Unboxing we were reasonably impressed with the Soldier light as it came well-packaged and looked reasonably sturdy but no batteries were included. Rather annoyingly the battery compartment is accessed by 3 small screws which will be a bit of a pain when it comes to changing the batteries. There was some evidence of waterproofing in the rubber seal but it was very flimsy and tricky to fit. Best use a mudguard with these lights.
Fitting was a bit awkward on our test bike with a standard seatpost as this required the use of rubber inserts to ensure a tight fit. Attaching the light to the bracket also required a screwdriver so that’s another negative. Once on though the light looks really smart with a good vertical profile and nice reflective surfaces.
In test it was clear that the mounting position is vital to make sure the lasers work. You can have them on a constant beam or strobing but they need to be precisely fitted to ensure the lines are parallel. The beam is split 50:50 between the front and rear of the bike although you could tweak the angle a little to make them shine further back. The LED light can be constant, strobing or in a cool running pattern.
Run-times were not very impressive, especially for the lasers. They gave up after only 4 hours which is disappointing given they are one of the key selling features of the light. The LEDs then continued for a further 26 hours making 30 hours in total. That’s not too bad off 2xAAA batteries but it’s clear that powering 5 LEDs and 2 lasers means this light is going to need regular battery changes. That wouldn’t be so bad on a light that gave you easy access to the battery compartment but this is far from the case.
