Editor’s Choice 2020

For the ultimate bar-mounted night riding experience, look no further than the Lupine Wilma R7. Four LEDs pumping out up to 3,200 lumens turn every ride into the set of Close Encounters, with sufficient power to see miles down the trail but not miss any detail close in. The mounting options are comprehensive, there’s an app to tune the settings and a remote to help dial-in the optimal power for every situation. It’s not cheap, but the quality and attention to detail makes it well worth the investment.

The Lupine Wilma R 7 is one of Lupine’s cornerstone lights – it can work on the bar, on the head and also comes with a ton of extra options. The Wilma R 7 combines a four LED headlamp with 6.9 Ah battery; basically a four-cell unit.

Read more: Best mountain bike lights – find your flow in the darkness

The battery is secured via a wide Velcro strap, but also comes with an extension cable if needed. The lamp attaches directly over the stem via a really slim aluminium clamp. Other diameter clamps are available, as well as a Velcro helmet mount, neoprene head strap, stick-on mount and a Go-Pro adapter.

Both the battery, lamp and remote have built in fuel gauges, the former even has an audible alarm, so if you can’t see the gauge you can hear it. The small bar-mounted wireless remote is raised to clear a brake lever clamp, slides left to right and, best of all, it will control a bar and helmet light at the same time, in fact it will control up to five lights.

All Lupine lights are fully programmable and using the free Light Control smarthpone app you can easily remap the Wilma R 7’s primary output and secondary settings. There’s also a load of supplementary modes like power saving, SOS functions… you name it.

On paper the 3,200 Lumen Wilma R 7 isn’t the most powerful light here, but it doesn’t look like it – it literally turns night into day. We could see the furthest with this light (and ride the fastest), but still see everything close in.

Superb attention to detail, a ton of really useable features, full customisable, a remote and any mount you like, combined with excellent quality makes the Lupine Wilma R 7 easily the best light. And while it’s expensive, we think the price is justified if you really want the ultimate system.

There are so many options when it comes to mounting, lumens, sequencing and run times that it’s easily the most versatile handlebar light out there. Yes it’s not cheap, but it’s built to last – we are still using Lupine lights that are seven years old – which makes it an excellent investment as well as our best-in-test.