2015 Lights Shootout, Bike Light, Light & Motion, Lights, Lights Shootout, Seca 2000 Race - November 5, 2014

Review: Light & Motion Seca 2000 Race

The Light & Motion Seca 2000 Race is getting a little long in the tooth, but it still has the best light beam pattern in the business. That’s why it’s still around and why it’s got such a loyal fan base.

The light head is huge and the cable and connector is long. The form factor is nowhere near as modern as the Taz 1500 or the other self-contained extra bright lights available today. Brightness is unchanged from last year at 2000 Lumens.

This light was introduced as the Seca 400 many moons ago and it grew up to be the Seca 1400 with 1400 Lumens. It was plenty bright, but the price was too much at $700. Two years ago, they increased the brightness and efficiency to put out 1700 Lumens in a beam pattern that puts the light where you need it. The latest incarnation, introduced last year is a 2000 Lumen powerhouse for $500. It would have been nice to see a price drop this year, as lights either get brighter or cheaper every year, but the price stays at $500.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ZzS4sBIXo

Video: Test loop with the Light & Motion Seca 2000 Race. Camera is on a locked ISO setting and is set to Wide Angle mode.

But the real story is still the beam pattern, as much of the light is pointed to the ground and the sides. Very little of the light is wasted into empty space. So hats off to Light & Motion for reviving one the best designed light heads ever made in the bike market. As you can see on the video, the beam pattern is huge. Take note that the POV video is on wide mode with 170 degrees of viewing angle and the the Seca 2000 almost fills it up.

The Taz 1200 and Taz 1500 are good alternatives, as they sport a similar beam pattern but in a flashlight package.

Beam Pattern Photo

We photographed the lights in the same location setting with the same camera settings. The photos were taken in the back yard that is approximately 25 yards long. These photos feature many objects and a distinct background to analyze detail and beam pattern. Compare all Beam Patterns here »

Integrating Sphere Measured Lumens

This light measured 2022 Lumens in an integrating sphere. Claimed Lumens by the manufacturer is 2000 Lumens. The Lumen-hour graph below shows how the light performs over the first three minutes of its battery cycle. Compare all Lumen Tests here »

Strengths

Beam pattern, beam pattern
Light is not wasted on the top where it usually doesn’t reflect off anything
Excellent battery and charger
Mount is deceptively simple yet effective. It is very easy to adjust or transfer to another bike