Hope Vision 1 Review

The Hope Vision 1 bicycle light is Hope’s bottom of the range bicycle light but don’t let that put you off. The CNC machined case makes the light full water proof and the Vision 1 puts out over 200 lumens from only four AA batteries, something not achieved by many other lights.

Hope Vision 1 Beam

The Vision 1 has 4 light modes, 1 flash and 3 steady ones. Making it a perfect commuting light, especially if you travel through multiple types of roads (lit vs unlit). The Hope Vision 1 is often praised by its quality, Hope certainly is traditionally british as the make good quality parts and offer a fantastic service. The whole product is well thought out and well designed.

Due to the narrow beam a single Vision 1 is not enough for cycling off-road or on unlit roads at night-time in my opinion, two Vision 1’s are enough. Whilst the narrow beam does have that disadvantage, it has an advantage when using it in other traffic. Pointing the beam on the road in front of you means you don’t blind other road users, you light the road up in front of you and you are made visible!

Something which crops up in other lights of similar target market is how you turn it off and change modes. For a light which is used in the dark and potentially off-road it is important how it handles this. The Hope Vision one can only be turned off by the user if the battery is removed or if you hold the power button. Pressing the button cycles through the light modes and this is how it should be.
Other models of lights have the off mode in the button cycle, which means if you want to change back to the first mode you must turn the light off first which either means crashing or stopping your ride.

Hope Vision 1

The only downside to using a light with 4x AA batteries is that the light really does chew through them, using regular Duracell batteries will be expensive and small capacity rechargeable batteries just don’t last long enough. High capacity rechargeable batteries are a good value purchase but you still need to work out a good recharging scheme so you don’t get caught out. At least you can rest in the fact that if you do run out of juice whilst on the road you can at least pop into a petrol station or corner shop and buy some batteries which will get you home, unlike the lights which use special battery packs.

The major downside of the hope vision one is the lack of power indicator, it is one often brought up by people who have bought one and is a real problem with its hunger for battery power. You can get around it with good battery management but be warned, when the power levels get too low the light will suddenly switch off and you will only get a few more minutes on the lowest power setting.

All in all it’s one of the best and brightest lights on the market for commuters, it’s at the higher end of the scale for most commuters but it’s reliability (as long as you manage the batteries) and power more than out weighs the price you have to pay, this light will last you years!

Where to buy one from?

Prices range from £70 – £90 so make sure you shop around

4 thoughts on “Hope Vision 1 Review

  1. I avoid the battery problems by using a Supernova S3 front light with a Schmidt Hub dynamo. The light output is excellent, even on wet roads at night. The light recently went back to Germany for an upgrade, after nearly 3 years, and it is now even brighter. As I do night rides from time to time, a good dynamo means not having to worry about having a supply of batteries although the combined cost of light and dynamo is high.

    1. The initial startup cost of a dynamo light is off putting but i expect the light levels, upgradeability and overall quality is worth it over time.

  2. I have two of these but ditched them for two magicshine 900’s (now using 1000’s) I found the lights frustrating, I couldn’t get rechargeable batteries of the power they recommended at the time (from memory 2700mAh) I used ever ready 2500mAh but these were soon fried. As you say they cut out without any warning. I also found that the flashing mode was at the lowest brightness, which I did not like as I prefer to be seen and live than save battery power

    1. I use one of these along side a magicshine MJ-808. I think the two balance each other well but both have their own ups and downs. Got a reiview of the magicshine coming up in a few days.

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