Cateye AMPP 1700 light review

SQUIRREL_13121949

The Cateye AMPP 1700 front light offers a high output, although it’s a little larger and heavier than some lights with equivalent output.

It's made from a durable alloy and the beam pattern inspires confidence when riding at night.

However, the runtime is one of the shortest of the lights I've reviewed this year and the price of £140 / $150 / €160 is at the higher end of the market.

Cateye AMPP 1700 specifications and details

Nominally, the joint brightest light of the batch I've tested this year, the Cateye AMPP 1700 is also marginally the heaviest and has one of the largest form factors. It offers four constant and two flashing modes.

While many of the best bike lights split the flashing and constant modes so they form different menus, the AMPP 1700 cycles through five of the six modes as you press the control button.

A double-tap activates the 1,700-lumen Ultra Boost mode, reducing the claimed runtime to 1hr 25mins. There’s a 2,200-lumen light with the same shape if you want more illumination, although this reduces the stated runtime at peak output to only one hour.

The Cateye AMPP 1700 is IPX4-rated against water ingress. It’s the only light on test with a ‘Hot’ warning sticker attached, indicating the body is designed to diffuse heat.

Cateye AMPP 1700 performance

The AMPP 1700 attaches to the handlebar using Cateye’s slide-in FlexTight mount, which has a plastic zip-tie like band tightened by a threaded plastic nut.

The days of lights wobbling as you ride thankfully seem to have passed, but Cateye’s system feels a bit more secure than a rubber strap mount and makes it easy to remove your light and replace it.

There’s a good flood of light from the single LED in the higher constant-output modes. Peripheral illumination is good with a more intense central spot and no obvious break point between the two.

It’s a good beam pattern to give confidence when riding on trickier roads and for off-road excursions. Road riders will appreciate the large side windows for side-on visibility.

The top mode, in theory, provides one of the highest light outputs on test. In practice, I didn’t find it significantly brighter than the majority of the other lights I reviewed though.

It also gave one of the shortest runtimes of the six lights tested, at 1hr 40mins.

When I wanted to change mode, I found having to cycle through all five modes, including flashing, a little fiddly – it would be nice to see Cateye hive off the flashing modes and perhaps reduce the number of constant options, to make riding at night a little easier.

Double-tapping to select the brightest Ultra Boost mode is a useful shortcut though, and the mode memory means you could effectively toggle between this and your chosen lower output level, operating the light as a high-beam/low-beam duo.

The IPX4 waterproof rating is a little lower than other lights on test, indicating protection from light splashes.

It’s probably fine for most rides, but might be a cause for concern if you get caught riding in a deluge – just don’t wash your bike with the light still attached.

Some of the lights I've tested are IPX7-rated, meaning they can survive immersion in a metre of water for 30 minutes.

Price-wise, the AMPP 1700 is significantly more expensive than many lights with the same output and, although well built, I didn’t feel its performance merited the premium over its competitors.

Cateye AMPP 1700 bottom line

Cateye gives you plenty of illumination, with a good beam pattern that mixes a bright central spot with peripheral lighting.

The AMPP 1700’s form factor is a little larger than some and its weight higher, while the 1hr 25mins runtime is slightly disappointing.

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