# CAt user review; LEZYNE Zecto Max Drive Rear 250 Lumen Bicycle Tail Light



## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Had my eye on one of these since last year. Thing was I really couldn't justify buying another tail light as all the ones I own worked great. That was of course until yesterday when my _Gemini Iris_ rear light that I use on back of my helmet suddenly stopped working.

The Zecto Max Drive ( 250 lumen ) should make an interesting choice. I just hope I can get it to mount to the back of my helmet without too much trouble. If this doesn't work I may have to just buy another Iris. Anyway the Max Drive 250 should be bright as all get-out. I should have it by Sunday or Monday.


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## andychrist (Aug 25, 2011)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D9H9J3T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Only four modes though but still bright as all get out. Probably not as water resistant as the LEZYNE Zecto but a small fraction of the price. Have been using mine for years. Connect them to the USB port on my TrustFire 6-cell cases so can charge both at the same time, mwa ha.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

andychrist said:


> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D9H9J3T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
> 
> Only four modes though but still bright as all get out. Probably not as water resistant as the LEZYNE Zecto but a small fraction of the price. Have been using mine for years. Connect them to the USB port on my TrustFire 6-cell cases so can charge both at the same time, mwa ha.


Yes, I did read in the reviews that some people claimed that theirs had stopped working when wet. Since most of this stuff is Chinese made it wouldn't surprise me if these were not very water resistant. I don't usually ride road in the rain but sometimes you do get the unexpected shower. I certainly wouldn't want my light failing me just because it got wet. I will do some shower tests. If it's gonna fail when wet I want to know about it ( by seeing it with my own eyes )...

Wouldn't you know...I brought out the Iris again just to see if it might work. Low and behold, as soon as I hit the power button it comes on! :shocked: The shock was however short lived. As soon as I cycled through the modes it went out again. Would be nice if somehow it manage to fix itself and this time stay fixed.....Okay well...seems I got the Iris working again. Not sure how long it will run but hopefully it keeps running. Damn, the Iris is bright as $hl1, even on medium mode. Been a while since I cycled through the modes...some of those modes are Damn-bright! Hopefully it will at least work long enough to allow me to compare it with the Zecto Max 250.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

*Zecto Max Drive ( 250 ) vs. Gemini Iris ( 180 max ) vs. Hotshot 150*

The Max drive I ordered from Amazon arrived today and surprisingly the Gemini Iris which I owned for at least a couple years is once again working normal. I have no idea why it seemed to die for 24 hrs. but thankfully it is working again.

The Max drive is an interesting rear light. Not sure I like all the modes in the UI but there are a couple of useful modes. The brightest modes are the so called, "daytime modes". I think the more disappointing aspect of the Max drive is the beam pattern of the lamp. With three high powered LED's I was very surprised to see that almost all of the beam pattern is a very intense spot beam pattern. Obviously this lamp was designed for the seat post and designed to attract attention during daylight hours from people approaching directly from behind and at distance. I have no doubt in my mind that the brightest Daylight mode on the Max drive would be very visible during the day. The next mode down is likely the one I would use if riding at night. Almost exactly like the brightest mode only the burst sequence is just a bit lower.

The seat post mount for the Max drive is very disappointing. No built-in aiming adjustment to the mount at all. This means if the lamp is not pointing directly to the rear you have to use shims to make it point straight back. Not to mention that the rubber strap is not so easy to work with and there is no quick release which means every time you have to charge it you have to remove the whole thing and then fuss with getting it dialed in all over again. :nonod: IMO the rubber strap system sucks. It just doesn't hold the lamp tight enough against the seat post IMO. I don't think it will fall off but the mount base just isn't tacky enough to keep the lamp from sliding side to side. That's probably because it is basically hard plastic. I may have to use some of the friction tape I have to keep it from sliding around. Last thing you want while riding down the road is to have your rear lamp slide around and end up pointing off in a direction you'd rather it not.

The Max Drive does come with a clip arrangement that does indeed clip very well onto the back of my helmet. That said because of the narrow beam pattern I think I'd rather like my Gemini Iris better as a rear helmet lamp since the Iris has a very wide beam pattern.

