Light & Motion Urban 1000 review

The Light & Motion Urban 1000 is a very compact front light that has great safety features that'll suit many types of commutes and commuters.

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Costing well under £100, though still fairly expensive for only a front light, the Light & Motion Urban 1000 sits at the top end of lights available for road riding. Of course you can get more expensive lights but those are designed for off-road or pure unlit road riding in the country.

So if your rides consist of a good mix of lit and unlit rides read on, as this Light & Motion Urban 1000 should be top of your list.

One of the key features of the Urban 1000 is, you guessed it, the 1000 lumen max output which will see you for a good 1.5 hours. This will be plenty of power to see you through the darkest of lanes if your ride takes you that way. The beam has a good focused point and floods out nicely to help see some periphery bits of road.

Heading out of the dark lanes into the city you'll have three other choices of light modes. Medium, which is 500 lumens, low which is 250 and pulse mode. That pulse mode lasts a staggering 12 hours and pulses between 250 and 500 lumens and emits a burst of 1,000 lumens every seven to eight seconds. This is designed not only to help you to be seen but helps other road users' depth perception enabling them to better gauge how far away or how close you are.

It really does work well and it's something I'll use in town all the time.

The Light & Motion Urban 1000 also has two side indicators so that you can be easily spotted side on. I wasn't sure how effective two small dots on either side are but anything that improves an otherwise dark spot is good in my eyes.

Overall the unit is compact and relatively lightweight at 121g. It'll take up to six hours to fully charge via its micro USB charger underneath the light. This is a little fiddly and awkward to get to with the mount predominately fixed on.

The mount itself is also a little fiddly: the tough rubber strap doesn't stretch and is awkward to get into place, especially on aero handlebars. It isn't very quick release either. However, the mount does swivel, so it can be placed at multiple points.