True, Lezyne has gone some way to avoid this with its Race Mode, where you just have two settings, but the setting for the 'dipped' offering always seems to be too low. The KTV Pro 75 puts out a very decent 75 lumens in its daytime flash mode and its large lens offers an impressive 270 degrees of visibility.

Mounting the Lezyne to the handlebar is taken care of by a rubber band, and it gives you plenty of options for varying diameters of tubing. You get at least 100 minutes out of overdrive and 10 hours on economy, plus a massive 78 hours from the 15-lumen femto setting. The Lite Drive has a tough CNC-machined aluminium construction, which is claimed to be imperviousness to water. Its IXP7 rating means it can be submerged in water for half an hour and will retain its waterproofness – although I wouldn’t recommend doing that. For me personally, I wouldn't choose any light that scrolls through flashing as it just annoys me, but I certainly can't fault its quality and beam for the money. Verdict

Lezyne Lite Drive 1000XL front and Lezyne KTV Pro Drive 75 rear light overall

Flashing-wise, there is a DayFlash which pumps out the full 1,000lm for 7.5hrs, which grabs plenty of attention when riding in the sunshine or filtering during daylight, though it is way too antisocial to use during darkness. When it's time to top up, the unit is USB rechargeable via a rubber covered flap at the rear, and a full charge takes around four hours. The beam shape isn't anything particularly special – it's basically round, and a little narrower than some – but it's throwing out plenty of light for the money, and you can deal with more or less anything in Overdrive mode. Having had several Drive series lights running long term since they came out a few years ago, dependable reliability is definitely a strength and the price is great value considering the surprisingly powerful output. This gets even better if you get one of the ‘bundled with a rear light’ options Lezyne offers. Verdict

Many of our lights feature Overdrive Race Mode. While it's a great feature, it can occasionally cause a little confusion. If your light is missing its flashing modes, or your light only has two modes, then you have probably activated this feature. The KTV Pro rear emits up to 75 lumens and lasts anywhere between 4 to 19.5 hours, with a daylight mode available and promised 270 degree visibility. It came in at 52g. The CNC machined aluminium body looks quality and makes the light look way more expensive then it actually is. It's available in a range of anodised colours too, so you can achieve a bit of coordination with your bike. Finance is subject to application, financial circumstances and borrowing history. Performance Cycling Limited FRN: 720557 trading as Tredz are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are a credit broker not a lender – credit is subject to status and affordability and is provided by Mitsubishi HC Capital UK PLC. Terms & Conditions Apply. A powerful, multi-purpose front light with up to 1000 lumens of output, the Connect Smart 1000XL features a lightweight yet rugged CNC-machined aluminum body with integrated cooling fins. The light has 8 different output modes, from an attention-grabbing 1000 lumen Daytime Flash setting to an 87 hour runtime Femto Mode, providing options for every riding environment. It’s MOR (Maximum Optical Reflection) lens optimizes and evenly disperses light. A versatile strap securely mounts to a variety of bar shapes and sizes.

Exposure Link+ Mk3 Front and Rear Combo with DayBright

The next setting is Blast (500lm/3hrs), then Enduro (250lm/5.5hrs), Economy (150lm/19hrs) and Femto (15ml/87hrs), which finishes off the solid options.

Visibility is crucial when riding. Dark woods or a high speed road ride at dusk/night demands visibility to other traffic, for your own safety. Besides that, for a good ride in those conditions your own sight has to be optimal too. The right LED-lights on your bike can make all the difference in the world, in performance and experience. The light has seven settings and two different modes. The first mode allows you access to all seven settings, which are blast (650 lumens), enduro (450lu), economy (150lu), femto (15lu), flash (150lu), pulse (150lu) and overdrive (1100lu). Race mode lets you toggle just between overdrive and economy. Mode memory remembers whether you're in race mode or standard whenever you next turn the light on, and which setting you were last using – which is useful if you favour one setting in most situations. If you're using the light in urban areas you'll most likely only need to use the pulse or flash settings, with run-times of a massive 18 and 19 hours respectively. Using the average 13.1km cycle commute distance ridden at 21km/h according to Strava as a rule of thumb, most commuters should get at least a couple of weeks out of this light off a single charge. That's impressive.

Battery life lasts anywhere from 1.5 hours on the highest mode to 87 hours if you go right down to the 15 lumen emergency option. There's a 'day flash' option for use when the sun is up, and switching modes was easy via the top mounted button which also serves as an indicator of how much juice is left in the tank. It's worth noting that the Smart Connect lights don't have mode memory, so when you turn them on they'll always default to program 1. It's best to set that up as the mode you're likely to use most. Front light The app also gives you a battery readout for each light, but it would be nice if this feature was updated so the information is a little bigger, and more granular: getting useful battery information is a big plus for the app, but the current implementation could be improved. The 150-lumen Economy mode isn't really bright enough to see much by; that's the one that Lezyne uses as the 'low' mode in the Race configuration – where you just get high and low beam – of the standard light, and because of that the Race mode isn't as practical as it could be. The joy of the smart set is that you can set up your own Race mode with whatever settings you want. I didn't use Economy or Femto much, but it is nice to know they are there, should you start to run out of battery.