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review
Busch and Muller IXXI rear light£16.99
VERDICT:
Really well built, reliable back up light that lacks the power and brightness for standalone use
Weight:
30g
Contact:
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
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The Busch & Muller IXXI rear light is a single LED unit that is designed to comply with the strict German StVZO regulations for bicycle lighting. This brings with it a lot of limitations with regards to power output and the like and demands the question: is brighter better?
Usually in light reviews we would start with a look at all the various modes and burn times but due to StVZO compliant lights not being allowed to flash the B&M (Busch & Muller) has just two modes, on and off. Highlighting how rare that is these days my two year old son who loves to play with the huge selection of lights I've got gave it back to me telling me it was broken.
It's not very bright either thanks to another regulation stating that power has to be limited to 0.6W so you're looking at about 4 to 5 lumens in practice.
The unit is very well built and simple in design for a start with a button on the top and a USB charge point at the bottom covered by a rubber flap which is removed for charging. No matter how much rain I rode through the B&M never succumbed to any moisture issues and carried on working regardless for the full fifteen hour burn time.
To keep an eye on how much battery life you have left there is a small LED indicator that changes colour and once fully flat it turns itself off to protect the battery. Charging time is pretty short at just two and a half hours if you use the a mains charger or four hours from a computer USB port.
The lens gives 180 degrees of illumination so it's ideal for making you little bit more visible from the side at junctions and roundabouts. I had it positioned mid-way up the seatstay for that exact reason and the use of a small o-ring to fit means it stayed put on the slender tube. It stretches well enough to fit round a seatpost though.
So back to that question, is brighter better? Yes up to a point, I'm not recommending full on eye scorching rear lights but I like a lamp that's going to stand out in rush hour traffic in both power and an eye catching flashing pattern.
For this reason I don't think the B&M is beefy enough as a standalone rear light for use on our roads; it doesn't have the depth of illumination to stand out from a distance. While the 180 degree light angle is plenty the small single LED is pretty easy to miss on busy roads.
It does make a brilliant back up light though, either as a constant light source alongside a flasher or something you can chuck in your bag for emergencies. The 30g weight and £16.99 price makes it ideal for that.
Verdict
Really well built, reliable back up light that lacks the power and brightness for standalone use
The light comparator
If you have a nice big screen you can click here for the widescreen version (1400x1000px)
road.cc test report
Make and model: Busch & Muller IXXI rear light
Size tested: n/a
Tell us what the light is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
The IXXI is a rear LED light built to conform with the German StVZO regulations and for this reason it suffers against the opposition through lack of brightness and varying modes.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the light?
Integrated rechargeable lithium-ion battery
- 15 hours burn time
- Charging via B&M mains adapter takes approximately 2.5 hours
- Charging via micro USB port takes approximately 3-4 hours
- Indicator LED shines when the light is on
- Switches off automatically to protect the battery from depth charging
- Approved by German road traffic regulations
Rate the light for quality of construction:
9/10
Rate the light for design and ease of use. How simple was the light to use?
9/10
Rate the light for the design and usability of the clamping system/s
8/10
Rate the light for waterproofing. How did it stand up to the elements?
10/10
Rate the light for battery life. How long did it last? How long did it take to recharge?
9/10
Rate the light for performance:
6/10
Rate the light for durability:
9/10
Rate the light for weight, if applicable:
8/10
Rate the light for value:
7/10
Tell us how the light performed overall when used for its designed purpose
I understand the light's output is governed by the regulations so in terms of performance for its designed purpose the B&M does exactly what it should. I don't think it's up to the task of dealing with British roads and our traffic, though.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the light
It's simplicity and build quality.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the light
Lack of brightness.
Did you enjoy using the light? As a back up.
Would you consider buying the light? No.
Would you recommend the light to a friend? No.
Anything further to say about the light in conclusion?
The B&M is well built and robust enough to cope with our weather, it also has simple operation and fitting but its lack of flashing modes and brightness means it struggles to prove itself as a viable option against the competitors. IT makes a decent back up light though. Scoring wise it's saved by its quality and decent burn times.
