Tested: From 17 Jan. 2011

This lamp is not in production any more. Very little light with a 0.3 W bulb (those were used as well), with 0.6W it's not bad at all, better than the Basta Ray. I was not impressed at first from indoor testing, but after the long distance visibility test it was clear that the classic taillamps with incandescent bulbs SP 15 and Basta Ray, are still quite good, better than most LED taillamps, and can thus be recommended. They are also the most pleasant of all taillamps I tested for following traffic... This old version of the SP 15 gives a view of what 1980s rear lamps were like and shows that LED taillamps started off as much worse than the incandescent taillamps they were supposed to replace or improve upon. A newer version of this taillamp is still available, but they messed around with it without changing its name... See further on. It's still usable for modern bicycles but no longer available new, and I would recommend instead the Secula, or the rack mounted taillamps Solo, Lineo, Line plus.

Review

Tested: From 6 Feb. 2013

When I started my taillamp reviews in 2011 I already thought the current version might be different from the one I have, as I had seen a product image which shows a difference in the red housing. I finally bought one just to satisfy my curiosity in 2013. It turns out that not just the housing is different, the reflector too. It's not surprising then that it has a different German approval number (K 30 019). Spanninga should have renamed this lamp as its beam pattern is quite different from the original version. When did this version get approved? Visibility at medium range (up to ca. 35m) is comparable to the old version, but the light colour is a diluted red, far too white. This is bad. For this reason alone I already don't recommend this lamp.

Review

Tested: From Feb. 2012

Available as a dynamo lamp, but I only tested the battery version as I replaced it on the bike of a family member: It lights up very weakly, it has no real optic that distributes the light from the LED in a proper way. Visibility is therefore poor (at long range) and it annoys following traffic (at short range). I wouldn't buy this lamp. Whether the dynamo version is brighter doesn't really matter as visibility will be poor at long distance with such point sources and because of the annoyance it gives others at shorter distance.

Review

Tested: From 4 Apr. 2012

Small, light, looks nice and puts out a lot of light, but it is yet another taillamp with blinding point source. Spanninga should be using real optics (such as in the Lineo) and not this rubbish that they use in most of their taillamps. So I don't recommend this lamp.

Review

Tested: From 6 Feb. 2013

Yet another blinding taillamp. Doesn't look as nice on a bike as loose in my opinion. The connectors are crappy clamp connectors. I don't recommend it, and I'm still searching for a good fender mounted LED taillamp...

As a friend of mine commented: "The Axa Go is a no go". He was only referring to the looks which already killed his interest :)

Review

Tested: From 4 Jul. 2013.

Finally available since July 2013, and as I expected this is the first good LED based taillamp for mounting on the fender. However: the mounting bolt is galvanised steel which is really bad, esp. for a fender mounted taillamp. My taillamp's bolt was loose in the lamp since trying to get off the nut so I needed to cut open the lamp and saw that the mount was broken, I will just leave it and won't use it any more. If I decide to use it again, then I will glue in a stainless steel mounting bolt.

Review.

Tested from: 16-1-2015

This taillamp looks to have some proper light distribution from the product shots but there is always doubt about what happens at the end or in the middle where the optics are different in most lamps (intentionally!), and in this case, it's an annoying point source again! They could have made this lamp's optics a lot better! Spanninga make 2 of the best taillamps available these days, namely the Lineo and the Solo (both are better than B&M's Line plus), but this is another poor taillamp. Why? Further details and pictures to come but already the conclusion is clear: Not recommended. (buy the Secula instead)

Review in progress

Tested from: 16-1-2015

This is a lamp in the style of old fender mounted taillamps, but such taillamps with bulb did not have crap optics like this lamp! This is complete rubbish, LED with no proper optics and so it has a very annoying point source, I couldn't take out the clamp connector without damaging the plastic insert, for some reason. Further details and pictures to come but already the conclusion is clear: Not recommended.

Review in progress

Tested: From 17-1-2017, Price: €10,-, (with rechargeable batteries)

Too bright, fairly poor optics with point source. Build quality is very good, but not recommended because of the optics.

Review in progress.

