Lezyne Lite Drive 700XL £56.99
As with most Lezyne products the 700XL is stylishly designed. As well as in black or silver, its Cnc-machined aluminium case comes in anodised turquoise, purple or red.
It has a single top-mounted button and charging is via a micro USB port in the rear that’s hidden behind a rubber bung.
The 700XL mounts via a rubber strap that can swivel so that an aerobar position is possible, and other mounting accessories are available including a helmet mount. We found the strap worked fine for a regular set-up on a handlebar top: it held the light in balance with no nosediving.
Cycling between the eight modes is simple on the fly even with fullfinger gloves thanks to the positive button feel. An LED inside the button changes colour to indicate battery status (four different statuses).
The eight modes on offer cover pretty much any type of lighting conditions or terrain. The highest power, Overdrive, is a constant and blinding 700-lumen beam from the twin LEDS that very effectively illuminates a dark lane, but only for an hour-and-a-half. The lowest, Femto, is a low-powered beam that will give a claimed 76-hour burn. There’s also a commuter-friendly day flash, a flash and a pulse. Even though they’re super-bright, we would prefer the flashes to be close enough together to really command attention in heavy traffic — a faster, more urgent flash would give a little more confidence.
The casing has small cutaways at the sides of the lenses to ensure lateral visibility while it’s slightly hooded at the top and bottom so that the beam isn’t too dispersed vertically.