can easily turn it off.
Then again if I turn it back on now I have daytime flash. One of the coolest features
about the light is the fact that you can do Bluetooth connectivity between this and other
RT lights. Here we have the ion for example but the flare RT would make more sense here
but the procedure is the same. You can only connect one item so you want to turn the
light on then hold the power button for 15 seconds and remember eight seconds is the bypass flash so
you'll see one flash at eight you keep holding until you get to 15 and you see another flash.
Now you let go you'll see the light is now the blue and red and if you keep the
other light near it this should flash as you see which indicates been found.
So now you have one button operation so if I click the headlight on you can see now
the other light is also on. You have the battery status so the five indicators here show up
to six different modes will go down to one Flash in one which gives you that extra six indicator so
really cool instead of just having the green and red that you normally see with the
Ion and the Flare. Now you actually have a lot more options you have six different indicators so this
indicates the left indicates the headlight the right indicates the attached light.
To change the mode on the light or the other paired light you actually have to do
it on its its own power button. You can't do it from the headlight which is a little bit
of a downside but you can turn them on and off at the same time so if I want to turn it off
I don't have to go to this power button at all. So you can see it's off turn them on it's the
same thing so double press slight delay and it will send a wake-up call to the other light
so a really cool feature and it gives you that one button operation that we so desperately
need in cycling. It's very annoying to have to turn on each light independently. Now the
final feature I wanted to show, even though this video is getting a little bit long, is the fact
that you can use this to power other devices. To enable that mode you want to open up the USB port
and before you insert the cable you want to enable the power back mode so to do
that have the light turned off hold the power button for eight seconds. You'll see a flash
so this is where it gets really confusing eight seconds with the light on is the bypass flash
mode. With the light off it's actually the power back mode so you can see here the right side is
now flashing up and down indicates the mode is on and then we'll insert the cable and you have
the battery the headlight batteries down it's on the left and then the right indicating that
it is charging. So you can see now I'm charging that standard speed so pretty nice setup and
you can charge other devices so you can get a lot more versatility out of the light. [Music]
There are three different modes with the light you have a simple low high and then flash. Low gives
you 500 lumens, three hour run time. High is 1000 with one and a half hours and then flash is 300
Lumen with 12 hour run time. Now daytime flash is great for daytime riding as you can see here the
erratic flash panel really works well and catches the eye of oncoming traffic and make sure you're
actually visible. With the 12 hour run time you don't have to worry about running down the battery.
Now the really big feature about this light is the pairing so you can see here paired with the
Flare RT you simply park your bike turn off the headlight and the tail light automatically turns
off so a really nice seamless experience just like getting in a car you just turn off the lights
you don't have to do them individually. Then when you want to get back on the bike you just turn on
the headlight with that double press and you're ready to ride so great combination and obviously
the Flare RT is a really nice taillight with great long visibility so you're really visible
from large distances. Here you can see some riding footage with the headlight so not only to get the
pairing but to get that really nice refractor lens which gives you that beam cut off. It's about two
car width a little bit darker here on the GoPro but in reality it's a really nice bright light
and even low mode is more than enough. High mode is just like the high beams on your car and it's
great for darker sections of the trail when you need that extra visibility. Trek claims this is
a do everything style light with thousand lumens which is true it's bright enough for gravel riding
but as with any beam cutoff style light they're not great for really sharp corners as there's
no auto leveling function and they'll leave you with darker edges. You can see here the flash
mode is annoying so when you're cycling through so you do want to make sure you entirely block that
for nighttime riding or just remember to double click. It would have been nice if Trek just added
a double press option instead of having to go through a full shutoff of the flash mode. [Music]
Now let's compare the Trek with some other lights on the market. One interesting comparison is the
Topeak PowerLite. Very similar form factors and it also controls their own proprietary tail light
see they both have the refractor style lens. What's interesting is Trek has gone with the
one button approach with a single press to turn it on while the topic has gone with two buttons so
you actually have a front and a rear light so if I press the front I can turn on the front turn on
and the rear. I can turn on the rear so it's a similar concept but they've really made it two separate
controls independent for one another and you can cycle through the modes of the tail light with
the headlight while with the Trek you actually have to go to your taillight and then switch mode.
I prefer the Trek approach and I also like the battery display you can see it's much better. You
have five LEDs for the headlight and taillight while the Topeak has five total LEDs for both the
headlight and taillight so one for the taillight four for the headlight and you can see the design on
this very misleading. So if I look at different angles it's kind of recessed down there so it's
hard to tell where they are while the Trek is more obvious. You have better viewing angles
the connectivity is also nicer in my opinion as you can turn off the headlight and taillight together
while the Topeak you have to do them one by one and it has a standby mode so when I shut this off
this blue light remains on until you actually disconnect Bluetooth so it
slowly drains the battery while the Trek gives you full shutoff.
There are also other being cut off style lights on the market this is the Outbound Detour so
nice wide beam and you can see anti-glare design. It's a lot simpler you don't have any
Bluetooth connectivity and you have a compact wider profile versus the long cyndical body.
Light Skin also has a very cool NACA headlight so very expensive but it has a
projector lens and what this means is you get that very sharp beam cut off. So nice to see
and you can see a better light pattern than the Trek which has a refractor style so you have
artifacts here. While with the StVZO rated NACA you get a very sharp one this is very expensive
and because it is a StVZO rated you have no flash mode and it has a simple GoPro style
attachment for underneath mounting. Compared to standard lights the Trek has a much more
friendly beam. You can see the Magicshine RN 1500 a lot of glare here even with these little soft beam
cut off. So it has these little lines here that help diffuse it but you can see the beam pattern
it's a standard cone with a little bit of extra underneath to kind of diffuse the light downward.
It is a lot cheaper though you don't have the Bluetooth connectivity simple battery status
indicator and a brighter light so if you're looking for something more affordable Magicshine
is a better option. Also it has a standard Garmin attachment rather than the Blendr style mounts.
If you're looking for something with replaceable batteries I always like to recommend Fenix.
This is the BC21R V3 and you can see it's a flashlight designed for bike mounting so you
have a special mount adapters to GoPro. It has USB Type-C and a basic beam such a standard cone
but it's a lot more affordable and you get a replaceable generic battery so you can actually
swap this out so if you're doing longer rides or in five or ten years you can always keep
servicing this light while these higher tech ones end up kind of just throwing away. [Music]
Now let's go over the pros and cons for the Trek Commuter Pro RT. What we like about it is that you
have a sharp beam cut off so even though you have a thousand lumens you're not blinding oncoming
traffic. Also with the pairing setup you can have one button control for the headlight and taillight
which means you just jump on the bike turn on the headlight have the taillight automatically
turn on and then when you're done riding you can turn them off with the same button so really nice and
it makes a lot more seamless. You also get a dual six level battery status indicator
which is a really nice feature so you have ton of granularity for the status of your headlight
and taillight instead of even having to look for a low battery status light or just having a guess.
The main negatives with this setup is the fact that it is very expensive even the headlight alone
at $150 is expensive for a thousand lumen light and you do have to buy an optional Blendr mount if
you want to mount this underneath a GPS computer which is really the cleanest way to set this up.
Most surprisingly of all this headlight is only IPX4 rated which means this is not really
well suited for heavy rains and the rain cover the little gasket over the USB port is a little
bit finicky so you have to really make sure that's flush to avoid getting water damage on
the headlight. Taking everything to account would give the Commuter Pro an 9.1 out of 10. It's a
nice one button light connectivity it gives you a lot of smart features combined with a
sharp crisp beam cut off. Thanks for watching this review don't forget to like and subscribe.
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