Magicshine Monteer 6500 £199.99

Putting out a claimed 6,500 lumens, the Monteer 6500 has three inline flood LEDs and two spots beneath them. It’s astonishingly powerful, and the light is directed impressively usefully too. The spots illuminate the trail close to the bike, while the floods create side and forward context with clarity unrivalled in this test. Not only does the beam have an exceptionally wide spread, but the light-to-dark cut-off is so gradual and distant it’s almost imperceptible. Add the light colour – the spots have a yellow hue that combines with the white/blue floods to provide good definition and easy vision – and projection, and you can ride even the fastest, gnarliest trails. An IP65 rating adds peace of mind. The light attaches to the bar (31.8 or 35mm) via a Garmin-style, twist-lock mount that positions it off-centre, so you can run it centrally, over the stem. We found it exceptionally secure. The battery pack delivers 10,500mAh from its six cells, and run time on max exceeded Magicshine’s claims by an hour. It’s easy to toggle between modes using the single button. The lack of a display makes it possible to get lost in the three five-mode cycles, but take a look at the front of the light and it’s easy to see which LEDs are on or off. The four-step battery indicator is a bit basic, but with that much run time at that many lumens, it’s not a big issue. This light isn’t cheap, but does represent fantastic power and performance per pound spent. www.bikelightsuk.com