No : Cygolite Metro 850 Usb Rechargeable Light Best Super Bright Handlebar Light
The Cygolite Metro 850 is both compact and extremely bright, plus it has some very clever features. Like the Light & Motion 350, one of its 6 modes can blink and shine light ahead of you at the same time so you can see and be seen at the same time. A unique feature is the Daylighting mode, which helps you to be visible in the day time with ultra bright eye-catching flashes. I do highly recommend keeping your bike lights on in the day time much easier for people like bus drivers to see you. Also, the Cygolite Metro 850 is designed, engineered, and assembled in the USA.
Battery run times: High 1.5 hours Medium 3.5 hours Low 10 hours Steady Pulse 4 hours Daylighting 14 hours Walking 100 hours.
Bike Lights For Different Kinds Of Riding
Road Biking
Road riding generally involves straight lines and few obstacles. For this kind of riding, we recommend a front bike light with a narrow beam that directs its full brightness straight ahead.
On this list, the Garmin Varia is an excellent road riding light. Road cyclists that will be sharing the road should also have a bright rear light with plenty of battery life for long rides.
Mountain biking
Mountain bikers need to be able to see obstacles long before they reach them. Unlike most road cycling, mountain biking involves sharp turns and lots of major obstacles.
In order to best light the path in front of you while mountain biking, seek out a light that casts a wide and bright beam. On this list, the Magicshine Monteer 8000s is the ideal mountain biking headlight.
Best Light Sets For Bikes 2021 As Rated By Our Expert Testers
- Cateye AMPP 800 front and Cateye Rapid X3 rear lights: £135 / $120 / TBC / AU$236
- Lezyne Lite Drive 1000XL front and Lezyne KTV Pro Drive 75 rear lights: £95 / $95 / 91.95
- Ravemen PR900 front and Ravemen TR20 rear lights: £105 / $105 / 105 / AU$180
- Blackburn Dayblazer 800 front and 65 rear light set: £80 / $98 / TBC / AU$135
- Knog PWR Rider 450 and Blinder Mob V Four Eyes: £98 / $110 / 113 / AU$150
- Kryptonite Alley F-650 and Kryptonite R-50 Cob: £90, international pricing TBC
- Light & Motion Urban 900 Commuter Combo: £110, international pricing TBC
If you know exactly what you want, then you might wish to buy a front and rear light separately. For many people, though, the lure of a good-quality light set that solves all your lighting problems in one fell swoop is hard to ignore.
However, the risk with buying a set of lights is that its easy to end up with one of the two not quite cutting the mustard in comparison to the other, as manufacturers look to keep costs down in order to hit a certain price point.
With that in mind, our expert testers have tested both lights that are sold as sets and separate lights from the same manufacturers that can be purchased together at a similar overall price, with a budget of around £100.
Some of the sets in this list are no longer available, but we have listed the lights individually as we still think they would make good combinations.
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What Does The Lumens Number Tell Me About The Power Of My Bike Light
Lumens are used by the bike industry to measure the power of a light: a lumen is a unit of visible light. Since modern LEDs require far less energy, expressing their power in watts which tells you how much energy they consume rather than how much light they produce is redundant. For comparisons sake, a 100W incandescent bulb emits 1600 lumens.
The more you pay, the more lumens you get, but lumens burn up charge, meaning that if you want to run a high-lumen light for a long period of time it will need a big battery.
For road riding on unlit back streets, you need a ‘seeing’ light. This needs to be at least 700 lumens, though to ride fast like you would in the summer then 1000+ lumens is a safer bet as you’ll have longer to anticipate obstacles like potholes.
To be seen when riding on lit roads, 100 lumens is a good benchmark, but 300+ will show you a little more of what’s going on at ground level ahead of you. At the rear, anything from 20 to 100 lumens is plenty.
Which Lights Are Best
Weve ranked, rated and tested the best bike lights for value, durability, ease of use, and of course, visibility.
While riders only need to be seen at 200m to comply with the road rules, some choose a light that can light up the way ahead. So weve divided our test into lights to be seen and those that are to see.
Best value
Remember when using lights to see, overly bright lights are a challenge for other path or road users. Be considerate and keep your lights pointed down when other rides or path users are coming your way.
Visibility
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Lumicycle Apogee With 68ah High Capacity Battery And Fast Charger
Just as with Light & Motions offerings, the Lumicycle Apogee with 6.8Ah High Capacity Battery and Fast Charger suffers from going down the wrong deep end with an outdated design.
This means that the overall basic light qualities are great, but it lacks in the features and user-friendly department. An area where other companies definitely outshine this one.
Theyve focused a lot of their attention of the cooling characteristics of the light. This changed the aluminium encasing and actually makes the thing far uglier than the alien-like heatsink-looking body of its predecessor.
