Ultimate Bike Light Buyer’s Guide 2025 – Buy The Lights You NEED!

As winter approaches in the northern hemisphere, fitting lights to your bike becomes more important, and essential if you want to ride at night. But which bike lights do you need, and which might be a waste of money?

In this video, we run through all the different types of bike lights, including their modes and fitting options, plus offer advice so you can pick the best lights for your needs.

Thanks to Magicshine for sponsoring this video and for supplying all the lights you see in it.

Official website: https://bit.ly/4orwZg2
Amazon US: https://bit.ly/42OWJd8
UK Store: https://bit.ly/45xbNwp

00:00 Intro
01:03 Front Lights
02:10 Power Output
04:29 Beam Shape
06:24 Mounting Options
08:11 Rear Lights
09:16 Mounting Rear Lights
10:43 Smart Features
12:33 Conclusion

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Most cyclists buy the wrong lights, not because they don’t care about safety, but because the choice is overwhelming. I’m going to tell you how to avoid wasting money on something that doesn’t work for you. Some people grab the cheapest light they can find online, only to discover it barely makes them visible. Others go the opposite way, spending hundreds of pounds on a huge lumen monster that drains his battery in an hour. And plenty of riders pick a light based on brightness alone without realizing in fact that beam shape, mounting position, and even the modes you use are just as important as raw power. That’s why in this video, I’m going to show you how to choose the right lights for your riding. Whether that’s for a simple urban commute, evening training rides on dark country lanes, or adventures that head off into the unknown, I’ll cover everything you need to know. Before we get started, a quick thanks to Magic Shine for sponsoring this video. They’ve supplied all the lights you’ll see here, so I can show you real world examples of all the options. But don’t worry, everything I’m about to tell you applies to practically all light brands out there. Let’s get into it, then. Starting with front lights. A front light can perform two functions. To help you see where you’re going or to enable others to see you. Seems obvious, right? But not all lights are created equal. Some are designed to light the way, like this Magic Shine Evo 1700, and others are designed to simply attract attention. With the latter, these rarely put out enough focus light to illuminate the path in front. That’s not always necessary. If your riding is limited to well-lit streets and urban roads, then these little compact units are all you’re really going to need. They also tend to be lighter and cheaper because they don’t need all the extra stuff like lenses, more powerful LEDs, larger batteries, and electronics inside to do their job. But if you ever ride in an environment where there’s not much ambient light around, you’re going to need that light down on the road to see where you’re going. In that case, you want to be looking at something with more power and a focused beam. Generally, these are larger thanks to the extra goubbins inside. And some riders are likely to find these a better choice for the sheer flexibility they offer. It’s what I personally use because it covers all bases, so I only need one. So, what are the things you should look out for? Light power is usually expressed in lumens, which is literally a measure of the total light emitted. Higher equals more power and therefore more brightness. Now, how a light harnesses that power is important, and I’ll cover the three main beam types shortly, but lumen outputs can range anywhere from a couple of hundred to tens of thousands of lumens in the case of specialist mountain bike lights like this one. For urban road and gravel use, a max lumen count of around two and a half to 3,000 is very high and will flood light the road ahead, like a car using its high beam. Generally though, I think for urban use where you’ve got street lights, a minimum of 200 is enough. And in my experience, you can get by on as little as 500 lumens for careful road riding in the dark. If you’re wanting to ride on the road at some speed, then I think a beam strength of around 1,000 to,500 lumens is a good level. You might then want to go a little punchier again if you’re intending to use your light on gravel where the surfaces you’ll encounter are less predictable. My own front light puts out a max of a,000 lumens and that sees me through very well overall. Now top tip, higher power usually means a higher price, but if your budget is tight, then don’t feel obligated to go for the biggest output. More often than not, it’s not necessary. That said, be critical about what you need in terms of brightness and burn time. It’s all well and good having a light that can put out 1,000 lumens, but if it burns through the battery so fast that you’ll be forever charging it, or it won’t see you through the rides that you want to do, it’s a bit pointless. All lights have many modes. So, for example, a 1,00 lm light might have settings for 100, 400, 600, and 1,000. Those medium settings might be all you need in reality, and you’ll get the benefit of a larger battery that light would come with. So, that means less recharging, more battery life, plus you have that top setting in your back pocket, which could be a