In a nutshell, I need a front light for getting from my house to the trails. I don’t expect that I will be using it for off road duties, I have other lights for that. The no-brainer would be to just buy an Exposure Strada light, but the prices in these are a bit rich for my blood.

On my commuter, I have a B&M STVZO approved dynamo light, pushing out about 60 lux. This is adequate for commuting duties, where speeds are usually in the 25 to 35 km/h range.
I know that B&M make battery powered lights too, but they are quite expensive, and look like they were designed by a half-blind bricklayer.

The Lezyne 115 PRO STVZO lights, on the other hand… they look pretty sleek, don’t weigh too much, and have decent runtime. Even if you go for the Lite models. But do they work? There are not many reviews around, and I am slightly worried that the rubber strap mount is going to annoy me too much.

Does anyone have some real life experience with these lights?

In true STW style, I cannot tell you about the one you want feedback on, but can about another… 🙂

I just took delivery of a Gemini Atlas 500 for similar duties. I tried it out last night…does the job and decent run-time promised.

It is a rebranded Xanes apparently, so you may get it cheaper from China than the £35 from CRC/Wiggle at the moment.

I bought a Light Drive Pro 80 and a Hecto Drive 40 last year because they were about £10 a pop on Amazon. Different lights, but I suspect the issues I have with them also affect the 115.

Firstly, the bar clamp is truly terrible. It’s a hopeless design: extremely hard to attach at all, because you have to pull the band very tight and hook it back on itself in an awkward place right under the body of the light, let alone to attach with the light angled at the correct level (obviously StVZO lights are very picky about the angle: too high and you defy the point of them, too low and you lose throw rapidly). If I was ever going to use it I’d replace the clamp with a bolt-on one (you can unscrew the clamp from the body and replace it).

Secondly, the battery life is nothing like Lezyne’s claims. I get about 60% of the quoted runtime. Add this to the fact that the only other Lezyne light I’ve ever bought died in the rain on its first ride and I’m unimpressed with Lezyne’s build quality.

It’s kind of a shame because the beam on the 80 is actually good: it’s got decent throw and width as well as being pretty smooth and artifact-free. From your description it sounds like you have the original Cyo, and it’s definitely a noticeable improvement over that (but then the same can be said of the Cyo Premium, Luxos, IQ-X and IQ-XS). The 115, you’d think, would be better still.

However the two flaws above make them borderline unusable for me. I’ve occasionally used the Hecto on the Brompton but that’s all. I’d have bought a better clamp for the 80, but with the feeble runtime it’s not worth it, so they’re just sitting on a shelf.

Ravemen PR900 might be a good option if you want something that isn’t going to dazzle drivers.
Long-link shortened…

I’ve got the 1600, and I think they are great lights – good lighting pattern, well made, good mount and you can use the light as a powerbank too.

Or for a proper STVZO light there are plenty of options that don’t cost a lot. You don’t seem too keen on the B&M ones, but they are pretty well priced & does it really matter what the look like if you’re riding in the dark?

30 Lux with a built in battery for Eur,35
https://r2-bike.com/BUSCH-MUeLLER-LED-Akku-Scheinwerfer-IXON-Fyre-StVZO_1

50 Lux with built in battery for Eur,41
https://r2-bike.com/BUSCH-MUeLLER-LED-Battery-Front-Light-IXON-Core-StVZO

80 Lux for Eur,50 but you’ll need rechargeable batteries for that – so probably another tenner.
https://r2-bike.com/BUSCH-MUeLLER-LED-headlamp-battery-operated-IXON-IQ-Premium-StVZO

+1 PR900 (and higher)

great road-specific light with (almost unique?) added versatility (two emitters, one for road – one for high beam/unlit/light offroad)

Unit also doubles up as a USB powerbank. Choice of mounts available (thumbwheel or hex bolt)

Just waiting for a third party fork-crown bracket to arrive as my experiments in the garden show that a double-bonus is achieved when mounted at the crown.

1. Shallower angle enables shadow-cast to highlight appreciably more imperfections in road/trail as opposed to unit mounted on bar-tops

2. Leaves more room on bars for snack pod 😎

Firstly, the bar clamp is truly terrible. It’s a hopeless design: extremely hard to attach at all, because you have to pull the band very tight and hook it back on itself in an awkward place right under the body of the light,

This used to annoy me about my Leyzne light until I worked out that the reason the light rotates on its mount is so that you can move it out of the way to do the strap up. Not idea but way better than me struggling with it. May not work for a light that is sensitive to angle and placement etc.

Potentially a bit OT if stuff needs to be STVZO compliant (used in Germany?) but I’ve been using the Lezyne Hecto Drive (with KTV drive for rear) on a daily basis for years and I’m pretty happy with it, rubber mount is fine and relatively easy to use – I even purchased a spare one to make a quick release pannier rack, the runtimes are not quite as advertised – especially after a couple years of use but they are still decent. On the brighter modes can get by as a backup off-road light.

I’ve got the B&M IXON core on 2 different bikes, and whilst they are but ugly the beam shape is spot on, has a bit of side visibility, plenty bright enough to see 10m or so ahead and they have survived a few winters of all weather commutes.

Some reading here (since before the 1200 and 1600 models) also CR models (smaller, lighter, proper mount yet still road specific)

https://forums.mtbr.com/lights-night-riding/ravemen-cut-off-beam-lights-1033204.html

And review for the 1200

https://road.cc/content/review/221409-ravemen-pr1200-usb-rechargeable-dualens-front-light

Some good advice here, I appreciate it a lot!

I actually have a Lezyne light already, and as you say, the run times are very optimistic. The rubber band mount is okay on the road, but whenever I venture onto gravel or singletrack, it could be a problem.

I primarily go for STVZO lights on the road, because then the light is where I need it, not wasted on trees, hedges, the moon, truckdriver’s eyes, and what have you. I live in Denmark, so there are no legal problems using something else.

The Ravemen lights look interesting, and seem to get good reviews. I will look further into those models.

Regarding the B&M lights and their appearance. I know it shouldn’t matter as long as they provide great light, but they really make my eyes hurt…

I wrote a mini-review of the ravemen PR1600 when I got mine as there didn’t seem to be much information out there about it at the time:

Ravemen PR1600 bike light – Mini Review

The B&M Ixon Core is a neat little light, but not quite bright enough for fast riding on unlit roads in my experience. It is a rather narrow beam.

Worth a look at the Fenix bike lights as well. Not STVZO, but they have a decent shaped beam for on road. I’m using a Fenix BC21R. Bright enough for road riding. Usually only need low to medium power, so pretty good battery life.
The bar mount is a bit wobbly, but that seems to be improved with the newer versions.

i use these https://www.aldi.co.uk/front-%26-rear-bike-light-set/p/017096282743300 on the road, just need to wait for the next aldi bike sale. They are exactly the same as a lezyne light I used to have and much cheaper.

I have an older lezyne light, it’s very bright and appears well made.
It does give the advertised run time.
But, and it is actually a big but, the indicator shows 50% battery after 10 mins of runtime, regardless of power level, leading you to think your battery is about to cut out at any moment.
As a result, I wouldn’t buy another lezyne product.

Thanks for all the great advise, people… I ended up ordering a Ravemen PR1600 and an extra mount for my hardtail. I really hope the package will show up soon! 🙂