Tested: From 17 Jan. 2011

This lamp is not in production any more. I was not impressed at first after making beamshot images, but after the long distance visibility test it was clear that the classic taillamps with incandescent bulbs SP 15 and Basta Ray, despite giving apparently far less light than LED taillamps, are still quite good, better than most LED taillamps, and can thus be recommended. They are also the most pleasant of all taillamps I tested for following traffic... The Ray is less visible than the SP15 though (from some angles from the side).

Review

Tested: From 17 Jan. 2011

Small emitting surface, almost a point source, giving only a reasonable visibility, and causes annoyance to following cyclists, therefore not recommended.

Review

Tested: From 2008

This lamp gives a bright dot of light in the middle from the light coming almost directly from the LED, it's very annoying for people riding behind you. Visibility is no more than reasonable as just a small dot (almost a point source) is lit up. The H-track, line plus, flat S plus are all much better straight on and at 45°. A poor rear lamp because of the small emitting area which also causes the annoyance to other road users, therefore not recommended.

Review

Tested: From 17 Jan. 2011

Wide light with a bright dot in the middle from the LED as some of its light goes straight on. The latter is almost a point source and quite annoying for people riding behind you. Better than the Flat plus, but long distance visibility is suprisingly poor and it's a poor rear lamp already because of its annoyance to other road users, therefore not recommended.

Review

Tested: From 17 Jan. 2011

Wide light, whether that's through an actual surface or bars doesn't seem too interesting to me (but tests yet to be done on the precise difference). What is noticeable is that the Toplight line plus is not annoying, no sparkling effects in your eyes at a short distance from the lamp, in contrast to the Toplight flat plus and the Toplight flat S plus. Sideways visibility is fine, but could be better. Some people have problems with the standlight not working after a while, but I have no idea how common this defect is. In any event, this is my favourite of the B&M rear lamps. Recommended.

Review

Tested: From 4 May 2011

Ring of light similar in style to B&M's Toplight line plus. Nicer than the Toplight flat plus for traffic following you, but not as good as the Toplight flat S plus. Sideways visibility is good. The direct light from the LED is far too intense (coming from a near point source) which is very annoying to following traffic (esp. cyclists at short distance) and spoils this lamp which would otherwise be very good. Not recommended.

Review

Tested: From 1 June 2011

Stripe of lines of light similar in style to B&M's Toplight line plus. Nicer than the Toplight flat plus for traffic following you but not that much, the direct light from the LED is pretty annoying for cyclists following you up to a large distance. Also slightly better than Herrmans' H-track in that respect but not as good as the flat S plus and definitely not as good as the Toplight line plus. Sideways visibility is poor. Not recommended.

Review

Tested: From 1 June 2011

The whole reflector lights up which is good (a large illuminated surface is better than a bright point source), but the LED shines also directly towards following traffic at a ridiculous intensity, not diffusely spread over a larger area, which is goddamn annoying for anyone following you (this is a problem because on narrow cycle paths you can be stuck behind someone for a while). Sideways visibility is poor. All in all not recommended.

I experimented by making the direct light from the LED more diffuse and make it a bit less bright and that made this lamp pretty good. More to be added including pictures of these experiments.

Review

Tested: From 13 Sep. 2011

This is another bad LED taillamp which lets the light of one of its LEDs go out directly in a cone which is very annoying to following traffic and makes estimating distance impossible. Not recommended.

Review

Tested: From 28 Nov. 2011

My favourite taillamp: Very well visible while not being too bright. Compared to the Toplight Line plus: side visibility is better, medium to short distance visibility is better because of the larger illuminating area and very long distance visibility (>100 m) is comparable. On the wallshot the light output does not look impressive, but it puts the light where it's needed, better than any other taillamp I tested so far. So the light it puts out is used very efficiently... Recommended.

Review

No longer made since early 2014...

Tested: From 5 Nov. 2011

Single LED as a point source, the LEDs output is diffused but not spread out over a larger re-emitting area. So it stays a point source and gets too bright at close range for following traffic. Distance estimation is also impossible because of the point source.

