These are the best bike lights for the front of your bike to see and be seen with. We've got everything covered, from tiny LEDs to use as a backup to high-powered flood lights for when you have to light up a 2 square kilometre area in the forest in the middle of the night.
Having the best front light (and best rear bike light) is essential if you venture outside on one of the best road bikes or the best gravel bikes, either day or night. After all, our city streets and roads are thick with traffic and trafficked by the thick. As the adage goes, it's better to be safe than sorry, and fixing the light on your bike takes seconds, so there is no excuse for not putting it on.
If you don't want to get run over by a sleepy/distracted car driver in prime commuting times in the morning and the afternoon, you'd better equip your bike with some decent bike lights to be visible from all possible angles. Complete your bike setup today with the best cycling helmet and the best bike computer.
Best bike lights (front) to buy right now
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Lezyne steals the urban night ride crown from previous chart-topper Light and Motion with the latest version of its Hecto Drive by virtue of much longer battery life and a flatter, better-balanced profile.
Battery technology has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, and this latest model from Lezyne makes the most out of a Li-Poly setup to deliver up to 17.5 hours of light at its lowest output setting.
It's a doddle to set up, with a simple rubber strap that's suitable for most styles of handlebar, while the easy-to-remove base is great for slipping into a backpack when not in use.
Fashioned from heat-dissipating CNC machined aluminium, it is designed to last, although we have certainly found other models that are built from sturdier stuff, so we wouldn't suggest dropping it under a bus. But then, we'd never suggest that.
The integrated USB charging stick is a killer feature, making locating a charging cable redundant, although it means you'll need to choose an external battery carefully if you ever want to charge while riding. You might also find it tricky to plug directly into a laptop or wall socket, so consider buying a male-to-female USB lead.
The Exposure Strada SL has a maximum output of 900 lumens, which is comfortably bright enough to light the way on dark country lanes. In fact, for most riders, this is all the light you’ll ever need. Not only that, but the Strada SL has a road-specific beam pattern, throwing out a spread of light designed to provide maximum illumination while not dazzling other road users.
The Strada SL has seven settings in all, including a daytime-specific flashing mode, with battery life falling anywhere between two hours and 36 hours. It’s a clever bit of kit, too, with the rear display showing how much burn time you have left for your selected mode, plus there are additional traffic light-coloured LEDs.
There’s no getting away from the fact that the Strada SL is pricey, even for a 900-lumen light, but what sets Exposure’s design apart is the build quality. The CNC-machined unit is finished to the highest standard and comes with a quality quick-release bracket. It’s made in Britain, too.
This light is the successor to the Blaze Laserlight – due to some legal unfortunateness, Blaze is now Beryl (it's a long story), and this 'Core' version of the light has been vastly improved over the original.
As seen on London's fleet of on-street hire bikes (the ones with docks, not the ones that end up in the Thames or on fire), the Blaze – sorry, Beryl – combines a standard, max 400-lumen LED light with a green laser, which beams the image of a bike about 2m in front of you as you ride. This alerts other road users to your presence more effectively than light alone or you shouting "gerroutathefugginway".
This one is much lighter, better balanced and easy to mount than the original, and the battery life is generally pretty good. You'll get up to 13 hours with a flashing LED and flashing laser on, and we found that to be plenty of illumination. However, if you absolutely must have a constant, non-flashing light and laser, it reduces all the way down to just 1.5 hours. Recharging is quick and easy via micro USB, happily.
Read our full Beryl Laserlight Core review.
Lezyne’s lights are some of the best in the business, and the Lite Drive 800XL is another brilliant lamp. Eight modes and a maximum output of 800 lumens ensure it’s an extremely bright light, capable of illuminating unlit roads as well as being used for the commute through town.
The most powerful mode only has a burn time of 80 minutes, so if you need the full 800 lumens, there are more efficient lights out there. Step down to 400 lumens, and you’ll be in action for three hours while still having the security of the top setting should things get really dark.
The design is compact enough and looks good on the bike. The rubber mount is quick and easy to use, but it’s not removable: the light and mount are attached to one another. Still, this versatile light is at a great price, so we can live with that.
Knog has a well-earned reputation for stylish and convenient bike lights, ideal for city riders, and the new Plus is no different. This sleek little number can be mounted to your bike (whether that’s on the handlebar or fork) or worn on your body using the integrated clip. That makes it a good option for joggers and trail runners, as well as cyclists.
With a maximum output of only 40 lumens, the Plus is best used as backup illumination, whether you need a small light to keep with you just in case you get caught out or you want a second light to run alongside your main lamp. Handily, the Plus is USB rechargeable, and as you can see in the image above, there’s a rear version which can be bought with this front light as a twin pack.
Balancing brightness with a budget, this tough little unit from lock masters Kryptonite keeps the price at a reasonable level by reducing the lumens level over some of its key rivals.
The Street F-450 features six different light modes to match various environments, from illuminating High Steady to an energy-conserving Economic Flash, which ekes out 24 hours of light from the onboard batteries. Again, recharging is as simple as plugging it into a USB slot as soon as you get to work or arrive back home.
BioLite's ever-dependable 'Goldilocks' headlamp is now even better thanks to an array of tweaks and improvements. The latest model features some practical design updates, which include a larger front button that's much easier to use on the go. There's a better back battery too, which is more slender than earlier incarnations.
You also get the convenience and cost-saving efficiency of USB-C charging. Fully charged, the light can operate for up to 60 hours if you've got it on the low setting. Better still, there's a neat one-hour reserve mode, which means you can still get home after dark if you've neglected to charge the light as frequently as you should.
