Big Cobber Rear Bike Light

Sehr gute Fahrradbeleuchtung, super Qualität!

Love it. Mega-bright!

The light itself is fantastic and very bright. I bought these (front & rear) over other light models as many bicycle collisions happen side-on, rather than from the back, and therefore a light that shines only rearwards little improves your visibility for vehicles approaching from your side. I also went for the brightest lights (les Cobber Grands!) as I mostly cycle during daylight hours; people seem to think you need your brightest lights for the dark but the opposite is true when your light competes against the mcmillion lumens of sunlight! The lights have several flashing patterns that increase your visibility through movement, and you can set them to solid glow for night to give constant illumination and to avoid triggering anybody's epilepsy. I love the functions of the lights and have only wonderful things to say of their shape, function, light patterns, and brightness! Bloody brilliant... literally.

I took a video of the lights in my dimly-lit and poorly-organised garage to append to this review, but the system permits only image files; please see here: https://imgur.com/a/OSpBqHc (I only cycle through a few of the various flash options, so there are more than just those in the video.)

If you attach the front light to the head tube it will of course be obscured by anything upon a front rack, so you may wish to mount the light horizontally on the rack or handlebars. In this configuration however you shall lose out on the side visibility, so I purchased a third-party drop-down mounting to attach the front light to my front rack (see more recent photo at the pool). The Big Cobber is rather, well, big, so once I switched out the stock seat stem for Redshift suspension set I had to attach it instead to the right seat stay. Short folk with a lowered seat may have to do the same (check sizes of Mid and Big Cobbers and compare to your seat stem length), but this was easy given that small rubber bungees are provided, and it sits securely even on that very thin stem. See my more recent photo below at the pool.

The light itself has a sleek design and attaches securely onto mounting plates, which than attach to your bike frame via thick rubber bands. Multiple sizes and profiles are provided to fit everything from my Dutchy three-speed to those angular NASA-designed speedy bikes that whiz past me in a blur of carbon fibre and lycra. The connection is strong enough that I have never had a light bounce off even when riding rough roads, though they may twist around a little or shimmy downwards after a while. I would welcome a secure connection for the mount that featured a clamp, perhaps in addition to the bungee option for more angular frames.

The lights must be removed for charging, as the USB connector needs to go into a USB extender to charge (those are provided and are super useful; I just leave them connected to my USB hub). The bungees do make removal a bit awkward at times as they stretch and move as you try to pull the light from its secure holder, so one must take care during this process, as removal from the holders takes a bit of pressure due to the firm fit. This eventually spelt doom for my poor rear Big Cobber, as the plastic reinforcement of the connector, usually hidden within the holder, snapped during one instance of removal (and I am not rough on my gear and take all care during handling). The light itself still worked and charged just fine, albeit with some movement in the now non-reinforced connector. Unfortunately, the connector eventually wore through and snapped yesterday. I now have a wonderful light that works perfectly but cannot be charged: dead light flashing. I think its final ride shall be this afternoon, when it'll likely run flat. At this stage I am unsure whether or not to purchase another due to this resilience issue...

Context: Three-speed recreational / fitness rider (cross-training for ultramarathons) who has owned these lights since late September 2020. I ride inconsistently, averaging once a fortnight due to ~five months per year of travel. They've therefore had maybe two dozen charging cycles at most. Battery longevity depends upon flash settings.

Even in summer daylight, excellent job vs all kind of vehicles

A very bright light and I love the clean design.