Giant Recon HL 100 front light

The Giant Recon HL 100 is a compact, lightweight, nicely designed front light for being seen rather than seeing.

• Pros: Lightweight, good run-times for its size, five modes, good usability with gloves, USB rechargeable
• Cons: Side visibility could be better, switch looks too similar to side visibility window

If you're after a small but punchy front light for daytime or streetlit riding, the Giant Recon HL 100 is definitely one to consider. Its low weight, diminutive proportions (it's a 3cm cube), good run-times and surprisingly powerful output should make it very appealing for those who want to keep their bikes nimble but want a bit of extra visibility.

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It's worth noting that the 100-lumen Recon isn't bright enough for riding on unlit roads (Giant doesn't say it is; the exact wording is 'high-powered visibility at an accessible price'). If your commute includes those, 300 lumens is probably the minimum power you should be looking at.

It is, however, great as a daytime running light. I've noticed that with the Recon flashing, drivers have more readily let our tandem through gaps instead of racing for them themselves.

There are five modes with different run-times: the constant 'high', which uses the full 100 lumens, lasts 2hr 30mins according to Giant. On the unlit night ride with a powerful-light-equipped friend during which I checked its 'seeing' capability, this was accurate. The night flash, which is a pulse rather than a flash, gets you over twice that, but the best mode of all, and the one I always use for daytime, is the low flash, which gives out one full-power flash every fourth low-power flash and lasts eight hours.

LEDs behind the switch change from green to red to indicate battery life and the light will automatically switch to low flash mode before expiring.

USB charging takes a pretty quick two hours, and a short USB cable is supplied.

Although Giant claims 180 degrees of visibility, the opaque slots at the sides don't quite let enough light through to fully justify this. For night-time town riding, especially for passing T-junctions, I would like to see this improved.

In the box you get the basic rubber band and hook clamp. Other mounts are available separately. It's simple to install and uninstall without tools, but, as with the Giant Recon HL 200, it's easier to take the whole thing off rather than take the light out of the clamp and leave the clamp on the bar.

The twin-LED Recon HL 200 uses the same clamp that allows you to position it horizontally or vertically. In the case of the Recon 100, it's a cube with a single LED so it doesn't make any difference which way you put it into the clamp – but the downside of that is that if you stick it in without paying attention to where the switch is, you can end up trying to press the side visibility slots instead, because they look similar until you learn the difference.

The switch is fine to operate with thick-gloved fingers even though it sits flush with the casing. Modes are changed by short presses on the switch – very straightforward.

Finally, waterproofing is very good: I have left the Recon HL 100 and TL 100 on the tandem outside on many rain nights and they still work and charge perfectly.

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Price-wise, it is ballpark rather than a bargain, but the Giant doesn't have that many rivals in the sub-£30 category. The Moon Meteor is perhaps its closest rival on price (£26.99) and beats it on lumen count with 400 compared to the Giant's 100. The Cateye Volt 100 XC at £21.99 is also 100 lumens and USB rechargeable, but not as neat and compact as the Giant. However, for an extra £5 you're looking at much more powerful lights such as the 300-lumen Lezyne Mini Drive 300XL (£30), or £34 gets you the 500-lumen Ravemen LR500S.

Verdict

A little ray of light for safety-conscious weight weenies