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Over the last ten years we've clocked up thousands upon thousands of cold, dark winter road miles to test over 250 rear lights. These are the best rear lights you can buy, from brilliant budget beamers to retina-ripping radiants that demand even the dopiest driver's attention.
A rear light is a legal requirement when cycling at night, and using one that's brighter than the legal minimum seems like a sensible way of helping drivers see you — or at least defanging 'but I didn't see them' excuses. The best bike rear lights have long run-times, can be seen from a good distance, and are sufficiently tough and waterproof to fend off day-to-day abuse.
Cycling rear lights universally use one or more red light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to generate their light. LEDs are very efficient, putting out lots of light for modest electrical power, which makes them cheap to run but effective at boosting visibility. Most rear bike lights are now rechargeable, taking power from a USB source like a standalone charger or your office computer. Battery-powered lights are still available and have their adherents who appreciate being able to revive a dead light at any filling station or corner shop.
A flashing red light says 'bike' to most drivers; we recommend using a constant light as well so your position can be easily followed. It can be hard to track the position of a flasher on an otherwise unlit minor road. Rear bike lights are increasingly intended as day-time safety lights too, with super-bright flash or pulse modes designed to be impossible for drivers to ignore. They can be very annoying to other riders though; please use them only when necessary.
Need a front light too? Check out our guide to cycling front lights
Buy Now for £62.00 from Spa Cycles
Exposure's TraceR with ReAKT and Peloton rear light impressed us previously without the Peloton technology, but one year on it's gained this extra feature to help keep it at the top of the pile.
In this updated version, the recipe hasn't changed, it's just been added to. You still get a beaming 75-lumen max output, with six modes that dictate how much burn time you have, from 3 hours in the brightest static mode to 24 hours on the lowest flash mode, plus DayBright pulse mode.
ReAKT is probably the best feature of the lot, adapting to the light conditions at the time, and flaring up when it senses that the rider is braking. But now there's a new feature to add to the mix. It's called Peloton, and it recognises when there is a front bike light behind you and dims itself to save dazzling the following rider.
Read our review of the Exposure TraceR MK2 With ReAKT And Peloton Find an Exposure dealer
Buy Now for £17.99 from AW Cycles
A classic that's still going strong, the TL-LD610 has five decently bright LEDs and runs off a pair of AAA batteries. It excels as a round-town attention-grabber because of the mode in which the lit LED scans across the panel: think Knight Rider or Cylon Centurion.
Why would you run a light off batteries when you can plug a USB cable into all the other lights here and run them for free? The advantage is that if you stuff up and run out of juice, you can get a pair of AAAs from any filling station, supermarket or corner shop. We like to run a TL-LD610 on NiMH rechargeables and get the best of both worlds.
Read our review of the Cateye TL-LD610 Find a Cateye dealer
Buy Now for £11.99 from Ebay
The Moon Alcor is simple, bright and has a nifty magnetic mount. I use a back light almost all the time, perhaps excepting on the finest of high summer days. Bright sunlight, especially when the sun is low and the roads are wet, is not the friend of the cyclist and an attention-grabbing strobe like that provided by the Moon Alcor is a valuable aid to daytime visibility.
That's how I've used this most of the time during the test period, and it was a bonus that the day-flash mode gives over 34 hours of battery life (I never did find out exactly how many hours because I had to go to bed). Moon reckons that on the low-power single-flash setting you should get 70 hours. That's still plenty bright enough for night riding on dark roads, by the way.
Read our review of the Moon Alcor Find a Moon dealer
Buy Now for £38.00 from Sigma Sports
This super-bright and tough little USB rear light from UK illuminati Exposure pumps out plenty of light and will last for a week's medium-distance commuting (4-5 miles) between charges. It's not cheap, but it is excellent.
If you want more light and longer run time, the Exposure Blaze MK2 Reakt (£84.95) packs a 1,500mAh battery for roughly twice the life.
Read our review of the Exposure Lights TraceR DayBright
Buy Now for £22.50 from Brightside
Brightside's eponymous light is a well-built double-ended side light at a good price that attaches easily to your frame, and gives you an extra dimension of visibility to other road users approaching you from the side. Bright 15-lumen Cree LEDs at each end attract attention.
