Xeccon is a recently launched bicycle accessories brand, which was founded in China and now available worldwide. With their rapidly growing line of lighting products and increased number of patents, this brand has a lighting product for every cyclist. We got the opportunity to test their Mars 30 Rear Light and here is what we thought.
The Xeccon Mars 30 rear light looks like a bulgy, clear and compact bulb at first sight, but it is a very compact, futuristic piece of technology, that delivers more than the eye sees. A cluster of 30 LEDs mounted directly on a PCB provides a clear and crisp beam that can be easily spotted from up to 150 meters away. Since the LEDs are directly mounted on the circuit board, it makes it possible to cram up to 30 LEDs together in the same space, which makes the visibility of the light all the more efficient, and providing that much needed punch, which gives the Mars 30 a slight advantage than most other lights in its segment.
The LEDs are housed inside a clear plastic ABS dome that has frosted side panels and a clear center panel, exposing the LED mounted face of the light clearly in the front and providing a toned down beam through the sides. The lighting patterns are restricted to 3 different modes, a steady mode that puts out a steady and bright beam of 30 lumens, a flashing mode that pulses with strong 30 lumen flashes of light, and an interesting “Smart mode” that is activated whenever the bicycle slows down from braking, and emits a bright steady beam of 30 lumens for a few seconds before automatically turning off, acting as an effective brake light which serves as an efficient safety measure when riding in city traffic and in low visibility conditions. The Smart Mode is in fact active in all the modes, making the light brighter for a few second in the steady mode and making the flashing beam a steady beam for a few seconds whenever the brakes are applied.
The light is powered by a 300mAh lithium-ion cell that is assured to last more than 300 charging cycles, and it takes around 4 hours for a full charge using the standard USB charging cable provided, which seems a bit slow for a 300mAh battery. But on the upside, the flashing mode uses up very little of the battery power, making it last more than 12 hours on the flashing mode, and more than 3 hours on the steady mode of 30 Lumens. Visibility is a good 175 meters on a dark highway and around 125 meters on urban roads in the presence of streetlamp. The light is switched on and off with a long press on the soft rubber button on the side and a single short press toggles between the 3 modes. The light is also waterproof and experienced no issue when riding in rains and while washing the bicycle.
The only unimpressive factor of the Xeccon Mars 30 is its mounting bracket which is a hybrid of a hinge and a strap. It was impossible to get the pin wound tight enough to fix the light in one direction and over the course of an hour's riding, the light would be misaligned, often projecting upward beneath the saddle, rather than at driver eye-line. There is also scope for seat stay mounting to make the light point straight out, but then, it’s not very effective as most riders prefer the lights on their seat posts rather than on the seat stay tubes.
Overall Rating
The Xeccon Mars 30 is a pretty good light and offers quite a bang for the buck at a very competitive cost of Rs.1,595, but is hampered by a very unimpressive mounting bracket. Despite some lovely touches, it isn’t as user-friendly as other O-ring mounted lights. This light has very good potential to be the top in its segment if the braking sensor and the mounting bracket are refined a bit more in the upcoming versions.
Prices are subject to change by the brand, without due notice.