The best bike lights: Don’t get caught in the dark

This small, durable, and sleek little light from Bookman 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.

The Lezyne Femto USB Drive Front Light 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.

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.

The high price of this front light might have you reeling, 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 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.

Knog makes quality lights at a low price, which is no different. Super simple to attach to your seat post, a single LED provides a powerful beam of light with five easy-to-set modes: Max, Medium, Pulse, Flash & Eco-Flash.

Knog says that this is a durable design which is 100% waterproof, but the wording might be wrong here. While it no doubt would be good at combatting road spray and rain, if it were to be submerged, it would be interesting to see how long it would last.

Lezyne brings this nice-looking rear light to the party. It may be set out vertically, but it gives up to 270 degrees of visibility, meaning that you can be seen from the side. Moreover, it has a very bright 300 lumens at its disposal, giving you maximum visibility in all conditions.

In Dayflash mode, the unit can produce 300 lumens for five hours or a still very creditable 150 lumens for seven hours, meaning most rides are covered.

This super compact rear light packs all you need into a little chamber to keep you seen on the road. Like the front light listed above, it comes with a fuel gauge-style system, allowing you to see how much battery power is left in the light. Super lightweight at 35g, this is a light for someone who is racing a time trial or a daylight rear light for a city commute.

Being called ‘Blinder’, you’d expect either one of two things - that it’s a blinding deal or that it’s bright enough to get you spotted regardless of the light conditions. This from Knog is more the former. With 70 lumens of light, it’s best for nighttime, while it will still be okay for daytime running.

TOOO Cycling has this rear light with a camera installed recording a super wide 105-degree angle in full HD to record any mishaps that may happen while you’re riding. It’ll even record at night due to a Sony IMX 323 camera sensor, not letting the 80-lumen rear light get in the way. Videos can be downloaded to a mobile device or stored on an SD card.

A brilliant rear light from Garmin, the Varia is bright with daylight visibility up to a mile away, and it will also detect vehicles up to 140 meters behind you. The light will then communicate wirelessly with your Garmin Edge (it can also be connected to Wahoo bike computers) and send notifications to your smartphone.

Locking securely into its bike mount, the vertical shape of the light remains aerodynamic and provides the rider with added information about what’s behind.