I will of course give the Max Drive a fair test while using the road bike but more than likely when I'm done testing I'll likely go back to using my Cygolite Hotshot 150 on back of the seat post. The Hotshot just has a better UI and provides a beam pattern I feel is more useful since it provides a great deal more side light than the Max Drive. ( Hotshot 150 provides more of a wider rectangular beam pattern ) When I get the chance I'll try to provide some photos that display the major differences between the two ( Max drive vs. Hotshot 150 ).

I should mention though that the Max drive does have some other interesting features. Seems it has a series of mini leds that act as a battery indicator. There is also a rather narrow translucent ring which does let some side light out but not much and almost not worth mentioning. Size and weight of the Max Drive is likely twice that of my Iris ( sorry I don't have a scale ). The only upside to this is that likely the Max Drive has a bigger battery and thus can offer longer run times.

I really wanted to do a ride tonight but unlike yesterday where it was 70°F today was low 40's and windy as all hell. Cold I don't mind so much but high winds I absolute hate.


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## slcpunk (Feb 4, 2004)

andychrist said:


> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D9H9J3T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
> 
> Only four modes though but still bright as all get out. Probably not as water resistant as the LEZYNE Zecto but a small fraction of the price. Have been using mine for years. Connect them to the USB port on my TrustFire 6-cell cases so can charge both at the same time, mwa ha.


I've had good luck with very similar lights i got maybe 2 or 3 years ago. The only downside is that the clip is offset with the assumption of a horizontal bar mount. When you put it on your post it is slighly to the side. Sort of a minor point, but could bug some people. Also suffers the same things that CAT mentions - no aiming. I used some thick rubber tape so that when i strapped it on the post it pointed in about the right direction. for $10 ... been a pretty good deal.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

slcpunk said:


> ...Also suffers the same things that CAT mentions - no aiming. I used some thick rubber tape so that when i strapped it on the post it pointed in about the right direction. for $10 ... been a pretty good deal.


I took the Max Drive out for a test ride tonight. I think I'm beginning to like it a bit. For a narrow spot rear lamp it does has some spill that makes it pretty visible off-camber although not much light 180° to the direct sides. I did like I said I would and used up some of the Lizard Skin friction tape I have to give it more grip. Then I built up the lower part of the mount so it pointed pretty much straight back. Seems to work pretty with the recent changes but I need more time with it. At some point I'll have to decide between the Max Drive and the Hotshot 150 as to which I'll use on my road bike most of the time. Both are very nice lights and can get the job done. I need more time to compare the lights before I decide which has the beam pattern that is likely to be the most useful.


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## Ofroad'bent (Jul 10, 2010)

andychrist said:


> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D9H9J3T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
> 
> Only four modes though but still bright as all get out. Probably not as water resistant as the LEZYNE Zecto but a small fraction of the price. Have been using mine for years. Connect them to the USB port on my TrustFire 6-cell cases so can charge both at the same time, mwa ha.


I thnk I have one of these. It has both white and red flash. It's bright, but the beam is very wide and not too visible from a distance.

It sounds like the Lezyne has a lot more punch to it. Too bad they didn't make one of the LEDs a wide beam and 2 narrow. Maybe stick on some diffuser tape?

I'm following as my Bontrager Flare R on my helmet is good but maybe falling behind.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Ofroad'bent said:


> I thnk I have one of these. It has both white and red flash. It's bright, but the beam is very wide and not too visible from a distance.
> 
> It sounds like the Lezyne has a lot more punch to it. Too bad they didn't make one of the LEDs a wide beam and 2 narrow. Maybe stick on some diffuser tape?
> 
> I'm following as my Bontrager Flare R on my helmet is good but maybe falling behind.


Yeah those Chinese knock-offs look a whole lot like the Max Drives. I'm sure that isn't making Lezyne very happy. I'm not too worried about trying to make it provide a wider beam pattern. I've viewed it from a lot of off camber angles and it's pretty visible. When in one of the two burst modes ( daytime modes ) it throws a lot of light to the sides. I already use a secondary rear light mounted on the seat tube. Just a cheap Chinese Cateye X3 clone. I'm sure it's not anywhere near as bright as the X3 but it puts out a lot of side light and that gets me seen better from the sides.

