Road lights to see

[The fat commuter]

Morning all

Spent quite a bit of time on here looking for the best road lights for lighting up unlit roads at night. It would seem that B&M come out recommended time and time again. Are these just dynamo lights though?

I use my bike mainly for commuting. I can cycle home through the city of Sheffield but prefer to take the long way home which takes me through about three miles of completely unlit road. Cycling after finishing an evening shift is quite dark.

On the back of the bike I have two lights. The first is a cateye that I use on constant:

http://www.cateye.com/intl/products/det ... /moreinfo/

the second is an el-cheapo £5 jobbie that is used on flash. It's mainly there as backup in case the other one runs out of battery without me noticing. http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-Numen-Min ... _59015.htm


Onto the front lights. The light that I bought initially for the front is one of these: http://www.cateye.com/intl/products/detail/HL-EL135/

Then, once I started commuting along darker roads, I bought one of these to see by: http://moon-sport.com/product-detail.php?id=70

Gives out quite a good light output - enough for my ride home which, on the darkest stretches, doesn't really get that much above 10 mph (not that I can see the speedo). However, the 'bracket' on it is useless. I've never had to adjust my cateye lights yet this one moves as I remove the light from the bike as well as when cycling at speed on bumpy ground. It also appears to be loose so that the light 'flickers' on constant mode as it jumps up and down. I've only seen one or two other reviews of these lights where users have complained of the mount - but then I left a review 'complaining', and that review has not been published so it could be that some sellers don't always put negative reviews on their sites.

Anyway, I could do with a better light to see by. My budget is around £100. I did see the Cateye Volt 1200 (http://www.cateye.com/intl/products/detail/HL-EL1000RC/)and can get one of these for £112. However, having read the reviews - whilst most say that it is excellent, some state that it is a brute of a light and merely dazzles other road users. If I did get one I would likely not use it on the top setting for this reason - but I'm unsure whether on one of the lower settings it would still dazzle other users. It would be brilliant to use it on full and be able to knock it to 'dipped' at the flick of a switch however, I cannot see me being able to do this as easily as I can change my car headlights from main to dipped.

So, does anyone know whether there are lights out there that will light the way without dazzling others that are rechargeable/battery powered? Or, are there lights that have a remote switch that can be mounted so that one doesn't have to move their hands from the handle bars?

Many thanks in advance

[tatanab]

Shaped beam non dazzle lights
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/phil ... aid:642257
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/b--m ... aid:703616

[stewartpratt]

The above are pretty much the options for worthwhile battery-powered lamps with a proper road beam. If you can stretch to £150, though, you can usually get a full dyno setup from Rose or similar; with the wheel, and front and rear lights.

[[XAP]Bob]

B&M do also do battery lights (since German regs allow "lightweight" bikes to not have a dynamo) and they share the "road beam" with their dynamo relatives.

Mind you - for commuting I would always recommend going hub dynamo... A pocket torch can also be useful if you then need to do maintenance at the side of the road.

[TrevA]

Shaped beam non dazzle lights
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/phil ... aid:642257
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/b--m ... aid:703616

+1 for these. I've just ordered a Saferide from Rosebikes. Just over £50 plus £5 postage. I've previously had an Ixon IQ which was good enough for riding on dark lanes. The linked IQ Premium is a more powerful version of that. If you Google Phillips Saferide review, there a good Youtube review by a bloke in Cheshire. That swayed me. I've passed my Ixon on to my wife.

[The fat commuter]

Many thanks for the replies. First question is why is dynamo better than battery? Is this just so that one can extend the length of a ride? Didn't mention my ride length but the direct route home takes twenty minutes and the long route forty - so well within the the limits of the 75 minutes that the light should stay on high for.

I have a slight doubt in my mind. The reviews that I have read seem to state concerns about the bracket saying that the light is slightly too heavy for it so it rotates on the bar. That is the problem that I have with my current main light - jolt the bike at speed and the light moves. I did try to pack out beneath the bracket (strap) using various bits but they made the situation worse. I used an old innertube as well as a piece of silicon strap that was meant to be designed for just that purpose. Not sure that innertubes are the most grippy compound that there is though. I've a feeling that the handlebar tube on my bike may be a slightly smaller diameter than 'normal' handlebars. Has anyone else had this issue and how did they get around it?

Second thing is that some reviews mention that the lights go into low mode after only minutes. It looks like this may be an issue with batteries though rather than the lights themselves and using an external charger can get around this.

Most reviews seem to be German. Does this mean that this is a German light? If so, does that mean that the light meets the equivalent of BS standards?

Again, many thanks for the answers. I'll likely go for the light so long as I can be confident that the light isn't going to move in use and end up lighting my front wheel.

