Light and Motion Urban 650 front light

Light & Motion have been selling the Urban range of lights for a few years ago now with only minor tweaks. We reviewed the Urban 300 back in 2011 and the Urban 200 last year. The number relates to the claimed number of lumens being kicked out, and with the rapid pace at which LEDs and batteries have developed, today you get a lot more lumens for a lot less money, which can only be a good thing. The Urban 650 is a good light with some nice features - definitely one to consider for commuting or leisure riding in the dark.

The form factor of the Urban range is pretty much unchanged from earlier models - a compact and lightweight torch-style front light with USB charging and integrated rubber strap. Fitting the Urban 650 is pretty straightforward. The rubber strap is tough and has various holes allowing use on different sized bars. The strap needs to be fairly tight to get a really solid fit, but once on, the light stays in place well. An advantage of this type of mounting (as opposed to a fixed clamp) is that it's easy to move the light up and down to avoid dazzling drivers or to see right down the road when it's deserted. Unusually, there's also a pivot allowing horizontal adjustment - something which might useful on a bike with swept back bars.

The light output from the Urban 650 is impressive for its size, kicking out comfortably more light than several more expensive lights in our Beam Comparison Test. The optics are well-designed with a good even beam, brightest in the centre but without a distinct central spot, which can be tiring on the eyes. The edges of the beam are quite well-defined, which is a good thing for road use, but perhaps less so for mountain biking. I found it was easy to choose a position which lit far enough down the road without dazzling oncoming drivers. The light has a fairly neutral white colour which I found offered good illumination even on the darkest of roads.

There are small ports in the main reflector which allow light out to two orange side lenses - aiding side visibility in traffic. This is a Light & Motion signature feature and it's really worth having, although obviously your hands may partially obstruct them if you're riding on the hoods. Light & Motion have reduced the brightness of these sidelights on the latest Urban range, saying that this makes them less distracting - I didn't find this a problem. The side-lights are probably most effective with the light mounted on your helmet, and happily there's a bracket to do just that. It's good to see this included, especially given that this isn't a cheap light. A Velcro strap holds the bracket to your helmet, and the light fixes to the bracket with the normal rubber strap.

This has advantages and disadvantages. You can adjust the angle of the light once the bracket is fitted to the helmet, rather than its angle being dependent on the position of the helmet vents. However, it means the light sits well above the surface of the helmet, and this offset adds leverage such that the weight of the light tends to make the helmet move around, which I found quite annoying. For this reason, I didn't really like using this light mounted on a helmet, preferring something that sits lower down.

There are four modes: high, medium, low and pulse. Run times are reasonable given the high output and compact overall size. You get 1.5, 3 and 6 hours on high, medium and low respectively. The light always powers up in high power mode, so if you're off on a longer ride or want to commute for several days without charging, you need to remember to drop to a lower power mode. I prefer lights which remember which mode you were using last time, but this is a minor gripe.

The pulse mode is a fairly gentle twice-per-second pulse from low to high; there's no on/off flashing mode. Light & Motion say that the pulse mode is less distracting to the rider and other road users than a flashing light. I use a flash or pulse mode for riding in traffic in daylight, and I want it to be eye-catching. For night-time use, I'd agree that the pulsing is easier on your eyes than a flash, but my preference is for a constant front light at night. The most effective daylight mode I've found is Cateye's Hyper Constant (as seen on their Volt range; some other manufacturers have a similar option), which has a low-level constant light punctuated with bright flashes - it works brilliantly at getting you seen in traffic and the Urban 650's pulse mode is no match for it.

Obviously one man's sensible anti-SMIDSY setting is another man's "barmy flashing options", so your preferences may be different to mine.

Switching on the Urban 650 is done with a single quick press of the button - no need to hold it down. Unlike a lot of lights, the battery indicator is not integrated into the power button, instead there is a small LED located on the back of the light, which changes colour from green to orange to red as the battery drains. When the battery drains to 5-10% remaining, the main light flashes briefly and drops to the low power output mode to conserve the remaining power. This flashing is useful if you do have it mounted on your helmet; the charge indicator flashes red as well when you're getting low, but you wouldn't see this. You can bump back up to full-power if you want to once the warning's gone off.

Light & Motion say that theirs are the only lights in their class with an "accurate 4 level battery charge status indicator", although this is quite difficult to prove or disprove. Certainly the battery levels are reasonably conservative, which is A Good Thing. I've tested other lights which give you a low-battery warning and are completely dead less than ten minutes later. That's unforgivable in my book, risking leaving you stranded in the dark.

On high-power mode, you've got about 40 minutes remaining once the battery level has gone red, and around 10 minutes once it's flashing red. You'll get longer in the lower power modes, obviously. I always had time enough to get home, dropping to a lower power to when I needed to eke out the power.

I was a fan of the discreet charge indicator located on the back of the light rather than atop under the power button – a bright top-mounted LED can be distracting if you're riding in the black of night. As the light is switched on by a quick press of the power button, Light & Motion have included a lock mode, to avoid draining the battery accidentally. Holding the power button for four seconds locks the light – repeat this to unlock. The charge LED flashes red to confirm it's locked, and green once you've unlocked it.

There were some reports of issues with water ingress in earlier versions of the Urban lighting range, which Light & Motion have taken onboard – the range is now tested and rated as IP67, meaning that it should survive submersion under 1 metre of water for half an hour. So there should be no concerns about using it in the worst of conditions, and I had no issues in the rain.

The Urban 650 is one of the more expensive options among compact torch-style bike lights, and there is a lot of competition. In its favour, it is very solidly made (in the USA) and has an impressive output on high, markedly brighter than the Cateye Volt 300 which I thought was one of the picks for commuter lighting last year. The rubber strap mounting system is simple but robust and effective, and the beam shape is very useable on the road, with the high power setting kicking out enough for going quickly.

However, a run-time of 90 minutes on high power will mean that you'll be charging it frequently unless you remember to throttle back to a lower power setting, saving the full power for when you really need it. It's certainly not a light you'd pick for an all-nighter, as you can't carry a spare battery, unlike some competitors. We're also reviewing the new Cateye Volt 700 at the moment, which is priced identically, has a brighter output and a longer run-time on full-power, while allowing battery swaps. It also has the eye-catching Hyper Constant daylight flashing mode. Unless we find some major flaws during this test, I think that's where my money would go.

Verdict

Well-made and very bright. Good optics and effective mounting strap, but some competitors offer longer run-times