Review: Light&Motion Vega 120
Posted: January 10, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Recently my main light died on me. It would flicker on and off on bumpy roads, and eventually reached a point where the switch no longer worked. It was an inexpensive light I purchased in May of 2008 for about $20. At that price, I can’t really complain.
I decided I wanted to step up quality a bit and would prefer something rechargeable instead of using batteries. While the battery life was good, you do have to change them somewhat frequently during the winter months when you are riding a lot after dark.
I stopped by the LBS, Hattiesburg Bicycle Center, to see what they had. They suggested the Light&Motion Vega 120. It seemed to match my critera well, very bright and rechargeable and on sale!
The mount is very easy to use. You pull the rubber strap around your handlebar, through a slot and secure it on a pin. The problem is that after a few miles I notice that the center of the beam is pointing a little lower than when I started. The light does slide forward slowly as you ride requiring you to pull it back a little. Even tightening the mount as much as possible did not resolve this. I’m considering putting a little electrical tape on my handlebars to see if this helps. It’s not a huge issue and might not occur with different types of bars, but it is slightly annoying.
As for actual usage, there is only 1 control: a single button. Unlike many lights it only has 1 mode. You don’t have different brightness settings or even a blink mode. This seems strange as it’s a standard feature on many lights. This was ok with me considering the price (on sale for $80 locally, Amazon has it for $75). If it had all the bells and whistles it would cost much more. The Vega 120 sacrifices features instead of quality to reach the price point it has, and I’m ok with that.
The light is very bright and more than ample for commuting. Potholes and other hazards are lit up just fine. The beam is wide enough to give decent visibility to the sides of your path as well as the center. Aside from a bright spot in the very center of the beam, the light is very even and illuminates everything in your path equally well. The beam is also strong far in front of you. I went on a fast ride at 5:00am recently and was not able to out-run the light as I have with others. I was able to ride confidently at higher speeds despite it being completely dark outside.
As I mentioned, it is rechargeable and includes a wall-charger. A major downside about this light is battery life: 2 hours. With this short life, you really need to charge it each day. A low-power or blinking mode would really help here, but as this light is targeting to commuters I can’t complain too much. If you have this light I would recommend getting a cheap white-light blinky to keep on your bike just in case you forget to recharge the Vega or get caught in the dark longer than expected.
All in all I’m happy with this light. It has made my commutes feel much safer and allows me to ride harder in the dark because of that. The battery life limits this to being a commuting light, but if that is your need, I can certainly recommend this to you. By keeping the feature-list low on this, Light&Motion has managed to produce a light with the quality of much more expensive units at a very reasonable price. I shopped around a good bit and could not find anything under $100 that came close to this.
