We didn’t get off to a great start with the Silva. After a particularly wet night ride of about 1.5 hours, the battery seemed fine, then flashed a few times and turned up its toes for good.
The replacement battery has performed fine since (yes, we deliberately got it very wet again!), but it certainly put us on alert to a potential problem.

On the trail, the lights seem pleasantly warmer than other LEDs on test, and some thought has definitely gone into the light spread — Silva call it ‘Intelligent Light.’ With a strong beam going up the trail and a more diffused close-in flood integrated, it does make sense on paper, but testers complained of a weak patch of dimmer light between the two areas. This seemed to be just positioned where you are assessing the trail when riding at medium speed, so it was quite noticeable.

Another gripe is that the battery-level indicator is of no use when riding — it is a coloured LED, pointing forward within the lens, that only activates for five seconds or so when the light is plugged into the battery pack.

One to consider if you want more than just mountain biking from your light, but there are better riding lights out there for the cash.

Mbr rating: 6

Light: Silva Alpha 6
Price: £299.99
Weight: 498g
Burn time on max: 3 hours 12min
Lumens not quoted
Battery type: Velcro on bag
Brightness settings: 4
Comes with bar mount, helmet mount and headtorch harness
Contact: www.silva.se

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