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Say hi to my dad! If you’ve never read one of his posts before, here’s what you need to know: 1) He’s been running for over 50 years, so he knows what he’s talking about; 2) He’s a bit of a stickler for safety; and 3) He practically invented Dad Jokes.* We bought him the LightSpur RX LED Foot Light from Nathan Sports for Hanukkah, and I asked him to share his thoughts. Enjoy! ~ Sharon
Running Light Review: Nathan Sports LightSpur RX LED Foot Light
Running in the dark presents some unique safety challenges. (*Some say I am in the dark most of the time, but that is a story for another time.) Most of my running occurs during the pre-dawn hours (between 5:30 and 6:15 am), so this is something I constantly have to keep in mind.
Years ago the conventional wisdom was that wearing a light or white t-shirt would make you visible to others. However, my personal experience is that a white shirt alone does very little to improve your visibility.
Within the last few years, I started wearing a reflective vest, and later I added a flashing red light device that clipped to the front of my vest. About two years ago, one of Sharon’s StrideBoxes contained a flashing red light that is designed to be wrapped around the upper arm. It works for me, but the plastic light portion is rather long, and the strap might not fit properly on someone with a thinner upper arm. Collectively, this attire makes me more visible from the front but less than totally visible from behind.
This past year I received a Nathan LightSpur RX LED Foot Light as a Hanukkah present from Sharon and her family. The light is a plastic item shaped in a U that is intended to go around the heel of your shoe.
Nathan LightSpur RX Light Foot Light
Product Specs
LED: Two LED’s, 3+ lumens max output
Battery: USB rechargeable Li-ion polymer battery
Burn Time: STEADY ON – 6 hrs; STROBE/RUN – 12 hrs
Water Resistance: IPX4 – Weather resistant
Size: Fits most shoes up to size 15
I have to admit that when I first took the item out of its plastic wrapping I had trouble figuring out how to put it on my shoe. It took this mechanical engineer 5 minutes to figure out that all I had to do was slightly open the legs of the U and then slip it around the heel of the shoe.
The shoe light has three different light colors (red, green, and blue), and the light can be constant or flashing. I prefer the flashing red mode. To turn the light on you just need to press and hold the on button for around three seconds. You press the on button again to change from a steady light to a flashing light.
The best part is that it’s surprisingly lightweight. It’s so light that I wouldn’t even know it was there if I didn’t look down and see it on my shoe! It clasps tight around the heel, but not so tight that I can feel any pressure on my foot.
This addition to my pre-dawn running attire addresses my one area of concern: with my new running light I’m now visible from both the front and from behind. I love this product and would absolutely recommend it!
For more safety tips, read my post about running in the dark.
Do you want my dad’s two cents on your running question? Contact him at Dad [at] MommyRunsIt [dot] com. And for more great advice and information, be sure to check out his other posts!
Albert is the proud father of Mommy Runs It’s owner Sharon Wilhelm. He has degrees in Nuclear and Mechanical Engineering and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Florida and is also certified as a Project Management Professional. He started running as a sophomore in high school (Oct 1964), and never stopped. In high school and college he was a middle of the pack runner. He hit his peak as a runner in the first 10 years after graduating college. Though never achieving a champion performance, he ran some decent times (5K – 16:58, 5 mi – 27:07, 6 mi – 33:00, 10K – 34:58, 13.1 mi – 1:36, 20 mi – 2:20:51, marathon – 3:37:48). Currently he runs primarily to maintain a level of physical fitness. He hopes that when he retires in a few years he will be able to increase his training and return to competitive running. His secret (not so secret any more) ambition is to be a high school track coach; not to produce champion runners, but to instill the love of running in these young people and pass on his experience.
Nicole says
I am a runner of 9 years. Not the longest time running, I started late, anyways. Visibility has always been a concern, living in the north it get VERY dark and I run a lot in dark. I have tried reflective vest, clip on lights and the shoes lights and while it is better than nothing at all. I have to say the best running gear that I have bought, out of all my years that has helped with visibility is the … Noxgear Tracer360 Visibility Vest. I have had people driving by that stop and said thank you for wearing that. They follow it up with it was so easy to see/spot you. This has done the best job at making myself highly visible running while staying safe. I hope this help anyone out there.
Albert Ugelow aka Dad says
Update: I recently had to recharge the battery for the first time. The battery lasted way longer than 6 hours before needing to be recharged. I had actually forgotten how to recharge the battery. Eventually I found the charging port. The connection on the light is a mini USB port. I had to go through my collection of charging cords to find the right one. I do not think it came with a charging cord. Once I found the right cord and plugged it in, the battery recharged in a few hours and was ready to go.