Infini Mini-Lava rechargeable USB front light

It may be only the size of your thumb, but the plucky Infini Mini Lava Front Light is plenty bright enough to make sure you are seen, even in bright daylight.

After visiting the Infini website I didn't really want to like this light. 'Classy, young, trendy, fashionable, these are all characteristics of the Infini Brand,' it burbled. Well, that's me ruled out then. There was worse: 'Infini focuses on glamour where others stress performance, style where others affirm convenience.' Erm – right. And, by the way, your Mini Lava looks like it came out of a Christmas cracker – all shiny plastic and angular. Looking through its wide selection of front lights, a motley collection of entirely unrelated products, it was hard to see a unifying mind behind the designs. So I was extra-sceptical as this wee specimen went to test – and pleased to find out it works well!

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It's all perfectly simple: press the button on the top to switch it on; then press to scroll through the modes – full power, half power, flashing, pulsing and off. That's nice and intuitive and doesn't involve taking your eyes off the road while you fiddle with complicated programming.

The mount is one of those twist-fit brackets doing the rounds at the moment. It's pretty basic, but strong enough and easy to transfer between bikes. Generally, I left it on my best road bike where the 20g total weight (light and bracket) has to be acceptable to the weeniest of weenies.

The light itself is a single LED. Infini doesn't mention any lumens but there must be some, because on full power this was easily visible in bright sunlight from 100 metres; even on flashing mode, which is half-power, it couldn't be missed. In the dark, I was happy to use this as an auxiliary front light in traffic, although on unlit lanes and cycle paths it wasn't really quite enough to see my way by. The chunky lens offers reasonable side visibility and a nice touch is the extension of the black casing over the top of the lens, so it doesn't shine up into your eyes.

Charging is as simple as the operation: pull off the rubber boot and plug straight into a USB port. Make sure you put it in the right way up. The light comes on as it charges and goes out when the battery is full – in no more than an hour. From that I got 1hr 20mins on full power, and 42hrs on flashing. This wasn't quite the 48 claimed, but plenty for a week's commute.

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I was deliberately unkind to the light, too, 'forgetting' to take it off the bike when I washed it and leaving it out in the rain all day. So far, the water has stayed out, though the on/off button looks a bit vulnerable on the top where it's exposed to falling raindrops. In truth, though, at £16 it's not the end of the world if it only lasts the season, and I've spent more on lights that didn't last that long.

Its USP – the tiny size – is probably only a drawback for amnesiacs like me, as I kept forgetting where I'd put it. The rubber cover for the USB plug is also easy to mislay, and that could kill it, so take good care of it.

Verdict

A useful little light that punches above its weight – just don't forget where you left it...