Product Review: The Lezyne Femto Drive Bike Light

I recently picked up an inexpensive replacement headlight to maintain my visibility at night, since my old light died on me. There are some really nice (and expensive) lights out there, but I was on a budget and needed something quick, since I bike home in the dark regularly.

Most of the lights at my local bike shop were either out of my price range or part of a set, and I already have a good taillight. Finally an employee recommended a dinky little light called the Lezyne Femto Drive LED Front Light. It was $15, and I was pretty skeptical, but he vouched for it so I decided to give it a try. Here's my review after using it for about a month.

The Lezyne Femto Drive Front LED Bike Light

Overview:

A small, affordable bike headlight that is surprisingly well-made for the price and provides adequate illumination, but has some irritating quirks. Good in a pinch if you need to be seen by drivers at night, but not meant for navigating really dark areas.Check your setup before purchasing.

Specs:

Aluminum housing, single LED light. Powered by two CR2032 batteries. 5 Modes (four flash options, and solid). 60-hour battery life (blinking) 30-hour battery life (solid). Clip and rubber strap attachment options.

The good:

The first thing that stood out to me was the quality of the housing. Most bike lights are plastic, but this one is aluminum, which makes it look and feel very sturdy. The design is attractive and simple, with the front lens also serving as the on/off button. More on that later...
Secondly, the Femto is battery-powered and has a pretty solid 30-hour battery life. When I get a higher-end light, I'm considering a USB-rechargable option, but batteries have served me fine thus far.
The light is water-resistant, which is an important feature. I've ridden in more than a few rainstorms with this little guy, and it doesn't seem to be affected.
Installation is quite easy, befitting the overall simplicity of this little guy. You have the option of a clip (good for hooking to a loop on your bike bag) or a rubber strap that can wrap around your handlebars or fork. Putting it on my bike only took a few seconds.
The light itself is pretty bright (15 lumens) considering it's a cheap, single-LED model. It's definitely not enough for a stand-alone light if you're going off-road or are in a pitch-black area, but it's plenty bright enough to make you visible to traffic, and to (gently) illuminate the path ahead. Like I said, it's meant to help you be seen more than to see.
Finally, you really can't beat the price - at under $15, this is one of the most affordable lights you can get.

The bad:

Let's play "spot the design flaw"

Obviously, this light isn't bright enough for navigating dark roads or areas with hazards, but that's not what it's made for, so I don't see it as a negative so much as something to be aware of when considering your options. That said, I've since seen a comparably-priced headlight from Giant that was definitely brighter than the Femto.
Second, the attachment system is simple enough, but it's somewhat limiting. My handlebars are on the fat side, and I had to pull a bit to get it on. I'm not sure how easy it would be to fit this down on my fork or anywhere else with a larger diameter.
Another issue I have is with the number of settings. Four different "flash" options is excessive, especially when I have to cycle through all of them just to get to "steady," which is all I ever use. Two flash options would've been plenty.
The biggest downside, however, is something that's incredibly annoying, and is illustrated by the picture on the right. Because of how the mounting bracket works, the light is positioned direction in front of my handlebars, rather than above them like many other bike lights. This causes two rather significant problems.
First, because my mountain bike has flat bars, my brake and shift cables run directly in front of the light, blocking some of the output. It's not enough to severely limit my visibility, but it's a nuisance and cuts down on the brightness. At night, I can see the light shining brightly off the cables, rather than the road ahead.
Second (and this is my biggest problem with the Femto), you turn the light on by pressing on the front lens. This wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that the lens sticks out past the body by several millimeters, and my cables run right in front of the light. Every time I turn my handlebars, the cables bump the lens and either turn the light on, or switch it from steady to flashing. It drives me nuts, and actually killed a brand new set of batteries within a few days because it turned on when I put my bike away and was blinking all night. It's frustrating because I have to deal with it constantly when riding my mountain bike, and it could have easily been prevented by simply making the lens recessed inside the housing rather than protruding. Maybe in the next version of the Femto, Lezyne will address this, but for now, it drives me nuts and prevents me from liking this light as much as I would otherwise.

Summary

I wouldn't say the Femto is a bad light by any means - it's affordable, well-built, and provides enough light that I can be seen by traffic and am less likely to ride over a pothole or road debris in the dark. It's not a heavy hitter, but it doesn't claim to be and for the price, is worth considering if you just need to increase your visibility.
That said, it has its limitations. The design makes it a poor choice for anyone riding with flat handlebars because of the shift/brake cables interfering with the light and constantly hitting the "on" switch. However, this wouldn't be an issue with drop bars or internally-routed cables. It's a problem on my bike, though, so I will probably be saving up to replace the Femto with something more substantial down the line that doesn't have these issues. In the meantime, I'll go buy some more batteries...