The best bike lights in 2024, tried and tested | CNN Underscored

Best front bike light: Cygolite Dash 600

Best rear bike light: Cygolite Hotrod 120

The best bike lights aren’t simply one of the best cycling accessories, they’re one of the most essential too. Unlike cycling computers, phone mounts and fenders, which can make your ride more fun, comfortable and even competitive, great bike lights ensure that you can see the road ahead and that drivers can see you.

To help you find the best front and rear bike lights, I spoke with bike shop owners and mechanics for tips on what to consider when choosing a great bike light. I also put 14 popular bike light models to the test. Over the course of several months, I rode hundreds of miles with these lights, mostly through dark, bumpy and pothole-filled streets in New York City but also around suburban and rural roads in Wisconsin.

Whether you’re a die-hard mountain biker, road racer or a cool and casual electric bike rider, these are the best bike lights we’ve tested.

The Cygolite Dash 600 is an affordable, easy-to-use front light that wraps around your handlebars with an adjustable band. Its unique SteadyPulse light mode simultaneously casts a steady beam to illuminate the path while drawing attention to you with a flashing pulse.

The Cygolite Hotrod 120 is a small, simple-to-use and affordable rear light that wraps around your seatpost. Though it’s low in lumens, its unique cluster design makes it shockingly bright, in addition to being water-resistant.

The Cygolite Dash 600 hits pretty much every consideration that matters when choosing one of the best bike lights: it’s affordable, easy to use, effective and has a wide variety of light modes. It’s also available at 520 lumens if you want a bit less brightness and to save a few bucks.

The light’s band easily wraps around the front handlebars and various notches on the band allow you to customize the fit to prevent it from bouncing around. Thanks to this simple design, it was one of the easiest lights to mount we tested and one of the most stable. I’ve ridden hundreds of miles with this light — mostly on the bump- and pothole-filled New York City streets — and it securely stayed in place without having to readjust the angle much. I showed the light to one of my local mechanics at a Trek bike shop and he noted that the wrap-around notched bands usually do a better job of staying in place than clamp-on mounts that require slippery spacers, which have nothing to grip on. This has certainly proved true with the Dash 600.

In terms of light modes, the Cyoglite Dash 600 offers three day modes and five night modes, which are a mix of various light strengths, solid beams and flashing pulses. While most of the light modes are similar to every other bike light (high steady beam, low steady beam, high flashing, low flashing, etc.), Cygolite has a unique setting that distinguishes it from the rest.

Cygolite’s SteadyPulse light mode is a combination of a steady light and pulsed flashing and it is, hands down, my favorite feature. Solid, steady beams are crucial for you to see the road ahead and for cars to see you and track your presence as you move. Flashing lights can sometimes have too long of a pause between pulses, which could be just long enough for you to miss a pothole (or for a car to miss you). However, flashing lights are much more eye-catching so they better alert drivers to your presence.

Because both steady and pulsing lights are so important, Cygolite decided to combine the two into a single mode, and I’m not sure why more light manufacturers haven’t caught on yet. The Dash 600 has been a game changer for me, particularly when riding at home in New York City, where I’m surrounded by heavy traffic, competing lights and loads of bumps and potholes.

When using other front lights (including those tested for this piece), I have repeatedly hit bumps and potholes that have crept up during the dark pauses of flash modes. Constant illumination is crucial to see road hazards, but even the brightest steady beam can get drowned out when there’s enough traffic, such as the hundreds, if not thousands, of cars and emergency vehicles I’m competing with on every ride.

At 600 lumens, it’s in the mid-range in terms of overall brightness, but given how wide the beam is and how eye-catching the patterns are, it’s been more than enough for all sorts of evening riding. I probably wouldn’t recommend it for mountain biking at night (unless it were also paired with an additional stronger headlight), but it works perfectly for street riding.

Every product has its drawbacks and for the Cygolite Dash 600, that would be its limited battery life. Ranging from one hour and fifteen minutes (when on its highest steady setting, Boost) to 80 hours (just the quad LED lights flashing), the duration of its battery depends heavily on what mode you use. Several online reviewers complain about low battery life, but this hasn’t been my experience. Granted, the Cygolite has lower battery life than some of the other contenders on this list, ranking in the bottom half.

During my testing, when powered on its high beam, the battery lasts about an hour, and when on low, it lasts about 10, compared to most other lights getting at least 8 to 11 hours on the lower settings. I typically get 2 to 3 hours per charge and I rotate between the middle and highest settings. As for other users who report lower battery run time, I can’t help but wonder if they may have unknowingly had the light turned on when the light was being stored or transported.

