NiteRider Swift 450

Niterider's Swift 450 light is a decent step up in power output over the Swift 350 light we tested in 2016, and proves itself just as usable as its predecessor.

If you checked out George's review of the 350 last year, then prepared to be unsurprised. That light had a succinct verdict of: 'A strong performance at a good price', and that's exactly how I'm about to conclude this review – only with extra lumens under the hood.

Buy NiteRider Swift 450

That's been bumped by 100 lumens to a maximum output of 450 when plonked on the most powerful of five modes. You switch the light on by pressing the single button down for a second, which engages the setting you last left it on, but gives you access to the three brightness settings with further clicks that cycle round the modes. (100, 225 and 450 lumens).

One flashing mode is accessible if you hold the button down for three seconds, and in this second tier there's also a low-light version that shines at 25lm for up to 25 hours on a full charge, accessible by another single click. Pressing it again returns the light back to the first tier of three static light modes.

Battery levels are as good as or better than claimed. I ran it down in both the 100lm setting and the full beans 450lm setting. In 100lm mode I got around eight hours before it went into battery-help mode via a red LED in the button itself, and a further two and a half after that – not bad for a claimed nine hour life. The 450lm setting yielded just over the claimed 1hr 30min.

When the battery is charged to a reasonable level, the led shines blue, and flashes red when charging via its micro USB cable. If you want to avoid a nasty surprise when you dig around in your bag for the light and find it's been switched on and run itself out, you can 'lock' it by holding the button for seven seconds.

The beam is a good round shape, and easy to focus on the road in front of you. There's not an awful lot of bleed into the periphery, so like its predecessor I'd say it's not ideal for trails or fast (think high tempo riding), lonely deep night riding. That said, it's perfect for town cycling and areas with street lights, as well as commutes to and from the country.

Construction values remain the same – tough, and water-resistant to IP64 standard – while the bracket is fastened and comes away using a rubber strap that is easy to fix with the light in place.

Finally, you also need to know that the price has taken a £6 hike, but for the extra 100 lumens over the previous edition, I think that's a price worth paying, given the 80g weight and build quality have been retained.

Verdict

Wothwhile improvement on the previous version with decent beam and run times