Its the only light with a toggle switch, where a remote is the obvious choice for an MTB headlight. The clamp is awkward with some 35 mm compatibility issues and forcing you to place it on either side of the stem.
The battery with its carbon casing looks nice enough, but lacks any other features than powering the light itself and its elongated shape might be an issue with some frames. I wont be able to clamp this battery on my Super V. Im still waiting on a manufacturer wholl be smart enough to make a battery that you can mount in the same place where your bottle cage goes.
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Best Rear Bike Lights In 2022 As Rated By Our Expert Testers
- Exposure TraceR DayBright: £45 / $60 / AU$85
- Topeak Redlite Aero 1W: £32.99
- Alpkit Tau: £14.99 / $20 / 16.95 / AU$28
- Bontrager Flare R City: £30 / $60 / 39.99 / AU$75
- Cateye Rapid X2: £40, international pricing TBC
- Knog Cobber Mid: £60 / $70 / 69.99 / AU$100
- Lezyne Zecto Drive Max: £52 / $50 / 51.95 / AU$59.95
- Moon Comet X-Pro: £31.99 / $41 / TBC / AU$58
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More Safer To Have A Light With A High Cri Rating Especially During The Night And In Particular On Bumpy Roads Or In Areas With Obstacles
Bike Light CRI Color Rendering Index CRI is also known as the Color Rendering Index is a quantitative measurement that is used to calculate authentic color on objects.
Higher CRI easier to read the terrain and see differences between leaves, dirt, roots, and rocks when compared to other lights
Lighting matters for safety and a LED with a high CRI rating produces a light that is close to ideal light or natural light.
It is important to have a light with a high CRI rating, especially during the night and in particular on bumpy roads or in areas with obstacles such as rocks, fallen tree branches, or sticks on the way, and for mud or other slick and wet surfaces.
The use of a poorly designed LED light or light with a poor optical design might cause issues such as yellow spots as highlighted in the pictures displayed above. This yellow light might cause other riders or drivers to view the bicycle as moving in the wrong direction.
Blackburn Dayblazer 800 Front Light
Only available at : £50.97.
Key features: 800 Lumen, up to 12 hours battery, five light settings between 800 and 200 Lumen, Micro USB cable to recharge
This 800 Lumen front light can be attached to a helmet or your front handlebars. Blackburn says it will survive being dropped from up to a metre, it takes four hours to recharge and will last up to 12 hours on its strobe setting.
It’s pretty light for a bike light, but how did it cope when we dropped it from the height of a set of handlebars, and how well does it really light up the road compared with the other lights we tested?
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What To Look For In A Mountain Bike Light
When considering which mountain bike light to buy, there are four things worth bearing in mind:
A minimum of 1,500 lumens will provide enough light for well-lit riding. You can get away with less, but if you ride fast or on technical trails more lumens is better than less.
Run time can vary a great deal between lights and it is minimised the more power the LEDs are pumping out. Weve listed the run time for each of the lights in this list at max power.
Beam pattern refers to how the lights disperse light across the trail, and it can be just as important as lumens when it comes to how well you can see.
Lights will often have either a spot or flood pattern. Spot patterns highlight details in front of you in great detail. Flood patterns disperse the light over a wider area and can give you a better sense of whats around you. Some lights use a mixture of both.
Do you need an extra-long cable for a battery pack? Are you looking to mount a light on multiple bikes Its worth paying attention to the extras that come with a light to make sure it is suitable for your specific needs.
Weve made sure to refer to these four points in the reviews of all the lights listed here.
If youre looking for more detail about what to look for when buying a mountain bike light you can skip to our buyers guide at the end of this article.
Lezyne Lite Drive 800xl
Another entry from Lezyne, the Lite Drive 800XL is also a great bike light, and can reach 800 lumens, which is more suitable for most needs. You also get eight different illumination modes, plus the real bonus of up to 76 hours of use. Naturally thatll slip considerably if youre using the higher power settings, but with careful use this is a light thats both durable and long lasting.
The rubber mount has been carefully designed in order to ensure youre never willingly parted with your illumination. This makes it great for rougher terrain too, while the rest of the build and design boasts the usual Lezyne quality.
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Ascher Ultra Bright Usb Rechargeable Bike Light Set
best bike lights on a budget
Ascher gives us a relatively cheaper option for a rechargeable lithium battery. This light is loved by so many users and the reviews will speak for themselves.
It comes with a USB rechargeable front and backlights with four light mode options, depending on your preference. This includes full brightness, half brightness, fast flashing, and slow flashing.
This makes Ascher perfect for different environments or for riding at both night time and daytime riding.
Plus it comes with easy installation, it is equipped with a mounting bracket that can be easily fixed to the handlebar and can be easily loosened and fastened without having to use tools!
