Blackburn Mars 3.0 rear LED light

The Blackburn mars 3.0 led rear light is a very smart, tidy package with a series of extremely bright LEDs housed within. Patented design features throughout ensure that this isn’t something that can easily be copied.

Innovative features such as amber side sections allow other road users and pedestrians to see which way you are facing and the light output is impressive for a unit of this size. The clarity of illumination is staggering, even on misty, wet evenings inI could be seen from well over 500m away.

There are the usual fafs when mounting the light bracket but once it is in place that’s the end of the story as the light itself will simply clips in and out of its bracket so you can take it off the bike if it's parked up somewhere unattended. Changing batteries is again the same sort of deal as with other bicycle lights, it is a case of three small screws needing to be undone. It’s unlikely that you would carry spare batteries with you on a ride but if you did it would be handy to carry a screwdriver and have something to drop the screws in while you do the battery switch. Make sure the screws go back in tightly and correctly to maximise the watertight design of the Mars 3.0.

The build of the unit is to the quality you would expect from Blackburn with a water resistant casing to protect the internal electronics and tough, durable plastic casing to help safeguard the light from knocks and bumps. Blackburn are confident enough of its quality to give the Mars 3.0 a lifetime warranty.

Because this is an LED based light unit the battery life is high, in this case Blackburn claim an average lifespan of around 150hours (when in flashing mode) enough to see you through a winter of an hour's commuting a day in the dark .

Verdict

A very good light for the money. Anything that dishes out this much in the way of visibility especially around 3 sides of your bike has to be worth considering. Be safe, be seen.