Mars 3.0 Bicycle Tail Light by Blackburn

The Mars 3.0 tail light by Blackburn is a reasonably priced light, delivering good performance at a good value. It looks sharp, is sleek and aerodynamic, and most importantly, its seven LED's deliver bright blinking red light to highlight your presence. The Mars 3.0 is also the only rear blinkie on the market to feature unique amber-colored flashers visible from the side, where many car-bike collisions occur. The long battery run time (50 to 150+ hours) means that you'll probably be replacing your bike before you replace the battery on the light.

Blackburn continues its series of smartly-designed lights with the Mars 3.0 tail light. Sleek, light and aerodynamic, the Mars 3.0 tail light never-the-less delivers bright flashing or steady red lights, coupled with Blackburn's unique side-flashing amber lights to make you visible from a long way off.

The Mars 3.0 tail light has three standard settings: steady, where the light burns solid and two blinking patterns - one, a constant flash, the other, a rolling up and down flash pattern. I like this simplicity because I've used other lights in the past that touted their 32 combinations of flash patterns as a real plus. I just found that it took longer for you to have to cycle through them all to turn the light off.

The only drawback to the Mars 3.0 tail light is that the on-and-off switch, set just below flush at the top of the case, is pretty small. Somebody with big fat fingers like me may have a wee bit of trouble with it compared to the bigger, often raised buttons that are used on other lights. But this is a minor drawback.

The Mars 3.0 is an affordable, well-built light that attaches securely, delivers bright light, and is built sturdy to last you a long time.