Review

Tested: From 5 Jan. 2012

The lamp has a single LED. The light is not made diffuse and a large part of the light shines as a point source as I already expected a while back when looking a bit closer at the picture on Axa's website. The illumination of the entire lamp that Axa names as a feature, is very weak, far dimmer than the Plateo. The point source is too bright at short distance and makes estimating distance impossible. The connectors are crappy clamp connectors, Axa needs to improve on this (and on the optics)!

Review

Tested: From 24 Feb. 2012

B&M Line brake plus with brake function. This does not use an accelerometer as I thought it might, but dynamo pulses (not a new idea btw.). A brakelamp seems to me rather pointless on a bicycle, see here. As the brakelight functionality is activated depending on the speed of the pulses from the dynamo, this function doesn't work on a DC dynamo such as the Sunup Eco...

Summary to come

Review in progress

Tested: From 24 Feb. 2012

I bought the battery version as my supplier still didn't have the dynamo version in stock in Feb. 2012, but that shouldn't matter to determine whether it's a good taillamp. At medium range (up to ca. 35 m) it's not so bad, but nowhere near as good as the Lumiring or Lightring. I'm not going to do a long distance test, as there's no real point and there's nothing in this lamp (designwise, size, weight) that appeals to me. This taillamp is not as bad as most LED taillamps with a point source, but also not as good as the Lumiring, Line plus and Lineo. Conclusion: Not interesting.

Review

Tested: From 11 Jan. 2013

Though Spanninga looks to focus more on fashion than functionality, this lamp is actually pretty good in visibility while not having annoying point sources of light. Sideways visibility doesn't look very good, though not really worse than others except the Philips Lumiring which is probably the best one in this respect. The beam has a fair amount of almost-collimated light (so I mean, a tight beam to the rear), this could be the best visible (StVZO approved) taillamp available... But for places like the Netherlands, with fairly orderly traffic and not so much light pollution, the intensity seems too high, like the brakelamps on a car. The 2 separate sections left/right that light up could actually be useful for other traffic to estimate their distance to you, but after an outdoor test it's clear that that doesn't work because of the too high intensity of the light... but the lamp is very well visible.

Review

Tested: Since 6 May 2014

A competitor to B&M mini plus. A minimalist type taillamp, even lighter but far cheaper than the Mini plus (ca. 13 euro vs. 19 euro RRP) and the optics are far superior. None of this "we can't make cheap taillamps with proper light distributing optics" BS that B&M gives... I still don't like screws rather than hexnuts to fasten a taillamp as it can be quite difficult to get a screw driver into the available space. Then again, hexnuts should really be locknuts which they are often not, and with this system there is no need to switch over the bolts for 50 or 80mm. Recommended

Review (and battery version)

Tested: From 19-2-2015

I wrote originally:

To come soon I don't expect much, but I'm going to test this, just to see whether my view is right ;-))

This taillamp is the 2nd standard taillamp to have brakelamp functionality, but I was right, this is complete rubbish, it has 3 LEDs, the middle one with no proper optics which is incredibly annoying to look at riding behind it. Further details and pictures to come but already the conclusion is clear: Not recommended.

Review.

Tested: From 16-1-2015

I wrote before testing:

To come soon I don't expect much here either, but I'm going to test this, just to see whether my view is right ;-))

And it turns out my expectations were correct. This is complete rubbish, LED with no proper optics, crappy clamp connectors from Axa again. Further details and pictures to come but already the conclusion is clear: Not recommended.

Review.

Tested: From 13-8-2015, Price: Blueline €6,-, Blueline steady (standlight) €7,- (OEM, no packaging)

Indoor test: It has 2 not quite point sources. I feel that they are too bright (covering them up gives a pleasant taillamp), however the diffuser has been made matte so there is not a real point source in your eyes. This lamp is in most aspects very good. The whole reflector lights up, but not sure how noticeable it is from far away, this will come in my real test (from further tests I think it's not bright enough to really matter that it lights up). It has 2 x 2.8mm connectors with small plugs for bare wires. Not bad, though you can lose the plugs. Philips and B&M's solutions are better, but for the price of this lamp it just doesn't matter. This is the cheapest good taillamp for on the rear rack... Axa has improved enormously in their taillamps with this, one of the best taillamps you can buy now...

