Commuter light
Blackburn Super Flea front light
The Blackburn Super Flea commuter light is the latest incarnation of the brand's small but mighty lamps, delivering an impressive 120 lumens from an hour's charge - perfect for clipping to work in the early morning gloom.
Cateye Omni 5 HL-LD155 front light
The Omni 5 is a brand new front light from Cateye and offers a near full 180 degree range of visibility making it a a very good commuting light in its own right or as an emergency backup light to a brighter main beam.
Inside the new lens are five LEDs and the light they produce is reflected through prisms carefully placed to split their beams. This ensures there is a healthy amount of light reflected sideways as well as straight ahead, and really seems to work.
Moon Shield Rechargeable Tail Light
Unless that nice Brian Cox has led me astray the mighty Moonshield rear LED should really be called the Sun Shield, seeing as the Moon only reflects light, it doesn't kick it out in great strobing pulses with a disco flash.
Moon X Power 500 Front Light
The Moon X-Power 500 looks neat and compact and feels pleasingly chunky yet light.
Mounting the light was easy, the mount is easy to adjust and fitted very solidly to the bars, and stayed firmly in position without having to be cranked up stupidly tight. It has some horizontal adjustment too, so you can point the beam towards the verge and make sure you're not going to dazzle any oncoming traffic. The release switch is easy to locate and operate, even in gloves.
Niterider Lightning Bug 3.0
Much to the relief of the macho types and, I suppose, goths Nite Rider's Lightning bug 3.0 also comes in black, as well as white, red, blue and green… and the pink version tested here. Indeed a black one has alternated between helmet peaks and the Univega's prodigious WTB drops for the past twelve months, rescuing us when more sophisticated see-by systems got the sulks.
Silva Velo 3LED Headlamp
Silva calls the Velo 'a perfect product for the advanced commuter' and that's as good a description as any of the light's strengths. The Velo's three-LED head is very similar to Silva's Minox head torch - the Swedish company has years of experience with head torches and is seeking to use that knowledge to break into the bike market.
Cateye Econom EL-540 Rechargeable Front Light.
Cateye's EL540 is a viable alternative to dynamos for commuting and utility riding round town and in the sticks. Don't be fooled by the slightly quaint looks and AA Nimh power source, cutting edge technology squeezes every last ounce from the single LED and it's powerful enough for navigating unlit backwaters by. Forgetful types will be reassured by the fact the cells can be swapped for common or garden alkaline types without impairing performance.
Blackburn Voyager Click front light
Blackburn's Voyager Click Headlight mightn't be leading the pack in the lumens race but rather like horsepower or megapixels, figures are only half the picture. Thirteen measly pounds buys two ultra bright LEDs, fiendishly user-friendly switch, battery sipping run-times and no quibble lifetime warranty.
One23 Intense Bright 1 Front LED Light
One23 Intense bright 1 is a remarkably solid, well-conceived compact commuter lamp with excellent optics, weather seals and peripheral illumination that shames some household names. On the flip-side, Halos limit effective navigation beyond 15mph and battery consumption is pretty poor by modern standards too, although you can of course use rechargeables.
Moon Mask 5 LED Front Light
Form definitely meets function with the Moon Mask 5.0 LED, which claims to delivers a whopping 70 lumens in the highest of five modes-just enough for tackling well surfaced lanes at 20 odd mph and a real boon for roadside repair, pannier rummaging and map reading. It certainly gave a punch performance in our beam test and the stats seem to bear that out too.
Singletrack MTB mag