My Favorite Gear: Portland Design Works Aether Demon

Every once and a while you stumble upon a product that is so simple, practical, and seemingly necessary that you wonder how you ever lived without it. This is how I felt when I purchased the Portland Design Works "Aether Demon" USB rechargeable tail-light. In the past, I have owned several different tail-light models from various brands, and have had hands-on experience with many more through the shop, but I still hadn't found that "holy grail" of tail-lights. After purchasing my Nite Rider headlight back in 2012, I was spoiled with the conveniences of a rechargeable, internal, lithium-ion battery and the USB charging interface. Throwing away alkaline batteries felt so wasteful and it was something that I wanted to eliminate completely from my lifestyle.

Meet the Aether Demon:

Its form-factor is quite comparable to that of the very well-known Planet Bike "Superflash" and to my surprise, both lights actually use the exact same mounting bracket! 

PDW Aether Demon on the left, Planet Bike Superflash "Stealth" on the right

I've always been a big fan of the mount options that the Planet Bike tail-lights included because they are a simple design that keeps the light exactly where you want it, at the angle you want it. When you install the light into the mount, it is accompanied by a solid "click" that lets you know it's secure and not going anywhere.

The Aether Demon shown here mounted using the included "Seatstay Mount"

Or mount the Aether Demon using the included "Seatpost Mount"

What I like about the Aether Demon:

One of my favorite things about the Portland Design Works Aether Demon is the simplicity in both the operation and the design. On the bottom of the unit there is simply a single (power) button, and a rubber flap, which when pulled back, reveals the Mini-USB port used for charging.

Operation:

To turn on the light, simply press and hold the power button for 1 second and the L.E.D. will activate. After you've turned the light on, you can cycle through the 4 operating modes, which PDW describes as: "Dance", "Breathe", "Group Ride", and "Rock Steady". One cool thing about the Aether Demon is that when you turn the unit off and on, it starts up in whatever mode you left off in. I've been a big fan of the "Breathe" mode for its subtle, yet effective nature. To get an idea of the "Breathe" mode, think of the sleep L.E.D. on an Apple MacBook, but at a slightly faster tempo, and with a red L.E.D. as opposed to a white L.E.D. I feel that this does a good job at grabbing the driver's attention, but doesn't annoy the driver at the same time. It's simply saying "Hey, I'm here on the road, please do not hit me. Thanks!" rather than a lot of other models on the market which get others' attention through much more obnoxious flashing patterns. When you're ready to turn off the light, simply press and hold the power button for 1 second and off it goes. The fact that you have to press and hold the button avoids accidentally turning the unit on when transporting in a bag or in your pocket, though it'd be nice to see a lock feature like that found on the Nite Rider line of headlights.

When it's time to charge the unit, you'll know by the light's low-battery operation. The light continues to work for some time, but it runs at slightly less power that is characterized by short flashes from the L.E.D. It's quite obvious when the light enters this mode, as none of the other modes are quite like this. In comparison, I've owned many tail-lights that do not have this friendly warning, but instead, simply turn off in the middle of the ride, or give off such a low amount of light that it basically renders the light useless. Obviously, neither of these cases are ideal and this can be very dangerous! It's nice knowing that the Aether Demon has your back, literally, and gives you a little bit more of a warning.

Charging:

Charging the unit is dead-simple. Once the light has entered the "warning mode", simply plug it in using the supplied USB cable into any powered USB port. You'll know that the light is charging once you see a flashing blue L.E.D. After the light is done charging, the flashing blue L.E.D. becomes solid. It's that simple. No bizarre flash patterns to have to remember or look up in the manual, no more wondering if the L.E.D. is amber or green. It's simply flashing (charging) or solid (charged). Simple.

The Aether Demon, fully charged.

Drawbacks:

The only things that I would like to see different in this product would be that I'd like to see future versions use the more modern "Micro-USB" interface, as this seems to be the interface that most modern electronics (non-Apple branded phones, tablets, etc.) are going to and this happens to be the interface that my Nite Rider Lumina and my mobile phone use. This would really simplify things by only having to bring one USB cable with me wherever I go. Secondly, it might be nice to see a "lock" feature like one that was mentioned earlier in this post, but I could see this taking away from the simplicity of the operation of this device. That being said, I have not run into an issue where the light has turned on accidentally while in a bag or a pocket.

Conclusions:

The Aether Demon is a dead-simple, high-quality tail-light that'll bring you many miles of safe riding. It can be purchased through virtually any bike shop for $49.99 or less, and I feel that it is worth every penny.

What do you think? What is your favorite tail-light? Please feel free to discuss in the comments!

-Jonathan, PedalBound