Outbound Lighting Detour Bike Light

The Outbound Lighting Detour is a very clever front light for road and gravel riding. It uses a pair of LEDs with custom reflectors to cast a wide beam with a distinct cut-off at the top so it doesn't shine straight into the eyes of oncoming riders or drivers. It has a great mounting system, charges quickly via USB-C cables, and has six modes that cover pretty much any situation you can imagine.

You can find more ideas – and lights to compare it with – in our guide to the best front bike lights.

> Buy now: Outbound Lighting Detour for £150 from Outbound Lighting

Illumination

Most bike lights have LED emitters nestled in the centre of round reflectors, sometimes with a lens over the top to shape the beam a bit. Not the Detour. Its LED emitters sit in the top of the lamp and point down into reflectors that spread and shape the beam.

The big advantage of this is that it creates a wide beam, with a brighter central portion and a hard line top edge so you can set it up to avoid shining right in the eyes of other road users. It's great for seeing where you're going as well as for being seen.

Modes

The Detour puts out light in six different ways. Apparently trying to avoid the silliness of the lumen wars (Exhibit A: a '5,000-lumen' light for under £20) Outbound doesn't specify exactly how much light the Detour puts out but rather gives a percentage of the maximum output, which it says is approximately 1,100-1,200 lumens.

All constant modes except 'low' drop down to just under 50% output for about 20 minutes when they get close to drained.

High mode pumps out the unit's full possible output. It's bright enough to see where you're going on completely unlit roads. For night-time gravel riding, it doesn't quite have the total-area-floodlight effect of most mountain bike systems. It illuminates the track ahead well enough but you can easily miss a turn-off if you're not paying attention.

Adaptive mode starts out at the same level as high mode, and gradually reduces output so your eyes can get dark-adapted. Clever.

Medium mode puts out about 70% of maximum, and low mode a little under 50%. Both are plenty bright enough for urban riding.

> Check out the road.cc Beam Comparison Engine

There are two commuter modes too, daytime strobe and nighttime pulse. The daytime mode keeps a very low-level constant output and adds a pair of flashes every couple of seconds. Nighttime mode pulses at about the level of medium mode with a strobe flash every two pulses.

It's impossible to definitively test the effect on drivers, but using daytime strobe on an early morning ride I felt very visible, with oncoming drivers moving all the way over on narrow roads.

My only gripe is that unlike many current lights, it doesn't remember the last mode you used; turning it on always brings up full beam, so if you want a less bright mode you have to cycle through them.

Run-times

Construction

Most high-end bike lights have aluminium casings for durability and to act as heat sinks and cool the LED. Outbound uses what it describes as an 'engineered resin that is not only very durable, but also conducts heat'. That keeps the weight down, too; it's 70g or so lighter than a twin-LED Cateye Volt 1600 I have kicking around. (To be fair, the Volt's brighter and has a big twin-cell battery, but its beam is nowhere near as well managed.)

Outbound's original road bike light used a separate battery pack in the style of many mountain bike lighting systems. The Detour's battery is built into the lamp, which makes for less faff in handling it: you just pop it off your bike, plug in your charger and reverse the process when it's charged.

We have Exposure to thank for popularising the idea of high-power all-in-one lights, moving the battery from a separate case into the light unit itself. I do like how OUtbound has taken it a step further here, shaping the case around the needs of the LEDs and reflectors rather than wrapping a big torch around the battery.

Mounting

The Detour's mounting system nicks an idea from the world of photography. It's basically a scaled-down Manfrotto RC2 quick release, as used to fit and remove cameras from tripods. When you push the mounting plate on the light into the bracket, a spring-loaded latch closes automatically and holds the light firmly in place. It is, ahem, brilliantly convenient.

The mount has a 35mm handlebar clamp, with a shim to fit 31.8mm bars. That's a bit of a tell that Outbound specialises in mountain bike lights as 35mm is far more common on mountain bikes than road bikes. Outbound says shims for smaller handlebars are available, but for the cost of this light they really should be included in the package. To its credit, customer feedback on its site has several examples of Outbound sending free shims to people who forgot to order them with their light.

Getting the position of the Detour just right is tricky. There's a manual screw on the mount so you can loosen it to adjust the angle without having to mess with the main clamp, but it has teeth for grip so you can only change the angle in increments of a shade over eight degrees, which is the difference between it pointing mostly at the road in front of you and it lighting up roadside trees. I ended up carrying the included 2.5mm hex key so I could tweak the angle till I got it just so.

Charging

Outbound includes two USB-C cables to charge the unit, one with a USB-C plug at both ends and the other with good old USB-A.

As you charge the Detour, the four green LEDs on the top light up one at a time to animate 'filling' and show what's happening. When it's charged, all four glow. Outbound says it takes about two hours to reach 85%, then switches to trickle charge to protect the battery. I found all four LEDs came on after 2hrs 17mins using a three-amp USB-C PD power source. That's fast; high-power lights usually take three hours or more to take a full charge. Outbound cautions that it'll take a lot longer with power sources that don't put out as much current, so if you've got a drawer full of them, pick the highest-rated.

You can also charge the Detour from a 'power bank' battery pack while you ride, so if you need to extend the run-time for an all-nighter, you can. Again, go for a pack that can output three amps.

Value

There aren't many lights easily available in the UK with a beam pattern that's tailored for road riding. Most simply put a big blob of light out front.

Exposure's Strada lights are the obvious competitor, but they start at £265, though that price does include a charger and a remote switch.

The Light & Motion Seca Comp 2000 is similarly spendy at £255, and despite a few feature shortfalls puts out a lot of very useful light without dazzling oncoming road users (read Mike's review for more details).

If you want a light that's friendly to other road users for urban use, take a look at the £50 Gemini Atlas, which meets the German StVZO standard for its beam shape. Lezyne makes probably the largest range of StVZO lights easily available in the UK.

Who should buy the Outbound Lighting Detour?

If you love to ride at night and want a front light that reduces dazzle to other road users, this is a great light. Clever features like the mount, adaptive mode and the ability to run it off an external battery for longer life add to its appeal. The only major downside is that it's currently only available direct from the manufacturer, which adds £90 for shipping to the price.

Verdict

Excellent front light with dazzle-reducing shaped beam