See.Sense Ace Front and Rear Set

See.Sense has been making a bit of a name for itself with its smart lights, and with the Ace Front and Rear Set it's bringing the prices down. As well as smart features, the Ace set offers really good visibility, discreet looks, and an app that does everything you probably need it to, though a bit more customisation would be good.

• Pros: Small and discreet, good visibility and smart features
• Cons: Could do with more customisation

Perhaps the most notable of the smart elements is the 'braking' sensor. As you slow down, the brightness of the rear light increases, making you more visible at a time when you're more likely to be struck from behind. This seems to work fairly well, although there is a little lag in your slowing registering. However, all in, it is a system that seems to work pretty well.

The front light has an output of 150 lumens and the rear 125, which is more than enough to maintain visibility to other road users. Each uses a block of LEDs beneath the large button and a smaller row above it, and these create more than enough light for most situations.

Operation of the lights can be done in one of two ways: using the large button on the front of each light, or connecting the lights to your phone via Bluetooth and controlling them through the app.

The button is simple to operate, with a long press turning the lights on or off, and a shorter press changing the lighting modes. There are three different modes to toggle through.

When operating the lights through the app you have more customisation options and you can turn them on/off and select from one of six lighting modes. The app also allows you to change the brightness of the lights, which is a nice touch.

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Smart features are also turned on or off through the app. The braking/slowing feature is specific to the rear light, the others are theft detection, crash detection, and sending ride information to city planners.

Theft detection works within 100m of the bike; if the bike is moved while you are in range you get a notification telling you. This works pretty well and gave me extra peace of mind when leaving my bike outside during coffee stops.

Crash detection sends a message to a contact if the lights detect that you have been in a crash and the bike is no longer moving. Again, this seems to work well, although in testing it's quite difficult to recreate a crash movement accurately.

One thing I would like to see in the app is a little more customisation. For example, I would like to be able to define which three light modes are in use with the button alone, how long the time out settings are, and maybe the ability to change the mode for braking. However, as with all apps they are continually evolving, so these features could be with us in the future.

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From the high tech to the low-tech... The lights are simple to mount, using a plastic bracket held onto the seatpost or handlebar with a rubber band. The brackets are really easy to attach, and thanks to the large tab on one side, the lights themselves can be fitted or removed easily.

Three 'positions' on the rear light mean you can angle it to suit your seatpost – so that it points in the right direction.

Battery life is obviously dependent on the mode you are using, but on constant the lights were perfectly adequate for commuting, with my journey of 45 minutes each way requiring me to charge them about once per week. See.Sense claims a battery life of 10 hours and this seems fairly accurate.

An rrp of £79.99 seems a good price for a pair of smart lights offering this kind of performance. It's £10 more than the Bontrager Ion 100 R/Flare R City Bike Light Set, but they have a lower output and no smart features. A direct comparison to other smart lights gives a different picture, with the Garmin Varia lights offering a little more in terms of 'smartness' but at £279.99 rrp they're three times the price.

Overall, I was really impressed with these lights. They are small but powerful enough for most uses, the smart features work well and the app is a useful addition. Okay, it could have a few more features, but at the moment it does what it needs to without fuss.

Verdict

Enough visibility for most situations with useful and practical smart features