At some point I need to take my bike out and compare both the Max Drive and Hotshot 150 at distance. My guess is that the M-drive will be better at distance but the Hotshot will be better when closer to the bike.

I'm surprised you are using the Flare R on the helmet. The Flare R is basically a very intense spot. For the helmet I think you'd do better with something with a wider beam pattern since if on the helmet people tend to move their head around a lot. It helps if the rear light on your helmet has at least a good 45° dispersion angle. A good light using COB LED's should make a good rear light for the helmet. I'm still using the Gemini Iris which while not a COB led lamp still has a very wide dispersion angle ( I tested this while moving the helmet around and viewing what it looks like from a variety of angles while viewing the reflection in a mirror a good ways off ).


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## Ofroad'bent (Jul 10, 2010)

Cat-man-do said:


> I'm surprised you are using the Flare R on the helmet. The Flare R is basically a very intense spot. For the helmet I think you'd do better with something with a wider beam pattern since if on the helmet people tend to move their head around a lot. It helps if the rear light on your helmet has at least a good 45° dispersion angle. A good light using COB LED's should make a good rear light for the helmet. I'm still using the Gemini Iris which while not a COB led lamp still has a very wide dispersion angle ( I tested this while moving the helmet around and viewing what it looks like from a variety of angles while viewing the reflection in a mirror a good ways off ).


I have the light set up to shoot straight back behind me when I'm looking forward. I did a fair bit of setup to get it parallel to the horizon. I guess as I ride along it moves side to side more than up and down. Think Lighthouse beam.

I did some tests, and friends said I was more visible with the narrow strong beam than the wider ones with less throw.

I don't have a rack or place to hard-mount a light. 
I'm interested in your opinion on whether your Cygolite hotshot or the Lezyne is more visible from a distance down the road.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Ofroad'bent said:


> I have the light set up to shoot straight back behind me when I'm looking forward. I did a fair bit of setup to get it parallel to the horizon. I guess as I ride along it moves side to side more than up and down. Think Lighthouse beam.
> 
> _**I did some tests,_ and friends said I was more visible with the narrow strong beam than the wider ones with less throw.
> 
> ...


I'm sure you did **_that test_ by trying to keep you head as straight as possible and yes if looking at it straight on I'm sure it looked brighter. The advantage to using a rear lamp with a wider beam pattern is that when you move your head the lamp is still going to be very visible. I did try the Max Drive on the helmet and I have to admit it does a very good job.

When I compared it to the Gemini Iris ( doing the mirror test ) I found that when both are set to about the same output level the Iris does better when viewed at a 45° angle. That said the difference is not that significant. _ Of course when I up the output on the Max Drive the M-drive becomes very visible at the wider angle._ Both the Iris and M-drive should work very well on a helmet. Both are absolute bonkers if used on their max settings but if you use the Iris on it's highest output ( 180 lm ) it will probably only run about an hour. The Lezyne Max Drive being somewhat larger on the other hand can run in the flashing burst modes between 9 and 12 hrs depending on which setting is being used. ( the 35 lumen mode ( somewhat steady output ) is suppose to run about 6hrs.

One of the nice things about the Iris though is that the modes can be programmed. I have the low flash on mine set for about 50 lumens and that can run about 4 hours. That is the setting I usually use. I set the highest output mode to 100 lumen. I only use that when on a really busy multi-lane road. At 100 lumen set on normal flash it can run two hours...if on Pulse mode @ 100 lumen it will run 4hrs. I've only run the 180 lumen setting a couple times but I've never felt the need to use that much light when riding at night. ( although the 180 lumen on Pulse mode is indeed quite awesome )

Hopefully I'll be able to do more distance testing by this week end.


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## Ofroad'bent (Jul 10, 2010)

Thanks for this, Cat. If you could only have one light for daylight road visibility, mounted on your helmet, would you prefer the Cygolite Hotshot 200, the Zecto or the Gemini Iris?


