Moon Mask 5 LED Front Light

Form definitely meets function with the Moon Mask 5.0 LED, which claims to delivers a whopping 70 lumens in the highest of five modes-just enough for tackling well surfaced lanes at 20 odd mph and a real boon for roadside repair, pannier rummaging and map reading. It certainly gave a punch performance in our beam test and the stats seem to bear that out too.

A red pulsing light indicates low battery giving the option of charging home in twenty minutes, or toggling to economy settings as conditions dictate. Fully charged in two hours, it shouldn't attract unwanted attention from the office snitch and forgetful folks can sleep soundly in the knowledge intelligent charging prevents the 3.7 volt lithium polymer battery from being boiled within an inch of it's five year life expectancy...

However, it's a little thirsty in the higher settings beyond point-to-point commutes/training runs. Essentially the Moon Mask takes the alternative approach to run time over output than something like the similarly priced Cateye Jido which runs for much longer but also puts out less light. Either approach works, it simply depends on which works best for the type of riding you do. The Moon Mask's potential drawback is that if you are running it at it's brightest setting most of the time you need to remember to keep it charged up, and while the short charge cable is cosy beside the laptop or tablet, plugging into the desktop tower could leave it vulnerable to careless size nines.

Measuring a diminutive 6x3 by 5x1 the Mask earns its moniker from the option of aftermarket top caps for the last word in personalisation. I understand the appeal but will pass at £12 a pop. More impressive are the five Nichia LEDs developed for optimum front and peripheral illumination, which project a razor sharp beam of light that seems particularly potent when performing tricky right turns. Driver acknowledgement is to a grin inducing 550 metres, dropping to around 350 through congested town centre rush hour traffic.

Thanks to the clever rubberised strap mount that seems a genuinely universal fit to 30.8 bulge diameters although it struggled a bit on some oversize bars, it can also be persuaded atop a helmet. Choosing this option seemed to increase its efficiency-encouraging myopic drivers to dip their lights sooner while discouraging some of that all too familiar casual indifference shown by larger vehicles when crossing staggered junctions.

Switching between modes, is easy wearing full-weight winter gloves and on the fly. Run times seem broadly faithful to the blurb, unaffected by plummeting temperatures and delivering a consistent 2 hours 47mins, 5 hours 50 and 8 hours 24 (mins) in high, strobe and flashing respectively.

Verdict

Extremely bright safety/town light a longer charge cable would be good though