About the tester
Age: 36 Height: 180cm Weight: 76kg
I usually ride: Kinesis T2 My best bike is: Kinesis Aithien
I've been riding for: 10-20 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed,
Since writing his first bike review for road.cc back in early 2009 senior product reviewer Stu has tested more than a thousand pieces of kit, and hundreds of bikes.
With an HND in mechanical engineering and previous roles as a CNC programmer/machinist, draughtsman and development engineer (working in new product design) Stu understands what it takes to bring a product to market. A mix of that knowledge combined with his love of road and gravel cycling puts him in the ideal position to put the latest kit through its paces.
He first made the switch to road cycling in 1999, primarily for fitness, but it didn’t take long for his competitive side to take over which led to around ten years as a time triallist and some pretty decent results. These days though riding is more about escapism, keeping the weight off and just enjoying the fact that he gets to ride the latest technology as part of his day job.
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Add new comment
25 comments
Interesting that comments on German cycling forums aren't what you might call 'universally positive ' about STVZO - for example, from a discussion of the Lupine Rotlicht
"Und was hat bürokratischer STVZO-Schwachflug mit Sicherheit im Straßenverkehr zu tun? "
I guess it comes down to the fact you can't please everyone. You've got to have some rules/ laws or people do whatever they want. I got stopped by the polizei and fined for an excessively bright rear light, my bike lights were fine it was the light I'd put on the back of the kiddy trailer they weren't happy with (moonshield/guard, can't remember but its bright). It's one of those things though, I knowingly broke the rules and got caught so got a fine, do I still use the light on the trailer.. yes.
There's such a large amount of offroad cycling lanes that Münster is definitely a safer place to cycle, its proper infrastructure as well with seperately timed traffic junctions, right of way at most junctions over turning cars and what I think to be a better standard of driver ( obviously not all as there's idiots everywhere).
And to overcome these issues, it's a pretty good idea to run 1 steady and 1 flashing light each end...
oldstrath - the lies are that the rules mean the lights have poor visibility. I struggle to suggest lights because I bought my toplight line years ago and I don't know whether they're still on sale or what newer lights are like. My solution of looking in good shops while in Germany probably isn't that helpful a method for most UK buyers!
mike the bike - I'm pretty sure many of those vehicles with flashing lights always have one lit, for visibility!
So why have the flashing lights?
Just have flashing and steady lights on! Job done
I do know that learning to drive in Germany is better organised than in England. For example in Germany you have to have some of your lessons at night, you have to drive on the motorway before you take your test and you can only learn and drive on the road with a qualified instructor. I know you specifically taught to look for bikes and pedestrians when turning off the road as they will normally have a green light to cross.
Haha, the reviewer has never seen a decent German rear light (this may not be one), has believed the lies told about their rules and fallen victim to the UK cult of the lumen.
They even express a liking for flashing lights, so you can't be seen readily if someone only glances in your direction. Please don't let them review more lights until they've wisened up.
Seconded! roadcc should in future select all its reviewers based on the views of a random selection of know it alls.
It'd definitely make things more interesting.
I think they should be self-selected know it alls - then I could be one
So maybe you could point out the 'lies' and a 'decent German light' to remove the rest of us from the pit of ignorance?
I run dynamo lighting now, with an StVZO approved rear light which illuminates as a bright ring around a large rear reflector.
I find that I get more drivers giving room and holding back than I ever did with flashing lights.
I suspect from a distance the better optics the german std requires, and the large area bright steady light, makes me more visible as a road user, and possibly NOT specifically as a cyclist, so I get more space and time.
I also run a german front light which again is bright and steady and gets more respect than flashing lights.
Neither are high wattage or lumens, but the quality optics means they don't need them
A steady light will be more visible than a flashing light, is easier for the viewer to track distance and speed, and is *ON* the whole time. Flashing lights are really quite stupid. It's less to do with 'German' or quality optics and more to do with having your lighting set up so that it is at its most effective when seen by the human eye...rather than what you *think* works best because others do it.
