Front light

The Light & Motion Taz 800 front light is an intriguing blend of high power and commuter friendly features. Although it has great potential, I don't think it quite succeeds.

Kicking out a hefty 800 lumens the Taz 800 sits in their Crossover range, occupying the middle ground between Performance and Commuter. It's certainly powerful, although 800 lumens is less of a standout than it was a few years ago, but it also comes with a pair of flashing side lights for extra safety.

At a claimed 1000 lumen output, the Magicshine MJ-808E easily trumps most of the established competition in terms of power to price ratio. Reliability, often a cause for concern with cheaper Eastern lights, has improved in recent times with UK distributors offering a 12 month warranty on all parts. From a numbers point of view, the MJ-808E really has a lot going for it.

Cateye's Nano Shot Plus front light is the bigger, brighter sibling of the Nano Shot we reviewed, and liked, last year. Amazingly, it manages to kick out more than twice as many lumens for the same price the Nano Shot was then (it's around £60 now).

Niterider have introduced the Lumina series to replace its older MiNewt offering, which we liked a lot last year. The Lumina 500 I'm reviewing here sits in the middle, between the 650 and the 300. You'll have worked out that those numbers stand for the light's lumen output.

The Lumina is a self-contained light; the battery is in the light unit, and recharges through a micro USB cable, which is included. It weighs 174 grams, including the bracket.

The Moon Comet front light resembles an office strip light that's been passed through a matter-shrinking device. The result is an extremely powerful and surprisingly tuneable light source capable of 110 lumens in overdrive setting.

At £40 and with two AA batteries kicking out 200 lumens for 7 hours the Niterider Mako 200 front light looks like it should be a cracking little light. Sadly the truth is that it's crude and underwhelming.

What we have here is quite a chunky commuter light in sturdy black plastic. The whole front end unscrews, no bolts or screws required, to reveal the batteries. That's neat and very easy to use, even in the dark with gloves on.

The Lezyne Macro Drive front light's versatility and construction quality make it very good value indeed. At this price, there aren't many other lights that can match it.

A sleek CNC machined housing holds a Cree LED providing a claimed maximum output of 300 lumen. The 18650 Li-ion battery is integrated into the housing eliminating the hassle of power cables and separate battery packs. All in (minus mount) weight is a very respectable 94g which, combined with the small form, makes for a very unobtrusive light once on the handlebars.

The Electron Pico Super 2 front light is incredibly bright at the price and size, and as for battery, gives an impressive 117 hours in flashing mode. My only minor niggle was the sensitive switch.

It's a super bright, single watt design, identical to its equally potent rear sibling right down to clothing clip and resin mounting bracket, that seems strong, although the screws seemed likely to round off without taking care.

The Moon Meteor front light might only have half the output of the Moon XP500 we reviewed recently, but it punches well above its weight and costs half as much.

First impressions are that this is a very smart little light. It's dinky wee but looks purposeful and business-like. According to Moon it will kick out 200 lumens for 1 hour and 50 minutes, which is quite impressive for such a small unit.

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.