If you go by all of the recent products, it seems that most of our previous technology was pretty dumb. Now there are smart bikes, smart locks, and even smart lights. Lights like the new See.Sense Icon. Truthfully, this should come as no surprise given the fact that Northern Ireland based See.Sense has already produced one smart light – the See.Sense 2.0.
So how does the new Icon improve on the original 2.0? For starters with double the LEDs it’s brighter, but that’s just the beginning…
The See.Sense 2.0 was already a pretty amazing light so the Icon builds on the original’s ability to interact with your surroundings. It will automatically turn on or off. It flashes brighter and faster when approaching intersections or roundabouts, or when cars are approaching by sensing the healights. All in an effort to make you more visible through its high powered twin Cree LEDs.
The big change for the Icon comes in the form of the smart phone integration with its own, free app. The app allows new levels of control including turning multiple lights on at once, checking battery levels, customizing light programming, etc. But it also allows the light to be used as an alarm with notifications if your bike is being moved while locked up, a distress beacon if you crash, and even an anonymous data acquisition system that cities can use to improve cycling infrastructure. Plus the ability to update the firmware allows the light features to be improved in the future. Features like a theft block that will cause Icons that have been flagged as stolen to be disabled when in range of another light, or a group ride feature that detects other lights and automatically dims.
Available in standard or +, the + model bumps up the lumens on both the front and the rear though both lights have some pretty impressive specs. The 5 hour charge time should yield around 15 hours of run time on the adaptive mode where the light increases brightness based on the situation. Made in the UK, and currently on Kickstarter, the light is already in production for beta testing and given See.Sense’s extremely successful first go with the 2.0, the already funded Icon should be no different. If you hop on the Kickstarter before it ends shortly, Icon rears can be had for $75, and sets start at $144 with free shipping to the U.S. and UK.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1670187625/see-sense-icon-the-intelligent-and-connected-cycle