The Brightside has filled a gap in the market (a quick internet search only unearthed the Brightside and the Cateye Orbit Spoke lightset) in a bid to reduce the instances of SMIDSY (sorry mate I didn't see you) incidents. With too many accidents happening at junctions and roundabouts, the light is designed to give you all-round visibility to motorists approaching from your side – Brightside, not broadside.
Read our review of the Brightside
Buy Now for £53.99 from Hargroves Cycles
The Exposure Link Daybright is a secondary helmet light that adds 360-degree visibility and is great for being seen in heavy traffic. Designed and made in the UK, build quality is exceptional, it's very tough and run-times are reasonable bearing in mind its size and two LEDs.
As a secondary light for adding dimensionality to your visibility, for being seen rather than to see by, the basic Link does the job and is the one to go for over the more expensive Link Plus. Because it shines directly into other road users' eyes, since it follows the direction of your head, a blindingly powerful front light isn't necessary, and is even a nuisance. The Link is also lighter than the Link Plus, and of course it's cheaper.
Read our review of the Exposure Link Daybright Find an Exposure dealer
Buy Now for £125.00 from Merlin Cycles
The Hope District Plus is one of the brightest rear lights you can buy and it gets the nod in this category because as well as its sheer visibility, it's powered by a separate battery which means huge run-times. Hope claims 15 to 200 hours depending on mode, so it'll see you through an all-nighter on full power or literally weeks of commuting on low. You can also use it a part of a system with Hope's R2 or R4 Plus front units lighting the way.
As Mat Brett said in his review of the District: "You really are massively visible on the roads at night with this light on board. Look on it as an investment in your safety and that price becomes a lot easier to swallow."
Read our review of the Hope District Plus
Buy Now for £25.99 from Rutland Cycling
The Moon Cerberus has a three-sided COB (chip on board) design that supplies outstanding side visibility, an innovative hinge system that makes it compatible with all shapes of seatpost, and a dimmer function that allows you to fine-tune your output and battery life.
Side visibility is an afterthought for most light manufacturers, but the Moon Cerberus supplies genuine 270-degree coverage and is as bright from the left or right as it is from the rear. Instead of a curved lens or cutout that is supposed to spread the light from rear-facing LEDs sideways, the Cerberus has three separate LED strips with two of them dedicated to sideways light. For those heart-in-mouth moments when you're passing a junction that's full of dozy drivers ready to SMIDSY you, it's game changing.
Read our review of the Moon Cerberus rear light Find a Moon dealer
Buy Now for £34.49 from Chain Reaction Cycles
Cateye's Viz 450 rear light can throw out an extremely bright beam, although the full power is reserved for an intermittent flash in the 'Daytime Hyperflash' mode. It combines the all-round visibility from Cateye's earlier Rapid models with a focused beam that will have you seen from hundreds of metres back. The Daytime Hyperflash mode goes Full Rave with all five LEDs flashing at different speeds and the full 450 lumens deployed a little over once per second.
Tester Jez writes: "It's luridly chaotic. It's not just the bonkers output of those bright flashes but all the various rapid strobing that's going on at the same time, which makes this hard to ignore. Following behind this light in the daytime, I found that from around 100 metres it was very effective at being impossible to miss (and not overly bothersome) but from 10 metres it was pretty irritating. I would only use this mode if I was doing a lot of riding on fast A-roads in the daytime, and it would make me feel safer in that specific environment."
Read our review of the Cateye Viz 450 Find a Cateye dealer
Buy Now for £33.99 from ProBikeKit
The latest version of the Lezyne Zecto Drive Max 250 has a range of modes that start at sensible light output and increase to the ever so slightly insane with a mighty 250 lumens topping the bill. Each one has its use though and allows you to balance power with battery life whatever the conditions.
Tester Stu writes: "Lots of manufacturers are starting to include daytime modes to their lights and this is what Lezyne have done with the Max 250. The 250-lumen flash can be seen a good distance even in bright sunshine and for this reason I'd suggest never using it in the dark as it is downright antisocial for drivers sat behind." [You may, hoever, see that as a bonus — if they're annoyed, at least they've seen you — Ed].
