Thanks for tuning in
today we're going to be reviewing the
Kryptonite Incite
XBR bike tail light.
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Although Kryptonite is best known for
their wide selection of bike locks they
recently introduced the Incite series of
headlights and tail lights.
Today we're going to be looking at their
brightest taillight the XBR.
Now this is available both as a set with
the
X6 and X8 headlight or individually as
we have here.
Now packaging wise really simple you
have a cardboard backing
with the characteristic black and yellow
color schemes of Kryptonite.
The tail light is really easy to
interact with as it's mounted directly
to the cardboard
using the rubber strap. You have all the
accessories in a little cardboard box
underneath
and basic indicators of how it works and
some of the ratings.
Now let's go ahead and take it out of the
box and while I do that we'll go over
the specs.
Retail price on this is $39.95
a note this is a little bit more
expensive than the base XR
which is 27.95. It has a 4 led design
as shown here you have a primary led a
guide led
and then the brake light sensor led and
then the fourth one
is the low battery indicator led.
The rating output rating on this is 0.2
lux, now lux is the measure of intensity
on the ground whereas
a lumen which is more common is the
power output from the leds themselves
so that's one difference. It's micro usb
rechargeable
which is pretty nice to have and it has
an integrated accelerometer which is one
of the big selling points here
and that's the main difference between
the XBR
and the lower cost XR model.
Run time from this varies from 10 to 36
hours depending on which mode you pick
and there's seven total modes.
Now inside the box you get the product
manual
and this tells you which modes you have
and basic information on how to mount it.
You get a micro usb charging cable,
you get the tail light itself with the
rubber strap attached
and that's about it so pretty simple
little package. Let's take a look at
the weight of the taillight
if we put just the headlight without the
strap
that comes in at 22 grams and we add the
little basic rubber strap
that brings it to 26 so pretty
lightweight overall.
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Now let's go over the fit and finish of
the XBR tail light.
Aesthetically it's pretty simple it's a
rectangular design that's
fairly thin and then you have this large
circular lens that protrudes out near
the top.
Thecolor scheme wise it matches the X3
and X6 headlights
so you have a black outer color
you have the gray on the bottom and you
have the yellow accent color
so it matches really well especially if
you have the headlights they look good
together.
There's really minimal branding here too
you only have Kryptonite on the side
so it's not too in your face. On the
back side you have the micro usb
charging port,
unfortunately it's not usb type c.
It's pretty inconsistent as far as what
companies offer USB Type-C but it is
becoming more common.
You have the mount directly built in on
here and this is actually has a screw
for adjustment
and then you have the main lens and
that's the most interesting part here
you can see it's a circular design here
that really distributes the beam so if i
were to turn this on
you can see even though it looks like a
single point
it distributes it nice and horizontally.
Same thing with the bottom
brake led.
Now this is a four led design you have
the top primary one
you have a guide one which kind of has a
uniform glow here
and then you have the brake sensor and
that's an interesting little protrusion
here.
So you can see it looks like an ellipse
almost and that really helps draw
attention when you're braking
and as I mentioned yeah basic usb port
here. You do have to remove it from the
bike to charge it but with the simple
mount
that's pretty easy to do. The interface
is a simple one button interface so
it's on the top you hold it down to turn
it on there's seven different modes so
it can be a little confusing.
You do a single click to cycle
through them
it has mode memory so when you turn it
off and then turn it back on
it will go back to the same mode which
is a nice feature.
It also has an illuminated low battery
indicator which is not as good as a
multi-level indicator.
It'll only tell you once you're less
than 20 or 25 percent but it's better
than nothing of course.
Now the mount wise super simple you can
see it's just hooks
directly built in on here and what's
interesting is you can see there's a
screw here
so you can actually rotate this 90
degrees and then mount it sideways
or even rotate the mount and then put
this on a saddlebag.
It's a pretty simple rubber strap it's
fairly thick
so it doesn't look like it would tear
with regular use
and unfortunately it is only for round
seat post so you can see
this is rounded so if you have an aero
seat post this won't work.
To attach it you simply run the
little rubber strap through it put it
through your frame
your seat post and then that's it so
pretty secure and simple
easy to take on and take off so if
you're a commuter you can throw this in
your pocket when you
reach your destination if you park your
bike outside.
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Now let's go over the seven different
output modes of the tail light. Some of
the modes are actually
accelerometer based so if you move the
bike or decelerate quickly
you can see that bottom led trigger and
this is great for
attracting attention. There's also
various flash modes
you have the typical on off as well as
the low, high
steady modes. Now with the flash modes
these are really nice, I like the daytime
pulse
as well as the nighttime pulse here as
it's more gradual shift
so especially if you're riding in a pack
at night it's less obnoxious.
The run times are also really generous
with up to 36 hours in the eco mode.
Now one thing to note is as you can see
here in the daytime this is not
as bright as other taillights on the
market however
we did find the brake sensor to be
pretty well calibrated.