After much more testing at night: It's a bit too bright in the 2 spots of the LEDs for (closely) tailing cyclists, which is an issue for places with lots of cyclists (like NL, Germany), though it's acceptable, just. For countries where you would feel you need to make yourself visible as opposed to motorists, I suppose it is better than the Solo. And it's brighter than the Line plus...

Review

Tested: From 2-12-2015, Price: €13,- (with standlight)

Indoor test: It has 2 point sources despite the LEDs that have matted domes. But the optic itself does not distribute the light in that point and it doesn't diffuse the light there further by being matte (see the Lineo, Blueline, which do do this) which would prevent a too high brightness in any particular (tiny) spots. These point sources are far too bright and the distributing optic is made pointless by it, as in reality you don't see anything except the 2 dots of the LEDs... (the huge brightness difference means that you don't see the other lit-up areas because in comparison they are not lit up enough, so you will only notice the brightest 2 points, the direct light from the 2 LEDs).

For countries where you would feel you need to make yourself visible as opposed to motorists, perhaps this an option, for anywhere else I do not recommend this. Look at the Spanninga Solo, Spanninga Lineo, Axa Blueline, B&M line plus first...

Review.

Tested: From 10-2-2016, Price: €20,- (with standlight)

Hmmmmm, not acutally big, but I'm including it here in this list. It has no reflector, thus definitely no big Z-reflector that is required in germany, and small is not better for visibility! So only reasonable.

Review

Tested: From 17-1-2017, Price: €14,- (with standlight)

Too bright, fairly good optics but not as good as the Lineo, Solo, Blueline.

Review in progress.

Tested: From 26-1-2017, Price: €15,- since end of 2018 € 19,- (with standlight)

Good, same optics as the Lumiring. Better than in the Lumiring is that the stray light from the LEDs is used to light up the retro reflector which from some angles can be clearly seen, and could help in getting noticed. The light colour, as with the Vivo, is a bit too much towards orange for my taste (The Lumiring was more red, the Spanninga Solo and Lineo are more red too).
From what a reader wrote: In the battery version, Eneloops don't fit. This likely means any high capacity NiMHs won't fit.
Comparison video of taillamps along with showing off this difference to come March 2019.

Review to come

Tested: From 26-1-2017, Price: €13,- (with standlight)

Good but not better than other lamps by Spanninga. The light colour, as with the Elips, is a bit too much towards orange to my taste. The bottom transparent section is not lit up, contrary to what I half expected, and thus this is more a lamp made for a fashion, than for practical (new) qualities. The choice of which of the good taillamps is best for you is mostly about which design you prefer...

Review in progress

Tested: From 2018-8-15, Price: €12,- (with standlight)

Excellent: Good light distribution, curved surface (good to prevent white surface relfection, i.e. tailing cyclists don't get a strong white light reflected back towards them), enough light going upwards/backwards as is required with a dynamo lamp but which is useful for battery lamps too to check to see if your lamp is working, glancing back while riding. And yet the battery version came first in ca. 2015. I'm not that interested in battery powered lamps, which is why it took so long to review this lamp. Has orangy-red light which I don't like, otherwise this is an excellent lamp and along with the Solo my favourites since testing it.

Spanninga Duxo: Review

Tested: From 23 Jan. 2013

I'm disappointed in these (both the dynamo and battery versions). The design and size don't appeal to me for a seatpost mounted lamp and the optics is not as impressive technically as the Lumiring, though it does give very good visibility. But that comes with a high power consumption and a lack of standlight for the dynamo version which shows that these lamps are technically nothing special. Still, visibility is very good. The battery version is supplied with non-rechargeable batteries but works with NiMHs too.

Review

No longer made since early 2014...

Tested: Since 8 Oct. 2013

This version of the Secula is for dynamo and differs only in the mount for on the seatpost compared to the fender version. Pictures to follow.

Review.

Tested: Since 6 May 2014

Ring of light, good light distribution, works on 2x AAA non-rechareable batteries, I will test AAA NiMH (Sanyo Eneloop) to see how long it lasts on that. Button is hard going and doesn't always register key presses (despite audible click). More to come soon.

Review.