This light does not have a lock function, so if you throw it in your bag or the back of a shelf and it gets knocked around, the light could turn on itself and eat up the battery. The daylight and flashing modes I use during the day last 10 to 80 hours, and the SteadyPulse mode (which I use at night), lasts about three hours, so I charged it every few weeks.

If run time is the most important factor to you, then the Cygolite Dash 600 may not be the best fit, but if you want an affordable, easy-to-install light with unique and highly effective flash patterns, then the Cygolite Dash 600 is the light for you.

The Cygolite Hotrod 120 hits all the major considerations of a great bike light: it’s easy to use, incredibly bright, long-lasting and extremely affordable. It also comes in 50 lumens and 90 lumens, if you want something cheaper and less bright, though we probably wouldn’t recommend using such a low-lumen light as a primary light unless it was also paired with a secondary rear light.

The 120-lumen version is our top pick, but don’t let the relatively low lumen count fool you, as the Hotrod’s unique design means the little lights are working smarter, not harder, to create a much brighter illumination than you’d expect from 120 lumens. Essentially, it’s the Hotrod’s elegant design that allows it to shine so brightly. The light appears to be even brighter — and has much better lateral illumination — than some of the other lights tested, including some that are two to three times the price.

Instead of using a single large LED, the Hotrod clusters 20 tightly packed LEDs within a single enclosure, emitting a shockingly bright and well-dispersed illumination for such a small and low-lumen light. In addition to appearing brighter and better dispersed than more expensive lights, Cygolite also equipped the Hotrod with its SteadyPulse technology, which means the eye-catching pulsing light attracts the attention of drivers, while the steady beam allows them to track your path.

In terms of run time, another crucial factor in determining the best bike light, the Hotrod 120 falls somewhere in the middle of the pack, but given its ultra-low price (which is also paired with other fantastic features), we think the light more than makes up for it. When on its lowest setting (a low, steady pulse), the light can last up to 70 hours, but if you’re using it on a high steady pulse, it will only last about an hour and fifteen minutes. At night, SteadyPulse is my favorite setting, and it lasts about 5 hours. During the day, I keep it on a low flash, which lasts about 30 hours. Again, this is in the mid-range of the pack, but for $39, I’m not sure you can find better.

A strong elastic band makes it easy to wrap the light around the rear seat post, while deep hooks on the band ensure the light stays in place even when riding over rough terrain. The band design is much easier to use than some of the other models tested, which rely on finicky O-bands.

The light is extremely lightweight and portable (35 grams and only 3.5-by-1 inches), making it also great for travel (I’ve thrown it in my luggage and brought it on a couple of trips to use with rental bikes in other cities). Though the light is specifically made to attach to a rear seatpost, it’s thin enough to strap onto the back of a helmet.

The light is easy to turn on and off so you don’t have to struggle to hold the button down forever to activate it, and depending on your bike (and your arm flexibility), you may even be able to reach the light to adjust to different modes while riding. Once you find a light mode you like, the memory saves the mode so that even if you turn off the light, it will revert to that mode the next time you turn it on.

The main downside of this light is that, despite being water-resistant, the USB port cover doesn’t always seal very well. I got it to seal but struggled to get the cap fully in there. If you’re riding in good weather, this probably isn’t a problem, but if you tend to ride in the rain, this could be an issue, as water could get into the USB port. If it does, you’ll need to take the light apart and let it dry out. To prevent this from happening, ensure the seal is secure and have the seal facing toward the ground, where it’s less likely for water to seep into the port.

To determine which headlights and taillights are worth adding to your bike, we put 14 top-selling models through a series of tests, evaluating them on their design, performance and ease of use. Here are all the tests we ran for each light:

As the saying goes, safety first, so let’s start with the basics of bike lights. Jenna Majchrzak, of Tucson, Arizona’s Transit Cycles explains that because Tucson is a Dark Sky City, commuters need to be bright so they can cycle safely. But this logic applies wherever you’re riding.

When choosing new bike lights Majchrzak says shoppers should first consider the light’s power source. She explains that some very inexpensive lights may run on AA or AAA batteries (or even off hard-to-find coin batteries), while USB rechargeable lights will cost a little more upfront. However, she says that rechargeable lights will save money in the long run and eliminate the need for trips to the gas station for disposable batteries.

“Here in Tucson, to stay safe and within the law, we need to ride with a headlight and a tail light before dawn and after sunset,” Majchrzak says. Most modern lights come with their own charging cables, usually a USB Mini, Micro-USB or USB-C and Majchrzak suggests keeping these cables at work or with your bicycle’s repair kit so you’re never caught out in the dark. She also suggests wearing light-colored or reflective clothing at night and getting a dynamic reflector that moves on the bike.

