Thanks for tuning in, this The Sweet
Cyclists and today we're gonna be looking at
the Magicshine Seemee 180 bike rear
taillight. Here we have the Magicshine
Seemee 180, this is one of the new
taillights as a part of the updated Seemee
line. This is a really unique taillight
that offers quite a bit of technology
and new features from Magicshine. We
have a sneak peak here so I don't
actually have the packaging but
I'll show a little picture
of the packaging here on the right. You
can see it's really eco-friendly
with minimal plastic and the tail light
prominently displayed. Now pretending as
if we did the unboxing, we'll go over
the specs. What makes the tail light
quite unique is the dual LED design, so
you have an inner and outer ring a
really large face on here. There is 180 maximum
lumen output which is really impressive
about these tail
lights is that they have eight different modes.
Three constant, four flash and a smart
mode that actually leverages an
integrated ambient light sensor to
automatically adjust the output
depending on the current conditions. You
also get a brake sensor which
automatically switches it to the hundred
eighty lumen output boosted mode to draw
attention. It's a micro USB rechargeable and
you also get two different mounts right
out of the box which is a really cool
feature. You get a seat post mount that
actually works on both rounded and aero
seat posts with this dual cutout design.
You also get a saddle rail mount which is another
nice feature, it simply sits on your
round saddle rails. You get the tail light
itself and you get two zip ties which
I'm not quite sure what you need them
for.
You can use that to maybe secure it on
the saddle rail for a little extra
security but I found this works pretty
well. Now let's take a look at the weight
of the Seemee 180 tail light. So the tail
light by itself comes in at only 36
grams which is quite lightweight. Then we have
the really simple plastic saddle rail
mount which comes in at four grams. Then
we have the seat post mount with the rubber
strap that comes in at 12 grams so
pretty light overall.
Now let's go over the fit and finish of
the Seemee 180 tail light. Now what I
really like about the tail light is the
LED design here has really cool optics
on here. As you can see it has these
vertical deflectors on top, then
horizontal deflectors on the bottom so
it really gives you a nice distributed
beam and with that outer ring, which is
actually on the independent control
board, you get really cool design. With
the different flash modes they'll flash
the inner and then the outer to really
draw attention. Over all the body on this
is a rectangular plastic design, so quite
lightweight. On top you have one of my
favorite features the power button. This
has has a rubber texture which is really easier to grab
especially with gloves on. What they've
added with the new Seemee lights is
finally a battery indicator. You get a
three level indicator so it's roughly
between 20 to 100%, 6 to 20% and then
anything lower will flash red.
You get a really
simple mounting design, it has a quarter
turn design which is pretty much a scaled down
Garmin design. Next you have Magicshine
logo on here on the side. One
thing I was really concerned about when
I first saw the tail light was the side
visibility. However you can kind of tell
here this is actually transparent so if
I turn this on, it's a long hold, you can
see that whole front of the body is
transparent so that gives you that 260
degree visibility so a really nice
feature.
You also have mode memory with this tail
light so whatever mode you turn it off
on I'll turn back on so really nice
feature. Underneath you'll find the
standard micro USB charging port.
Unfortunately it's not USB
Type-c yet, however with the IPX6
rating this should definitely handle
wet weather days. I really like the
rubber gasket it fits in well. Other side
again you have simple Magicshine. Over
all, the form factor is quite small and
it will definitely hide behind your seat
post. We'll take a quick look at the
mount, I definitely want to point out
here it's a really clever mount design.
I'll work on both aero seat posts and
standard seat posts with this
dual cutout. The larger cutout will
work with
round seat post while that inner cutout will
make sure it actually sit flush on an
aero seat post. You also get a standard
saddle rail mount which is a really cool
feature, which is single sided. Now let's take a look
at the mounting options with the Seemee
lights. What I have here is the seat post
mount as well as the saddle rail mount.
To install the saddle rail mount you
simply place it between the saddle rails
and I believe these have to be round
rail so other rails might not work.
Then you apply some pressure and you
hear that nice click and it's in place
so it feels really secure and it can be
slid back and forth slightly. This will
interfere with saddle bags or other
accessories you might have on here such
as a fender. Now if we take the Seemee 200
as an example and do a simple quarter
turn for the seat post mount. You can
see it is really secure with easy rubber straps to
remove it. Then for the
saddle rail mount, same quarter turn and
gives you a nice higher placement
especially if you don't have Saddleback
I think it looks a little better as a
tuckson underneath your saddle so now
let's take a look at the full lineup of
Seemee taillights and compare that to
other taillights on the market what I
have here is the Seemee 200 it has the
dual LED design one on the bottom one on
the front $45
next we have the Seemee 180 at forty
dollars. It has a large cob LED design
upfront then you have the Seemee 100 with
a slightly lower output and a very
similar form factor at thirty-five
dollars. Finally the seventeen dollar
Seemee 30 which is a much thinner and
lighter than the others. What's really
cool about this is that all the Seemee's
now have ambient light sensors and that
gives you that smart light output mode
to automatically adjust the conditions
or power that secondary LED on or off.
