Knog Cobber Mid Rear Light

The Knog Mid Cobber Rear is a smart looking funky light with a huge range of eye-catching modes with a large spread of lumen output making it ideal for use in the dark or on the brightest of sunny days.

• Pros: Eye-catching modes, decent battery life
• Cons: Bracket can be fiddly to use and feels slightly fragile

Using a blanket of Chip on Board (COB) LEDs, the entire curved body of the Cobber is illuminated, giving what Knog claims to be 330 degrees of coverage. And unlike some lights that make similar claims by having a cover that allows light to escape sideways, the Cobber actually has the LEDs pointing in the direction of each of those 330 degrees to give a uniform brightness of up to 170 lumens.

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The modes are mixed between solid state and various flashes or strobes, so you can adjust to the light conditions and control battery life.

Performance

With the days being long and bright at the moment and most of my riding taking place during the middle of the day, I've been favouring the two that offer maximum brightness. Both the Steady Pulse and Flash offer that 170 lumens and they are bright. The latter has a consistent flash that will give you 6.5 hours of run-time, with the Pulse lasting 2.5 hours because of the LEDs remaining on all of the time at a lower output (about 70 lumen), interrupted with a bright flash.

In lower light like overcast days or during the build-up to dusk, I found the 70-lumen Rolling Flash (4.5hrs) worked well with a bit of 80s TV Knight Rider action on the go.

There is a Side Flash (100lm/2hrs) and a Disco Flash (80lm/4.5hrs), and for an emergency light to get you home there is an Eco Flash of just 15 lumens, but the battery will last 100 hours from full to empty.

Battery burn times were within +/- 5% of those claimed, so I'd be happy with that.

Charging

Charging is taken care of by the integrated USB plug that plugs directly into any USB slot, so you could charge it at work by plugging it straight into your PC or a wall-mounted charger. In the pack you do get a USB extension cable should space be a bit tight.

Charging was also pretty close to the claimed 4 hours and you can keep an eye on the battery level by way of the LED behind the switch. When it is fully charged the LED will go green.

Mount

The light is held in place by a bracket and silicone loops and it does the job of keeping it in position. It isn't angled to take into account the lean of the seatpost but with the amount of light coming from the Cobber it isn't a problem being pointed slightly at the road. It will fit seatposts of 'up to 32mm+' – plus you also get an aero mount.

The light fits to the mount by magnetism and it's a strong bond – you'll have no worries about the light disappearing off down the road – but it can be a bit tricky to remove at times: you need to hold the light firmly, lifting the mount over the little stopper to slide it out of the grooves. It all feels a little brittle and the tabs that hold the silicone ring feel quite fragile so I'd be wary of dropping the light. (Knog has a video here to show how to attach/detach it.)

Waterproofing is good. The USB plug is designed to withstand the elements, and neither riding in heavy rain nor a good blast from the power shower have seen any issues.

Value

Value-wise, I suppose it could be seen to be a little pricey at £59.99 for a rear light, but looking at the opposition it doesn't seem too bad. The Exposure Blaze mk2 Daybright is one of my favourite lights; it's durable and performance is impressive, but it costs £90, and is only half as bright as the Knog.

On the other hand, the Lezyne Zecto Drive Max Rear is just £48 and can be run at up to 250 lumens for ultimate daytime visibility. I'd say that the striking modes of the Knog are more eye-catching though.

> Buyer's Guide: 17 of the best rear lights for cycling

The Cobber is also available in a shorter 'Lil' version for £44.99, or a long 'Big' version for £74.99. You can also buy front and rear as a set. (I'm testing the front separately – full review to come.)

Overall, I really like the Knog Cobber for its design, brightness and range of modes, and even with a bit of faff with the bracket it should last you a good few seasons.

Verdict

Very bright and eye-catching light, with only a slightly fragile feeling clamp taking the shine off