Magicshine Allty 1000 DRL review

The Magicshine Allty 1000 DRL has the accolade of being a Red Dot Design Award winner (a celebrated international design competition) and that is apparent in its sleek profile, light weight and ease of operation.

• Best lights for road cycling
• Best lights for mountain biking

It is definitely not a case of style over substance though. The beam pattern, while not having the greatest reach, manages to still combine depth with a good spread of peripheral vision with lack of glare from the top of the light.

The beam spread is consistent with a gradual taper to the edge and it’s very easy on the eye to ride by. Despite the fact that, on paper, this isn’t the most powerful light for road or off-road, it turns in a good performance on both.

Cut-away edges on the housing allow for light visibility to the side.

There are five modes: High, Medium, Low, flashing and DRL (daylight running). The daylight running option is the strip that is visible across the top of the light. Cycling between them is simple enough and is operated via the single button on the top of the light, which is chunky enough to hit first time even with gloved or cold hands.

A double press switches from solid beam to flashing mode where there is then a further strobe option. The same button glows green, red or flashes red to signal roughly the amount of battery life remaining.

You will need a 4mm Allen key to fit the bracket, although if you have a Garmin mount already in place, this light will fit onto that too.

Attaching the light to the mount is a 90-degree twist and once done it is a solid setup that doesn’t move. A familiar issue that I’ve experienced with other lights that use the same twist-and-attach operation is that it can be hard to fit this close to the stem for a more central position.

Light and slender enough to consider running as a head lamp, there is a helmet mount available as an optional extra, together with an out-front mount too.

There are more powerful lights than this on the market and there are models with more features, modes or programmable complication. However, the Magicshine Allty 1000 DRL simply throws out a good quality beam that has a nice balance of depth and spread wherever you take it to ride, be that road, gravel or off road.

You can of course pay more for additional lumens (and you might need them depending on your riding), but the Allty 1000’s balanced performance will suit most riding, and at £70 / $85 it is good value.