Thanks for tuning in, this is The Sweet
Cyclist and today we're gonna be reviewing
the Fabric Lumasense V2 rear
taillight. Here we have Fabric's latest
Lumasense V2 rear taillight, this
have been updated to have more power
output and has a really unique form
factor as well as an accelerometer which
actually will adjust the output when it
detects decelerations. Packaging-wise you
can see it is really well done, you have simple
graphics with really high contrast
lettering on here and you have all the
features highlighted here as well. The
light itself is prominently displayed in
this little plastic window, it also has a
little cutout here so you can interact
with the power button. It's a nice
feature, on the back you can see more
specifications.
Let's go
ahead and take it out of the packaging
and review some of the specs. The retail
price on this tail light is $40 and as I
mentioned it has an accelerometer which
will actually adjust the output when
it detects deceleration. It has a maximum 100
lumens when it's in that deceleration
boost mode and up to 20 hours of runtime
in the flash mode. Inside the packaging
you can see really simple, you have a
plastic container with cardboard backing.
Inside the packaging you have
the user manual, and a really nice USB cable
here. It's a braided
design which I haven't seen before with
other tail lights. Then you have the tail
light with the mount already attached
that is designed for round seatpost as well
as a little rubber strap here to hold it
in place. It feels pretty secure. Now
let's take a look at the weight of the
Lumasense. The mount by itself
comes in at 16 grams while the tail
light comes in at 34 grams.
Now let's take a closer look at the
fit and finish of the Lumasense V2
taillight. what makes the taillight
unique is the cylindrical design you can
see it looks more like a battery than a
typical taillight. It's all plastic, a
plastic lens in a plastic body and it's
fairly light because of that. If we look at
the face of the taillight you can see
you have a COB LED board here if I
turn on the light you can see there's a
grid of individual LEDs on here that
gives it a really nice uniform look. I
really like that compared to traditional
single LED designs, you have Fabric logo
on top and then the bottom you have
these little grippy portions that make it
easier to grab and adjust. On top you
have the USB port cover, this is a pretty
well designed and you can see it's a rather
thick gasket and fits really well. The
USB slot, is not a USB Type-c but a USB Type-A that
we're starting to see more of on
taillights in the market. However the bicycle
industry has been a little slow to adopt
that. The power button is located in the
bottom and it's a nice grippy and large
button that is really easy to grab even with
gloves on. The back it's pretty unadorned and
you have these little slots on the side.
So if we now if you take a look at the
mount you can see once this pops in
place those little divots slide on the
mount itself. This is really secure,
it's quite hard to actually take the
tail light off the mount so even if you
hit a big pothole I'll stay in place. The
mount consists of the simple holder and
a rubber strap. You can see it has three hooks for
the supplied strap and a nice thick
rubber gasket here to prevent scratching
your frame. Note this is only going to work
on round seatposts and not an aero seat post.
The strap it's pretty thick and it
has a Talon design so two hooks on the
side. If we pop it in and then wrap it
around it holds pretty well and
fairly adjustable. It is a lot thicker
than other rubber strap so it should
definitely a long time. Operation wise the tail
light works by holding the button for
3 seconds. There's no mode memory,
it will always turn on the flashing mode. A
single click to cycle through the
different modes and then a long hold
again, three seconds to shut it off.
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Now let's take a look at the Lumasense
braking sensor in action. As you can see
here I've got disrupt mode on and as I come to
a stop it will revert to the 100
lumen boosted steady mode for maximum
attention. Although the sensor is pretty
well calibrated, as you can see in other
ride footage it will get triggered if
you hit potholes or bumps so you will
get false positives but compared to
other lights we've tested we found that
it's pretty good. Overall the light
works pretty well even in daytime or
nighttime despite the only 30 lumen
output thanks to that 100 lumen
boost. There's also four different
modes available with the Lumasense.
There's high with the 30 lumens and 8
hours runtime. Fabric doesn't publish the lumens
for the others modes but there's low for
15 hours of runtime. Disrupt which
is an irregular flash for up to 20 hours
and then finally normal flash with 10
hours. You get pretty good run time.
Now let's compare the Lumasense versus
some other taillights on the market, what
I've arranged here is everything from a
simple taillight on the far left with no
sensors all the way up to a all aluminum
replaceable battery with a light sensor and
brake sensor model. Starting from the
far left, this is a Planet Bike Rojo
100 which has USB Type-C charging and
comparing it to the Fabric you can see
it's bulkier but at $35 it undercuts the
$40 Lumasense price. It has no sensors
however again the form factor of the
Lumasense is what really sets it apart.
It's a little bit sleeker and smaller
and has the brake sensor feature. Another
light with a brake sensor feature that
we've reviewed here is the Magicshine
Seemee 60. This is a $35 tail light
and it has up to 60 lumens so less power and
slightly cheaper. It also has a COB LED
design
which I think kind of makes it a little
bit more unique than some other
taillights on the market. Now what I
didn't like about the Seemee 60 was that
the brake light sensor was pretty
sensitive unlike the Lumasense which
is less sensitive.
Unlike the Magicshine which would be set
off on any pothole the Lumasense is a
little better calibrated and will only
really activate when you're accelerating.
Now as you go up on the market, more
expensive tail lights you get more
features. Here we have the Bontrager
Flare RT and
this has ANT+ connectivity which means
it can actually pair it with the
computer to actually control the output
mode and monitor the battery. So a really
nice feature and in terms a form factor a lot
smaller. It is about half the size but at $60
it's more expensive and it only has a
light sensor but not a break sensor so
that's one negative. Now if you want to
spend even more we have the Lupine
Rotlicht, this is the max version with
the larger battery. This is $140 but it's
all aluminum, has a replaceable battery and an
ambient light sensor and brake sensor
as well as full configure ability to
turn those sensors off as well as
sensitivity. As you can see you pay a
price in terms of bulkiness and a lot bigger
and heavier. Obviously a lot more
expensive so I think the Lumasense is
pretty well designed for the market. The
price is in line with other lights and
the sensitivity and calibration the
brake sensor makes a lot more usable. Now
let's go over the pros and cons for the
Lumasense, what I liked about the
taillight is a great side visibility
with that wraparound COB LED design.
It has really good visibility from
different angles which improves your
safety and in day or night. I also like
the unique cylindrical form factor of
the taillight which makes it more unique
than other taillights on the market.
Finally the well calibrated braking
sensor, it's not foolproof but it's less
sensitive and other tail lights we've
tested and when you're actually breaking
it does seem to consistently work. What I
don't like about the taillight is the lack
of mode memory.
This means that always turns on in the
same mode and that can be really
annoying if you always have to switch it.
Also there's no other mounts available
with this so it's really only good for a
round seatposts. It also lacks a clear
battery status checker. It only has that
low battery warning which is pretty easy
to miss especially on the tail light.
Taking everything to account I would
give the Lumasense V2 a 9.0 out of 10.
I think it's pretty sleek tail light
with modern features and I like the fact
that has a brake sensor that's less
sensitive than others on the market.
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enjoy the ride!
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