Jimmy Revard, co-owner of The Bike Line bike shop in Indianapolis suggests a minimum of 200 lumens for rear lights and 500 for front lights. He also notes that a front light’s beam should be slightly angled towards the ground and not straight out in front of you, which could be blinding to approaching cyclists. “Your 1000+ lumen products are best for off-road applications, like mountain biking through pitch-black trails,” he says. “They can also be used in the city, just be courteous of oncoming pedestrian traffic and people on bicycles coming towards you.”

While the pulse pattern may not be the most important consideration when choosing tail (rear) lights, Revard says it’s notable. “The more unusual the flash, the more noticeable it’s going to be for motorists, so I’d get something with a funky flash.”

Revard also recommends considering getting multiple lights for the front and back because “you can’t be too visible on the bike, so the more flashers and lights you have, the better.” He often sees cyclists place one set of front and rear lights on their bikes, along with additional lights on their helmets or backpacks.

To maximize visibility, Revard suggests getting a nice bright headlight that puts out a strong, steady beam, along with a separate front light that flashes to better capture the attention of drivers.

This is a fantastic light, but its high price and unsteady mounting in stock form knocked it down.

Like many front lights, the Bontrager Ion Pro can be installed on the handlebars with its wrap-around twist mount and can be quickly removed by sliding it off. What’s nice about this light is that if you don’t care for the twist and clamp mount (which I don’t), you can swap it out for a wrap-around band, which is what I did. Even with spacers, the clamp mount bounced around a bit, but this issue was eliminated when I swapped it out for the notched band, which also has the quick-release light lever.

I’ve regularly used this light for over a year and, despite countless drops, it still shines as brightly as it did on day one. It didn’t get one of the top spots because you shouldn’t have to buy a separate mount to eliminate the bounce, especially at its price point.

This light is a little hard to mount, and it fell off several times.

In addition to being able to wrap the Knog Blinder 1300 around handlebars (which is the most standard method of mounting), this light can also be mounted onto a GoPro mount. It produces a nice clear beam of light, but the mount is much harder to use than most wrap-around mounts, where you typically slide the light in and out to attach and detach it.

Rather, the Blinder 1300 rests in a little boat-like mount where you have to pull back the side lever to wiggle the light in and out. It was hard to tell if the light was sufficiently pressed down into the mount because it didn’t click into place or give any indication of when the light was firm and safe. As such, there were several times when I thought I had locked it in place, only for it to fall off. In one instance, I was riding quite fast and hit a small bump and the light fell and I ran over it.

I couldn't tighten this light down as much as I wanted to, which meant it bounced around.

This light has a strong, clear beam and some of the best lateral visibility of all the lights we tested. It’s affordable, easy to use and simple to strap on and off the bike. The main reason it wasn’t considered one of the best is that despite the light being easy to attach to the handlebars, the strap wasn’t as effective. Unlike other bands, which typically include numerous notches so you can customize the fit, Portland Design Works utilizes a single latch design that doesn’t allow you to tighten it as precisely as notched versions do. As such, I couldn’t secure it sufficiently so it kept bouncing downward when I hit bumps. Instead of illuminating the road ahead and alerting cars to my presence, it only shined immediately down in front of my tire.

A potential budget pick, this light is a little hard to turn off, and it doesn't have Cygolite's SteadyPulse.

The Swift 300 is a highly affordable light that produces a clear, strong beam. It has a handy lock mode feature that prevents your light from inadvertently getting turned on and running through its battery life when it’s being transported or stored. The light easily wraps around front handlebars and its notched band allows for a precise fit so the light doesn’t bounce around.

The main challenge with this light is that it requires quite a bit of thumb strength to operate. To turn off the light, you need to press the button firmly and hold it for several seconds. I found this uncomfortable, as my thumb felt somewhat cramped, and I suspect it could be very challenging for people with arthritis or weak fingers. If that isn’t an issue for you, it could be a convincing budget pick, but it doesn’t have the nifty SteadyPulse of the Cygolite.

Similar to many other lights I tested, this light couldn't be secured tight enough and bounced around during rides.

In addition to standard above-handlebars mounting, the NiteRider Lumina Micro 900 can be mounted below the handlebars, which could prove handy should you have a second light, computer or phone mount eating up space on top. The wrap-around band can stay mounted on the handlebars while you quickly remove the light with a lever, which is a handy feature that can help prevent theft.

Like the NiteRider Swift 300, quite a bit of finger strength is required to turn off the light, which I found uncomfortable. Furthermore, even when using spacers in the band, I wasn’t able to find a tight enough fit so the light bounced around a bit and wound up facing downward when I ran over bumps and potholes.