As you can see here when you start
decelerating it triggers that third
brake
led and it's fairly repeatable so if you
come to a stop light or stop sign
it works out. Now it's not full proof
as you can see here there are false
positives if you're accelerating side to
side
it can trigger it but we found overall
it was it worked out pretty well
especially compared to other taillights
we've tested.
So this is more consistent as it has
less false positives overall.
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So now let's do a little comparison with
the XBR and other tail lights on the
market.
First off if we compare the XBR versus
the
lower cost XR model. You can see the
primary difference is that brake sensor,
so where the XBR has an accelerometer
with the
fourth led the XR is just flat here with
a three led design.
You have the same guide light, same
primary and then same low battery
indicator
so that's just one minor difference
otherwise same mounts and everything
else is the same.
Now there's a lot of different form
factors I think the Kryptonite XBR and XR
are a more traditional design
with a simple rectangle. There's other
ones on the market with a little bit more
unique designs.
You have the Light & Motion Vya Switch and
you can see it has an elongated design
with a USB port built directly in.
When you plug it in the mount it
actually turns on and if you were to
detach from the mount it turns off so
really simple interface
and a very focused lens where this is
larger
the Vya's all have a single led and
very focused.
There's also more traditional taillights.
There's a hundred lumen
Planet Bike Rojo and this is actually
pretty nice. It's USB Type-C charging.
Again a traditional form, bulkier too.
That's one nice thing about the
Kryptonite you can see it's very thin
where the Planet Bike is larger but with
USB Type-C charging
and multiple mount options. It's a pretty
good value proposition
I wish Kryptonite had included at least
an adapter or a clip
such as the Rojo 100.
Now brake sensors are becoming
increasingly more popular.
Here we have the Fabric Lumasense V2 and
this also has a
COB led design. You can see when I
turn it on
there's actually individual emitters
here and gives it a nice uniform glow.
As you can see versus the single led
design.
The other thing to point out here is
this has a better implementation of a
rotatable mount
so similar to Kryptonite which can be
rotated this one's tool free so you
don't need a screwdriver.
It's not just a 90 degree rotation
you actually run this at any degree you
want with a little ratcheting design.
Now I don't know why you'd want to run
it at a odd angle but it's nice feature
to have but obviously a bit
more expensive. The brake sensor on this
also
is fairly well calibrated but not quite
as good as the Kryptonite.
Now one reason we're all a little
hesitant with brake sensors is the
Seemee 60.
This is a pretty bright tail light with
a cobb led design
and you can see it gives a nice uniform
glow. With this one it actually
blinks, it goes into a flash mode when it
detects
deceleration. Now one reason we didn't
like the Seemee 60 is
that the calibration is a little bit off.
So with this it's very inconsistent
you can have either two hours three
hours of runtime or
half that since it goes so bright when
when it detects
deceleration even over
potholes.
The more recent Magicshine are a bit
better. So this is the
Seemee 180. you can see it's a more modern
design.
I think that's another criticism of the
Kryptonite, these are a more
traditional design
while something like the Magicshine
looks a little bit more modern on the
bike with the uniform shape.
It also has a nice glow to it again with
the COB design.
The COB led design has a uniform glow,
otherwise pretty simple. This also has an
ambient light sensor which I wish the
Kryptonite lights had
as it lets you switch between day and
night mode seamlessly without pressing
the buttons.
Also while the Kryptonite can only work
with
round seat posts, Magicshine has a little
creative solution they've simply taken
the mount
and then put a little v in there and
this makes it work both on aero
and round seatposts something Kryptonite
could easily implement by just
hollowing out the center.
Also it's nice to have configurability
the Kryptonite doesn't let you
turn the brake sensor on and off where
something like the Lupine
Rotlicht which is $110 for the extended
battery version
lets you do low, medium
and high sensitivity
as well as simply turn it off so
something nice to have but definitely
overkill with the Lupine.
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Now let's go over the pros and cons for
the XBR taillight.
We like the compact form factor it's
really thin and narrow so it fits well
behind a seat
post. We also found the brake sensor to
be well calibrated.
It's not perfect but it doesn't have as
many false positives as we've seen
with other tail lights on the market. It
also has great side visibility with the
little side slots built into the lens
and that helps you especially if you're
in traffic for cars to see you at
intersections from
more oblique angles. Some of the things
we didn't like about the taillight is
the fact that they're too many modes
with seven modes it's really easy to get
lost if you haven't read the user manual.
We'd prefer something more simple, maybe
only a daytime nighttime mode.
It's also not compatible with aero seat
posts and they don't include a clip
with the taillight you just get the
round seatpost mount
with no accessories currently
available.
There's also only a single level battery
indicator it just tells you when you're
low
you can't check the status with any more
detail. Taking everything into account
would give the XBR an 8.4 out of 10.
It's well designed and with a well
calibrated brake sensor.
It's not the brightest tail light on the
market but it's well priced for the
features you get. Thanks for watching
this review
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