Ravemen LR1600 USB Rechargeable Curved Lens Front Light

Ravemen's LR1600 is a great quality front light that pumps out enough light for pretty much anything, and will run all night if you need it to. The remote works well and there are plenty of mounting options. It's up there with the best bike lights you can buy.

What you're getting here is an alloy-bodied torch-style light that uses a single LED to pump out 1,600 lumens of light. There's a single button and an ambient light sensor on top, and a USB-C port under a rubber flap at the rear. It's a very solid-feeling thing and survived an escape from the mount at 20mph (when I hadn't put it in properly) with minimal damage and no loss of function.

The LR1600 has four static modes. The headline 1,600-lumen high beam setting will drain the 4,000mAh battery in about an hour and a half. Then working through the modes, you get 800 lumens (2.5 hours), 400 lumens (4 hours) and 150 lumens (13 hours). There's also a daylight flashing mode that is very visible even in bright daylight, and gives over a day of run-time.

I found Ravemen's stated run-times to be pretty accurate. Like many lights, the LR1600 will dim the beam as the battery gets near depletion to eke out the run-time.

The power button indicates how much charge is remaining, although it's far from being the best I've tried: you get green until 30%, then it's red, and flashing red under 15%. So you could be on 31% or 99% and the indicator would read as if it's full: not exactly ideal.

The spread of the modes needs work, too. Why the huge nine-hour gap between modes three and four? Normally I'm moaning that there are too many modes but I'd definitely squeeze another one in that gap.

Beam shape & mounting

Ravemen has always used lenses that shape the light beam. Where the PR series of lights have a lens that uses both horizontal and vertical elements, the LR1600 just uses vertical elements with the effect of flattening out the beam. It's not orientation-specific, so you can run the light upside down, which I much prefer to do, as it's out of the way.

There's an optional GoPro style mount available if you want to mount it centrally on a multi-function out-front mount; the mount that Ravemen supplies with the light is good, with a positive engagement and a firm grip on the handlebar.

Wireless remote

Having a light upside down makes it harder to use, of course, but the LR1600 ships with a wireless remote control that's very good. It basically does everything I want a remote to do: there's a button to power up the light and scroll through the modes, and a separate button that engages high power mode when you press it, then puts you back in the mode you were previously in when you press it again.

It's great for giving yourself a boost of light on tricky or fast bits. It might also be good for giving non-dipping drivers an eyeful. I really wouldn't know.

Daytime intelligence

The other function that the LR1600 has is an intelligent daytime running light mode using an ambient light sensor on top of the light. When you engage it, the intelligent mode will use the daytime flashing mode until the light drops to dusk levels, whereupon it switches to low constant. It'll also switch the light on and off automatically, using vibration sensing.

I tried it to convince myself that it worked, but I didn't really use it. It's not like a rear light that you maybe can't see: there's the light, on your bar. It's either on, or it's not. If you're terrible at remembering to turn your lights off then it might come in handy to save the battery though.

In use

I've used the LR1600 for road and gravel rides up to and including a 300km overnight audax, and it's a really good light for general riding. While 150 lumens isn't a huge amount, it's enough to ride with at night on unlit lanes, and the 13-hour run-time means that even now in winter you can basically ride all night on one charge.

If that run-time isn't enough, then you can extend it: attach an external battery to the USB-C port when the light's in low-power mode and it'll run from that instead. I take a 10,000mAh battery on audax rides, so in theory I'd be good for about 45 hours of lighting, although of course I use the battery for charging my GPS and phone too.

It's a useful feature that means you don't have to wait for the light to charge if it does run out of juice, you can just plug in and go. It does mean exposing the port, though, so you'll need to be careful in the rain – the light has an IPX6 rating, so it's well sealed against the elements, but USB ports are easy to short if they're wet, and I wouldn't use the port uncovered in bad weather.

Given that you can extend the run-time if you want to, I'd probably sacrifice a bit of that battery life for a slightly more powerful low-beam setting, say 175 or 200 lumens, or, like I said earlier, add another lower-power mode. The output would be a bit better suited for road speeds after dark; 150 lumens is enough, but it's only just enough.

On the other end of the scale 1,600 lumens is enough light to do pretty much anything that you're going to do on a road or gravel bike. Even with the flattened beam shape, which is a pretty good compromise for on- and off-road riding, the high beam isn't something you should be pointing at oncoming road users, in my opinion. Save hitting the full beam button for those dead-of-night descents on the lanes and trails.

Value and conclusion

At £114.99 It's about what you'd expect to pay for a light with this output. Both the Lezyne Super Drive XXL that Jamie tested in 2020 and the Giant Recon HL1800 that Leon tested last year are in the same ballpark with a similar output. If it was my money I'd go for the Ravemen for its beam shape and additional remote control.

Unfortunately the Ravemen LR1600 didn't make it into our beam comparison engine this year (though the LR1200 did), but the Lezyne and Giant are there in previous years' listings.

Even with the minor niggles of the battery indicator and the slightly odd choices of output through the modes, it's an excellent light that'll cover everything from the commute to all-nighters.

Verdict

Excellent road and gravel light with nice beam shape and useful remote