Lezyne Deca Drive front light

Lezyne's Deca Drive is their second tier light in terms of output, pitting out a claimed 900 lumen. Perfectly bright enough to see on unlit roads when paired with the broad, flat beam though the mode setting selections don't quite give you the light you need when you want it.

Let's start with the positives. The Deca Drive is a very good looking light and certainly well built with an all alloy CNC machined body and battery cover. There are plenty of cooling fins to disperse heat from the three LED's and the front of the body extends to create an eyelid keeping any light spillage from shining up into the rider's or oncoming drivers eyes.

USB rechargability is great for commuters that have access to a computer and if you go for the Fully Loaded package you also get a spare Li-ion battery that can be swapped over in about thirty seconds.

The whole light is hugely weatherproof and neat little finishing touches of the alloy clasp and hinge on the battery cover keeps the rain out with a tight seal.

As far as the beam pattern goes it's a good one for road use. The three LED's are mounted in a kind of arc which when added to the reflector puts light both on the road in front of the rider as well as a further reaching beam to pick out corners and potholes.

In the Overdrive Race mode the full 900 lumen is used and it's plenty to ride at daylight speeds on unlit country lanes. The pure white light picking up obstacles in the road and giving very clear vision of both verges. This will last for 90 minutes so the burn times aren't huge but acceptable for the size of the 2 cell battery.

The button acts as a fuel warning light changing from blue to green to orange then red when you are virtually out of juice.

My main issue with the Overdrive Race mode is that you can have the full 900 lumen or the 250 lumen of the economy mode. The full beam is bordering on being too bright for oncoming drivers when set at a sensible level on the handlebars so if you dip your beam you go from plenty of light to barely enough to see where you are going. The button being flush with the cooling fins means it's also a nightmare to change modes with gloves on without taking your eye off of the road.

Out of Overdrive mode you get 400, 700 and 250 lumen modes which gives you more options for varying road lighting conditions though lacking the serious punch of the Overdrive. You can't change between the two modes without turning the light off and holding the button for five seconds so its not something you can do on the fly.

The 400 lumen mode is enough to see by on unlit main roads with white lines and cats-eyes and will give you three hours of burn time. If the roads are wet and you aren't getting much reflection you need the 700 at a minimum which limits your ride to two hours.

If you are in town there are two flash modes, one uses two LED's on constant at low power with the third giving a more powerful flash while the second option is two LED's on flashing mode, I prefer the first for more all round visibility and the 350lumen allows you to go through unlit patches without having to change mode.

The bracket is a composite material which tightens with a thumb wheel and it fits pretty tightly and secure. It does look cumbersome though in relation to the sleek body design. I'd prefer to see something like Exposure's alloy mount at this price. You get one mount for each 31.8 or 25.4mm handlebar diameters.

Overall I'd say the Deca Drive is brilliant if you do the occasional night ride and don't see much traffic so you can run it at full. The beam pattern is very good and usable but needs to be in those higher two outputs to really give you the light spread you need. If you're a daily commuter you will be constantly charging it or sacrificing power to achieve decent burn times.

The £139.99 prices is on par with the quality of the build and while you can buy cheaper lights for the same power output I'd say the Lezyne is a better long term investment. The weight at 212g is acceptable for an alloy light with inserted battery.

A real mixed bag, lots to like but just as much to irritate.

Verdict

Very well constructed light with great road beam pattern; mode selection is frustrating though

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