Moon Rigel Rechargeable Front Light

The Moon Rigel Rechargeable Front Light is packed full of features, gets an IPX7 waterproof rating and a high-quality aluminium body, and the Garmin-style mount and flippable lens make it ideal for mounting under bars as well as on top. The 700-lumen output does seem a little on the optimistic side, but even though the Rigel performs more like a 600-lumen light, it is still competitively priced and a good buy for tech-savvy cyclists who tend to stick to town/urban riding rather than prolonged rural night rides.

Moon's new Rigel range includes the Power, Enduro, Max, Pro, Rigel and Lite, with descending amounts of power and prices to match. As you can see, the Rigel sits near the lower end but still boasts a maximum output of 700 lumens along with most of the features of its bigger brothers such as the Rigel Pro, which Stu tested recently.

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To my mind, 700 lumens is about the minimum you'd want for riding on dark lanes, but there is more to illumination than just this number, and I found the Rigel lagging behind other lights of a similar rating. Heading out with a Knog Blinder 600, the Rigel and a Lezyne Micro Drive 600XL strapped to my bar, the Rigel's illumination was outperformed by both other lights despite their lower lumen figures.

This can also be seen in our beam test comparison, above, where we test all manner of lights on the same piece of road.

I did, however, find the Rigel's power more than enough for street-lit commuting, and it will get you down an unlit lane in a pinch, albeit not at top speed. The beam shape itself is quite narrow, meaning that a channel of light is created in front of the wheel without lighting up the hedgerows.

Like the other lights in the Rigel range, the lens can be flipped depending on whether you have the light on top of your bar or mounted underneath. This is a welcome feature as I, like many others, prefer to mount lights under a computer mount, so they're actually upside down. The serrated portion of the lens goes on the top and prevents unnecessary dazzling of oncoming drivers and is something that is often overlooked; it's also a breeze to switch without requiring any tools.

Operation

Despite the Rigel's small physique, Moon hasn't slacked on cramming in the features. While that's impressive, it does make it a little more complicated to operate than others. I'd say Moon has done an okay job of creating a mode for every scenario while retaining some ease of use, but it's never going to be super-easy with just a single button and no display.

The square button on top of the light is easy to find and use, even in gloves, thanks to being quite large, and it is also used to display mode and battery life.

As usual, a one-second press turns the light on and off, and then short presses scroll through the different modes.

I was happy to find that flash modes aren't included in this scrolling action and are, instead, accessed by double-clicking the button; this means you're not plunged into darkness while trying to get maximum output, which was my main criticism of the Lezyne Micro Drive 600XL.

A feature you won't find on many lights at this price point is Intelligent Operation (IO), achieved by pressing the button for three seconds. As Stu explained with the Rigel Pro, in IO mode the Rigel detects darkness and turns itself on, making it ideal for riding through heavily shaded areas or tunnels during the day, or if your commute starts in daylight and finishes in the dark, or vice versa.

I found it worked very well and wasn't fooled by streetlights and the like, but I'm not convinced it's necessary; I didn't find myself using it very often, and don't find it too much of a burden to click the button.

> Buyer’s Guide: The best 2021/22 front lights for cycling

Perhaps more useful is the Intelligent Motion Sensing Function, which means if it detects no movement for 20 seconds it'll switch to 10 lumens; after 60 seconds it'll go to standby; and after an hour of no movement it goes into a deep sleep. I found this useful for preserving battery life at café stops without having to faff about turning it off when in a hurry to get to the front of the queue. #marginal gains

Other features include a memory mode, as we've become accustomed to on most bike lights, where it turns back on in the last mode used, and it also has a lock mode – useful for preventing accidentally turning it on in a backpack, for example.

It also features Moon's Variable Lumen System (VLS), which lets you choose and set whatever brightness you want, between 20 and 700 lumens. This is quite useful, as everyone will use the light for different things; for example, I quite liked using the light at about 500 lumens for street-lit night rides, benefiting from a little extra burn-time over the preset 700 lumens.

Run-times

Using the VLS does introduce a little guesswork into how long the light will last, but the run-times seem pretty linear between the preset values that Moon has published:

• 700 lumen constant – 1.5 hours
• 350 lumen constant – 3 hours
• 20 lumen constant – 40 hours
• Flash 1 – 47 hours
• Steady flash – 23 hours
• Day flash – 56 hours

They're very competitive numbers, outperforming the vast majority of similarly sized units that we've tested, and when you do finally run out of juice, a full charge takes three hours which isn't half bad, likely assisted by the fact that the Rigel uses USB-C rather than the micro-USB that many lights still use.

The Steady flash is comparable to most lights' nighttime flash and keeps the light always on, switching between high and low output to get you noticed. This, and the Flash 1, are effective and balance eye-catchability and battery life well, but I do think the Day flash could flash more frequently to help prevent you being missed in busy traffic.

Mounting

The Moon uses a Garmin-style bracket to mount to your bike, which makes taking the light on and off really quick and simple, even in thick winter gloves, and is ideal for commuters who don't want to leave the light on their bike.

In the box you'll find a rubber strap with the mount attached, and this fits a large range of handlebar diameters. It worked well and held the light securely, though I also mounted it on the underside of my out-front computer mount, using a Garmin adapter, to reduce bar clutter.

You also get a GoPro mount in the box, something you'd have to purchase separately with most lights.

Build quality

The aluminium body of the light feels high quality and the graphics are laser etched into the anodised finish. The Rigel also has an IPX7 rating, which is just about the highest you'll find on consumer lights of a reasonable price. This means it can be submerged, so it's no surprise it came out the other side of some miserably wet rides working a lot better than me, and underwent a thorough hosepipe treatment as well without batting an eye.

Value and conclusion

At £55 the Rigel is priced very competitively; the Sigma Buster 700 and Knog PWR Road 700L cost £69.99 and £99.99 respectively, for example, and even though the output is a little disappointing for a 700-lumen light, it still stacks up well against similarly performing 600-lumen options, and outperforms most of them regarding burn-times.

It feels high quality, has a vast array of features, and the Garmin-style mount is, in my opinion, the best out there for a light of this style. The IPX7 rating and USB-C charging just add to its appeal.

Verdict

Clever and well-built front light with excellent features but average lighting power