This light might be too bright for urban settings, but the biggest reason it fell out of contention was its long duration between flashes.

The first thing you’ll notice about this light is how heavy it is. Unless you’re counting grams for your next race, this may not matter, but with the bulk comes a beefiness that makes this light feel indestructible. The light is extremely bright (perhaps even too bright for some), and it casts a wide beam, but I was disappointed with the flash settings, which I believe reduces overall visibility. There were long dark pauses between flashes, during which time you can’t see the road. The pause may be only one or two seconds but if you’re riding fast, that’s enough time to creep up and run into a pothole before the next flash hits.

This rear light is a great pick if you want maximum visibility, but it's a bit more annoying to strap on and charge.

This large and in-charge taillight outshines — quite literally — the competition with an arresting 470 lumens. It also has the best lateral visibility, offering a whopping 330 degrees of illumination. The light is fully waterproof, has great flash patterns and is available in two smaller sizes — small and mid — should you not want (or your seat post be unable to accommodate) the larger version. Knog also offers a Modemaker feature that allows you to tailor light modes on the Big Cobber to your desired brightness, runtime and patterns.

That said, the O-rings used to strap the light to the seat post are more annoying to use than wrap-around bands, particularly if you’re wearing gloves or have long fingernails. Additionally, the light’s cableless charging is quite a polarizing feature. Some riders love it because you don’t have to carry around a cable to charge it, however, charging it does require a USB port, which some new laptops, like my MacBook Air, don’t even have. The charging process is also a bit clunky, requiring you to slide off a back panel that is sometimes hard to move.

This featured light offers really good visibility but is probably too expensive for most.

Though this light is a bit pricier than most rear lights, it comes with a gang of fun features that other models can’t claim. You can easily mount this light on a seat post (and slide it off with a quarter turn while leaving the mount in place), or use the handy attachment provided to mount the light below your saddle.

In addition to beaming straight back and out, this taillight casts a beam onto the ground, delivering 260-degree visibility, which is very good, though not as strong and not providing as much lateral illumination as the Big Cobber. That said, the light also offers cool features like an ambient light sensor (which adjusts to the outdoor lighting) and brake detection (automatically getting brighter and flashing more quickly when you brake), which are big perks for some, but also potential drawbacks for riders who may not want the light to automatically dim on a bright day.

This light was a bit too dim compared to others we tested.

Easily wrapping around your seat post, this affordable light is simple to use, highly effective and offers six various light modes. It also comes with a handy slanted mount so that, when mounted to a slanted seat post, the light shines directly out toward cars, versus slanting too far down toward the road. The aero-shape of this light casts light out in all illumination but given its lower number of lumens, it can’t be seen as easily from far distances.

This light wasn't better than others in its price range, and after testing it wasn't able to charge again.

This light performs all the basics well, and it also has an eye-catching steady/flash combo light mode that does a better job of drawing the attention of drivers than many other lights. The silicone strap wraps around the seat post (although the thin strap is harder to mount than lights with thicker bands), and it also includes a clip to mount the light to Topeak bags.

However, the Taillux 100 doesn’t have any bells and whistles and doesn’t outperform similar, more affordable lights. Additionally, after running the battery down a few times, I couldn’t recharge it again, despite attempting with various cables and outlets.

This light is a bit too dim and too expensive for most, but it can be good for some.

The Bontrager Flare RT is pretty effective for being the lowest illumination on the list, but, at 90 lumens, it is probably not sufficient for riding on dark country roads or highways where traffic is quickly approaching. The light quickly and easily wraps around the seat post and you can also slide the light off the mount with a quick-release latch, but the process isn’t as smooth as the Magishine twist.

That said, the light is so small and light that I just unwrapped the entire thing instead of sliding off the light (which makes it great for travel). The price is higher than others with similar lumens, but it has the bonus of connecting with Garmin and Bontrager ANT+ devices for battery status and control.

We really liked this high-tech rear light, which uses radar to alert you of vehicles behind you. We just wish the light itself was brighter.

When it comes to high-tech safety features, this light knocks all the other taillights out of the park. Embedded rearview radar in this taillight provides awareness of vehicles approaching from behind up to 140 meters (460 feet) away, alerting you either through a Garmin computer/smartwatch or through a phone app (in which case, you’ll need a phone mount on your handlebars). The small silicone bands that hold the mount in place are harder to get out of the mount to remove the light than are the wrap-around band lights.

Once you have it on, though, you can easily twist off the light and leave the mount on. Despite the higher price tag (which is worth it if you want or need the fancy radar tracking), it didn’t earn a top spot because the light itself is weak (only 65 lumens) and lacks lateral illumination. If paired with a second rear light, it could be a strong combo.