You get the brake sensor on everything
but the Seemee 30. Form factor
wise you can see a rectangular design
with the 100, 180 and the 30 and this is
quite a departure from the previous designs.
I have a Seemee 60 here and you can
see this is very different. It has a
polished
outer ring on it.
Compared to the other Seemee tail lights
it looks like quite a bit of
an outlier. The Seemee 60 does have the
break sensor but no ambient light sensor.
Now starting with a Seemee 200, this
reminds me a lot of the Bontrager Flare RT and
you can see when you put them
side-by-side they're quite similar. The
Magicshine Seemee 200 is a little bit
taller
that is likely due to the fact that it has
the secondary sensor.
The Bontrager only has an ambient light
sensor and no brake sensor so a little
bit smaller. The Bontrager does have
bluetooth connectivity which lets you
connect to a computer to monitor the
output battery and also turn it on or
off automatically which is a nice
feature. However it is more expensive at
$60 so I think the Seemee 200 is a really
nice high-tech tail light at a pretty good
price at 40 bucks.
Also that dual LED design is quite
unique and something I haven't really
seen before
with these kind of tail lights. Now if
you look at the Seemee 100 and 180 they're
both quite similar except lower output
and the differences in prices. They
both have the same light output modes,
obviously different runtimes, and they
both have brake sensor and the
ambient light sensor as
well. They all have this nice transparent
body as well, you can see even though
it almost looks dark you can
tell here at the front is transparent.
These remind me a lot of the Topeak
Aero Redlite, you can see a
rectangular body. It's more compact
as well, the Topeak has a more aero
design. I do like that fact that the
Topeak has a transparent body so when you
turn this on you can see it really
lights up the whole thing compared to
the Magicshine. You do get pretty
good visibility with the side visibility
with the Magicshine's transparent
body. That is a little bit thinner and
the fact that you can run this on both
aero and non-aero seatpost is a real
nice feature.
The Seemee 30 is a little bit of a
outlier from the product line at $17
it's thinner does not have the brake
sensor but it does have the ambient
light sensor and the same light mode
options. Now let's take a look at the
Seemee 180 on the road, as you can see
here even during the daytime that flash
setting is quite bright and with a high
output the brake sensor also really
attracts attention with a 180
lumens. Also note that the brake sensor
is quite sensitive and will get
triggered more often even when you're
not braking. That's one issue we've
seen across the Seemee line so that's
something to be aware of. Now there are
eight different modes with this
tail light.
You have three constant modes,
four flash modes and a smart mode.
What's really cool about this is the
various flash modes, they're quite
creative I really like like the breathe
mode here that fades in and out as well
as comet which fades out. You also have the
interactive mode which doesn't show up
quite well on the camera, but that lights
up the inner portion of the LED and then
the outer portion with the runtime
being pretty generous. Smart mode is
a really cool feature that uses the
ambient light sensor and automatically
switches between a day mode and a night
mode. The night mode holds a lower
power setting then turns higher instead
of going on off. Here's a little montage
of all the output modes together.
You see there's quite a few options to
choose from and probably too many modes
to be honest but it's nice to have
so many options. Now let's go over the
pros and cons for the Seemee 180. I really
like the battery status checker you
don't have to guess about the battery
state. You have a three level checker
even when the lights off and that's a
nice feature I'd like to see in more
tail lights. Also a lot of cool tech
features here with an ambient light
sensor and the brake sensor that
automatically turns on with deceleration
as well as enabling a smart mode. Also
I really like the excellent side
visibility and daytime visibility with
the transparent body and the 180 lumen
output. It is a tail light you can
definitely use whether it's day or night.
Some of the cons are the integrated
battery which unfortunately means you
have to throw away the light once the
battery is fully depleted.
Also there's no body clip included which
is a little bit strange since they
included a saddle rail mount. Also
there's a confusing number of output
modes with eight total modes, I feel like
they could definitely pair it down to a
couple instead of having so many. Taking
everything to account I would give the
tail light a nine out of ten, I think
it is a really sleek and bright smart
tail light. It's great to see Magicshine
really improve the Seemee line and add
such cool smart features at such a low
price. Thanks for watching for review if
you like the content don't forget to
like and subscribe. You can see more
content from us at our website at the
thesweetcyclists.com as well as follow us
on Instagram at @TheSweetCyclists. This
is The Sweet Cyclists reminding you to
enjoy the ride!
[Music]