While he had a few niggles, tester Steve concluded: "The Zecto Max is more than bright enough, extremely well made and gives really useful run-times in all of its modes. It's very likely to keep doing a good, simple job for years to come, too, which goes a good way towards justifying its slightly high price."
Read our review of the Lezyne Zecto Drive Max 250 Find a Lezyne dealer
Buy Now for £24.99 from Winstanleys Bikes
The Gemini Juno 100 is a simple, easy to use rear light with few frills, but it does pack some useful features, including a 30 COB (chip-on-board) LED lighting array that's super-bright without melting eyeballs, and a clip mount that allows it to be attached on or off the bike in a variety of ways.
High-powered rear lights can be useful for getting attention from passing motorists, but often they can be blinding, even in lower power modes. Gemini's Juno 100 packs a whopping 30 LEDs in a chip-on-board configuration, which Gemini says 'emits a soft, more diffused light that is easier on the eyes'.
The oval arrangement of LEDS gives the light a distinctive shape that certainly stands out from the usual lighting crowd, and thanks to the ability to rotate around its base 90 degrees, it can be orientated either in line with your seatpost, or perpendicular to it.
The curved lens also gives the light decent side visibility as well, which is a bonus. Although 100 lumens max might not sound as powerful as some, even in bright daylight it really stands out – I honestly don't think you need any more than this to stand out, unless you want to be really obnoxious.
Read our review of the Gemini Juno 100 rear light Find a Gemini dealer
Buy Now for £11.99 from ProBikeKit
The Knog Plus Rear Light is an impressively simple light that weighs almost nothing, yet at 20 lumens is bright enough for a useful visibility boost. The magnetic mount, cable-free charging and decent battery life – given its tiny size – in the flashing modes make it perfect for winter training, though a limited burn time in steady mode can limit that option to commutes.
The key principle here is simplicity. The slim body is full of COB (chip on board) LEDs, and can be plugged directly into a USB port for charging, meaning no cable is required. Plus it's just 18 grams (including the mount), and the 'face' is only 66mm x 14mm.
The Knog Plus takes four hours to fully recharge, and offers five modes. I favoured Pulse mode, which easily outlasts my winter rides with its claimed 8.5 hours. The longest claimed runtime is Eco Flash at 40 hours – it's still pretty visible, too – while the shortest is Steady at 2 hours.
Read our review of the Knog Plus rear light Find a Knog dealer
Buy Now for £18.00 from Evans Cycles
The Cateye Rapid Mini is all you could want from a commuter rear light: it's cheap, tough, easy to fit, and provides a good balance between visibility and run time.
For £24.99 (or less if you look around), the Rapid Mini will throw out a claimed fifteen lumens of power across four different modes. You get the standard constant and flashing modes, plus a subtle pulsing mode and a mode that should come with an epilepsy warning. Each of these are bright enough to feel safe (or as least as safe as is possible) on unlit roads at night, making the Rapid Mini ideal for anyone who commutes on more rural lanes. The side visibility is decent too, an important consideration for more urban usage.
Read our review of the Cateye Rapid Mini Rear Rechargeable Light Find a Cateye dealer
Buy Now for £18.50 from Ebay
Oxford's Ultratorch Slimline R50 rear light is a simple rear light that does the job of making sure you're well seen, with ample light output, good mode choices, and easy operation and fitting, in a conveniently sized package at a very good price. The R50's COB LED can put out an adequate 50 lumens in its high mode, with medium, low and eco modes available too. You cycle through these with a single click of the power button, and switch them off with a long press. You get 2hrs claimed burn time (mine tapped out at 1:52hrs) on the brightest static setting, and near-enough 6hrs if you have it on the highest flash setting.
