NiteRider Lumina Micro 350

The Lumina Micro 350 is very much the baby of NiteRider's compact torch family. It has just enough wallop in top to tackle semi-rural roads at typical club-ride speeds, while lower modes strike an excellent balance between performance and economy through suburban/urban contexts. However, peripheral punch is relatively weak, and the pedestrian charge times won't suit everyone.

Build quality is excellent. The CNC machined 6061 aluminium alloy housing will certainly withstand the odd spill while encouraging efficient heat dispersal, so its sensitive internals stand a very good chance of living long and productive lives.

> Find your nearest dealer here

> Buy this online here

Morale-sapping winter rain has made no impression whatsoever, but most plug-in rechargeables are pretty well sealed against the elements these days, so I gave ours a quick all-over, point-blank-range blast from the garden hose. It passed with flying colours, though a quick lick of silicone grease on the plug port never goes amiss.

As the number implies, it produces 350 lumens in the highest setting and features an automatic kick-down to conserve power once reserves dip to a certain point. (It's easy to get 'holier than thou' when it comes to charging discipline, but who hasn't been delayed due to a roadside mechanical, or discovered that a 'shortcut' was actually the long route home?)

Lumens, rather like megapixels, give an idea of output quality, but the lens and, in seeing-with contexts, diode quality have considerable impact too. Unleashing the full 350 provides a very pure pool of light, good enough for picking out the detail in semi-rural contexts to around 17-18mph. Oncoming traffic seemed aware of me from around 300 metres, although tended not to dip their beams for another 200.

Straying into Sticksville proper, you'll certainly be seen but 500 lumens upwards is my yardstick for hustling along unlit lanes and B roads. Fully juiced, it'll last nigh-on the full two hours quoted, which makes it good for longer commutes that take in these different locales.

Medium produces 220 lumens, and has more than adequate bite for the suburbs, while almost doubling burn times. Official figures say 4hrs, and I've had between 3hrs 53mins and 3hrs 57, which could be sufficient for a week's commuting or training without needing to recharge in between.

The lowest, power-sipping (steady) mode has, to date, managed 6hrs 43mins (that's 43 minutes more than stated) and while relatively impotent, seems fine for well-lit town work. Most of us will do this by default, but I'd recommend pairing with a blinkie in this mode.

Flashing is supposedly geared specifically towards daylight, another American theme seemingly being imported to these shores. It certainly comes in really handy on those dull days and nags quite nicely – other riders suggest it's visible at 500m, and similar on clear, starry nights, dropping to around 220m through town centres given competing illumination.

There's even an emergency mode called 'walk'. It's very much of the glimmer variety – on par with the halogen filament types of 25 years back, and will manage 20hrs 45mins.

> Check out our guide to the best front lights and our beam comparison engine here

The rubberised centre switch is well sealed from Mother Nature and easy enough to operate in gloved hand and on the fly. It also incorporates the battery life indicator.

And finally, the sturdy watch strap-style bracket lacks the outright convenience of wraparound rubber band types but is easily ported between bikes (remember to remove this when parking in the street to prevent someone helping themselves). It seems a decent fit on most race/trail helmets too. Previous versions had been criticised for an imprecise fit between torch and mount, leading to irritating chatter when riding across lumpier surfaces, but to date this hasn't been a problem with ours.

Verdict

Nicely made and versatile torch type light with enough see-by prowess beyond the suburbs