Lezyne Mega Drive front light

The Mega Drive is Lezyne's top-of-the-line performance LED light. It's self-contained, and kicks out loads of light in a well-designed beam pattern. I like it a lot.

The Mega Drive, as with other Lezyne products, is a beautifully manufactured aluminium unit. It not only looks good, it's very strong as well. I know, because it dislodged itself from my handlebars mid-descent. Before I could recover it, a car had driven over it. It continues to work perfectly. The lesson in this, of course, is to make sure the light is mounted on the bracket properly. Doh!

When it is mounted on the bracket properly, the light is held securely. The light allows for horizontal angle adjustment without untightening the bracket, which is useful. The bracket is mounted on the handlebar with a thumbscrew; the box contains a small and large band to accommodate most handlebar sizes. While the bracket holds the light securely, there is a little play. Not so much as to rattle, but it can move around a little. It didn't bother me.

The best thing about the Mega Drive, without a doubt, is the beam pattern. Lezyne have got the mix of light intensity, throw and beam shape spot on through the use of some clever optics. In this respect it punches well above its weight; much better than the LUU Turbo Torch that we reviewed recently for example.

The Mega Drive kicks out a claimed 1,200 lumens in overdrive mode; 1,000 lumens in blast mode, 600 lumens in enduro mode and 300 in economy. There's also a flash option which is good for 200 lumens. The quoted burn times are an hour and 20 minutes, 1:40, 2:30, 5:00 and 15 hours respectively.

I found enduro mode to be plenty on dark lanes, switching to blast for fast, dark descents. Flash and economy mode are the slightly less antisocial options handy in traffic. Using the mixture of modes, the battery held out just fine with a bit to spare on my two-hour round-trip commute.

If you're riding in the dark for a bit longer, then that's where Lezyne's 'infinite light' comes in. All that means is that the battery is user-accessible. You can just buy another one, and swap it over.

That sounds good in theory, but the practicalities of charging multiple batteries (for which you need the light), and transporting spare batteries without shorting them are left to be resolved by the end-user. Having said that, I like the fact you can replace the battery when it stops holding its charge.

Charging then, is by way of a micro-USB cable. I personally don't mind the trade-off between easy cable and charge point availability versus slower charge times. With a normal 1 Amp charger, it will take around 10-12 hours. If you use a 2 Amp charger, it's much quicker, more like 4-6 hours.

Charging and battery replacement are through a little hinged door on the back of the light that closes with a clasp.

Feedback on charging and battery levels is given through button illumination. A green button should mean full charge, going down through orange at 50%, red at 10% and 5% at flashing red.

While the light is charging, it should flash green or blue (if using 2 Amp charger), and should switch to constant illumination when charged.

Should, because in use, I found the light went to orange after about 10 mins, and to red soon after, though it would keep working on red perfectly for another 1:30h on blast mode. Similarly, there were some issues with the charging feedback. Sometimes the light would still blink after 48 hours of charging, while others it would turn to solid green after 10 mins.

Lezyne confirmed that there has been a batch of circuit boards that are not registering correctly on the charge indicator. If the battery is fully discharged then from a USB port the light seems only to charge to about 75% of the battery. If the cable is disconnected and then re-connected it will continue to charge to full. That still won't show on the button, but a full run time can be achieved. Lezyne added that they have not had this feedback from users, because they reckon lights rarely get run down. Lezyne assured us they are working through this and have made an amend on further production. They have also assured us that the warranty will cover this issue.

For our test light, Lezyne sent us a 2 Amp charger, which has fixed the issue.

In terms of weatherproofing, our light has stood up to the recent moisture in the air fine, though I have noticed a bit of damp on the inside of the lens after a particularly wet ride.

The Mega Drive can be bought as the 'loaded' option, which includes an upgraded, aluminium bracket and an extra battery.

Verdict

For general commuting in traffic, the Mega Drive is a bit too bright really. If you're venturing into unlit areas however, the Lezyne Mega Drive will not hold you back. It's well-designed, well-built, kicks out loads of usable light and best of all, doesn't cost the earth.

The light comparator

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