Lezyne Strip Alert Drive rear light

The Lezyne Strip Alert Drive is the second tier in the new 'Alert' range of rear lights from Lezyne. It's a rugged design providing five different flashing modes and a braking sensor. It has a good range of mounting options, although you will need to recharge it more regularly than you might like.

I've used previous iterations of the Lezyne Strip light, but a quick click through the five modes on this new 2020 Alert version showed me that it's hugely improved in brightness, with some really eye-searing flashing modes.

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It's a 'co-moulded' construction, with a fairly thick rubberised outer around the harder red plastic of the red body of the light, so up to taking a few knocks. I couldn't find a quoted IPX rating, but running it under the tap showed it's very waterproof. I had no issues taking it out in heavy rain.

The mounting system, a rubber ladder strap plus an extra spacer, means it can attach to different width aero or round seatposts, and – my preferred method – to the seatstay, where it works well.

There are five LEDs for up to 150 lumens of output, and five output modes. Quoted run-times on the various modes vary from 4 hours for the 35-lumen Blast mode to 27 hours for the 3-lumen Economy, with Day Time flash giving out the max 150 lumens for 5hrs 30mins, and two 25-lumen flashing modes lasting 8hrs 30mins and 10hrs 30mins.

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When slowing down or coming to a stop, the 'Alert' braking mode causes the light to glow a brighter solid red. When you get going again, within a few moments, the previous mode kicks back in.

In use

The Strip Alert Drive is easy enough to operate: hold the single button down for two seconds to turn on, then use a single press to cycle through the five modes. A two-second press turns it off again. There is a memory function, so it will go straight to the last used mode when turned back on. I had no issues operating it with gloves on.

A quick press of the button when the light is off shows the battery level either as a faint green light, or red if the light needs recharging.

My fellow group riders didn't really notice the Alert brake light feature until about 25 miles into one of our rides, when someone asked if it was somehow changing modes when we pulled up to junctions. I think the issue is that because bicycles don't, as a rule, have brake lights, they didn't expect me to have one. It didn't seem to make vehicular traffic stay any further back when slowing up at junctions, either.

The flashing modes are really quite bright, so much so that I think if I was using the light on a narrow cyclepath I would reduce it to the minimum 3-lumen setting to avoid annoying riders behind. Even then it is visible from a good 60 metres behind.

The daytime mode is exceptionally bright and worked well.

Battery life and charging

My main bugbear with the Strip Alert Drive is the battery life. I found that the red recharge indicator would be on at the end of pretty much every ride of about three hours, using a mix of Blast, daytime and flash modes, meaning I had to bring it back in for a recharge. On one three-hour ride with a bit of urban based stopping and starting, it ran out before we had finished the ride. Presumably the Alert system coming on whenever I was slowing down must have been eating into the quoted run-times on the different modes.

I would happily take a longer battery life for a few extra grams of weight in the unit. At 66g it isn't too bad, but I can think of other lights not dissimilar in weight, such as the Exposure TraceR and Gemini Iris, which I can get multiple three-hour rides from, or be able to commute the vast majority of the week with, before they need recharging.

On the subject of which... I was disappointed to see the now old standard micro-USB connection, as most small devices and phones have been moving over to USB-C. A small micro-USB lead is included, and the charging point is accessed via a rubber bung end cap, which is tethered to the light to prevent losing it. Charging takes around three hours.

Value

The Lezyne Strip Alert Drive has an RRP for £40, though a quick hunt online shows it can be had for around £36.

Looking at other rear lights with similar 'braking technology' built in, the Exposure TraceR 2 Reakt is very well reviewed, with more generous battery life and CNC construction. However, it is also considerably more expensive at £60. I can confirm the better battery life, though – I own one, and I can do several night rides before it needs a recharge.

The See.Sense Icon 2, an improved version of the Kickstarter original, now includes a braking mode along with a plethora of other features such as anti-theft tech. We tested it as part of a set with a front light, but the rear can be bought on its own for £79.99.

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To sum up – the Strip Alert Drive offers a rugged construction, with braking tech, daylight mode and a range of mounting options. However, the braking tech doesn't seem to add much, and the battery life could be significantly better. Overall, it's not bad, but could be better.

Verdict

Rugged construction, with braking tech and several flashing modes, but concerns over battery life take the shine off