Moon X1300

The clamp of the Moon’s diminuitive head unit is a simple rubber strap that allows a small amount of side-to-side adjustment. Output on full power (or ‘overdrive’) is really good. There’s an obvious spot in the middle of the beam with a large less-bright but still very useable halo around it. The light is very white and the output is still pretty good at the high and medium settings. Low and flashing settings are good for commuting and there’s even a Morse code SOS setting if you’re particularly unlucky…

Burn time wasn’t much less than the manufacturer’s claims – 1hr 40min on overdrive, 2hr 30min on high. If you want more you can get additional or extended batteries.

In addition to the colour-changing, battery life-indicating button on the lamp itself, there’s a line of small red LEDs on the battery pack that will tell you how the battery is doing. These can also be lit permanently so you can use it as a rear light, which is neat, as is the USB port which can power another device, e.g. GPS or mobile phone.

Due to the small physical size and big output, the lamp gets very hot. It detects when it overheats and will reduce its output accordingly but whether or not you want this to happen is down to you… A light going dim during a technical section wouldn’t be entirely helpful but if it protects the light from damage, I guess it’s a good thing on balance.

Overall: Well-designed light with punchy output, clever features and all the extras you’ll probably need. The battery is particularly well thought-out. Just let the lamp cool down before touching it…

Review Info