Had some wiggle vouchers and thought I’d get myself the new Exposure RedEye rear light for the commute. Not seen much discussion so thought I’d weigh in with my 1st impressions:

Good:
– Well made. Looks to be real quality – lightweight but it looks like it could stand-up to some abuse / being dropped unlike my previous Cateye Grenade which shattered into a thousand pieces when I dropped it.
– Small and light. It sits on my seatpost nicely and I can mount it right up under the saddle unlike some rear lights that I can’t put that high up without it touching my legs when pedaling. Strapped onto the back of my helmet along with the joystick you don’t notice any difference either. This is the major + for me.
– Really bright. Approx 80 lumens it spreads a nice, big pool of light on the road behind me. This is visible even in sunlight.
– Easy to ‘hack’ – I popped into Maplin and paid a couple of quid for a battery mounting box, switch and wires. Loaded with 4 rechargable AA’s this sits in my under-saddle bag and will provide hours of light without the need to run cables everywhere. Primarily did this as it’ll mean no need to run the cable across the bike to my Maxx-D / Joystick. But it’s nice to know I’ve got the hot-port option as a backup.

Bad:
– Expensive (kind of). It’s a lot for a rear light but @£31 with Wiggle ‘gold’ discount (and there is the extra £5 on £25+ if you get them) means it’s still a couple of ££ over a Cateye – but then if you’re running off existing Exposure Smart-ports you’ll save that on batteries.
– No sideways illumination. Partially overcome by the size of the pool of light it throws behind me but it would have been nice if they could have added some side-on lighting / pin-holes like the Blackburn Mars or Cateye Grenade.
– Packaging was v. poor. Not sure it’s because there’s been a shortage and they’ve struggled to get them into the shops (or whether it was some EOM / prelim box) but the packaging was nowhere near the quality that came with my Maxx-D. A crappy plastic box and photocopied or inkjet printed label. Blurgh.
– Cable not quite long enough for me and my Airnimal frame. If I’m going to use it plugged into the Maxx-D port then it could really do with another 2 or 3 inches for easier mounting / wrapping around gear/brake cables.
– Doesn’t flash. Can’t say it bothers me as I’m not a fan of having rear strobes but I guess this could count against it?
– I thought it was actually going to be brighter than 80 lumens.

Anyhow – just my 2p’s worth. On balance I’m pleased with it thus far.

I really like exposure products 🙂
I’m tempted to try the red eye micro

Ive got a red-eye micro, came in the same sort of packet as you describe, it think the reason is so they can stock them in shops a bit easier.

Anyway (if you dont mind) ill add my opinions…

Red-eye Micro for use with helmet mounted joystick
Good:
-supprisingly bright for a single convertional LED
-dosnt noticably effect runtime of the Joystick
-light weight (obviously, its tiny)
-angled down so can still be seen when you joystick is pointed down at the road

Bad:
-pain to turn on, basically you have to go through a complicated routine of button pressing everytime you plug it into the joystick.
-needs to be removed when the joystick is turned off as ‘battery bleed’ will run down the battery a little overnight/during the day, double the problem when combined with the above
-its tiny so when you remove it its easilly lost, should have some sort of clip to attach it to a lanyard (which you probably have for the joystick anyway)
-when you twist it in the socket there are dead spots where it goes off, not ideal if you knock it changing power mode.

Overall its pretty good as an additional helmet light, but a bit of a pain to actually use,
Rich.