Light & Motion Vis 180 Micro Bike Tail Light

I bought this light because I just moved into DC and didn't want to get run over by idiot drivers. The light I had before was cheap and had 4 little directional LED's, so I wanted something brighter. Now $50 for a rear flashing light seems a little much to me ($100 for the normal VIS180 wasn't happening) but if this is the one thing that helps people see me on the road, then I guess it's worth it.As for the light itself, I've only had it a few weeks but the quality impressed me. Very bright facing rearward and sideways. I can see a red glow to the side of me on things that are very far away. The light pulses instead of actually flashing, which seems weird to me, maybe I just haven't read the instructions well enough. Hopefully the pulsing is still enough of an intensity change to get people's attention. This is really the only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars. Plus it's a tad bulky, much bigger than my old light, but also much brighter.This unit, like others, comes with a couple ways to mount it. You can wrap the rubber strap around the seatpost and clip the light into that. Seems prettys secure, but I didn't want to hide the light down low behind my rear tire or saddlebag. I decided to clip the unit onto the reflective strap on my saddle bag, to make sure it was up high and visible. Now, I lost an old light mounting this way, because it just clipped onto the strap and I guess hitting a bump bounced it right off. This VIS 180 micro is a different beast altogether. The 'clip' on the back of it is adjustable and lockable so when in the rubber strap, it can be angled up and seen better when mounted low. This feature also enables me to loosen the small allen bolt, clip the light on the bag strap, then close the clip complete and tighten the allen bolt. It completely encloses the clip around the strap and there is no way the sucker is coming off. This also keeps people from easily stealing the light. They'd have to take off the whole saddlebag (which would suck even worse) and hopefully the loud velcro sound would alert me to the theft in progress. Seeing as how I never leave my bike unattended (worth more than some cars), I doubt this is getting stolen.It's funny they call this thing the micro. I guess it has to do with the price, because it's actually a bit more bulky than the normal VIS 180. That thing is also a really nice light, but I couldn't justify the price. A friend of mine has one, but he works at a shop and only bought it because he got a huge discount. Awesome light though with randomly flashes instead of just a straight blink or pulse.

It's unfortunate there are a few bad reviews for this product here on Amazon. I was a little skeptical after reading them, so I looked at other reviews on other websites before purchasing.The strap worked perfectly and holds the light in place on my Trek 8.3 DS. I did not get the sense while installing it at any time that it would break. The micro USB charger works fine.However, it is also unfortunate that Light and Motion has this particular taillight as "made in China", that is why I'm giving it 4 stars as opposed to 5 as I was under the general impression that all of their products were designed AND assembled in the USA.Overall it feels like a quality product, thanks L&M. Now it will have to stand the test of time.

hmmmm....this is a bit difficult to evaluate. so far the light is working. it is very nice. there was a little plastic fitting that allowed the light angle to be adjusted that had a screw and i was tightening it and broke the screw. so i cannot now adjust the position of the light other than moving it to different locations on the bike.. i thought it was a pretty weak part. but this is an expensive light so a little black tape and i am making it work.the light itself appears to be working fine. i like that it is rechargeable. i am doing a lot of night riding on my commute. so i am curious how this will hold up. i commute 5 days a week, weather permitting. so the light is seeing 60 to 90 minutes a day of being on. the light itself seems pretty bright.....it is a real strong night rear light. however, it does not have a really rapid flash. so while i am visible, i am a bit curious how this grabs attention relative to something that flashes quicker. its more of a bright, not bright kind of glow....vs on, off.i think it would be really good if amazon sent one of these review requests a year or two into the service life. the reason for buying this kind of premium light is you are counting on long-term durability. will see how we feel after the end of the winter season.

This is the best tail light I have seen. It is very bright from all sides, and the pulsing option is much less annoying (but still just as visible) as the strobe lights I often see.The only issue is the mounting system. If the light is attached to my seat post, it will end up pointing downward after I go over a few bumps. Based on previous reviews, tightening the screw would only cause more problems. So, your best option is to close the mounting mechanism all the way, either around a seat bag's loop or over some thin fabric (e.g. a bike jersey's back pocket). There is no good way to attach this to a belt loop. Also be aware that the plastic protrusion from the side of the mounting mechanism will stop you from inserting it into the loops of many seat bags. The rack attachment is useless too, though some zip ties would probably work.I ended up attaching mine to my helmet using some zip ties. It probably makes me more visible there than being lower down on my seat tube, anywaysUpdate: I finally figured out a way to attach the light to my seat bag's loop. I unscrewed the mounting clip, put it into the loop from the top (instead of the bottom), and screwed it back in. This does mean that it's semi-permanently stuck to the seat bag,.