Moon Rigel Power Bike Light Boasts Beam Adjustment, Long-Lasting Battery [Review]

The star Rigel is 47,000 times luminous as the sun, and it’s one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Rigel is also one of the brightest bike lights in the Moon Sport line, with the Rigel Power producing up to 3,600 lumens of trail-illuminating brightness. I’ve been testing the Moon Rigel Power on my regular night rides, and I’ve found it offers some pretty great features in spite of its utilitarian-looking design.

Moon Rigel Power light specs

The Moon Rigel Power is bright and long-lasting for an all-in-one bike light. The large battery is said to keep the light pumping for up to two hours at 3,600 lumens, though of course actual brightness and battery life will vary depending on the operating temperature. Trail riders will probably keep the light in the 1,000-lumen range for most of the ride, and for this Moon says the battery should last an impressive six hours. Based on my experience these battery life claims certainly seem reasonable.

Bigger batteries mean bigger weight, and this one is hefty at 308g — and that doesn’t include any of the mounting hardware or the remote. I can’t imagine many riders will choose to run this as a helmet lamp for fear of severe neck pain.

The included quarter-turn, handlebar mount is designed to fit bar diameters from 31.8-35mm. Because the light is heavy, and the mount pushes the light forward a good bit, it needs to be attached very tightly. The two bolt design isn’t the quickest or easiest to attach, and on my 35mm bars I needed to use one of the included rubber shims to get a tight fit. It’s not possible to adjust the side-to-side angle of the light once it’s in the mount, and adjusting the vertical angle of the light requires loosening and re-tightening the bolts with a small hex key.

Perhaps one of the best features of the Moon Rigel Power is the array of six LEDs. Four of the LEDs sit behind narrow-angle lenses, while the other two are behind wide-angle lenses. This allows for three different light modes — enduro, “ruge,” and road / flat.

There are just two buttons on the Rigel Power: one controls the brightness and mode (solid or flashing), and the other selects the beam pattern. Moon includes a wired remote in the box with the same two-button configuration which can be used without taking hands off the grips.

Rigel (the star) is part of the Orion constellation; it’s basically one of his feet. Moon uses its own constellation-like display on the Rigel Power to indicate battery life, brightness, and light modes. It takes a little time to learn the braille-like code but once you have it down, it works pretty well at a glance.

Rounding out the feature list is an intelligent mode that turns the light off during the day, and on at night; IPX7 water resistance; and a 4-7.5 hour charge time.

On the trail, at night

The Moon Rigel Power offers light modes to match a variety of trail conditions. Whether the trails are wide open and fast, or slow and technical, there’s a beam pattern and brightness level to match. I found it best to start with the light at mid brightness, and with the beam set to Ruge mode. Bumping up the brightness and switching to Enduro mode on descents allowed me to see farther down the trail while peeking around corners. And on the inevitable road stretches in between nighttime singletrack sections I found the lowest solid brightness level provided enough light to see and be seen.

At full brightness and in Enduro mode I was able to ride singletrack with the Rigel Power as a single, bar-mounted light safely and comfortably. However, as good as the Enduro beam mode is, I still prefer running the Rigel Power in conjunction with a lower-powered helmet light for maximum trail vision.

I failed to tighten the bar mount enough ahead of one test ride, and on a rocky trail section it slipped loose. The black shim was lost to the night, making it impossible to re-tighten in the field. Fortunately I had a spare light with me and I also got to learn a valuable lesson: use the bolts to get the mount as tight as possible without damaging your bars. I place at least some of the blame on the tapered shape of my bars, which expose very little 35mm clamping surface beyond the stem. Still, the mount, while solid, isn’t my favorite due to its long lever arm that requires extra torque at the bar, and its two-bolt design. The smaller, Rigel Max light comes with the stretchy, band-style mount that I prefer, though I suspect that mount isn’t strong enough to support the weight of the Rigel Power.

Bottom line: This is a powerful little light that’s easy to use and seemingly offers a light mode for every situation.

• Price: $229.90
• Buy from Moon Sport or Wiggle.