The best front bike lights: Be seen day and night

This small, durable, and sleek little light won’t be the one which lights the whole road on your evening rides, as it can only put out 50-lumens at full power. However, it’ll be enough for daylight and low light conditions to help you be seen.

Rechargeable via USB, the Lithium ION battery can run for 25 hours when used in its lowest setting, blinking at 14 Lumens. When used at its max setting of 50 Lumens on a steady light, it’ll run for 1.5 hours.

This small, easy-to-fit front light will help you be seen more, rather than guide you through the dark country lanes on a commute home. At only 15 lumens, it’s not exactly what you might call bright, but it is enough to get noticed.

It has five different light modes (three different kinds of flash, pulsing and solid). The light casing has an IPX7 water resistance rating, is incredibly lightweight at only 22 grams, and the wide optic lens provides more than 180 degrees of visibility.

What Kong has done here is make something that sits between a light which will get you seen and help you see in equal measure.

It's the ideal light for those dusky summer evening commutes home. It's very impressive to get 350 lumens in such a small and reasonably priced light, and it'll be enough to help you spot potholes and drains.

A light for city commuters who want to be seen, the Beryl Laserlight Core is a durable and compact light with waterproof construction and low weight.

At 400 lumens, the light also benefits from laser projection technology, which helps to improve your visibility at junctions and helps to keep you seen if you're in a blind spot. There are four different modes which give you a range of flashing and steady light options. The Day Flash cuts through distractions on busy roads and is superb in the daytime.

The Trace Mk2 is a front bike light designed to help you be seen during the day. It’s small, compact, and has three different brightness levels with a maximum output of 125 Lumens.

In a neat little feature, this light has a traffic light system for letting you know how much battery life is left, so you don’t get caught out on your rides. It’s small and lightweight, making it perfect for commuting or those summer evening time trials.

This from Bontrager is yet another perfect daytime light at 200 Lumens via a high-powered CREE LED light. It’ll attach to your handlebars, bike or helmet using the supplied bracket.

Bontrager states that this light can be visible up to 2km away - quite the claim from a bit of light. There is an integrated light sensor that auto-adjusts your light's brightness, so you don’t have to worry about being in the correct setting to round it off. You can connect it to your Garmin and Bontrager ANT+ devices for always-on battery status and wireless control.

CatEye is a very well-respected bike light brand that brings you this, the 1,100 lumens (the clue is in the name) front light, which uses LEDs to make the most of your road presence.

With a double button tap, you can quickly adjust the lights to give you the brightest mode possible. Pressing the button again will bring the light back to its previous mode. The same power button gives you a runtime indicator using a colour-coded system. Blue means more than 50% battery, yellow is between 50-30% battery and red is less than 30%.

It's expensive, but on a winter commute or an evening bike ride, the super bright ION Pro by Bontrager will make it so you can see where you're going.

The adjustable mount fixture means that the light fits a wide variety of handlebars - spanning everything from 25.4mm to 35mm. Boasting a huge 1,300 lumens, this powerful bike light will light up the road, path or trail ahead of you. A variety of flash settings means you can also use this light in the daytime and be confident of being seen.

Fancy yourself a bike light that connects to your Garmin Edge cycling computer (read our full review) and works so that it can pick up on ambient light and speed, and looking to get the best out of its battery? The Garmin Varia UT800 is an intelligent bike light which will also bring 800 lumens of light to the roads beyond the city.

The UT800 is designed to sit under your Garmin mount with its GoPro attachment system, sitting on your handlebars and not getting in the way of your cycling computer, optimising its positioning to give you the best lighting possible. For all this packed in, it's still light at 130 grams and with five different lighting modes, it'll be sure to get you seen and help you home.

You might be sitting there thinking, what can a light worth £220 bring me that others cannot? A super light (120 grams) super bright (1,900 lumens) front bike light can run for 18 hours. Made specifically for your bike helmet, this light is designed for mountain bikers who need the brightest lights to light up the trail ahead.