My reading of the data would suggest it's a bit more complicated than that - flashing is more conspicuous, but harder to judge distance and speed. I suspect flashing gets more attention because it's 'unnatural '. What we really need it would seem is a wide light bar!
A steady light will be more visible than a flashing light, is easier for the viewer to track distance and speed, and is *ON* the whole time. Flashing lights are really quite stupid. [/quote]
It seems such a pity the designers of aircraft, police cars, fire service vehicles, ambulances, coastguard vehicles, burglar alarms, doctor-on-call cars and a million different warning lights didn't share your wisdom.
It seems such a pity the designers of aircraft, police cars, fire service vehicles, ambulances, coastguard vehicles, burglar alarms, doctor-on-call cars and a million different warning lights didn't share your wisdom.[/quote]
It's not my wisdom, it's *science*.
But...the majority of those have lights on *ALL THE TIME*. The flashing lights (more usually *alternating* lights around a steady one, rather than flashing lights) - are to grab attention. But they don't run without a constant light source. Have a closer look next time you see pretty much all of the above.
Burglar alarms really are not really in the same league as vehicles travelling at speed. But I accept that there may possibly be situations of which I am unaware when it is really vitally important to be able to monitor the movement, direction and speed of a burglar alarm. I just can't think of any.
The infrastructure is probably better. I live in Münster and there's a cycle pathn the majority of roads within the city or a 30kph limit in residential areas. The polizei are out everyday in random places monitoring for speeding and general bad driving. I regulary see people being pulled over and fined for traffic violations.
Yep, funny how that actually works.
While in the UK, we're basically resigning road policing to the history archives and letting anarchy rule...
I forgot to mention they also have motorbike and bicycle mounted police so they can catch the pesky rlj, anti-social, and dangerous cyclists. They do actively look for drunk cyclists and drivers as well.
If this is recommended as a back up light, what is recommended as a main light? DiNotte? Lezyne? USE Exposure?
You use an illegally bright or flashing light in Germany and the polizei witness it you get pulled over, asked for your ID and fined. Its as simple as that.
Even if this is true, it doesn't explain why tgey get away with these underpowered, nearly invisible, toy lights - something must be different.
Presumably the 0.6 watt restriction comes from the historical restriction to dynamo lights?
Have to say this thing puzzles me. It, and most other german rear lights, appears utterly inadequate. But presumably German cyclists are not being mown down from behind in large numbers. So are German drivers more civilised, or is their night vision better, or do German cyclists just ignore the regulations?
I'd be surprised if brighter lights in the UK really make that much difference to accidents. If the driver was both paying attention and driving considerately then they will see you even with a small light (because they looked) and give you room. There will be a small number of cases where a bike light was bright enough to wake up a driver or where there was so much background light a small lamp would just blend it so it couldn't be seen even when looking - but I bet they are rare. Not that I have any figures for this.
I think Germany's success comes from a number of things, in descending order of importance: "safety in numbers", better infrastructure, tough driving tests (I haven't done the German one but this is what I hear) and enforcement.
I really think the "safety in numbers" is the most critical by a long way. It changes attitudes. If you get hit by a car here the driver (in my experience) always apologises. They know there are lots of cyclists, they know lots of cyclists and they probably can't slink off to the pub to complain about them as the pub will be full of cyclists as well.
The infrastructure is mostly good but they have the similar problems to the UK of it not being maintained sufficiently. Also sometimes it appears to be designed to slow down cyclists (which I would accept better if the parallel road had something similar) rather than aid in their travel. It's not always large enough to cope with the traffic volumes either. Additionally, if you do need to take the road sometimes I think it contributes to the level of abuse you get from motorists.
I'm not sure how much better enforcement is here (Berlin) compared to the UK - it's certainly not perfect (and they have the whole pull over bikes for actual, but minor, infractions and ignore the cars running red lights behind them trick as well). On the other hand you do actually see enforcement at times.
Not sure the German driving test is much different from ours. European Union regulations demand there is approximate parity and, to my certain knowledge, the two have come closer together over the last few years. We, for example, have recently relaxed the driving test eyesight requirement to fall in line with the EU.