Moon Rigel Max

The Moon Rigel Max is great for riding in the dark, and comes at an equally great price. Providing up to 1,500 lumens, this powerful light will ensure you can see ahead clearly as well as be seen by other road users. The run-time in its highest mode is a bit short, though, and choosing from all the settings can be a little fiddly. Also, although the light comes with a helmet mount, I found it a bit heavy to be used like this comfortably for very long.

For more options, check out our guide to the best front bike lights.

Mounts

The Rigel Max comes with a bar mount, a helmet mount and an adaptor for a GoPro mount. I used the bar mount the most; the light itself is 144g and felt a bit heavy when mounted onto my helmet – it was comfortable for a short amount of time but my neck felt a little stiff further into a ride.

2024 Moon Rigel Max 1500lm - base.jpg (credit: road.cc)

Although well made and secure feeling, the helmet mount won't fit all helmets – especially not aero road ones. You'll need a well-vented lid to be able to attach the Velcro strap of the mount.

The bar mount was easy to fit, and the light itself twists into it securely. It was very sturdy and didn't move at all once fixed in, even on gravel rides.

2024 Moon Rigel Max 1500lm - mount.jpg (credit: road.cc)

Modes

There are six default modes to select from: two solid, '1 and 2', and four flashing, including a day flash and an SOS. A double-click of the on/off switch changes from the solid modes to the flashing and back again, so there's no cycling through the flashing modes if you're swapping between high and low at night, for example.

The flashing settings are helpful for being seen in street-lit areas or during the day, but for night rides my main focus was on the two constant beams of 1,500 and 500 lumens.

When out in the countryside at night, where street lighting isn't commonplace, I found the Moon Rigel Max really impressive. I could clearly see the road ahead of me, and other people – including pedestrians in all black clothing.

I think it also made a big difference knowing road users were aware of me, helping me to feel much safer.

To make the most out of the battery I would use the highest constant mode 1, which pumps out 1,500 lumens, in the countryside and on poorly lit streets, and switch to the 500-lumen mode 2 in villages and towns with street lighting.

With a run-time of just 1:30hrs for mode 1, swapping between the two solid modes helped me extend the battery life; an hour and a half isn't really long enough, for my liking, but this helped.

The flashing settings for low-light days were also good, and definitely made other road users aware of my presence.

A memory function means the light turns back on in the last-used mode.

Other settings

The light also has an 'Intelligent' function – where it'll turn to standby (off) during the day, and come on automatically at night or when it deems it's dark enough during the day. Note that unless it's dark enough, during the day it will only work on the 80-lumen SOS setting... If it's raining, foggy, snowing or hailing, I like to use my front light on a brighter setting. If you want to be able to use more than just the SOS mode, you have to make sure the light isn't in intelligent mode during the day.

It also has a 'parking' sensor, meaning it'll turn off or reduce output when it detects there's been no movement.

And then – yes, there's more! – it has a 'Variable lumen system' or VLS; here you can set your own preferred levels for the modes, to a maximum of 1,500 lumens – so the 500-lumen mode 2 could be brighter – or dimmer – to suit your requirements.

To be honest, having to press and hold for various seconds for these functions could be a bit annoying, as the button is quite sensitive, and so I stuck to the defaults.

2024 Moon Rigel Max 1500lm - top.jpg (credit: road.cc)

For example, sometimes holding the on/off button for the one second needed to turn it on wouldn't work if it wasn't exactly one second, so I had to try it a few times, especially at the beginning, to get the timing right.

And to use the intelligent function you need to hold the on/off button for three seconds. Then six seconds for lock/unlock, 10 seconds for VLS...

When riding along and wearing big gloves it can be hard to be as accurate as needed, with the one button to get to the right setting; I felt maybe Moon could have specific buttons for some of this. It was all just a bit too fiddly for my liking.

Not dazzled...

Another thing I didn't find so good was the 'rotatable anti-dazzling lens'. It looks a neat design – if you choose to mount the light upside down using the GoPro adaptor you can swap the lens around – but although it cuts down glare for oncoming road users, it reflected light back towards me from the top of the thick lens. This meant I couldn't see as clearly as the light ended up dazzling me. I angled the light down, which improved things slightly but not completely.

2024 Moon Rigel Max 1500lm - 2.jpg (credit: road.cc)

Having tried it, I then opted to ride without, and removed it completely. I felt that angling the light slightly downwards prevented other road users being dazzled, or switching to a lower setting.

Charging

Charging takes around three hours from dead to full, which isn't too bad given the max lumens. You even get a USB-C cable included to do this, which isn't always the case.

2024 Moon Rigel Max 1500lm - USB port.jpg (credit: road.cc)

The USB port is water resistant, and the light itself has a rating of IPX7. I used it during Storm Bert and during torrential rain and snow in Norway, and had no issues whatsoever.

Value

Looking at other lights we've reviewed this winter, I think the Moon is good value, given its output, sleek design, and extras like the mounts and even a charging cable.

The NiteRider Lumina Pro 1200, for example, is less powerful but costs £129.99, and even though the Zefal Supervision F1500 has come down in price since Josh reviewed it, it's still £20 more than the Moon – and heavier (though you do get a slightly longer run-time in the highest setting).

Josh did think the also-£79.99 Magicshine EVO 1300 was excellent; but you're losing 200 lumens in the max mode there.

Conclusion

All in all, I really like this light. It's very bright and offers great visibility when it's really dark out, especially in the highest mode. The biggest drawback for me is that 1:30hrs just isn't long enough in that mode; I would really like to see an extra 30 minutes, or even double. I'm also not convinced by all the settings, which for me just aren't needed and are fiddly to use.

Overall, though, it's a solid option at a good price, if best suited to short rides or commuting rather than long night rides.

Verdict

Good, well-priced option, best suited to shorter rides and commutes