Read our review of the Oxford Ultratorch Slimline R50 Find an Oxford dealer
Buy Now for £17.99 from Tredz
If you want a small, well-made, easy-fitting rear light for your bike or bag that's bright and good value, look no further than the Blackburn DayBlazer 65. Its two LEDs pump out an impressive 65 lumens when in the disruptive 'high flash' mode, and 50 and 30 respectively in 'steady' and 'low strobe' settings. Burn times are claimed to be 1:30-6:00hrs depending on the mode, and we found those to be accurate to within around 5-10 minutes depending on how you use it. The single button doubles as an indicator of battery life when the unit has just been switched off, and the light naturally powers down a little when you get close to the end of its life.
Read our review of the Blackburn DayBlazer 65 Find a Blackburn dealer
Buy Now for £25.50 from Triton Cycles
The Bontrager Flare R City rear light is a small yet mighty cube-shaped model bristling with sensors and similar tech to deliver optimum light intelligently, whatever the conditions, day, or night.
The tail light has a 100-lumen front sibling, and together they could be all some urban commuters will need. At 26g apiece, they're arguably ideal clutter-free options for summer/time trial builds, or companions for a trainer/audax bike's main lighting.
Read our review of the Bontrager Flare R City Find a Bontrager dealer
Buy Now for £14.99 from Winstanleys Bikes
Moon's Gemini is a featherweight USB rechargeable rear light that clips on easily and is bright enough for urban commuting. The small single button is surprisingly easy to find in big gloves.
The Gemini benefits from many of the features of its more expensive big brothers. It has a spot angle of 95 degrees at 10 metres, giving an effective span of 22m. The total angle is helped by the two single LEDs, resulting in a full 360 degrees, very useful for urban riding. The brightest 20-lumen constant is also perfect for partially lit commutes; I prefer a slightly brighter rear for my unlit rides, but this also works well here as a backup or secondary light.
Read our review of the Moon Gemini Find a Moon dealer
Buy Now for £35.99 from Cycle Store
The Knog Blinder Grid Rear Light is a well designed and strong performing rear light. It pumps out enough light to keep you visible and has a really good variety of placement options while also having a good battery life, so it can just be left for weeks until it needs charging.
The light pumps out 44 lumens to keep you well lit without blinding the person riding/driving behind you. In recent years I have come to realise that being stuck behind somebody pumping out 100 lumens from their seatpost is one of my real pet peeves. Sure you can be seen mate, but the only other things I can see are blue dots. I'd say 44 lumens is about the right balance between good visibility and annoying the person behind you.
Read our review of the Knog Blinder Grid Find a Knog dealer
Buy Now for ~£90.00 from Lupine
Another light with value-added smart functions, the Rotlicht acts as a brake light, brightening when you decelerate, and has a light sensor so it can adjust its output to the conditions. Clever stuff.
Read our review of the Lupine Rotlicht
A rear light has the proverbial one job: to get you seen, unlike a front light that has to be visible enough to stop inattentive drivers mowing you down while allowing you to see where you're going. Depending on where and how you ride, your priorities regarding brightness, flashing modes and battery life will be different.
The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations say:
Rear lamp One is required, to show a red light, positioned centrally or offside, between 350mm and 1500mm from the ground, at or near the rear, aligned towards, and visible from, behind. If capable of emitting a steady light, it must be marked as conforming to BS3648, or BS6102/3, or an equivalent EC standard. If capable of emitting only a flashing light, it must emit at least 4 candela... the light shown by the lamp when flashing shall be displayed not less than 60 nor more than 240 equal times per minute and the intervals between each display of light shall be constant.
Given that every light we know of has a steady mode, that means you need a British Standard-approved light to comply with the law. To be fully compliant with the law your bike also needs a front light, rear reflector, and amber pedal reflectors.
In practice, not many bike lights are Kitemarked. The specification for cycle lights dates back to 1986 and is written mostly with filament bulbs in mind; every single light we've been sent for the last few years is an LED. LED lights can meet the requirements but lots of them aren't specifically tested for the ageing British Standard, especially those that are sold worldwide.
Since the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations (RVLR) was amended to allow cyclists to fit flashing LEDs, we've heard very little about cyclists being stopped for having non-compliant lights. In theory running a non-approved light could be used as an argument for contributory negligence in the case of an accident, though we've not heard of such a case being brought as yet.