There's a front profile of only 10mm, and the light only weighs 78 grams, so this is perfect for sitting flush on your forehead without ever getting annoying. The moisture-wicking fabric keeps you cool and dry too, which is an added bonus.
One for those who favour Lycra and speed, this is near the cutting edge of headlamp tech. In short, the faster you go, the brighter Varia UT800 will be, but it requires you to have already bought into the Garmin ecosystem of bicycle computers and sensors to get that full effect.
For those suitably tooled up, the Varia and its rear siblings easily sync with the latest Edge computers and use speed calculated from their GPS to automatically adjust the intensity of the headlight’s beam. It will also automatically turn on or off when the computer is fired up or shut down.
Visible in daylight from more than 1 mile, it's a powerful piece of kit and its slim and lightweight design means it won't play havoc with your expensive road bike's meticulously plotted aero gains.
Read our full Garmin Varia UT800 Smart Headlight review.
Need a backlight as well as a front? This Lezyne Micro Pro 800XL/Strip bundle offers the perfect solution. There’s a front light with 800 lumens of power and a rear unit with 150, and both have multiple flash settings. They’re also wonderfully put together and sport a design that should prove durable and able to fend off the worst the elements can throw at them. You also get recharging thanks to an included micro USB cable.
However, the best thing about this pair of lights is the range of multiple flashing options that are possible. For example, the front light boasts a Daytime Flash, but you can also choose from Blast, Enduro, Economy, Femto, Flash, Pulse and Overdrive – so take your pick. The rear-mounted light offers more of the same. It's a great way to see and be seen.
Read our full Lezyne Micro Pro 800XL/Strip review.
If you prefer the CatEye brand and need a bundle solution, this pairing is also a top-notch way to go. The CatEye HL-EL135 and Omni 5 combination pack deliver lots of flashing modes, which are both striking to look at and help to maximise battery life. You also benefit from the CatEye FlexTight fixing method for the brackets, which means they can be easily added to your bike without the need for tools.
The HL-EL135 OptiCube lens delivers wider visibility, while the bright 150 candlepower white front light features 3 LEDs. Meanwhile, the Omni 5 rear-facing light boasts five LEDS and offers 360-degree visibility. Both lights have settings that can be changed to suit the cycling scenario or rider preferences, such as always on, flashing intermittently or a strobe effect in the case of the rear-facing one.
Read our full CatEye HL-EL135 and Omni 5 review.
How to choose the best bike light for you
The first thing to say about bike lights is that unless you are going off-roading at night or you ride on unlit roads, brighter isn't necessarily better. Providing you’ve got enough power, the key things to consider are battery life and how well-shaped the front beam is in order to attract the attention of other road users.
All of the lights featured here will come with constant and flashing settings. There’s not necessarily a right or wrong option, though flashing patterns will use less battery, while a constant beam will drain your light’s juice at a faster rate. That said, a constant beam can make it easier for other road users to judge the distance between you and them, which is certainly no bad thing.
More advanced lights may offer a pulsing mode, which looks to combine the best of both worlds, while some cyclists will choose to run two lights at the same time: one constant and one flashing. With lights becoming cheaper by the year, that’s not a bad shout and means you always have a backup ready.
Cycling helmet lights are increasingly popular, with good reason – as well as ensuring you can be seen over the bonnets of the gleaming Chelsea tractors revving at the traffic lights, they're handy as a torch if you need to rummage in the depths of your backpack/trendy messenger bag after dark. You can also use a helmet light to point in the direction you want to go rather than directly where your bike is currently facing.
Fitment will depend on the layout of your bike's cockpit but do take the time to ensure your light is secured well so it doesn't start to droop or even fall off the first time you hit a bump. Otherwise, you can expect to see your light crashing down the road and under the wheels of a truck. Most clamps these days are easy to use and can be quickly removed, whether that’s to switch your light between bikes or to deter the wandering hands of thieves.
One final thing to note is that most front lights are now USB rechargeable - a massive bonus, considering you can just stick it on charge when you get into the office or home from a ride. If you remember, that is. Being rechargeable is great and all, but it does mean that once you're on the road, you can't just whack in a new pair of AAs if you run out of juice. However, the best bike lights will use LEDs to indicate how much battery life you have left, so there really is no excuse.
In case you just can't get enough of bike light knowledge, we have a whole article dedicated to this subject, aptly called how to choose the best front and rear bike lights.
FAQ
How many lumens do you need for a bike light?
In town, an LED front bike light rated at 300-500 lumens is more than adequate. On the rear, 60-70 is fine. That said, most modern front lights have multiple power modes, so you could buy something more powerful (1,000 lumens, say) and run it on a lower setting, preserving the battery life and keeping the full beam in reserve for foggy nights or when riding on dark country lanes. That’s a sensible strategy - you don’t always need to use your light’s most powerful setting, just because it’s there.
What is the brightest front bike light?
Planning on blinding oncoming traffic? Why not mount the Cateye Volt 6000 at the front of your road bike? This insanely bright bike front light kicks out a truly staggering 6000 lumens, which is enough to make a farmer's track at midnight look like a summer's day in California.
Of course, given the light output and other quirks such as separate remote control unit, this extremely overpowered bike light is completely unnecessary for urban commuters. Not to mention, it's also pretty expensive, so unless you're an endurance cyclist who prefer to train in pitch black conditions, you're better of with a tamer Know of Garmin headlight.
Which is the best bike light?
We've been thoroughly impressed with Lezyne's most recent releases and its Hecto Drive 400XL offers great illumination at a very reasonable price. For cyclists riding through towns and cities, the Hecto Drive offers ample power, with a sensible range of modes and a sleek design.
