Vizirider LED cycling vest

Front of Vizirider LED cycling visit. Image from Vizirider

Author wearing the Vizirider LED cycling vest

If you are heading out in the evening, pull on this vest, press the button and you will instantly improve your visibility. The Vizirider LED vest features bright LED lights on the front and on the back. I have often worried that the single red light on the rear of my bike is not enough to make me visible to drivers. With this vest that worry disappears as you get an additional 6 red lights on the upper part of your body. 

Night safety

It's the law to use bike lights if you cycle on roads in the dark. However, the minimum requirement for a red rear light and white front light can sometimes feel inadequate on some of our roads. Cycling at night is a whole different ball game to cycling in the day and it does need a certain level of confidence to get over the fear that you are going to be hit by a vehicle because the driver does not see you. Some people will simply not venture out in the evening for that reason.

The solution is to remove that fear completely by having proper segregated cycling infrastructure. However, that feels like a long way off for many parts of our country, so any product that helps to reduce that fear of night cycling is to be commended.

This vest vastly increases your visibility from what you could ever get from a set of bike lights. It covers your whole upper body with lights. It has 6 white lights on the front and 6 red lights on the rear. I've seen other people try to cover this part of their body by attaching a second light to a backpack or helmet, but this vest does a much better job. 

Simple set up

There's a small power bank that you charge with a USB cable. It's got a red light to indicate that it is charging and this will turn green when it is fully charged. It takes about 2 hours to fully charge it.

You then connect the power bank to the vest. There's a neat inside pocket with a connector that you attach the power bank to. There's a velcro flap so that you can close the pocket and keep the power bank secure and protected from rain. That's all there is to the set up.

The power bank for the Vizirider. It's charged with a USB cable

The power bank is stored in a small pocket inside the jacket. This keeps it protected

On the outside of the jacket there is a power symbol. On the other side of this symbol is the pocket that has the power bank. The power bank has a button on it and this needs to be be aligned to the power symbol so that you can push it on the outside of the jacket.

The power symbol on the outside of the Vizirider vest. Push this to activate the lights

There are three settings for the lights. Press the button once for a solid light, twice for a fast flash and three times for a slow flash. Using the flashing modes will make the battery last longer. You'll get about 20 hours from the fast flash and 10 hours for the solid lights.

Using the vest

 The vest is super easy to use. Pull it on and press the button.

That's what makes this such a great product. There's no faff with setting it up. Extra bike lights and lights that you have to attach to your backpack or helmet require set up time. It can make leaving the house more time consuming than it needs to be.

The lights on this vest are excellent quality and the level of visibility that they provide is superb. I felt a lot more confident wearing this vest than I did when I just relied on my single red rear light.

The rear of the Vizirider vest, showing the 6 red LED lights

Weather performance

The vest is water resistant, wind resistant and breathable. The lights are waterproof. I used it in rain and it performed well.

Vizirider also offer jackets with LED lights. That's a good option if you don't already have a cycling jacket or want something a bit more substantial for wetter weather. They also have gilets so check out their website for other options.

Summary and cost

This vest currently retails for £39. It's good value when you consider you get a high-visibility vest plus 6 lights. 

This product is a really great idea. It provides a practical solution to improving the visibility of the upper part of a cyclist's body. Personally I feel more confident heading out into the dark wearing this vest. It makes me much more visible to other road users. I love that it is so easy to set it up when you are going out. You can just grab it off the peg, like you would with any coat, and you are ready to go.