CATEYE VOLT 1700

£169.99 Is the huge 1,700 lumens worth the spend?

You’ll rarely need to unleash the full 1,700-lumen max power of this impressive light on much of Britain’s road-cycling network. But it illuminates along dark rural roads, and lasts the stated run time of 2hrs at max power. You can purchase an extra battery for longer efforts, which is a neat touch at an extra cost. Then again, most rides will be negotiated in one of the other four modes: middle (500 lumens); low (200 lumens); hyper constant (flashes between 1,700 and 200 lumens); and 200-lumen flashing mode. Our urban rides were ticked off in 200-lumen mode, which didn’t required recharging until 15hrs in.

For partially-lit rides, the 500 mode is plenty; in fact, whichever mode you click into, the beam’s impressive thanks to a flood of light that also benefits from side visibility. At the heart of this ray of light are two ‘Chip On Board’ LEDs projected through an Opticube lens and reflector and powered by the removable Li-on cell, recharged via micro USB. It takes 5hrs to fully charge via the mains. So you can’t criticise the light, but you can criticise its bulk (273g), which battles your bike computer for bar space, and the price, which is expensive when you rarely need that full 1,700 lumens. zyrofisher.co.uk