Cateye Nano Shot Plus front light

Cateye's Nano Shot Plus front light is the bigger, brighter sibling of the Nano Shot we reviewed, and liked, last year. Amazingly, it manages to kick out more than twice as many lumens for the same price the Nano Shot was then (it's around £60 now).

I could tell you that the Nano Shot Plus boasts 600 lumens, but I'd rather tell you about its beam pattern, and its performance in Real Life: it chucks out plenty of light. Go for the high setting on dark lanes, low where there's a bit of ambient light and hyperconstant (that's strobe to you and me) in traffic. Simples.

The beam pattern is cleverly designed to illuminate practically everything forward of the light. Mounted on the top of drop bars, this includes the drops, as evidenced by huge shadows of shifters to your right and left as you're riding along. Side visibility without being blinded: perfect.

The bracket is Cateye's universal mount, which is a bonus if, like me, you've got a few of those kicking around - it makes it really easy to swap Cateye lights around on your fleet of bikes. Having said that, I did find that at times the weight of the light would test the bracket's ability to stay put; though when it did start to droop, it's easy enough to give the thumbwheel an extra half turn.

Switching on and off, and cycling through lighting modes, is taken care of by a single button on the back of the unit. Push the button for 2 seconds and the light switches on in whichever high or low mode you last used. Push the button again and it cycles through high and low. A quick double-push switches it to hyperconstant (this is the low setting with flashing on high), another push and you're back in constant mode. Hold down for 2 seconds to switch off. With gloves on, the button can be a tad fiddly, but not overly so.

I found the stated battery performance to be pretty accurate. You get about 1.5 hrs on high, 4 hrs on low and 2 hrs on flashing. For me that puts this light into commuting territory - battery life isn't long enough to be useful on longer rides, or for anything but short off-road jaunts.

You get lots of feedback on how the battery is doing - the green button turns orange when it drops below 50%, and red when it needs charging, though I found that you've got a good half hour of light left (on low) to get you home.

Charging is done via a USB cable (which is included), either through your computer or USB battery charger plug (neither of which are included). The connection is standard mini-USB, so chances are you've got a few of those knocking around already. The light takes about 8hrs to charge, quicker through a wall plug.

At 179 grams on my scales, including bracket, this is a neat little package. Sure, longer battery life would be great, but that would probably make it heavier and bulkier, or less bright. Only you can decide whether plenty bright, plenty light, but not for that long is right for you.

Verdict

Plenty bright, nicely light, commuter light that chucks out plenty of light for the money