worthwhile investment. Keep an eye out also for so-called day flash modes, which can be handy, especially to be seen. These are designed to really punch through ambient light and even bright daylight, thanks mainly to their strobe light pattern. Many riders, including myself, use these modes to attract attention all year round. You shouldn’t use these modes at night, though, because they can be so disruptive that they can distract and disorientate road users coming your way, not to mention make a disco party of the undergrowth in the dark. Nevertheless, I think a setting like this is the hallmark of a well-rounded light. There are three basic beam types to consider. Some smaller lights have beams which are very diffuse. This means basically they spread the light out in all directions, sometimes in excess of 270°. This is great if you simply need to be seen on the road. And spoiler alert, this is exactly how all rear lights work, too. However, these aren’t focusing the light output in a particular direction. So, you won’t get a beam down on the road. So, if you need a light to illuminate the path in front of you in the dark so you can see where you’re going, you’ll generally need something like this. These beam styles are possible because the light has lenses inside that focus the lumen output. LEDs are almost exclusively used now and along with battery tech have come on in leaps and bounds over the last few years. Lots of lights like this Horry 900 have two sets of lenses and LEDs for different purposes. But generally you’ll find that a focused beam will offer a central circle of light which then bleeds off into the surrounding area. Different brands have different takes on the best beam shape, and we make sure to capture these and show them off in our independent reviews on biker.com so you can see what might work best for you. The third beam shape to consider is a cutff beam. As with this Horry 1300S, you’ll get a shaft of light with a defined boundary, and that means you aren’t going to cause as much glare to other road users, but still get the essential light you need to see by. Sometimes these come with a high beam setting, so you can just flick between the two just like you would in a car. But whether you prefer a standard beam or a beam like this largely comes down to personal preference. That is, of course, unless you happen to ride a bike in Germany, in which case all lights front and rear are governed by STVZO regulations. It’ll take too long to get into the detail of those here, but you’ll find these have strictly regulated cutff beams and no flashing modes to meet local road safety regulations. If they interest you specifically, we have a guide on those over on biker.com and I’ll leave a link in the description for you. All lights come with a mounting system, but these can vary. The most common is the bar top mount, and you can get clamped brackets like the one shown here onto which the light attaches. This one has a quarter turn interface to lock it into place. You can also get others where the bracket is built onto the light and then you strap the whole system onto it using a band. It’s worth noting this kind of bracket only works with standard round handlebars, but some come with inserts to help you get a secure fit. An increasingly popular option among road and gravel cyclists is to integrate the light with an outfront computer mount like this one. This is how I like to mount mine because, well, it just looks much cleaner. Usually, you’ll need a GoPro style adapter that screws into the bottom of your outfront mount, plus an adapter for the light itself, so you can run your bike computer on the top and the light below. Some brands provide the adapters with the light, while they can be an optional extra for others. Some lights, like this one, can also be installed in multiple ways, which offers some flexibility. It’s worth saying that bar top mounts usually won’t work with one piece cockpits with flattened tops. So, if you have one of those, then you might be forced to use an upfront mount. This layout makes accessing the light and any function buttons a bit more tricky on the move. So, a remote like this one can come in handy here. A remote straps onto the handlebar in a convenience area. Again, sometimes these are supplied, sometimes not. I don’t use one personally, but I’ve given a few a try and I can see their appeal. Bottom line, it’s worth factoring adapters and the need for a remote into your budget if you want this setup for a front light. You may also want to consider a secondary helmet mounted light, especially for off-road riding. These can offer extra visibility around corners, especially because they’ll point in the same direction as your head. So, that’s front lights covered, but what about rear lights? Rear lights perform one main function to draw attention to you. I always ride with a rear light on my bike come day or night, rain or shine, all year round. These don’t need a focused beam to light the way. So are similar to attention drawing front lights with a wide viewing angle. Given rear lights are all about being seen, generally speaking, you should look for both static and flashing modes, including a higher powered day flash mode, unless of course you’re living in an STVCO governed area. So, max brightness for rear lights ranges from around 50 to 300 lumens