What lights????

kayoueche

Hi there!!!!!!!!


in need for some advice. i am wondering what lights to get on a tight budget of £80. I have no idea what to get!??!??! I have been looking at some SMART lights, what do you think???

Any ideas welcomed!!

Thanks.

Anonymous

This lights test may be of use:
http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... test-12928

El Capitano

Save more money and purchase something Lumicycle flavoured.

unocogero

Basically for under £100 you might as well go for the £25, two light Smart set with the lead acid battery. You could spend up to £80 and not get much more light. (my friend had the more expensive smart alloy, it's smaller and lighter but doesn't give out much more light) It's only when you start spending £120+ that you make a big leap.

I've just upgraded after 2 years of using the Smarts but I had to spend a lot to get a really decent improvement in light (Hope LEDs).

Get the Smarts, upgrade the bulbs from Maplins (replacement batterys are also cheap from there), save £55 and start saving for next year!

Also, the thing that no-one talks about is that the worse your lights are the more exciting night riding is. The Hopes turn night to day and some of the excitement/thrill/fear/skill has gone!!

Hope this helps as no-one seems to reply to the "lights for under £100 posts" and the recent reviews in What Mountain Bike and the like didn't even bother to look at the budget light sets (no surprise there!)

El Capitano

unocogero wrote:

Also, the thing that no-one talks about is that the worse your lights are the more exciting night riding is.

Exciting isn't a word I'd use to describe it...

The Spiderman

I`'d certainly reccomend Electron EHP 315s.I used a set last winter,and whilst they are a bit clunky looking,and have long recharge times,they were perfectly acceptable,for a 2 hour ride round my local woods.
Again they canbe cheaply upgraded,with better bulbs,if you so desire.

Can be found for around £50 on the net.

h i r 0

The Spiderman wrote:

I`'d certainly reccomend Electron EHP 315s.I used a set last winter,and whilst they are a bit clunky looking,and have long recharge times,they were perfectly acceptable,for a 2 hour ride round my local woods.
Again they canbe cheaply upgraded,with better bulbs,if you so desire.

Can be found for around £50 on the net.

I am also looking for a pair of 'make do' lights so I can save up for a decent set for next winter.

For a fiver more are the LED 325s any better?

hambones

I did an impromptu off-road test on Wednesday using a Fenix P3D (which I'd purchased for using on unlit roads). As a very cheap light it's going to take some beating (although as a torch it's quite pricey! ) It was certainly bright enough for all singletrack through the woods and was a match for a Dinotte 200L, a Light & Motion Stellar, it swamped a set of Blackburns and was again comparable to a Cateye Tripleshot. In fact the only real issue would be battery run-times at just under 2 hours full beam.

FSR_XC

hambones wrote:

I did an impromptu off-road test on Wednesday using a Fenix P3D (which I'd purchased for using on unlit roads). As a very cheap light it's going to take some beating (although as a torch it's quite pricey! ) It was certainly bright enough for all singletrack through the woods and was a match for a Dinotte 200L, a Light & Motion Stellar, it swamped a set of Blackburns and was again comparable to a Cateye Tripleshot. In fact the only real issue would be battery run-times at just under 2 hours full beam.

How much?

hambones

I paid £40 for mine. Don't get me wrong if I had the money I'd still probably go for something like the Dinotte or Ay-up because of the great battery run times but seeing as I'm not planning on any night-time enduros it will do for now.

Andy B

The Spiderman wrote:

I`'d certainly reccomend Electron EHP 315s.I used a set last winter,and whilst they are a bit clunky looking,and have long recharge times,they were perfectly acceptable,for a 2 hour ride round my local woods.
Again they canbe cheaply upgraded,with better bulbs,if you so desire.

Can be found for around £50 on the net.

Second that, I got 1.5-2hrs with both bulbs on for the majority of the time.

Not too bad for the money, £46.95 delivered from here http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/details.a ... ECLIGH0800 which is where (I think) I got mine from.

kayoueche

yeah but, The Fenix P3D is a torch? how do you attach it to you bike?

hambones

Attaches with either O-rings (£1?) or a dedicated bar mount (from £3 to £7 depending where you look - the latter price is from Fenix) - very stable even on very rooty ST

unocogero

For about £75 this 5 watt headtorch might be an option (silva lx). Especially as it's head mounted and it's easier to ride with a head mounted light rather than a handlebar mounted one.

With a light on your head it's light wherever you look whereas on your bars it's light where you are pointing and it is only when on twisty single track that you realise quite how much time you spend moving your handlebars left and right. This makes it harder to read the trail and you also get more shadows when bar mounted.

Silva say this is suitable for MTBing...

http://www.silva.se/templates/Products____99.aspx?epslanguage=EN&productId={C8FA11CD-7FBA-43CF-9727-36C2FFFC9AEB}

In reference to...

Exciting isn't a word I'd use to describe it...

all I'd say in my defence is the worse the light, the more frightening the woods, the more frightening the woods...the faster you ride!

Also you can get handle bar mounts for maglight torches...thats a really cheap way of riding but the lights not great!

kayoueche

thats looks like an awesome headlamp, but what's the width of the beam?? amzing length, but not really useful if it's a narrow beam?

have you got the light???

unocogero

kayoueche wrote:

have you got the light???

No, like you I wondered about width but I couldn't find a shop locally that had one I could try. Whats also good is that it has a separate battry holder that could go in your hydration pack.

kayoueche

This looks like a good light!! the NiteRider MiNewt X2 LED Bike Light. does anyone have this light, i have read reviews and they do say it's capable for off road riding.

RRP £135.00. Quite a good price aswell!!

unocogero

For about £150 you can get the single battery Hope LED's which are fantastic (I have just bought some). The light is superb as there is no central spot, just a wash of consistant white light.

Problem is they are pricey!

kayoueche

i have just bought the Minewt X2 LED bike light, they are amazing, haven't tried them out yet but in the house, they lit up the dining room and lounge. only took a couple of hours to charge up aswell!!

I got a bargain from eBay