The Lezyne React Drive 1200 is a front light you can pair with a Radar Drive to get alerts without the need of a mobile or GPS head unit – and this is probably the reason you’d buy it. As a front light, it’s decent, but it’s a little expensive if you were to buy it separately and aren’t going to use the radar alert functionality.
> Buy now: Lezyne React Drive 1200 for £80 from Tredz
The React Drive’s party trick is that you can pair it with Lezyne’s Radar Drive 300. Once paired, the rear LED on the light illuminates to alert you about objects coming up from behind, and it can give out an audible alert too.
This means that Lezyne is first-to-market (as far as I know) with a viable visual radar alert system that does not require a GPS head unit, or mounting your mobile on your handlebar, to use a radar. This may or may not be a big deal to you.
In the review period, I paired the front light both to my Hammerhead Karoo and this React Drive. This meant I got visual and audible alerts from the Karoo as well as from the React Drive. I think the additional visual red LED cue from the React Drive helps – it’s a bit more in-your-face than the visual cue from the Hammerhead.
In my case (I have a head unit on my bar anyway) I don’t think I need it – the audible cue from the Karoo is fine and I never ride with music or podcasts anyway. If you rely on visual cues more than I do, then the business case for an additional visual cue might be stronger.
Pairing to the Radar Drive is easy, using the Lezyne Radar Ally app that is available on Apple and Google ecosystems. As I mentioned in the Radar Drive review, the pairing connection between front and rear light is supposed to survive switching the lights off completely and shutting the app on your phone down, though in practice I found this a bit hit and miss. I had to open up the app at the start of a ride to establish the connection again a number of times during the review period.
As a front light
The React Drive is a decent front light in its own right, with the beam pattern working well for riding along pitch-black mud-strewn country lanes. I found myself using the medium (300 lumens) or high (600l) for most of my riding, kicking it up to the 1,200-lumen overdrive setting for any steep descents.
The 700-lumen day flash setting is where this light distinguishes itslef. This is a seriously bright, random-ish flash that really stands out.
This light comes into its own on long rides that maybe start or finish in the dark where you’d use one of the solid modes, but spends most of its time in the day flash mode. If you’re looking to ride through the night, or a significant portion of it, you’ll probably want to use something that has a longer battery life in the brighter solid modes, or pair it up with a dynamo light or second battery light. I’d opt for the latter, as I always like to have a viable backup should one of the front lights fail.
Side visibility is decent thanks to the side cutouts on the front of the light.
Mounting
Out of the box, the React Drive comes with a silicone ladder strap type mount, similar, if not the same as that which came with the Lezyne Lite Drive 1200.
The strap works well though I personally prefer a light with a mounting bracket. Suvi, who reviewed the Lite Drive, prefers the mounting strap…
And whichever way you lean, this light has you covered. The strap is attached to the light with a bolt, meaning it is replaceable (you can buy the spare part), but also that you can remove the strap and replace it with a Go Pro-style mount or just a separate mounting bracket. I like these options a lot, though I think it a shame that these are optional accessories and that you have to buy them separately.
The silicone ladder strap works perfectly well, but as the distributor kindly sent me an LED qPRO Mount, I ended up mostly using this for mounting the light underneath my Hammerhead Karoo, which is my preferred placement for a front light.
Lighting modes and run times
I mentioned above which modes I found useful; the complete list is as follows: overdrive mode (1200 lumens, 2hrs), high (600 lumens, 4.5 hrs), medium (300 lumens, 9.5 hrs), low (25 lumens, 65 hrs), night flash (100 lumens, 60 hrs) and day flash (700 lumens, 70 hrs).
Switching between modes is easy – you just press the button on top of the light. There is one niggle here, in that you have to cycle through five of the six modes to get from high to overdrive, which I don’t think is ideal if you notice a situation coming up that requires full beam. I’d have preferred to see some sort of shortcut to get to overdrive mode, like you get on other lights.
There’s an LED in the button that doubles as a charge indicator while the light is on: green means 80-100%, red/green means 35-80%, red means 10-35% and the button starts flashing red when the charge drops below 10%.
Charging
The light has a USB-C charging port located in front of the mounting strap at the bottom of the light, covered with a rubber bung.
Happily, the light can be charged on the go, either with Lezyne’s own Infinite Light Power Pack+, or any power bank that you already have.
What’s not so great is that the charging port is partly obscured by the mounting strap when in use. This means it’s probably going to be tricky charging it while mounted in this configuration. though there were no problems with the Go Pro-style mount.
How long it takes to charge from a wall charger depends on the charging power, with a normal (5W) charger taking take nine hourse according to the manual. If you have a high-efficiency charger, it could take as little as half of that. For normal charging, the button will flash green while charging and will turn to solid green when fully charged. With high efficiency charging, the button will be blue.
Value
It’s not straightforward to compare value, as there’s currently nothing else on the market providing exactly the same features
If you don’t need the radar alert function, there are other front lights that cost less, like Cateye’s AMPP 1300 at £94.99 or Ravemen’s K1800 costing £99.99.
The Gaciron Kiwi-100 light is cheaper still, presently costing just £47.11.
