Lezyne Macro Drive 1300XXL front light review

Lezyne’s Macro Drive 1300XXL delivers a beast of an output in its 1,300-lumen Overdrive mode. In the beam shot you can see not only the reach but the wide angle and height that lights up the tree canopy. On an unlit road with little traffic or on gravel/trail, that is a whole lot of light to navigate.

• Best lights for road cycling
• Best lights for mountain biking

For general use, however, it’s not that friendly to oncoming traffic and, for that reason, it makes good common sense to select the Blast or Enduro settings instead, which deliver 800 and 450 lumens respectively.

As with other lights of this quality, a cut-away in the housing allows for side illumination and therefore increased visibility.

There are seven modes in all from the powerful Overdrive down to the battery-saving Femto with its minimal 15-lumen output.

If you need the power of Overdrive but need to switch it down quickly from time to time, then there is a programme option that allows you to preset the light to simply switch between that and Economy mode just by a press of the button.

However, be warned it is a big step down in brightness and the sudden contrast isn’t that user friendly.

Having the option to fast switch between the two modes would make this a near-perfect light to use across almost every cycling circumstance, but I appreciate that’s a complicated and demanding request. For most riders, running in Blast mode (850 lumens) for everyday – or rather, ‘everynight’ – use with the reassurance of the 1,300-lumen backup will be enough.

The Lezyne has a useful feature – to prevent overheating, which might happen if you’re stopped for a while, the light will automatically cool itself by adjusting the mode.

On one ride, I mistook the slight flicker that signifies this is happening for the battery losing power, but as soon as the light cooled down it automatically reset itself to the original mode.

The mounting bracket is a silicone stretch strap, which is simple enough to use and great if you want to remove the whole thing quickly. From new, however, it does need fingers of steel to get it tight enough. The light then engages in the mount with a twist through 90 degrees to lock it into place.

The 1300XXL is a powerful light with the reach, spread and consistency of quality to take you off-road with confidence should you wish, but with versatile, road-friendly modes too.