Now if you may be asking yourself:
It is also multifunctional, it can be used for cycling, hiking, camping, or any outdoor activity, you can take this light wherever you go, whatever adventure you decide to take it on.
Its ready to tackle any trial and any unlit road with the reassurance of full visibility and confidence on your ride.
Pros
Do you keep finding yourself lightless on the way home from work because you forgot to switch your lights off from the night before? Weve all been there but let me tell you, with this light set that will be history.
It does all the work for you, itll turn off two minutes after youve stopped cycling then turn back on again when you start moving! Its so smart that youll be wondering why you didnt get it sooner.
Best of all.
Pros
Is Brightness All That Matters
It is tempting to use max lumen output when shopping for a light, but as our testing shows, this often does not indicate how much actual light a given light will produce throughout your ride. A better place to focus is on a light’s secondary mode or its medium setting. This is where many lights deliver more consistent light output over a longer, more usable period of time.
One final thing to consider is beam pattern, which can sometimes be the secret sauce that makes a good light great but can also be subjective. For instance, many mountain bikers will prefer to use a wider beam light on their bars for general trail illumination. Then pair it with a more focused spotlight on their helmet to throw as much light as possible in the direction they are looking. Commuters, on the other hand, might want a light that combines the two functions by using multiple LEDs with different lens geometries to simultaneously produce both kinds of beams.
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Do I Have To Use Lights In Daytime Low Visibility Conditions Such As Fog
Jack Luke / Immediate Media
Unlike other vehicles, bicycles are not required to have lights fitted and switched on during seriously reduced visibility conditions because lights are not required to be fitted during daylight hours.
However, it is a very sensible idea to have them fitted and switched on if you hit a bank of fog, so keep a close eye on that weather forecast.
Niterider Lumina 1200 Boost
The Nightrider Lumina 1200 Boost is one of the best mountain bike lights for night riding and provides enough light to be used in almost any riding situation, whether youre on the road or your favorite mountain biking trail. The Lumina 1200 Boost features the boost mode light setting, which is exclusively created to meet the riders needs in all cycling categories. Simply double-click the power button to enable you to operate your light at the maximum output! And using a Cree LED at 6000K means youll be getting what most people consider to be the best LEDs on the market today.
This high-performance bike light is highly reliable because there is no filament to tear or burn out. The Lumina 1200 Boost projects a beam pattern with all new custom engineered collimator optics that offers a generous widespread and even beam pattern of 1200 brilliant lumens! The high-strength headlight body casing is made of flexible and lightweight aluminum and highly durable DuPont fiberglass reinforced nylon. In addition, this bike light features a low battery indicator where the power button goes from blue to red once the battery level drops below 20%.
Key features
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Side Lighting For Better Side Visibility
DuaLens optical low beam,providing broad flood light with cut-off line for commuting, no dazzle and glare for oncoming riders and pedestrians Equipped with high efficiency, high transmittance optical lenses, producing the perfect beam pattern for your nightly adventures
Features Dua Lens optical, an anti-glare lens that produces a uniform soft beam that doesn’t dazzle oncoming pedestrians or vehicles,
making it safer to cycle at night
Road cyclists or commuters will particularly appreciate the soft beam cut-off that reduces glare and focuses more of the beam onto the ground
Extended side lights increase visibility from the side
illuminates the road with an even-distributed flood light and has no dazzle to oncoming riders and pedestrians
brightest bike headlight for urban riding and daily commuting
Nite Rider Lumina Micro 900
NiteRider Lumina Micro 900
Cons
- High lumen drop off rate
The Micro 900 is a simple light that packs a lot of great features into a compact package. On the mountain bike, the Micro 900 should be combined with another light, either bar- or helmet-mounted. It can also work as a backup light its so small its not hard to carry. Though the Micro 900 is too small to be your only light for trail riding, you could buy three of them for the price of our top-rated Seca Enduro mountain biking light. So if your budget is tight and you want to get into the woods at night, grab two of theseone for the bar and one for your helmetand youre good to go. On the road, we found it to be very useful as our main light source riding through a mix of well-lit city streets and dimmer suburban lanes.
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Perfect Partner To Bar Light
Weight: 148g | Max lumens: 700 | Rating: 9/10
Pros: Great value and good lens light.
Cons: Modest battery life.
It may only have 700 lumens which can seem way underpowered in the modern era of 1,000s of lumens but 700 lumens works just fine as a helmet light and is way brighter than the lights we used to make do with back-in-the-day. You can also use this light little guy on your handlebars but one of the best things is the helmet mount of the Buster 700. The beam pool is suitably tight focus for a helmet light. The main niggle is the modest run time. You cant really turn it on and leave it for the duration of 90mins+ rides. So a bit of thought, planning and button pressing is required. Which is a price well worth paying when youre not er, paying very much money.