The £120 price is not outrageous for a front light though, the 1300-lumen Exposure Lights Sirius 11 costs the same, while the Niterider Lumina Pro 1200 costs a little more at £129.99.
Lezyne’s Lite Drive 1200 costs £85 and looks like it might be the same light minus the radar function.
For more options, check out our best front bike lights buyer’s guide.
It’s worth noting that while we reviewed the £170 Radar Drive and £120 React Drive separately, you can also buy them as a bundle for £260, saving yourself £30.
Conclusion
The reason you’d buy this light is probably because you own Lezyne’s Radar Drive and you want a front light that you can pair it with to get alerts. That’s no hardship, because the React Drive really is a decent front light, if not quite best suited to all-night ride duties. Whichever mounting system floats your boat, this light can do it, but you might have to fork out for an accessory.
In terms of price, if you’re looking to invest in a radar and need a front light, or if you want radar alerts without a mobile or head unit, I’d recommend you buy the Radar and React bundle. If you already have a decent front light and are happy with the alerts on your head unit or mobile, then it’s up to you whether the marginal gain is worth the outlay.
> Buy now: Lezyne React Drive 1200 for £80 from Tredz
Verdict
Decent front light in its own right that can show and sound radar alerts from Lezyne’s Radar Drive
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road.cc test report
Make and model: Lezyne React Drive 1200 front light
Size tested: n/a
Tell us what the light is for, and who it’s aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
Lezyne says:
This powerful LED front bike light integrates advanced technology with precision-engineered design to significantly enhance rider safety and visibility. The React Drive provides up to 1200 lumens, making it exceptional for both daytime visibility and nighttime illumination.
It features a first-of-its-kind built-in vehicle alert system: when paired with the Radar Drive rear bike light, rear-facing LEDs activate and audio cues are triggered when vehicles are detected. No GPS bike computer or smartphone app is required, offering a simple, self-contained safety improvement. This is bicycle safety redefined through intelligent R&D.
A robust strap mount enables fast, secure attachment across a range of handlebars. The unit is housed in a lightweight, durable, CNC-machined aluminum body. It’s IPX7 waterproof-rated and USB-C rechargeable, with up to 70 hours of runtime.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the light?
Lezyne says:
Innovative LED front bike light
Enhances safety and visibility
Pairs to Radar Drive Rear light
Built in visual and audio vehicle detection alerts
Part of first-of-its-kind Radar React System
Pairs with Radar Ally phone app
Machined aluminum construction
Up to 1200 lumens
Up to 70 hours of runtime
Powerful night ride ready
Disruptive daytime flash
Precision engineered lens and optics
Infinite Light Power Pack+ compatible for extra runtime
IPX7 waterproof design with USB-C charging port
Rugged, versatile mounting strap
The light itself is straightforward to use, but it occasionally dropped the connection with the Radar Drive and needed reconnecting via the Radar Ally app.
The strap itself works well, and Lezyne has some optional mounting accessaries available that you can screw onto the light to replace the strap.
It is rated to IPX7, which is great, and pretty much standard for a decent bike light.
Battery life is decent, and the light can be charged on the go.
It’s not especially cheap, and if you already have a head unit and a front light, you don’t need this light to make the Radar Drive work.
How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?
There aren’t really any similar products on the market. You can easily spend this sort of money on a front light from the likes of Exposure or Lumina. Equally, decent front lights are available for less. The main review has more detail on this.
Tell us how the light performed overall when used for its designed purpose
The radar alerting works well, it’s hard to miss the blinking LED and the sound alert. As a front light, it works well too, both to light your way and to be seen by.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the light
The daylight flash works really well, and the design of the light is nice and compact. The different mounting options are good too, even if they are optional accessories.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the light
I’d have liked to have seen a shortcut to over drive mode, rather than the multiple presses it takes – five if you’re on high mode.
Did you enjoy using the light? Yes
Would you consider buying the light? Yes
Would you recommend the light to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
This light is slightly tricky to score because there are two elements here: the radar alert function and the front light. Both work well. Whether you need this alert function on your front light is up to you; if like me you don’t think you need it, then that’s not the fault of the light. Good on Lezyne to come up with a system to use radar without a GPS head unit or mobile. My only real niggle with the front light is that there is no shortcut to overdrive mode; a quicker way to get to full beam would be welcome when you come up to a tricky descent on an unlit road.
About the tester
Age: 44 Height: 1.78m Weight: 77kg
I usually ride: All of them! My best bike is: Ribble Endurance SL disc
I’ve been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, commuting, touring, club rides, mtb, Zwift
1 thought on “Lezyne React Drive 1200 front light”
I have a couple of Lezyne
I have a couple of Lezyne lights and actually really like the silicone strap method for mounting them on aero-bars. Dangling stuff from out-front mounts using the GoPro style fixings always seems to be a bit dodgy on delicate aluminium mounts, and K-Edge has been bitten in the past by that (presumably quite expensively if they had to replace computers and lights).
Not thrilled that they still have the single button method for light control. Honestly, just stick a couple on each side of the unit for going up and down in intensity.