Lights

[Phil Fouracre]

Looking for light upgrade! Have light and motion halogen at the moment, but, a few issues. Battery a bit too chunky, no charge indication and bulb overheating when not on the move. Works ok, but, looks like there are loads of better units on the market. Any advice would be appreciated.

Anyone have any recommendations for replacement light? Got light and motion halogen at the moment, a few years old, but, working ok. A few issues, in that fairly 'chunky' battery, no charge indication, and problem with overheating when not on the move. Seems like a huge variety around now, so any advice would be appreciated.

[yostumpy]

' goes off to get tea and biscuits for this one.

[oldstrath]

Mostly road, mostly offroad or both?

[661-Pete]

I take it you mean front lights. Depends a lot on how bright you want to be, and what sort of cycling you do. And how much you're prepared to spend!

Magicshine seems to have some good value for money options: my son's been using a set for a while now and says it's pretty good, so I've just ordered a set for myself (MJ808E). I need something fairly powerful to pick my way along lonely narrow unlit country lanes after dark. However, if you get one of the really high-intensity sets, be careful not to dazzle oncomers - especially other cyclists!

[gaz]

A little light reading for you.

http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/ ... egulations

Lots or relevant forum discussion, some of it's even quite recent .

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=90820

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=91336

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=79705

[bogmyrtle]

How much run time do you need? Also consider the shape of your handlebars (if that's where you intend putting it) because not all brackets are are compatible with all handlebars.

[Tonyf33]

I'll start the ball rolling. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-XML-XM-L ... 20c5013dc9
There are some cheaper ones of the same light, and some brighter for a few pounds more (with a larger capacitybattery) this just happened to be the first I clicked on that was the exact same as I use, there are also some with coloured head units (i've got a red one)
They are inexpensive yet work fantastic (buy two if even just for the spare battery unit). They are so easy to fit/remove, bright enough for any conditions with 3 steady settings, no flashing option.
Battery lasts a couple of hours on highest beam from a ful charge and the there is a simple red for charging/green for charged system.
Light does not blind other oncoming vehicles and have tested it with my own son driving toward me on a pitch black road, personally on a completely unlit road the second setting is ample 95% of the time, the highest setting is ideal for off road or higher speeds (above 25mph)

Please note however that several forum members may well insist that these lights are useless and/or blinding etc without ever having used them, so just take what they say with a pinch of salt.

Personally I don't feel that dynamo systems are really of benefit unless you are going to be away from a plug socket for more than a day. They are by comparison overtly expensive, have a substantial weight penalty and aren't as bright. In most cases dynamo's do not have varying levels of brightness to choose from (though the more expensive models do) and they can't be removed to use on other bikes.

good luck finding something

[Brucey]

Such lights are meant for offroad use only. I've got one and yes it does dazzle others; of course it does, it has a small, bright, unshrouded emitter.

IIRC you can't buy a dipped beam headlight of any kind for other vehicles (or any bright LED bike light that meets German regs) that has a similarly unshrouded emitter; it is a pretty basic requirement for bright lights that don't dazzle others.

cheers

[Tonyf33]

Such lights are meant for offroad use only. I've got one and yes it does dazzle others; of course it does, it has a small, bright, unshrouded emitter.

IIRC you can't buy a dipped beam headlight of any kind for other vehicles (or any bright LED bike light that meets German regs) that has a similarly unshrouded emitter; it is a pretty basic requirement for bright lights that don't dazzle others.

cheers

That's just incorrect, it is shrouded, it doesn't dazzle and your personally bias misleading post is just that
cheers

[Brucey]

Such lights are meant for offroad use only. I've got one and yes it does dazzle others; of course it does, it has a small, bright, unshrouded emitter.

IIRC you can't buy a dipped beam headlight of any kind for other vehicles (or any bright LED bike light that meets German regs) that has a similarly unshrouded emitter; it is a pretty basic requirement for bright lights that don't dazzle others.

cheers

That's just incorrect and your bias misleading post is just that
cheers

this has been done to death in other posts and the fact is that the source brightness of those lights is excessive. This is why any properly designed light meant for road use that uses a similar LED device has an indirect emitter instead, as does every legal dipped beam fitted to every other vehicle.

