Oxford Ultratorch Headlight CL1000

The Oxford CL1000 Ultratorch is a decent enough front light and it has enough oomph to cope with most riding. Runtimes aren’t huge though, and it’s a bit dated. There are better lights for similar money.

The CL1000 has a metal body and a two-LED array putting out a claimed 1,000 lumens on full power; the sides are scooped for side visibility and they’ll also throw a bit of light on your bar. The beam profile is round, so you’ll need to be careful not to dazzle other road users on the higher settings. On the top there are two buttons and a display that shows the remaining runtime, and a 10-bar battery indicator.

The CLIQR Mini mount is nice and solid, although the tolerances aren’t tight so the light rattles around a bit. Shims are provided for all different bar diameters.

This light is IPX4 rated, which isn’t the highest you’ll find: plenty of lights are rated 7 and even 8 for water ingress, and 4, which means it’ll survive “splashing water from all angles for at least five minutes” is the lowest that’s really any use for a bike light. At the back there’s a big rubber bung, and behind that are two USB ports: you get a micro-USB one for charging, and a USB-A output so you can use the light as a power bank in a tight spot.

The lack of USB-C charging really dates this light – it’s been around a while – and with only a 2,400mAh internal battery there’s not much you’re going to be able to charge. It might get you out of an emergency dead phone/GPS situation out on the road, though.

Talking of the battery, you get just over an hour in full beam before the light steps down to preserve runtime. There are five solid modes, the fifth one being a super-low beam that’s useful about camp if you’re out bikepacking but isn’t going to help you much actually riding. The one up from that gives you about seven hours of light and is bright enough for cruising speeds at night, so in the summer you could probably ride all night with this light, just about.

One of the big plus points for the CL1000 is the two buttons that allow you to go up and down the modes rather than cycling through them, which makes changing mode SO much easier. More of this please. Either light will turn the beam on or off with a long press.

Having the remaining time indicator and the battery level is a bit belt and braces, and I found that the battery level indicator wasn’t very linear, staying quite full for most of the life of the battery before dropping down sharply near the end. That can lull you into a false sense of security. Once the battery is depleted it’s pretty slow to recharge on Micro-USB, which is fine if you’re doing it overnight but it does mean you can’t get much charge into the light from a battery pack if it dies when you’re out riding.

Value

The Oxford CL1000 is in a crowded bit of the market and feels a little ordinary by comparison. It’s not bad, but you can do better.

The Ravemen K1000 I recently tested is a better light in basically every way, and only a tenner more.

The Moon Rigel Pro is also worth a look, and while the Proviz LED360 Rigel isn’t as powerful, it is great value with excellent runtimes and a good beam shape.

For more options, check out our best front bike lights buyer’s guide.

Conclusion

Overall I haven’t been all that impressed with the CL1000. It’s okay, but the run times are pretty average and it all feels a bit dated. It’s pretty big and heavy too these days for a 1,000 lumen light.