Lezyne Macro Drive 1400+ front light review

Lezyne’s higher-output light designs used to be quite bulky, but the new Lezyne Macro Drive 1400 offers good run times in a more compact format.

In terms of illumination and run time, it packs a powerful punch and is user-friendly as well.

It doesn't offer quite the same functionality as some of the other best bike lights around, but it's still an extremely good front light.

Lezyne Macro Drive 1400 specifications and details

Lezyne’s latest top-spec light provides a good level of peak illumination, with a claimed three-hour run time on peak output. That comfortably beats many other lights on paper, even the Exposure Toro Mk14, which has a battery with twice its capacity.

Lezyne enables you to link the light up via its USB-C charge port with its Infinite Light Power Pack , which adds another 6600mAh capacity to the in-built 5200mAh battery. This could potentially double your run time, and a bit more besides.

The light body includes heat sinks down its sides, with illumination controlled by the single translucent button on its top.

Like previous generations of Lezyne lights, this also acts as a battery-level indicator via an LED that goes from green through yellow to red, then flashing red as the battery is drained.

The light is IPX7-rated, so you could sit in a metre of water for 30 minutes and it should still work, although Lezyne cautions against submerging it.

The USB-C charge port is behind a sturdy rubber bung that’s bolted to the rear of the light, opening the possibility of easy replacement if it breaks.

Lezyne quotes charge times between three and six hours, depending on the input source’s amperage.

The Macro Drive 1400 is attached semi-permanently to its rubber strap mount and can rotate on it.

Although a separate screw-on mount may feel more sturdy than the Lezyne light’s integrated rubber mount, in practice the Macro Drive 1400 fixes securely to a range of handlebar shapes.

You can remove it using an Allen key, and replace it with a GoPro mount adaptor, should you wish.

Lezyne doesn't supply a USB-C charging cable with the light. Depending on your viewpoint, this might be an annoyance or a sensible way of avoiding waste by not duplicating a cable most will already have a pile of at home.

Lezyne Macro Drive 1400 performance

The Lezyne Macro Drive 1400 provides a good peak level of output and a long run time for a reasonably compact unit.

There’s a fairly focused central spot to the beam pattern, with decent peripheral coverage, while quite deep side windows to the lens up your illumination profile for urban riding.

The central focus means the road directly ahead is well illuminated, while the peripheral illumination drops off gently, so it’s easy to see what’s directly ahead as well as at the edges of your vision.

Run times are good, particularly in flashing modes. The day flash emits 700 lumens for a claimed 100 hours and the ‘Femto’ flash mode, with a 20-lumen output, is claimed to keep going for 300 hours.

In testing, the light lasted at full output for rides longer than an hour without the red battery indicator illuminating.

In normal use, you need to cycle through all seven modes to change illumination level, but you can also activate race mode, where the light only provides 1,400-lumen and 200-lumen constant output levels.

Lezyne’s stated output for the lower power setting in ‘race’ mode varies in its documentation.

Regardless, this is far more convenient if you’re riding on the road at night, although without a remote it still requires reaching to press the mode button on the light’s top.

However, with only two modes to choose from, unlike many lights you can’t accidentally activate a flashing or ultra-dim mode.

Strangely, while running through its functions before heading out, the light’s LED battery indicator was showing red, which is said to indicate 10 per cent battery capacity remaining.

Further fiddling with light modes resulted in the LED subsequently turning green, suggesting over 50 per cent charge, which seemed to be accurate. It’s unclear why this occurred and it hasn't been repeated.

Mounting the Lezyne Macro Drive 1400 securely means you need to apply considerable force to stretch the robust integrated rubber strap. This is easiest done with the light rotated sideways, before turning it through 90 degrees to point forward.

The rubber jaws mean the mount sits firmly on round bars. There’s some flexibility in them, so they also hold the light in place firmly on flat-topped aero bars, although the light sits a little proud.

On both round and aero-shaped bars, there’s a little flex between the mount and the light, although it’s not intrusive while riding.

Lezyne Macro Drive 1400 bottom line

The Lezyne Macro Drive 1400+ has a robust feel and long run time on peak output.

It’s simple to operate, although to some extent that reflects the absence of more sophisticated functionality that some competitors offer.

Nevertheless, it packs a powerful punch in a relatively compact package.