One23’s Extreme Bright 1000 offers a load of lumens for not a lot of cash but isn’t without its flaws.

On the surface the One23 Extreme Bright 1000 has all the hallmarks of a good light. It’s a good price and the plentiful light output and four hour burn time stack up in its favour. But it’s flawed in several key areas.

When it first arrived, we thought it would make the perfect helmet light. It’s compact and light and the output would nicely complement a more powerful handlebar mounted light. But it doesn’t come with a helmet mount, just a head strap that’s too short to wrap round a helmet. You could butcher the head strap by cutting off the fabric and attaching the mount with zip ties, but it’d be a bit of a bodge, to say the least.

Your only out-of-the box choice then is to mount on the handlebars. The simple clamp has a curved rubber pad on the base of the light and a thick rubber band clamps it in place. Its ease of fitment is countered by the fact that the clamp just doesn’t hold the light securely on the bar. Head off-road and even on a mildly bumpy trail the light jiggles and bounces up and down, which makes it very tricky to see where you’re going on the more techy trails.

Inside the nicely designed aluminium casing unit is a solitary Cree LED surrounded by a simple reflector. On the trail it produces a very tight centre spot that is good for picking out details. The brightness plunges away from this centre spot until you reach the perimeter of the beam where there’s a distinct halo. That makes picking your way along the trail an interesting experience. We’d like to see a clever reflector and lens that makes better use of the 1000 lumens.

Battery life is impressive. The makers claim 4.5 hours and we got 4 hours with the light on the highest setting the entire time. The rear power switch also acts as a battery monitor. It’s illuminated blue when the battery is in good health before switching to green and then red as it runs down.

The sequence includes three settings; high, medium and flashing. If you like to switch between high and medium when riding to conserve battery you have to go through flash and off modes before getting back to high. That’s annoying and unnecessary. Better thought-out off-road lights use click-and-hold for off and hide the flashing mode or lose it altogether.

The One23 promises a lot but fails in a few key areas that leave us struggling to recommend it. It’s nearly a very good light, and with a few changes it could be. It’s not as polished as the Hope R4, say, but it is £120 cheaper, a significant pile of cash. But if you’re planning to make night riding a regular fixture through the winter, and have some 24-hour races lined up next year, we’d consider saving up for the R4.

Verdict

It’s not without its flaws but if you’re prepared to overlook them the One23 is a reasonable light. It really needs a dedicated helmet mount though.

Pros

Inexpensive
Compact lamp unit
Long battery life

Cons

Unstable handlebar mount
Very narrow beam pattern
No helmet mount

Price: £79.99

More information: One23 Extreme Bright 1000

What One23 says about the Extreme Bright 1000

Hi-Power White Cree LED
1000 Lumens Max Output
Lithium-Ion 4400mAh Rechargeable Battery
Run Time – Up to 18 Hours low beam
– up to 4.5 hours full beam
3 Modes Hi & Low beam & Flashing
Tool free Fitting
Quick release bracket
Includes charger