Cygolite Dash 320 USB

With every new vehicle on the roads incorporating daytime running lights, is it time you did so on your bike? Well Cygolite certainly thinks so, which is why its Dash 320 front light has four of them, as well as a 320-lumen main LED. A well-built, solid body finishes the package.

Although 320 lumens doesn't sound that much these days, as the race for ever brighter lights continues to escalate, US brand Cygolite has achieved a lot with the 3W Cree LED housed within the Dash.

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ECO – or Enhanced Cycling Optics – makes all the difference. Basically Cygolite has used a diffused lens (similar to that used by Exposure on its Strada) to control the beam pattern. Take the light apart and remove it and the LED just sends out a huge round spot of light; stick the lens back over the top and you see the light focused more to the centre but rather than just round, it's stretched wide and relatively flat. True, it's got no upper cut-off as per German regulation lights, but it's not what I'd consider an issue.

Out on the road this beam is very usable, you've a good patch of light just where you need it to see where you're going, and you can set it far enough up the road to ride at speed while having enough light spill right in front of your tyre for close-up objects. The wide beam also means you're picking up the verge and gutter for drains, potholes and the like, offering an all-round special awareness.

It works well and its 320lm high output gives better clarity of vision than, say, the likes of the 1200-lumen Magicshine recently tested; the Dash is a much more usable light.

The issues with the Dash as a 'see by' light in the dark is that you have to have it on full for anything above 15mph, which limits you to jaunts of just over an hour. That and the stretchy bar mount strap, which is ideal on a rear light or a blinky designed for you to be seen by, but on a light that needs to be set pretty precise to enable rapid forward motion, not so great.

The problem is that it tends to let the light unit move around the bar quite a bit over road imperfections. It holds firm, you're not going to lose the Dash, but it can't stop slippage, which means you're constantly having to tweak its position as you ride. Not ideal if you hit a bump while descending and you end up illuminating the tree tops.

Those four LEDs along the top are the daytime running lights and they're more than just a gimmick. They are surprisingly bright for such dinky little things.

There are three daylight modes: the four LEDs on constant, okay but not that eye catching; the same array but on flash, brilliant on the open roads, especially out in the lanes on overcast days when they just give drivers that extra alert that you are there; and finally, the full monty – the main LED joins the flashing party. This gives you one of those 'I'm coming through' lights, ideal for commuters who do a lot of filtering; as you ride through the centre of queued and slowly moving traffic you can actually see them move towards the kerb, like that bloke who parted the sea.

Switching between modes is easy – well, in fact the whole light is simple to use and easy to grasp. It's a single-button operation: press and hold to turn on, press again to scroll through the modes, and press and hold to turn it off. It would be nice to have two separate groups of modes for daylight and night time, but hey, it's a 60 quid light.

You do get mode memory, which means no matter what setting you were in when you turned it off that'll be the one it comes back on in. The button is also a fuel/mode gauge, though there isn't any colour change, it's always green: a slow flash denotes you are in high mode, while all of the others are shown by a solid state, unless you have only 10 minutes of battery remaining, then you'll get rapid flashing before darkness.

Build quality and durability is where the Cycgolite Dash excels. The hard plastic body will take some abuse, and I don't mean just the odd drop, but full blown smashes to the ground (all in the name of testing obviously), where I could achieve little more than a few scuffs to the outside.

Water won't be getting in either. A full-on soaking from a bit of HGV drafting, which left me a soaking, shivering wreck for the next two hours, did nothing to dampen the Dash's spirits and it passed the usual shower and bath tests with flying colours.

> Check out our guide to the best front lights and our beam comparison engine

It's nice to see a light that you can actually take apart with real screws as well; whether replacement parts are available is another matter, but if your one-year warranty is up at least you can strip it down to repair it if you know what you're doing.

In conclusion, the Cygolite Dash is a great urban commuter light for day or night thanks to its waterproofing and 55-hour burn time on the flashing daylight running setting, with even 10 possible on the DayLightning mode – all five LEDs flashing.

Its short battery life discounts it as a main light for all but the shortest of rides, but it's great to have on your bar as a backup, especially on those summer nights when you might get caught out. It's so light you won't even notice it if you keep it in a pocket.

Verdict

Impressive beam and excellent build quality make up for short battery life – one for the urban commuters