Grinder Review: Helmet Lights Grouptest

Benji’s been busy with the testing of six lovely helmet lights. His three faves are featured in issue 71 (out now!); here’s the test in full for your reading pleasure.

Up until fairly recently, helmet lights for mountain biking at night were pretty much only really worth bothering with when used in conjunction with a decent handlebar-mounted system. The beams were either too weak, or too narrow. Even when used with a bar-mounted light, the weight of the lamps and mounts of old-style helmet lights made them uncomfortable to wear for prolonged periods as you had to wear your helmet uncomfortably tight to prevent the dreaded wobble. Nowadays though we’re living in a new, golden age of helmet lights. Modern systems are powerful enough to be used without a second, bar-mounted light. They’re light enough to be unnoticeably comfy to wear on your regular riding helmet, tightened up to its regular degree. They illuminate wherever you point your head. This is a great thing. Helmet lights have now attained a level of performance where if you were to tell us that we could only run a helmet light or a bar-mounted light, we’d opt for the helmet light. If you only want to run one light – or can only afford to run one light, they ain’t cheap are they? – then you should get a helmet light. Read on and figure out which one suits your needs…

Review Info