It turns out, you don’t need massive lumen counts from your bike lights to see by in 2025.
General wisdom has had it in recent years that you need around 1,000-1,500 lumens on unlit roads, but my most recent test reveals otherwise.
Yes, there are compromises to be made, but alongside testing on unlit roads to test their peak outputs, I also rode at night with their lower-output modes and tested their flashing modes, runtimes and more.
This showed adequate battery life for many riders, while the bonus of a lighter, smaller unit can’t be overlooked.
This is my take on how modern mid-output front road lights really perform, and what you need to know if you’re in the market for a new unit this year.
Light output continues to grow
We live in a golden age for bike lights, with increased output from increasingly efficient LEDs.
Take the Exposure Sirius, for example. Back in 2013, the Sirius Mark 2 emitted only 360 lumens; today, the Mark 10 pumps out 950 lumens from the same size, and it costs less than in 2013, too.
It’s not only Exposure; the Lezyne Macro Drive was another 350-lumen light back in 2013, while the Lezyne Micro Drive 800+ has more than double the output at the same price.
Size isn't increasing
Despite the extra power on tap, lights are staying roughly the same size. Most are pretty compact, at least in the sub-1,000 lumen output range.
If you want more illumination for off-road riding, you’re better off with a lower-output flood-style light and a helmet-mounted light with a more focused beam than a single, hefty light on your handlebar.
Heat management has been an issue with higher-output lights, but modern LEDs are efficient enough that a large case with cooling features is, in most cases, not needed.
I found some lights were getting hot in a static test of peak beam runtimes, though, and suspect that heat throttling of light output was a factor in longer-than-stated runtimes.
Many lights are more complex
Some lights still have you cycling through a range of outputs, from high to low via flashing, so switching beam intensity while riding is a pain.
However, many enable you to choose your preferred illumination levels, or they hive off flashing modes to a different menu.
On-light setup can be a chore though, requiring the right number of presses of the control button for the right amount of time in the correct order – expect to spend time with the manual.
A few brands, such as Magicshine, have an app to configure their lights.
It makes setup easier, once you’ve paired your light to your phone, but in most cases app functionality is rather limited – and it’s probably something you’ll do once and never use again.
More light formats and mounting options
There are still plenty of sausage-shaped lights to choose from, designed to be mounted above the handlebar.
But many lights are now supplied with a GoPro adaptor, so they can be placed under an out-front style cycling computer mount.
Not only does this free up handlebar space, but it places the light further forward, so the handlebar drops won’t get in the way and limit side-on visibility.
Still, other lights have a flood style, with a broad and flat format, and a larger lens in front of the LEDs.
These tend to be best fitted under the handlebar or, again, under an out-front computer mount. They usually offer a good spread of light and a more structured beam pattern than stick-style lamps.
Make sure your computer mount can stand the extra weight of a light. It’s probably worth investing in a metal mount rather than relying on the plastic one supplied with your cycling computer or that comes with your bike.
The jumble of cables and chargers has disappeared – almost
Many brands have now standardised USB-C charging. That’s a real advantage because you’ve probably got a USB-C charger and cable handy already.
Most lights are still supplied with a cable, but not all. Lezyne, for example, doesn’t provide one.
There are still lights from a few brands that retain Micro-USB charging, which is slower and means you have a legacy charging cable to keep tabs on.
Other brands retain their own charging system. Exposure is a prime suspect with its more powerful lights, although its lights with lower outputs have switched from Micro USB to USB-C.
Charging is faster, too. USB-C also offers higher charging rates than Micro USB, so even with the higher-capacity batteries typical of modern lights, your light will be ready to go in less time.
You don’t need to spend a fortune for good illumination
Mid-output lights continue to fall in price, so you can expect to spend around £50 to £60 ($55 to $70) for a light with output between, say, 600 and 900 lumens.
Deluxe models and ultra-high output lights continue to be expensive and bulky, but as noted above, if you need so much light for riding on tricky terrain, you’re probably better off running separate bike-mounted flood and helmet-mounted spot lights.
To-be-seen lights for city riding can be as cheap as chips, so there’s no excuse for not having a set.
Under 1,000 lumens can be fine for unlit roads
None of the lights on test emitted as much as 1,000 lumens, but the majority would be fine for riding at night on roads without street lighting, and many would give adequate illumination for gravel and bridlepaths, too.
If you’re not dazzled by traffic, your eyes will get dark-adapted after 20 minutes or so, potentially enabling you to select a lower-output mode and increase your light’s runtime.
Not every light gets the beam pattern right
Don’t just look at the total lumens on offer, though – beam pattern is crucial to get the best out of a light.
Ideally, you want a fairly focused central spot to throw light down the road in the direction of travel and enough side illumination to light up the verges, so you don’t feel as if you’re riding through a tunnel.
Many lights get this right, but out of the six lights on test, one had too focused a spot and one had a broad lighting pattern that didn’t provide as much forward illumination as its headline output would suggest.
The other four offered a good mix of focus and spread, and here, the headline lumens reflected the highest-output light level on offer.
Peak runtimes remain on the short side for longer night excursions
Brands have tended to focus on increasing light output rather than on extending the peak output runtime, with most of the lights tested having claimed runtimes of around 1 hours 30 minutes.
I got longer than this, with around two hours before the lights dropped their output.
That’s not bad, but if you’re planning a longer night excursion, you’ll need to switch modes and watch your battery level.
Fortunately, lower-output modes are usually sufficient to be able to keep up speed with confidence, once your eyes are dark-acclimatised.
But booster batteries can extend runtimes
Many lights now enable you to plug in a booster battery, which can add significantly to the runtime if needed.
You can usually power up phones and cycling computers, too, and some lights can act as a power bank themselves.
A power bank means extra stuff, usually mounted to your frame’s top tube, and an extra cable, though.
Dynamo lights have come back into fashion and are great if you intend to take long rides in the dark without access to recharging.
Modern setups are very efficient and compact, and many endurance-oriented frames have internal cable routing. You’ll need to invest in a front wheel with a dynamo hub, of which there are several ready-built options.
