Knog Cobber Mid Front Light

The Knog Mid Cobber front light offers a good choice of standard beam modes and others that are a little bit more attention-grabbing whether it's night or day, but it is expensive for a light you can't really see by.

• Pros: Eye-catching modes, decent battery life
• Cons: Flimsy, fiddly bracket

As with the rear Cobber, thanks to its curved body shape and a large amount of Circuit on Board (COB) LEDs, the Cobber has 330 degrees of coverage to really get you noticed from the front and the side, depending how it is mounted.

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The modes are mixed between solid state and various flashes or strobes, and with plenty on offer you can select them to work in a variety of conditions or to preserve battery life.

As with testing the rear, I've been using the two modes that offer maximum brightness lately as the days are long and I've mostly been out in the midday sunshine.

Both the Steady Pulse and Flash offer 320 lumens, which is plenty bright enough to get noticed on even the sunniest of days. Both give 9 hours of run-time.

In lower light, like overcast days or as dusk approaches, I found the 140-lumen Rolling Flash (8hrs) worked well, making your presence known when filtering your way through traffic, with a noticeable scrolling pattern grabbing attention in drivers' rear view mirrors.

There is a Side Flash (200lm/3.5hrs) and a Disco Flash (160lm/7hrs) and, for an emergency light to get you home, an Eco Flash of 25 lumens with a battery life of 120 hours from full to empty.

The solid mode's max at 200 lumens isn't quite bright enough to see by, and there is also a Mid which chucks out 80 lumens for 5 hours. These are a good option if you don't like the flashing or strobing effects.

As with the rear, battery burn times were within +/- 5% of those claimed, which I'm happy with.

Charging

Charging is taken care of by the integrated USB plug, so you could charge it at work by plugging it straight into your PC or a wall-mounted charger. In the pack you do get a USB extension cable should space be a bit tight.

Charging was pretty close to the claimed 4 hours and you can keep an eye on the battery level by way of the LED behind the switch. When it is fully charged the LED will go green.

Mount

The light is held in place by a bracket and silicone loops and it does the job of keeping it in position however you mount it.

The silicone loops can fit any tube with a circumference of up to 200mm, so if you have a metal bike with a standard style head tube you can wrap it around there for forward and side-on visibility, although it won't work on most deep-section carbon frames where the top and down tubes tend to blend into the head tube.

There are smaller silicone bands in the pack which allow you to fit it to your handlebar, although you lose the side visibility. In the dark, because of the huge angle the LEDs cover, they can flash directly into your eyes – not such an issue in daylight.

The light fits to the mount by magnetism and it's a strong bond – no worries about the light disappearing off down the road – but it does make it quite difficult to remove.

Waterproofing is good. The USB plug is designed to withstand the elements and it's survived both riding in heavy rain and a good blast from the power shower without issues.

Value

Both the front and rear Cobbers are £59.99 each, which for a rear light doesn't sit too badly against the opposition. When it comes to front lights, though, for this sort of money you can get proper 'see by' lights, like the 700-lumen Sigma Buster 700 for £61.99.

Or for an extra 20 quid you could get the Exposure Switch Daybright at £80, a 475-lumen light that you can use for riding on dark lanes.

> Buyer's Guide: The best front lights for cycling

As a light to be seen by, the Knog Mid Cobber is one of the better ones thanks to the funky modes and bright output, but it is quite a bit of money for a light that can't really be used to see where you're going.

Verdict

Excellent visibility range to be seen by and bright too, but full-on headlights can be had for the same money