What kind of riding will I be doing? If you're mostly just pootling to the shops and back then something basic will probably do the job. Simple flashers that use button cells or AAA batteries are cheap and effective these days, and they last ages before the battery needs replacing.
If your commute is on busier roads, or you plan to do longer rides at night, you'll probably want something brighter. There's a wealth of USB-rechargeable and brighter AAA-powered rear lights about that will catch a driver's attention from further afield. Many riders who spend a lot of time on the road after dark fit more than one rear light to increase their chances of being seen.
Some rear lights are bright enough to be used in daylight too. There's certain types of riding – racing a time trial on a fast A-road, for example – where you'd want to be running the brightest rear light you can buy. Plenty of city riders run their rear lights in daytime hours too.
Flashing or not? In terms of the law, it's up to you. The law requires flashing modes to be between 1Hz and 4Hz (one to four flashes per second) but actual modes vary considerably and some fall well outside that. Pulsing constant modes are a grey area.
Ask a rider why they have their light flashing and they'll often argue that it makes them visible from further away. Ask another rider why they have a constant light and you'll often hear that it makes distance easier to judge for following vehicles.
There's not a lot of scientific research to hang your choice on. Most people who run two lights will have one of them flashing. One thing to bear in mind is that if you're riding in a close group – be that a club run, sportive, Audax or anything else – having a bright light flashing in your eyes at close range is pretty annoying. Many lights have low-power steady modes for group riding.
All-round visibility Most rear lights are nice and bright if you're standing directly behind them. But in many situations – and especially for urban riding – traffic may be approaching you from other directions, so it's good for a light to have a wide angle of visibility. Again, the type of riding you do will dictate how important side visibility is to you.
Battery life Most rear lights will cope easily with the longest ride you're likely to throw at them, though not all USB-rechargeable ones can be fully trusted to last a whole night, especially on steady beam. If you're planning some big forays into the dark unknown – or if you're just a bit crap at remembering to charge your lights – pick something that has a long run time. AAA-powered lights tend to be the pick for that.
Our readers are always a great source of information. Here's the pick of what they had to say about rear lights in the previous version of this article.
Team EPO: "USE lights are great but pricey and can often forget to charge them so I also have one of these brake light things that seem to last a long time and back for a useful back up light."
shufflingb: "I know it's spendy, but the absolute best light I've found so far is Garmin's Varia RTL510.
"Was umming and aahing before I bought it, but I'm really happy I did in the end. It's not perfect [0], but having the radar warnings of vehicles approaching from behind really cuts down on unpleasant surprises even with good mirrors. The absolute best bit about it though, is that it feels like I'm getting a substantial improvement in the care motorists are taking when they do pass, i.e. not only are they seeing me but they are then passing more carefully [1].
"[0] Perfect would also have a camera in it, speed and number plate recognition, and be suitable for use in a court of law. More realistically - at least for the present - the notifications are only as loud as the head unit, which on my my Garmin 820 is not loud enough to be useful when moving. And of course it's $$$$.
"[1] No scientific evidence I'm aware of, may all just be in my mind etc. But I think the light reacting by flashing faster and brighter at drivers who approach faster, is tickling the drivers' I'd better behave better because something is watching (and responding) to me response."
wtjs: "I see that the recently released £15 pair of front and rear lights from Aldi are not mentioned- they're excellent, rechargeable and come with good brackets. I bought a previous model 3 years ago and they're still going strong. The new front light is very bright and has a lens, unlike the previous one. Don't be snobbish! These are worth much more than they cost."
gunswick: "Missed one brilliant rear, Bontrager Flare Type R (not the doofy city crappy one in the article). £45 and 60 lumens, people pass me widely in both daytime and nighttime modes. Supported by a Cateye rapid x pulsing (35lumens) on the seat stays."
fraew: "Best and brightest rear light i've ever encountered:
"Deemount 100 LM Rechargeable COB LED USB Mountain Bike Tail Light
"It's US$6.30, USB rechargable, and 100 Lumens is an under-estimate. So seriously bright I ended up buying half a dozen of them... and they haven't failed me yet."
Explore the complete archive of reviews of rear lights on road.cc
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