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Ofroad'bent said:


> Thanks for this, Cat. If you could only have one light for daylight road visibility, mounted on your helmet, would you prefer the Cygolite Hotshot 200, the Zecto or the Gemini Iris?


That's a tough question. All three can operate in a flash with burst mode and all three are bright. Since your question was aimed at helmet use at this point I'd have to favor the Zecto Max Drive. The Hotshot would be too hard to mount on my helmet but both the Iris and M-drive have a clip that is designed to be clipped on back of a helmet. Between those two I'd favor the M-Drive but only because it has the longest run time, although the M-Drive probably does have the brightest Daylight setting as well. Besides if I were to use during the day I could always use the Hotshot on back of the seat post and put that on Daylight flash/pulse as well.

Now what I don't understand is that you said before that you don't have a place to hard mount a rear light to your bike.. Don't know why the seat post wouldn't work for you unless you have a bag or something else in the way. Even Aero seat post's can be used with some rear lights. Worst case scenario you could mount something to one of the seat stays. I have two cheap Chinese COB type rear lights that I have mounted to the seat stays on my road/touring setup. I really no longer use them but it I choose I can turn those on and look like an ambulance going down the road ( one mode flashes between red and white...very attention getting if I do say so ) Anyway, a bit of overkill. The only time time I ever used those was when I first tested them.


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## Ofroad'bent (Jul 10, 2010)

Cat, if you *could* clip the hotshot to your helmet, which would you use?

As for the seatpost- don't have one. This is what I ride due to a really bad neck.





Full carbon full suspension Thundervolt Kodiak

I don't mean to hijack the thread. Regarding the light:
I often have a bag attached to the back of my seat, so not a stable mounting surface for exact alignment.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Ofroad'bent said:


> Cat, if you *could* clip the hotshot to your helmet, which would you use?
> 
> As for the seatpost- don't have one. This is what I ride due to a really bad neck.
> 
> ...


Nice bike and I see the problem. Personally I wouldn't totally be against mounting a rear light to a bag off the back of the seat. The trick would be finding a way to mount it so it wouldn't move enough to end up pointing up or downward too much. Now if you could find a hard shell bag or backpack that mounted well to the back of your seat you would have a better mounting surface for a rear light. ( Note; Amazon has lots of bags that are hard shell, worth looking into.)

About the Hotshot question: Stupid me...I forgot the Hotshot has a quick release for mounting to the seat post mount. When off the quick release mount the Hotshot has a very nice clip that ends up working very well on back of my helmet. Beam pattern not quite as wide as the Iris but should still do a hell of a good job on the helmet. Hotshot is super bright if you use it in certain modes. I use mine on a slow fade in-out ( one second variant ) At peak brightness it is using the full 150 lumen which is quite awesome if I do say so. I like the UI on the Hotshots. As such it will probably win out over the Max Drive for night use.

Tonight I took another ride with the Max drive on back of the seat post. Max Drive has a mode that is medium bright and has all three LED's fading in and out slightly out of sequence. This makes the lamp look as though it is on a steady mode only with some slight undulation in the output.

Since you are riding such a low profile bike, if it were me I'd want a good bright helmet light going. Add to that a good light on back of the seat as well. Adding some good DOT2 reflective bits on the bag or back of the seat wouldn't be a bad idea either. If this is the bike you ride on the road you might consider wheel lights as well.


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## Ofroad'bent (Jul 10, 2010)

Thanks Cat. Maybe I could mount a wider beam on the pack, as the one I use for commuting has a clip but it woudn’t be exactly horizontal.
My adventure racing packs won’t work- too irregular. We do ride some road sections in horrible conditions there.

I’ll see if I can physically compare a Hotshot pro 200 to the Lezyne somewhere.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Took another ride tonight with the Max Drive on the set post again. This time I rode a route that was more road than MUP ( and a busy road at that ). Since I was keeping to some of the main roads I figured using the Max Drives' second flash/burst mode would be the mode of choice ( Gemini Iris still holding helmet duties and on basic flash ).

