GUEE SOL 700 PLUS

Usefully powerful with light sensitive fit-and-forget function

Weight 180g Run time (max power) 2 hours 50 mins Guee takes the guesswork out of light use with an automatic shine selector on its powerful, generously long life Sol 700. The hinged, hard plastic clamp works with round bars and if you remove that and flip the base mount to centralise it, it works on GoPro mounts. The single LED gives a medium spread beam for a decent mix of reach and wider coverage, and runs through usefully bright medium, low, flash and strobe modes. The ‘ambient’ mode automatically switches power levels, which is great for dawn/dusk woodland or traffic riding. Run times are impressive for the weight, making this a standout unit whether you need the auto sensor or not.

LEZYNE LITE DRIVE 700XL

£56.99 Weight 145g Run time (max power) 1 hour 40 mins The cheapest twin LED here gives good coverage but lacks depth for speed work. The moulded round bar shoe can be removed to fit flat aero bars and swivels to sit on stems. The quoted 700 lumen output seems less when riding, and while it spreads wide for good contextual coverage, you’ll be squinting to see far ahead at speed. The three lower modes are dimmer too so hard riding time is limited, but a two-stage low warning is a nice touch. The day flash mode is plenty powerful and the deep recessed USB port with stout plug makes it usefully weatherproof.

XECCON SPEAR 900

£59.99 Weight 165g Run time (max power) 1 hour 30 mins Its 900 lumens for £60 sounds too good to be true and it is, but the Xeccon is still an adequate and affordable performer. The hinged clamp with thumbwheel adjuster limits fitting to round 25.4-31.8mm bars, but it clamps securely for off-road use. The Spear gives a smoothly graded medium focus beam with soft edges, but in terms of output it’s shaded by the 650-700-lumen lights here. There’s little difference between medium and high modes, but that means you can extend its short run life without much compromise of lighting before the 15-minutes-to-go low light comes on.

CATEYE VOLT 500XC

£59.99 Weight 95g Run time (max power) 2 hours 15 mins Cateye’s neat Volt 500XC is a sturdy and reliable light that’s better than it sounds on paper. The tiny tubular design uses a hooked rubber shoe mount that sits on most round or flat bars and twists around to mount on a stem, and it’s steady enough until tracks get properly bumpy. The single LED gives a soft, warm roundel of light, which is eye friendly for pacy back road riding. The dim mode is feeble beyond lit streets, and recharging is slow. Side panels in the lens plus flash and strobe modes give urban/daylight safety though and run times are over double what Cateye states.