Commuter light

The Blackburn Mars click is very hard to beat in terms of build quality, burn times, output relative to size and good old fashioned value for money.

Models with greater LEDs and larger surface areas are better choices for tag-alongs/trailers but prodigious peripheral visibility, brilliantly executed switch and universal bracket mean the Mars is a delight to use and won’t spoil the clean lines of sporty audax/winter training bikes.

A bit of a mixed bag, the Boomer. On the one hand it's a super bright little light that's simple to fit and gives good all round visibility. On the other it's hampered by a fiddly switch which is also prone to turning the lights on in your bag, and you have to be careful with the mount to keep them properly weather sealed.

Moon Gem’s imaginatively monikered 2.0 is a very capable emergency light, perfect for getting home safely from late summer/early autumn evening’s race meets/training runs. Reasonable output means it’s a great complement to dynamo and high power rechargeable systems too. However, while the power to weight ratio is impressive, burn times between charges are likely to frustrate tourists and long-haul audax aficionados.

Lightweights reflective dots not only make the perfect tertiary compliment to winter lighting but reasonable abrasion resistance means they double as frame protectors, safeguarding against the dreaded cable rub or simply concealing unsightly scratches. However, the most effective results require several packs and a peaceful morning while decent adhesives rule out dry runs.

RSP’s Astrum is a really funky design with retina burning output, frugal battery consumption in flashing modes, a positive switch that doesn’t accidentally engage in the bottom of a bag yet easily operated in full-length winter weight gloves. Even the rubberised seat post bracket seems better than most. However, disappointing eighteen and three-quarter hour run-times (twenty hours quoted) in static mode and suspect sealing blotted its copybook.

Little bigger than a memory stick Moon’s Gem 1.0 might be the baby of the of the Moon Gem family but has a mightier output than its size would ever suggest.

The super minimalist Cat-Eye Uno and 600 make a very lightweight competent “seen by” package for round-town commuting and as a contingency lights for those summer evenings when you’ve taken the best bike on an extended run and lost all track of time. However, while the 600s is undeniably bright, sealing and the seat post bracket are looking dated and run times don’t quite keep pace with the latest generation.