Lights - front

This chunky torch from Electron has a measured beam and is built to last, but the lack of side visibility and short run time mark it down as a standalone commuting option, and there are cheaper lights available if you just want a bright torch.

LED lights have come a long way since Cateye used to make those front ones with the green diodes you could only see from about five feet away. In many ways this is the direct descendent of those cheaper units – a three-LED budget unit – and it's great that a cheap town light can now perform this well.

Knog's new Skink LED is one clever little light. It's good too, but it's not perfect. The clever bit, as you would expect from Knog, is the design. Essentially the Skink is a simple four LED unit plus two batteries wrapped in a rubber skin that requires no mount – you simply stretch the rear strap around whatever bit of your bike that you want to attach the light to, hook it to the integral tab and off you go. Nifty.

Cateye's EL410 from last year was well received in most quarters as a town commuting light, and the EL010 is the new pretender. Cateye don't have an unblemished record where superseding old models is concerned, so how does the new model stack up?

The Ultrafire WF606A is a very good torch, for a very low price and it's got the power to shake up the world of cycle lighting. 

If you're a commuter that has to face unlit roads, or you just like a bit of night riding, chances are you've either invested in (or lusted after) one of the many rechargeable systems on the market. Most will cost you at least £80, and you can spend up to a grand if you're really keen. 

The Light & Motion Stella is a single bulb LED encased in a sturdy Aluminium and resin case and powered by a tiny rechargeable pack.

Let's get the tongue twister of a name out of the way first: I'll call it the Photon 4 from now to save my fingers. Essentially it's a torch, which splits in half at the base of the head, and the body is a Li-Ion battery that gives a stated run time of 2hrs on high beam. We didn't quite manage that long, but we got pretty close.