If you can find any similar light that is 'approved for road use' anywhere please let us know. In the meantime I am sure that there are plenty of people who would be grateful if you didn't encourage others to use such antisocial lights on the road, on shared paths etc.

cheers

[tim-b]

Hi

Six of one and half a dozen of the other...

I use a LED front headlamp, which from memory is 480 lumens, so not the most powerful out there. I've had this and the less-powerful one before it for five years.
I don't know whether they meet German Regs, but for me the proof is in their use. I've never had a complaint from any other road user

The beam spread is 6 degrees from centre and it swivels in two directions, around the handlebars and side-to-side on its mount, and I set it up according to a mark on the wall

There may be anti-social lights (have you ever had a good conversation with one?), but IME its the anti-social owner that's to blame

(I've not included the make because I happen to agree that you shouldn't encourage the breaking of German Regs)

Regards
tim-b

[mjr]

Please note however that several forum members may well insist that these lights are useless and/or blinding etc without ever having used them, so just take what they say with a pinch of salt.

Please note however that several forum members may well defend these unreliable bought-from-ebay unbranded lights by lying and saying that critics have never used them, didn't test them properly, didn't set them up properly or did something evil that meant they caught fire.

If it's on-road, I'd be looking at Germany and the Netherlands for both reviews and sales. If it's off-road, UK magazines/websites do actually review them better than they do on-road lights.

[TrevA]

The leading contenders in the road-legal (German approved) lights dept are the Philiips Saferide 80 lux lamp and the Busch and Muller Ixon IQ Premium.

I have the Phillips and I'm pleased with it. Rose Bikes are/were selling them for £26 including batteries, charger and one lamp bracket. I paid more than that for mine. The only issue is that it seems to switch from high to eco mode when the battery starts to run down (after about 1.5 hours).

The Phillips runs for 3 hours on high beam and 10 in Eco mode. The Ixon appears to have a slightly longer run time on high beam. Both are quite heavy, as they have the batteries within the light.

Another light highly rated by Audaxers (who do a lot of night riding) is the Hope Vision 1.

[honesty]

As a recent convert to dynamo lights I have to say the change has been amazing. I've set them up on my commuter bike and its been fit and forget. I always have lights. I even run them in the day now. Ok there is probably a slight weight penalty (though some battery packs can be rather hefty!) but unless you're on a svelte racing machine this is going to be negligible %'s of the overall weight. I find my headlight more than bright enough for town riding, and ok up to about 20mph out in the unlit lanes as well. As for cost, you can get very good wheels pre built from the likes of Rose Bikes, and the German websites also sell the lights at a big discount.

Prior to this I had 2 300 lumen front lights of the usual USB battery powered type people have suggested. They didn't have the vertical cut off that dynamo head lights do. These were great when pointed down the road in unlit country lanes but were massively dazzling for oncoming traffic and if I pointed them down to not dazzle they were actually too bright and flooded out the details on the road.

[Tonyf33]

Please note however that several forum members may well insist that these lights are useless and/or blinding etc without ever having used them, so just take what they say with a pinch of salt.

Please note however that several forum members may well defend these unreliable bought-from-ebay unbranded lights by lying and saying that critics have never used them, didn't test them properly, didn't set them up properly or did something evil that meant they caught fire.

If it's on-road, I'd be looking at Germany and the Netherlands for both reviews and sales. If it's off-road, UK magazines/websites do actually review them better than they do on-road lights.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, your post is hilarious.

With regard to failures, you mean failures at the same level as other lights? If not do you have statitics to back that up or are the UK buyers that post endlessly on other forums everywhere regarding how fantastic these lights are all lying about their efficacy? There are lots of individuals whom criticise lights/components on the back of heresay and no actual use, same with carbon Fibre, a few failures and some think CF is devils spawn, that it is in many cases far stronger than steel seems to be something luddites can't accept.

As for setting up, that's an individuals fault, not the fault of the light..or did you expect it to self level itself??
Often it's a case of people not understanding or just not able to accept something can work as well if not better for less money, this leads to unfounded criticism..but crack on.

Myself and many tens of thousands of UK buyers will use our lights with impunity. I'm not as narrow minded as some whom just can't bring themselves to be objective in their opinions...