[andrew_s]

Anything you buy from Germany (Rose or wherever) will meet the German standards and be OK as far as legal riding in the UK is concerned UNLESS it says "for off road use only". Both the Philips and the B+M Ixon Premium are UK legal.
The original versions of the Philips used a timer to decide when to go to low power, and this could be a bit too keen to preserve your batteries. You had to either plug in the charger or remove the battery to reset the timer. The "low" setting on the Philips is fine for country lanes at a good speed, so it's not that important if they are still doing it.
Philips are reported to be pulling out of the bike lighting market, so spare brackets could be hard to find in a year or two, should you want one (eg for a second bike).

The advantage of dynamo lighting is that you just bolt it onto the bike and forget about it, just like you don't have to think about car lights. These days you don't even have to remember to turn dynamo lights on, let alone remembering to charge the batteries or making a decision about whether you'll need lights before you get home or not.

I mostly use dynamo lighting, though I do have a Philips 80, which hasn't slipped on the handlebars so far.
The Philips has a smoother beam than the dynamo (which uses the same reflector as the Ixon Premium). There isn't much in it brightness-wise.

[Colin63]

Another vote of confidence for the B+M Ixon IQ. Very solid, great lighting, good bracket and it charges quickly. Haven't found a fault yet after 6 years of use. It seems to be cheaper than it once was too. You can also get a bracket to mount it behind the front brake which keeps the bars clear of clutter for all that techy stuff that I know people like to use.

[MikeF]

The only disadvantages of a "dynamo" light as far as I can see is that you need to "install" it on the bike ie connect/tape wires, bolt the lights on and of course you need a generator, which is more expense, and you can't easily swap lights from one bike to another. Fitting is a one off though, and then everything is there ready for use whenever you need it - day or night. I don't commute, but I favour "dynamo" lights.

I haven't used a battery powered Saferide, but if it's anything like the dyno version it will give a very good light on lit and unlit paths/roads.

[Vorpal]

I have a rechargeable light with a Cree T6 XM-L LED. Here's a Road CC article about them... http://road.cc/content/review/108802-cr ... ront-light

I really like it. Mine came with three different mounts, one for handlebars, one for a helmet, and one on a headband.

The rechargeable battery lasts 2 - 3 hours on low. And low is plenty for most things. The high setting is great for unlit country roads on a really dark night/morning, but I'm sure it is dazzling, so I turn it down when I encounter other traffic.

Batteries and power adapters to charge them are readily available. I keep a power adapter at home and work, so I can charge my battery either place without carrying the charger. I think that my battery pack must be better than the one in the review linked above. Mine seems entirely waterproof. Though it is affected by cold. I guess I get 15% less charge time in sub-zero weather than in warm weather.

It's not an ideal piece of kit for long night time rides, but it's perfect for commuting.

p.s. I use two different bikes to commute, and I like being able to switch my light easily between them.

[[XAP]Bob]

My reply appears to have gone astray.

The reason I recommend dynamo lights is that they are "just there" without having to deal with battery charging/conditioning. It's often good to add a battery blinky to the rear (partly because German regs don't allow a blinking light, so there aren't (m)any dynamo ones, partly for the increased conspicuity/identifiability and partly as an "I've stopped at the side of the road for an extended time" light)

I used to use battery lights, of my own construction, and although the 8AA pack I used was good, it only took a year of naive charging for it to no longer suffice for the 30 minute commute (allowing for any stoppages made that worse of course)

Battery maintenance through the summer is another issue which a dynamo system doesn't need to account for.

[gaz]

This year I will be playing with Phillips 40 Lux and 80 Lux battery lights for my commute. Frankly I can't wait for it to get dark .

[TrevA]

The Saferide comes with 2 brackets - one which rotates via a ball and socket joint and a more conventional bracket that the light just slides onto. Only the ball and socket bracket seems to have stability problems. The slide on bracket doesn't.
Rose also sell spare conventional brackets so that you can change the light from one bike to another. I can conform that the B&M bracket is rock solid and doesn't move at all once tightened up on the bars.

The Cree lights spray light all over the place, the Saferide and Ixon focus the light where you need it - on the road.

Dynamos are undoubatbly better as they are fit and forget, but there's more expense - hub, new wheel and front light which is the best part of £200 depending on which light you have. Plus you can't easily swap from one bike to another.

[mig]

i have commuted in the dark for many years using many different types of lights but only last year using a hub generator and B&M light. would i go back? no chance. harder to switch from bike to bike but then again i'm on my winter hack by then so i'm not going to switch unless i manage to break it.

a worthwhile investment if you use the bike lots in the dark.

[stewartpratt]

One of the reasons I was initially very reluctant to buy a dynamo setup was the near-inability of moving it between bikes.

I've since converted three of my bikes to dynamo

Some of the best money I've ever spent. YMMV.