ETC Sarin 30 Lumen Lightset

The ETC Sarin 30 Lumen Lightset is a simple, bright and easy to use pair of lights for getting noticed on the roads. They're effective and last well. The design works far better on the rear than the front, though, and the price is high compared with seemingly identical units.

While this is a generally good set of lights with useful modes, very easy operation and decent battery life – all perfect for commuters or road riders wanting to be seen, night or day – it has a couple of major flaws.

Firstly, the two units are identical, but the design is clearly optimised for seatposts. Aligned vertically it spreads a good amount of light to the sides for visibility around junctions and so on, and the long strip of light stands out well in a sea of round or horizontal lamps.

Sitting horizontally on your bar, however, the long body is more of an issue. It can easily run from bare bar to your tape, which tweaks its angle, and I was forced to mount it on the left because I run an out-front mount, which pushes it too far towards my hand.

I like it less on the left as it makes me look closer to the kerb, and the beam is potentially obscured by my computer.

Also, that great side lighting is now wasted as it's shining down at the road and up into your eyes, which can be very distracting – especially if you're running a flash mode. Both units are, at least, extremely easy to fit and remove.

The silicone straps are stretchy and robust and, combined with the thick, concave silicone pads on the lights, keep everything very secure and vibe-free on anything from seatstay-width tubes to taped 31.8mm bars. The straps even have angled tabs to help you hook them on.

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Those pads peel off easily to reveal the USB charging port (short cable supplied), and the two-hour charge from flat is very usable for commuters.

While the pads do a good job of waterproofing these units (I had no issues with prolonged rain and heavy spray), and certainly aren't going anywhere when the light is strapped on, they're separate and only loosely attached. Lose one while these are knocking about in a bag or pocket and you not only lose the waterproofing, but the mount as well. The instruction sheet actually implies they should be fixed so just the end peels up like a door, and you could glue the main section on without causing an issue. But then, you shouldn't have to.

The 300mAh lipo batteries give decent run-times – just over three hours on the highest setting for the front, and around two hours for the rear. Claimed times on the lowest (Flash) setting are 55 and 40 hours respectively, which seem accurate. In normal use it's easy to find effectively bright settings that give multiple rides between charges.

Modes

Each has three solid modes (low, medium and high) and three flash settings. Breathe mode fades slowly up to full brightness and down again, Comet starts at full power and fades to nothing, and Flash (are you sitting down?) flashes.

The unlit gaps in Breathe and Comet are just a little too long, for my liking – I found the fairly frantic Flash the most useful for visibility versus burn time (55hrs!). You can also switch to either the Intelligent Day or Intelligent Night modes, which use a light sensor to add (if necessary) a constant light between pulses, but this obviously lowers run-times. It's worth noting the instructions are completely wrong about how to switch these on: it takes a double press, not a long press (which simply turns the light back off).

Value

Compared with other light sets we've tested, these are on the expensive side. The Lezyne Femto Drive USB set is £29, and usefully bright (if not nearly as bright as these), while the excellent Knog Plus Twinpack is £31.99 and, like the Lezyne, a far better fit at the front. The rear is less powerful at 20 lumens, but the front is brighter at 40 lumens.

But the biggest issue is the existence of the Magicshine Seemee 30 Combo at £24.99, because if those lights are not the exact same units with different branding, I certainly can't spot the difference. An extra £15 for a different word on the side is an unimpressive offer. Okay, there could be some (very well) hidden differences, but damningly, the rubber straps of this ETC set still say Magicshine on them...

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I like the Sarin 30 a lot as a rear light, but find it a lot less compelling as a front. Given that imbalance, and the £40 price, it's a lot harder to recommend this ETC set than it is to recommend its competitors.

Verdict

Effective and easy-to-live with rear light plus an adequate front, but available elsewhere for substantially less