Tumble & Fall HALO Front Light

Dark nights and dark mornings are here for my commutes, so it’s an ideal time to test and review light sets. High Peak Cycles stepped up and asked me to take a look at the T&F ‘HALO’ lights. They are a 2000 lumen light with separate power (battery) pack, good burn times claimed and a budget RRP of £99.99 – given the specs. The warranty and the fact that unlike some of the cheap imported lights – these won’t burn your house down if you leave them on charge overnight – add to the appeal.

Once unpacked the quality and accessories are good. Aside from the main light and battery pack you get a helmet strap and head torch. Some basic instructions/ info are included in the box. First job – charge the battery up. Plug in and when red light turns to green (approx. 4 hours) we are good to go.

Fitting on the bike was very straightforward. The battery pack is a neat size and the neoprene case is well designed so you get a nice secure fit. The light is a simple design where you sit the light onto your bars and then use one of the two supplied O-rings to hold it in place.

A nice feature is that the connection point (from light to battery lead) clicks in place and then screws shut, so you know it is watertight. Settings are straight forward. Left button controls the outer Halo ‘rings’. Press once for a ‘solid’ halo (shown below) and twice for ‘flashing’.

Press the right button and you can cycle through the main lights. Press once for low, twice for medium, three times for high and four times for ‘flashing’. One long press switches the lights off. The two lights (or halos) operate together.

So, lights on and out in the dark early mornings and evenings to test them. The test week saw temps down to -3 early on and later in the week very heavy rain which presented no issues to the lights. I ran the T & F Halo light alongside my Hope R2i light as I’m very familiar with it’s settings. I concentrated on using the ‘main’ lights on the halo. I stopped to test the lights on an unlit rural road. This is without lights (yes, seriously) …

Halo Setting one. This gave a similar strength to the Hope 40 lumen setting.

Halo Setting 2. This gave a similar strength to the Hope 200 lumen setting.

Halo Setting 3. This is the 2000 lumen setting. The picture doesn’t do the power justice as it was considerably stronger than setting two and was more powerful than the Hope on its highest 1000 lumen setting.  It’s very bright and too powerful for constant road use.

In use for my commutes I found setting one was too weak. I would be well suited to well lit roads, but is best considered a ‘be seen’ light only.

I found that setting two/ medium was just about sufficient for most of my commute, but did not cast enough forward light when I got to unlit roads or when I was travelling over 20mph / downhill and needed better warning of pot holes or grids. I needed to move to setting 3 (high / 2000 lumen) for those times. The full charge (mainly setting two) lasted 5 hours 26 minutes. The display then turned from green to red and the light died 15 minutes later, giving a total burn time of 5 hours 41 minutes which is a bit better than the claimed time. Never a bad thing!

I’m currently checking the burn time of using setting 3 (high power / 2000 lumen) and will add that information to the review in the next few days. *Update 22/11/16 – The light managed just over 2 hours on full 2000 lumen power. That was spread over three rides with a ‘gap’ of over a week between ride 2 and 3 as I was out of the country/manflu for a week. On full power the display light went red to warn of low battery, then shut down within a couple of minutes. 

After a week with the T&F Halo lights I’m impressed with the user friendliness and burn times. The output on high (2000 lumen) is very good. It’s a shame medium setting wasn’t just a bit stronger, but where necessary it’s just a case of switching to high setting then back to medium. The main light itself is only 98g (very light), so my next step is to try it out offroad as a helmet light.

I did have one niggle. Part of keeping costs down is the main light fixing. This is built into the light so you sit it onto the bars, then use a tight o-ring to keep it in place. As it’s a pre-machined size it was a little too small for my road bike bars. It sat in place ok until I rode over poor surfaces (vibrations), or pressed a button to change the light setting. It then moved forward a touch so it pointed down to the road more than I want. This won’t be an issue on thinner bars.

Overall, the T&F Halo lights do everything you would want for a set of lights at this price point – and a bit more. If you are looking to spend £100 on a set of lights then these should be at the top of your list.