Light and Motion Urban 800 front light

The Urban 800 is the highest lumen output light in Light and Motion's Urban range. Each of the lights in the range have the same battery life, are the same size, the same weight and the same shape. The more you pay, the more lumens you get. At £120 RRP (or about £20 less if you shop around online), it's not a cheap light; but it's so good I reckon that's value for money.

Our man Jez recently reviewed the Urban 650, the 800's smaller sibling. In a shock-horror, one reviewer doesn't rate a very similar light the same kinda stylee, I'm going to go out and give it a higher rating than Jez did.

And that's not because of the extra lumens. It's because my night time riding is different to Jez's. Jez commutes in traffic, I commute on lanes. Being seen in traffic in daylight is not so much an issue for me, I hardly see any traffic at all, and I prefer relying on over-the-top hiviz-tastic clothing to be seen during the day. What I look for in a light, therefore, is a bit different. I don't care much about the pulse patterns; I'm interested in a light that stays put on rough surfaces, illuminates those rough surfaces so I can stay upright, gives me enough battery life to get to work and back (typically a couple of hours), and all in the lightest possible package please – it's a hilly commute, mine. Oh, and of course I want to be able to trust it - it needs to be reliable.

The Urban 800 pretty much does all of that for me. There aren't many lights that can compete with the Urban 800 when it comes to lumens/gram. If that even meant something, because it wouldn't be the first time we've compared lights where one light uses its lumens more effectively than a much higher lumen alternative. Happily, the Urban 800s beam pattern works very well, as Jez found too. I was very happy trucking along on completely unlit lanes on the low setting (175 lumens). I would only kick it up to the high setting for the full 800 lumens experience on steep descents, though in all honesty, even there the low setting is fine.

So, while on paper the 1.5-hour run time on high isn't that impressive (it's actually slightly longer in reality, even when it's cold out), I reckon the actual run-time in real world conditions is closer to four or five hours, depending on how often you want more lumens than are available in the low setting.

Charging takes about six hours, easily doable overnight or just plug it into your computer when you get to work if you're running a bit low. You'll know if you need to because the battery indicator on the light works reliably well: go past half battery life and it changes from green to orange, then to red with about 15-20 mins of battery life left. Then it starts blinking red when you've only got a few minutes before it stops (tested on the high setting, and kicked up to high again after it automatically changes itself to low when it starts blinking red). Like Jez, I liked the battery indicator position on the back, rather than integrated in the button.

This is one of the few USB-rechargeable lights I've tested that has a plug that actually keeps the charge hole plugged. It's made of a stiffer plastic than the usual rubber bung and has a rubber O-ring as well, helping achieve that IP67 rating. IP67 means that it's been tested to be fully waterproof submerged in a meter of water for 30 minutes. I take that to mean that you can pretty much throw any weather you like at it, and it's certainly stood up to what's come my way in the time I've tested it.

While we're talking about certification, it's also certified for impact resistance based on ANSI-NEMA testing. I think that means you can drop it from a one meter height without any problems, but I didn't try that. I'll just file away this bit of knowledge in the reliability section.

Like the Urban 650, the 800 has sidelights. Bright enough to be seen, and to light up the sides of the road on unlit lanes, but not so bright as to get in the way of the rider. I like.

Mounting the light on handlebars is super-easy, using a rubber strap with a number of holes. I found it helps to rotate the light 90 degrees on the mount (good feature that, I also use it to rotate the light to the left to avoid blinding the odd car encountered on the lanes) to get the hole in the strap over the hook. When I first saw it I expected the light to gradually droop down on bumpy roads, but this has not happened at all during testing.

Switching the light on (when it's not in lock mode which you enable and disable by holding the power button for four seconds) is a single push – no need to hold down. It always starts on high, pushing again cycles it through medium, low and pulse. Simple enough.

The Urban 800 is available in a couple of different colours creatively called 'anchor steam' (this one), 'steamroller' (white and yellow, where this one is black and blue respectively) and 'fast charge' (red where this one is blue) – the latter costs a little more and charges in 2.5 hrs with a 2 Amp charger.

So, in all, I really like this light. It's light, it gives me plenty of run time for the kind of riding I do, it's well designed and it feels reliable. It's the best light I've tried so far*, and while it's not the cheapest, I reckon it's worth the money, especially considering you get a helmet mount with it and it's manufactured in the USA.

* I haven't tried the CatEye Volt 700 which Jez reckoned would probably be a better light than the Urban 650 he reviewed, though I do know I don't like the Cateye brackets.

Verdict

Light, bright and reliable; the perfect light for long-distance, unlit-lane commuting

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