Moon X-Power 1800 front light review

The X-Power 1800 is Moon’s third most powerful light, sitting just behind its all-in-one Meteor Storm Pro, which I tested last year and scored four stars out of five.

This separate light unit and battery pack has four front-facing CREE LEDs that form a cross pattern to emit a claimed maximum of 1,800 lumens. All this power is housed in a CNC black anodised and polished enclosure with a bracket to attach it to different styles of quick-release clamp.

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The head unit has a single power and mode selection button that also functions as a mode indicator. Four constant modes are sequentially toggled and three flashing modes can be accessed with a double push of the button, then toggled as before.

There’s a small port on the rear of the head unit for the bar-mounted remote control that's included. The remote attaches using a Velcro strap and operates the light in the same way as the main button.

The light is supplied with a separate rechargeable lithium ion 5,200mAh battery (XP-BS-SS4) that provides a claimed run time of up to 1 hour 40 minutes.

The battery is housed in a polycarbonate case with rubberised end caps. The pack has its own in-built battery indicator and on/off switch, and USB charging port. The pack is mounted to the bike using two Velcro straps.

The head unit and battery pack are connected via a standard 34cm cable that can be extended with a 107cm additional length.

Supplied with the light is a tool-less bar clamp that’s compatible with both 31.8mm and 35mm bars, and a Velcro-strapped helmet mount. Both of the clamps feature a quick-release mechanism for the head unit.

The whole package is supplied in a hard carry case.

Moon X-Power 1800 performance

The X-Power certainly looked more powerful than its 1,800-lumen claimed output. This made it suitable for pretty much all types of trail centre routes and it also had enough oomph for some of my gentler off-piste singletrack riding.

The power was well-suited to its beam pattern, with a bright and fairly round focal point directly in front of the light and some side-to-side and front flood tapering that helped generate context on the trail. The sideways taper was pretty gradual, too, and the light cast doesn’t suddenly stop as it reaches the limit of its spot beam.

However, the limits of how far the beam reaches were dictated by the amount of power on offer and I couldn’t help but think the X-Power 1800 could have done with more lumens to make the most of its beam pattern and I did need to keep the light in its maximum output setting unless I was riding slow, easy uphills or fireroad bashing.

That meant choosing lines around turns and riding quickly and aggressively was harder than with more powerful lights with similar beam patterns. This made me conclude that it’s better suited as a helmet-mounted unit, accompanied by a secondary bar-mounted light.

The beam’s hue had a white/yellow tint, which reduced contrast, making it easy on the eyes when looking down the trail. It still helped to provide plenty of detail, though.

Run time was 1 hour 50 minutes, 10 minutes longer than Moon’s claimed run-time in max power.

The single head-unit button was easy to use on the move, with the remote improving the experience further. The button’s colour changes to signify which mode it’s in and these were easy to spot at a glance while riding. The sequential modes made mode selection simple, too.

The mount was easy to install thanks to its tool-less design and the light was simple to clip onto the mount because of its quick-release system. The mount also kept the head unit stable over rough terrain.

Equally, the battery’s Velcro straps provided a secure fit and made fitment easy, but the battery is quite long at 17cm so might be trickier to mount on bikes with curvy tubes.

With the battery pack mounted to the top tube, the dedicated battery life indicator was very bright to the point of being distracting. So, instead, I decided to mount the battery on the underside of the top tube, but this, of course, made surveying battery life trickier.

Moon X-Power 1800 bottom line

The Moon X-Power 1800 performed well, striking a good balance between outright power and beam spread. It also feels like a quality product, worthy of its price tag.

However, I did find that it's better suited to helmet-mounted applications and, depending on how extreme the trails you’d like to ride are, might not be suitable as your only light.