Light and Motion has been around some time now and has a well established line of bike lights, diving lights, and even camera related products. Who knew? But of course it’s bike lights we are focusing on here. As I had written earlier in the introductory post, the VIS Trail Pro 1000 seems just right for our review.
The VIS Pro Trail 1000 is at the cost of the Pro level Bontrager light but has a 1000L rating. One trick up it’s sleeve is the ability to run off of an external battery. This might be a typical power station/portable battery like you would have to charge your cell phone when you are not some place with commercial power. It only allows the light to run on low (250L) but it also trickle charges it at the same time. I would say that this is not really a way to extend the run time during serious use but more of a way to get you home if the light signs off before the ride is over. The Pro 1000 Trail also has a fast charge rate and will get to fully charged in a claimed 2.5 hours. However, I am not sure where the battery level would be beginning from…I assume low or dead, but that is not stated.
I have a couple of Light and Motion bike lights at home already. One is an 800 Lumen light with a separate battery (I do not see this for sale anymore.) It is very good with a warm temperature light color and a very even beam pattern. But it is just not bright enough for faster riding. I also have a more MTB focused light from them that is a bit big for the bars of a gravel bike. So I have used their products before and with generally good results.
After riding with the VIS Trail Pro 1000 I have some strong thoughts on how the light performed.
The Good and the Less Than Good:
The VIS Pro Trail has a beam pattern which is absolutely smooth and even and generously wide. It sends out a cone of light that goes almost sideways right out of the light so you get a lot of near field light for seeing right next to you and right at the front wheel. This is quite nice for more technical riding.
Now I had talked about the temperature of the light as expressed in Kelvins. I do not see a rating on the website to know what that number is, but the result is a very ‘warm’ color that is easy on the eyes on dark trails over long periods of time. It is closer to natural light and I find it relaxing.
The combo of the excellent, floody beam and the easy on the eyes light color makes it my pick for off road focused rides out of all of the other lights.
Another win is the Race mode that gives you a toggle between Medium and High settings with a button push so you do not have to rotate all the way through all the light settings to get back to High once you leave it. Now I absolutely love this. Truly love it. I suppose if I lived in flatter terrain it would not be so important to me as my average speed would be somewhat constant. But we here in So Cal will typically climb nice and slowly then zoom down the other side. The speeds can vary 20mph over and over again.
It’s counter productive to run your light on the High setting while climbing and Medium or Low is not going to be enough for 25mph across ruts and rocks. The ability to switch from High to Medium and back again is most excellent. If I am to be climbing for longer than a few minutes, I can deal with getting into Low if I need to.
The button is easy to press and the tactile sensation is fine. The mount is simple enough but you do need strong fingers to get the band looped and hooked. If you had hand or finger issues like arthritis, I would expect this to be a challenge and Mrs. Grannygear, who is lacking in hand strength, would really fight to get this done.
On the negative side, while the beam pattern is even and wide, it also does not throw very far so I did find that above 25mph it was iffy to see far enough ahead to make decisions well. 30mph was about it. Now many riders do not hit those speeds very often so if you live in more of a flatland area those speeds may not be of great concern to you.
The VIS Trail Pro also has red sidelights instead of amber to help with retaining night vision off road.
At The Finish: I have not had any issues with run times and over a three hour ride with two hours of light use (set to various levels) I was still in good shape battery wise. Light And Motion does advertise fast charge times as well, so if you tend to forget to charge the light and do last minute ‘Hail Mary’s‘ with your charger, this might help get you a quick boost as you are getting ready for a ride.
The VIS Trail Pro is my choice of the test for a light that is mostly used in the dirt and at speeds under 30mph. The warm color tint and the useful UI; the quality build with high levels of water resistance…it’s a very nice light. If I were road riding or spending a lot of time in the city or at higher speeds I would choose differently. And that one will be next.
NOTE: The Bontrager and the Light and Motion lights were provided at no cost for review. The Nite Rider and the Amazon lights were purchased at retail.We are not being paid, nor bribed for this post. We always strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.
Grannygear hails from SoCal and spent most of his cycling days as a mountain biker from the formative years of mountain biking all the way up to the present day. His day job is in the tech sector, but he has spent time writing about off road 4X4’s, 29″ mountain bikes, and cycling in general. Grannygear and Guitar Ted have worked off and on together since 2009 after a chance meeting at Interbike. With gravel cycling on the rise, Grannygear has been exploring how this genre’ works in SoCal and now does guest pieces for RidingGravel.com in his spare time.
Thanks for the detailed review. As a long time Light In Motion owner, and an owner of a VIS Pro 1000 I agree with your review, this is a great little light. It would be great if Riding Gravel kept a list of lights with their attributes. For off road riding I prefer having two lights which compliment each other: One spot (narrow focused beam), the other a wider beam such as the VIS Pro. At a minimum this would allow users to more easily find lights which fit their need.
