Mars 4.0 lights - any good?

[Cheule]

I'm just thumping through various sites looking for a decent rear light with good battery life and good side visibility - would a Mars 4 fit the bill?

I have had a couple of Smarts over the years but they always develop a problem with the rubber seals, do the Mars 4's suffer the same?

I'd be interested to hear from those of you with one, my current one not only rattles in its holder, it also has two HOLES in the underside to allow water in! Obviously v. anxious to see an improvement

 

[Bodhbh]

I've got one, very happy with it probably the best rear light I have - been going 2 years so far with no problems with leaks. It lasts a few weeks in flashing mode although only doing a 5mile each way commute atm,. I got a couple of spare mounts and swap it between all 3 bikes.

 

[HLaB]

I'm just thumping through various sites looking for a decent rear light with good battery life and good side visibility - would a Mars 4 fit the bill?

I have had a couple of Smarts over the years but they always develop a problem with the rubber seals, do the Mars 4's suffer the same?

I'd be interested to hear from those of you with one, my current one not only rattles in its holder, it also has two HOLES in the underside to allow water in! Obviously v. anxious to see an improvement

It seems to be slightly more power hungry than the smart but it is much more robust; a great light IMO I've never had any problem with fit, its nice and secure (and the bracket is easy to fit too) or with water tightness mine has been exposed to some awful conditions and never faltered.

 

[gaz]

a good light. my lasts about 20 hours on constant mode with rechargeable batteries 1000mah

 

[Cheule]

Excellent, just what I was hoping for, thanks everyone for your input

How is the orange side visibility? I've recently noticed the visibility on mine is far worse than what I thought it was.

 

[HLaB]

Excellent, just what I was hoping for, thanks everyone for your input

How is the orange side visibility? I've recently noticed the visibility on mine is far worse than what I thought it was.

This picture doesn't show it in the best light (excuse the pun) the batterries had been in about a fortnight or more when I took the snap (although it had only been used 2-3 times aweek). The mobile camera also distorts things, there was a lot more light in reality.

 

[Cheule]

Cheers for the pic, puts my mind at ease

I've ordered one now from CRC with the extra 10% off. Can't wait to get it now and try it out

 

[Alien8]

The Mars 4.0 is a real retina-burner - abet quite directional for the full effect.

I think the orange side-lights are a bit wimpy - but I guess every little bit helps.

[Note that the little metal screw that holds the mount bracket at the right angle quickly rusted solid on my light - you might want to add some copper ease or whatever to the screw thread in case you subsequently want to use the light mounted somewhere else]

 

[- Baz -]

Initially very happy with the Mars 4. However, mine ate batteries (AAA) and only lasted around 5 hours with a new set. Maybe mine was faulty. I'd already binned the packaging, so the light went the same way...

 

[marinyork]

I broke the clip on the smart, it just snapped. The other big flaw with the mars 4.0 is it has about the poorest all round visibility of any light on the market, it's very, very directional. Other than that it's fine.

 

[scouserinlondon]

[QUOTE 1256449"]
Mine fell off the bike and smashed to bits. Now I've got an Exposure Flare, which is pretty indestructible.
[/quote]

Is it any good?

 

[SimonBLS]

The exposure flares (rechargeable and standard batteries) are brilliant little things. I run thebikelightshop.co.uk and people can't get enough of them - my girlfirend and I both have rechargeable sets. Don't forget that the rechargeable ones are much brighter!

 

[Davidc]

I've seen other people's mars 4 lights and they look to be OK straight behind but very ordinary apart from that.

I've just bought one of the new Smarts - the Lunar R1 (£14.69 from Tredz). The seal is better than the older superflash 1/2w Smart and the lamp is brighter but they seem to have used that to improve the beam angle. I'm very impressed but it's early days yet.

The last 1/2W LED ones I bought were about £5 each, whether the new 1W LED version will come down remains to be seen.

I always put a tiny smear of silicone grease around the joins and openings in all my lights and have never had any issues with water getting into any of them, not since the days of the Ever Ready lights with the 2 D cells (nothing would keep water out of them).

 

[scouserinlondon]

[QUOTE 1256452"]
Yes, very good. It's all metal (apart from the lens obvously), completely waterproof, tiny, very bright and very quick to switch between bikes. I'd defintely say it was worth paying for.
[/quote]

It looks really good but I don't think I can cope with another type of battery to charge!

 

[Cheule]

Right - it arrived today, first impressions are good (after blinding myself to test just how bright it was compared to my old one!). It has a strong, heavy feel to it, and the diamond-shaped modelling at the back sort of reminds me of Kryptonian designs (i.e. Superman type stuff)

The only let down I feel at the moment, is the locking mechanism, it's just like my Cateye Velo 8, where the slightest knock can see it flying off. Is this anyone else's experience, or did you find a way of fixing it?