and some even up to 500. That’s a lot less than you get from front lights, but that’s fine. Ultimately, you don’t want them blinding road users behind you. I’ve tested many rear lights over the years, and the most powerful settings or the most powerful rear lights are eye searingly bright. The distinctive flash patterns are also quite shocking. You definitely don’t want to be using those day flash settings at night, but they can be useful in say foggy conditions. In my experience, 150 to 300 lumens is punchy enough for all riders and all ridable situations. A rear light obviously is mounted so it points backwards in view of approaching road users. You can do this on the seat post or the seat stay, while some come or can be fitted with saddle rail brackets for under saddle mounting. Obviously, you want to be seen, but it’s usually considered good manners to angle the light downwards slightly if you can and avoid using the most powerful settings at night just to save blinding road users coming up behind you. Lots of rear lights will come with a mold insert or spare mounting strap to help it fit to an arrow seat post. You can also sometimes find models with magnetic attachments. As it happens, I run two lights on my winter commuter bike like this. One under the saddle and another light on the seat post. This gives you a spare on the road. Or when I want, I can run both using different modes, one flashing and one static. There’s no rule for getting this balance right. Flashing rear lights arguably draw more attention, but are sometimes criticized as being distracting or not offering that constant reference point to judge distance. On the other hand, static lights offer more consistent reference point and can help other road users gauge closing speed and so on, but aren’t always deemed to stand out enough in a busy urban environment, especially when there are lots of other lights to compete with. So, I personally like to run both if I can. However, we’re talking about the cherry on the cake here. One good quality rear light will still do the job, and some even blend static and pulsing light to combine the two functions in one unit. While they’re not essential, the latest lights sometimes have a range of clever features to make them more appealing to your specific use case. Firstly, some light sets compare with one another, syncing up so they switch on and off at the same time. That’s helpful if you sometimes forget to switch both on. Similarly, some lights will turn themselves off if you forget to after a ride. That’s something I find really useful and means you won’t accidentally drain the battery. This Horry 1300S light has both of these features. Some front and rear lights also have ambient light or radar sensors, so they can automatically change their mode to suit the conditions. This can be handy and remove the need for a remote in some cases, but you need to be willing to let the light judge the conditions and pick the mode it thinks is most appropriate. Radar rear lights are a subcategory in themselves, and we’ve tested many of the latest options. Let us know in the comments down below if you want us to make a video on the best radar lights out there. This CI R300 is a good example of a radar light. It pairs to a computer to offer display of where the traffic is behind you while changing its mode to boost your visibility. You may also find rear lights that can temporarily change modes when you slow down. Again, this is a useful feature that draws attention to you when you potentially need it most and one I like to make use of. But depending on their sensitivity, these clever lights can draw battery power more quickly and make burn times less predictable. Some lights also have features designed for group rides. These can sense when other riders are around you and reduce the light accordingly to save blinding them. Some can even link together to flash in unison, but you usually need to be running the same lights or at least the same brand with the same capability. The handy thing is most, if not all of these features can be switched off if you don’t need them. But then, as with any purchase, you should consider if you really need them at all because it might save you some money if you don’t. That’s everything covered. So, to wrap up, here are five main things you should remember when buying bike lights. Number one, understand what you really need the light for. That’ll dictate the light type and number of lumens you need. Number two, make sure your light has enough battery life when using the modes you’ll need most often. Number three, does the light you’re buying come with amounts that’ll fit your bike? If not, you might need to budget for extra. Number four, consider a light with a daytime flash mode if you want to be seen year round in all conditions. And number five, lights are getting smarter than ever, but only pay for the features you’re likely to use. Above all else, buy the light that fits your riding, not just the cheapest one or the biggest and brightest one. If you’re watching this and have your own advice about the bike lights you use, then let us know in the comments below. I’d love to hear about your ideal light setup. Finally, thanks again to Magic Shine for providing all the lights you’ve seen here in this video. 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