Price: £55 / $54.99
Lumens: 400
Modes: 7
Battery life: 80 hours maximum
Weight: 70g without strap, 80g with
Released as part of Lezyne’s big overhaul of its light range in 2023, the Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 400+ builds on the incredibly popular Strip rear lights by the brand. The new Strip Drive Pro 400+, as the name says, has a maximum lumen brightness of 400. It sits towards the upper end of Lezyne’s range of lights, only surpassed by the Laser Drive, and two Ai-braking equipped Alert 250 and Strip Drive Pro models.
The big selling points of the Strip Drive Pro are the 270˚ visibility, 80 hour battery life, and seven different modes for operating in a varied range of weather and light conditions. With that battery life and brightness, the Lezyne is a step ahead of many other rear lights that have featured in our buyers guide to the best bike lights without being exceptionally more expensive.
In fact, the price of £55 puts Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 400+ at the same price as our Best all-round Budget rear light, the Bontrager Flare RT, while featuring significantly more powerful specifications. The ladder strap also allows for fitting to traditional round seat posts or aero ones.
Design and specifications
As the name suggests, the Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 400+ delivers a maximum lumen output of 400 lumens via its 10 LED lights. This is only during its high powered Day Flash 2 mode, one of the seven modes available, but still boasting an 18 hour runtime. Additionally, there is Economy mode with 15 lumens and 26 hour runtime, two 80 lumen solid beam and pulse options, a 50 lumen flash, the aforementioned Day Flash modes 1 and 2 (200 and 400 lumen), and finally the 80 hour 5 lumen Femto mode.
The Femto mode is far lower powered but uses a range of different flashes, durations, and brightnesses to deliver a rather uneven and therefore noticeable flash sequence. All these modes form part of the 270˚ visibility with an open side design of the light to accommodate this range.
The 1900 mAh battery helps aid this impressive maximum battery life, but even the shorter lasting modes offer decent durations. Recharging is performed via USB-C, with fast charging 2.0 and 3.0 supported, although no cable is supplied. The battery port itself is found at the bottom of the light, but Lezyne says this is waterproof. An IPX7 waterproof rating should keep it working effectively in any weather conditions able to be ridden in. IPX7 means it is waterproof even when submerged up to 1m deep for up to 30 minutes, so you needn't worry about tyre spray if you aren't running fenders.
With dimensions of 70mm, 37mm, 47mm, and a weight of 70g without the strap and 80g with, it’s a compact light. A ladder strap is used to attach the Lezyne Trip Drive Pro 400+ to an array of seatposts, be that round or deeper shaped aero seatposts. The main body of the light is an impact resistant rubber, which should help protect it in the unfortunate event of it falling from the bike.
All of the light features are controlled by a single button at the top of the light. A short press gives a battery indication (green for 75-100%, red/green for 25-75%, and red for 0-25%), while a long press turns the light on or off. Single press changes the light mode in a sequential order. Given there are seven modes it does mean you may have to cycle through a fair bit to find the one you're after.
Performance
From the moment I turned the Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 400+ on inside after unpacking it, I was instantly met with a room bathed in a bright red light. When it comes to shear power from the lumens, the 400 lumen Day Flash 2 mode is incredibly bright to the point that it can illuminate the road behind you pretty well. Yes, you don’t need that many lumens when riding to be visible to other road users, but that level of brightness does make you highly visible from a good distance away, and is especially useful for daylight visibility when the contrast is lower. It also boosts the side visibility, which although doesn’t quite have the same brightness as the rear facing view, is still superb for being highly visible side on.
Generally when riding out on the road, I’ve been keeping it in Day Flash 2 mode. I don’t think a rear light should be needed as an excuse for people driving cars to actually see people riding bikes, but I’d still rather take the measure. Even with the battery life being lower in this setting than the more eco modes, I’ve only charged the light twice over a three month period of use. This leads me to take Lezyne’s battery life claims at face value based on testing and modes used.
Using it for nighttime rides, the Pulse has been my go-to. The 80 lumen performance on the peak of the pulse is brilliantly bright, while the lack of flash shouldn’t dazzle other road users, with the slightly downwards angle of the light when fitted to a seatpost also assist in this. With a 14 hour battery life, this mode still has an impressive lifespan. As for the other modes, although they don’t feature the same punch with the brightness, they still offer a mode that is more powerful than a lot of the competitors to this light, all while providing a longer runtime quite often.
Other elements of this light that I really like are the heat dissipation. Leyzne has used its own Advanced heat sink technology to reduce thermal buildup. Most prominent on its aluminium front lights with fins to increase surface area, at 400 lumens this rear light should get a bit warm when left running. However even left on my desk at full power, there were no heating issues. I also love the simplicity of the on/off button and it’s design. It is significantly raised from the body of the light, so switching on or changing modes when riding is an absolute breeze even with thick gloves on. There have also been no issues with water ingress even when testing through some fairly horrific rainy conditions recently.
It's not all rosy however with the light, as there are a couple of things that may present an issue to some users. Firstly, the ladder seatpost strap is fantastic, and keeps the light very secure on round and aero tubed seatposts. However, it is on the short side, so on particularly deep tubes like seriously aero focussed road and time trial bikes, it’s not quite long enough to wrap around fully.
The other issue is the exclusion of a charging cable. This could be seen though as a product of the EU regulations and the standardisation of USB-C charging. This whole initiative has been designed in part to reduce cable waste, where half a dozen items may require a separate charge cable each. I do have several USB-C cables lying around for other products, so the lack of charge cable is of no issue to me. However for some it may be, so it’s worth highlighting.
Value
As mentioned before, the Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 400+ actually comes in at the same price as our best value budget rear bike light, while packing more than double the lumens of any of the lights tested in that group test. Add to that a longer runtime and coming in at a similar or only marginally more expensive price and the value of this light is exceptional.
This is why it wins our most powerful rear bike light category. Some elements such as the angling of the light may be questionable, but I think this helps reduce dazzling without impacting visibility. While the amount of modes may be superfluous to some, it manages to offer a different option for pretty much any scenario.
There are cheaper lights available, but there isn’t anything quite as high powered available currently, let alone at this price and with this battery life.
The only thing that draws me away slightly from this light is the presence of the Strip Drive Pro 400+ with Ai Alert. I’m yet to test this, but for £5 more you get Lezyne’s Ai brake light which changes the lighting based on when you are braking. Useful for signalling intent to other road users, especially in high traffic areas.
Verdict
With exceptionally high power and brightness, with copious easy to use modes to accommodate most riding and light conditions, the Lezyne Strip Drive Pro 400+ is a powerhouse of a rear light. With 400 lumens on the Day Flash 2 mode, it is one of the brightest rear lights available. Meanwhile lower power, yet still powerful, options give a great range of potential battery life offerings with 80 hours being the maximum.
The ladder fit system means it fits most seatpost with ease, but the length of the ladder does limit it on deeper aero tubing. The lack of USB-C may be a negative to some as well, although personally I see it as a step towards reduces electrical waste.
All this performance and practicality comes at a very reasonable price, with the lumens/£ being exceptionally good. It’s a fantastic rear light that I personally find almost impossible to find fault with.