At one point on a lone dark stretch of road I turned around while riding to try to see what effect the Max Drive had. Can't say much about the flash part of the mode but when the lamp hit the burst pulse the effect is that it lights up anything with reflective tape for about a quarter mile. Add to that it does it in wide fashion too. Still like to see a head to head comparison at distance with the Hotshot 150 I own.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Another ride with the Max Drive; Pretty much the same observations as last time. I couldn't help but notice tonight how many cars were passing me way off to my left. While I've seen this from drivers time to time before, I can't help but think the Max Drive while set on _Flash/burst_ mode had something to do with it on my ride tonight. I would imagine that the bright burst part of the mode can be somewhat annoyingly bright when viewed too closely if using it at night.

With this in mind I'll likely go back to using it in one of the undulating modes ( the three LED's flash intermittently out of sequence ) I don't necessarily want a flashing light on back of the seat post nowadays anyway. If I was only using one rear lamp then yes, slow flashing would be the way to go. Since I already have a flashing light on my helmet I prefer a more steady type light on the seat post. One of the reasons I like the Hotshot 150 is that I can set the Hotshot to "fade in-out". Not exactly a steady mode and not exactly a flashing mode. Hotshot lets you set the duration of the fade as well. IMO that makes for a very visible ( but not annoyingly so ) lamp operating off the seat post.

_Other misc. CAt news;_ I busted out the piggy bank today and laid some major coin out for an electric assist bike. I've been wanting one since last year so today I finally caved and decided to lay down some green ( Damn! These things are not cheap, particularly if you want something of half decent quality ). Plan to use it as a commuter bike. I'll likely post some type of mini review over on the forum that covers "Electric bikes". Anyway, I'll be picking it up tomorrow. First thing I'm gonna do when I get it and test it out on the biggest/baddest hill that is near me.. Interestingly that is the hill that I'd have to ride up if I was riding home from work. I've ridden that hill before on my triple road set-up and it is a real *** breaker ( or to put in terms of the aged; A real heart-attack / stroke inducer ).

Took it for a test ride today on a smaller hill near the LBS and it climbed like a champ even in the lowest assist mode. I was amazed at how well I could get by just using the eco-mode. The hard part is gonna to be carrying it into my Condo which is one floor up. E-bikes weigh almost 50 lbs so not real easy to carry up a long flight of stairs.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Cat-man-do said:


> _Other misc. CAt news;_ I busted out the piggy bank today and laid some major coin out for an electric assist bike. I've been wanting one since last year so today I finally caved and decided to lay down some green ( Damn! These things are not cheap, particularly if you want something of half decent quality ). Plan to use it as a commuter bike. I'll likely post some type of mini review over on the forum that covers "Electric bikes". Anyway, I'll be picking it up tomorrow. First thing I'm gonna do when I get it and test it out on the biggest/baddest hill that is near me.. Interestingly that is the hill that I'd have to ride up if I was riding home from work. I've ridden that hill before on my triple road set-up and it is a real *** breaker ( or to put in terms of the aged; A real heart-attack / stroke inducer ).
> 
> Took it for a test ride today on a smaller hill near the LBS and it climbed like a champ even in the lowest assist mode. I was amazed at how well I could get by just using the eco-mode. The hard part is gonna to be carrying it into my Condo which is one floor up. E-bikes weigh almost 50 lbs so not real easy to carry up a long flight of stairs.


I know this is off topic but I posted a review of my new e-bike on Bike forums. I am glad however that I bought the Max Drive rear light as that will likely be the rear light I use on the new e-bike.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

I thought this worth posting. The Leyzne Max Drive mounted to the rear of my new ebike. I picked up the seatpost rack/box setup from Amazon. I have the Max Drive clipped to the inside of the box. There are two zippers that come together to help hold it in place. While pretty tight I tied a wire around the clip and then tied it to a part inside of he box just to make sure I wouldn't lose the light. Works like a charm. The Velcro straps on the box is to keep the box from bouncing too much. I had to add those myself as the box tended to bounce and make noise which I really didn't like. ( Max Drive on lowest steady setting )


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