MAGICSHINE RN 1500

£69.99 SPECIFICATION Weight: 142g • Lumens: 300, 750, 1,500 • Contact: magicshineuk.com

For a light that weighs just 142g and pumps out 1,500 lumens, the Magicshine RN 1500 really packs a punch. This weight comes with the standard Velcro mount, but if your helmet has a Gopro mount built in, you can purchase an adapter from Magicshine for £8.99 and get the weight down to 125g. You also don’t have to faff around with Velcro straps, and it also reduces the stack height, creating a bit more head clearance.

The RN 1500 runs off a Lithium-ion battery that’s charged via a common USB-C cable, the port is located under a rubber bung on the back of the light. Run-time is only about an hour on full power, but this extends to a claimed 10 hours on the lowest 300 lumen setting. We reckon the best compromise is 750; powerful but you get close to a threehour burn time.

Like the Hope R4+ tested here, there are two light modes that you access at the ‘turn-on’ stage. The default setting is low, medium, or high, but you can access three flashing options for road use.

The on/off switch acts as a simple fuel gauge changing colour as you use up the charge, but again it’s not possible to see this when it is helmet mounted and remembering what the colours actually mean is a challenge.

The RN 1500 uses a single LED, but it comes with an anti-glare lens that produces a uniform beam pattern and a crisp and white light.

It’s slightly narrower focus than the Hope R4+ but there are no dark spots or a distracting central halo. We noticed the RN 1500 did run a little hotter than most, but this didn’t cause any issues during testing. In fact, the RN 1500 has been superreliable and consistent. Cost per lumen is the best here, and while there’s limited programmability and the fuel gauge is pretty much redundant, it’s a great addition to a regular bar- mounted light for cutting through the gloom.