Lights

iainment

I'm moving to the depths of the Kerry countryside and wonder which lights would be best for unlit roads.
Hopefully not too expensive - £110 max for front and rear.

Many thanks

meanwhile

I'd suggest two £30 Fenixes for the front - one of these is good as some £150 dedicated bike lights. They're easy to remove and run on AAs. See http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12571248. You might put one on strobe.

For the back, a lot of people seem to like the Catseye strobe.

robbarker

What's the beam pattern like on those Fenix torches though? Not too much of a spotlight for bike use?

I've heard that Lumicycle are developing a (presumably) Cree LED lamp system which will be designed for bike use, and is likely to be a lot better, albeit pricier. It can;t be long before the likes of Cateye ditch Luxeon Star in favour of Cree LEDs, or Luxeon will bring out an equivalent, in which case they will be pumping out 40 quid stadium floodlights as fast as they can.

doyler78

I think your over riding consideration should be your safety and then you should find the money to pay for the lights that are going to do the job. What's the point in saving money on cheap lights to end up dead.

I can only speak of what I have used I can highly recommend the ayup lights however a roadie kit (which basically contains all you need for a commute) will set you back £150 and I have two Cat-eye LEDs Light on the back in case one fails as it would be so easy to carry on riding not knowing that you have light at the back. I also carry a cheapish Cat-eye as backup light for front light backup purposes however it is really only good enough for being seen and to see in front of you if the speed is much reduced.

You can get bright lights within your budget I believe however they tend to have battery packs like bricks and use up perhaps your only bottle cage.

The ayups are very bright, very lightweight and beautifully designed and very compact. The 6 hour battery is little bigger than a small matchbox and the lights themselves not much bigger than that again.

Lumicycle too could be good whenever they release their version however their pricing is usually quite steep so you will have to wait and see on that one.

meanwhile

robbarker wrote:

What's the beam pattern like on those Fenix torches though? Not too much of a spotlight for bike use?

Depends on your tastes and where you'd be riding. A lot of people like them, especially used in pairs. Paired front lights are versatile too, you can set one at the road and one to strobe, or both at the ground where your alone without cars and street lighting.

There are lots of other lights of the same quality with different beam patterns, and reviews are easy to find. Plus you can add a diffuser, and they're cheap enough so that you can put several on the front. But most Fenixes are good general purpose beams. Buying one on ebay and trying it out is cheap - re-selling won't lose you much.

I would by one with a textured reflector, btw.

I've heard that Lumicycle are developing a (presumably) Cree LED lamp system which will be designed for bike use, and is likely to be a lot better, albeit pricier.

Probably marketing bollocks. There isn't anything special about bike use except the need for a good handlebar mount - even beam angle isn't special to bike use but the situation you want to use the bike in. The Fenix is tough (IPX8 standard on water and dust) and relatively cheap. The strobe mode is spectacular, regulation is good (ie beam stays constantly bright as the cells get used up), lots of brightness modes.

It can;t be long before the likes of Cateye ditch Luxeon Star in favour of Cree LEDs, or Luxeon will bring out an equivalent, in which case they will be pumping out 40 quid stadium floodlights as fast as they can.

By which time there'll be a new LED out that makes the Cree look sick. But most of all, I don't like giving money for safety equipment to people who aren't doing their best to keep me alive. This really narks me off and makes me distrust them. It's not like re-engineering for cree/ssc4/seoul is a big effort (you can buy the led, regulation circuit, heatsink, etc off the shelf) - they probably just want to move old stock.

Otoh, there might be advantages to use lots of smaller leds rather than one big Cree for rear lights - more area for the same brightness, perceived greater vehicle size, less risk of blinding or irritating a driver very close up. It's the front light people who are definitely slacking and/or ripping us off.

robbarker

FWIW I use an old (5 year old, to be precise) Lumicycle NiMh twin halogen set on my mountain bike - still going strong and doing the job - and Schmidt Dynohub / Solidlights 1203 setup on my Audax bike, which is the crucial one. I anticipate being able to upgrade both in the not-too-distant future with new generation LEDs.

deal

i use a pair of ultrafire wf-606a which are comparable in brightness to the fenixtorch mentioned previously, came to around £10 each delivered from dealextreme, they run for close to two hours when paired with good high capacity rechargable leds, i use one for lit roads and two for unlit.

these torches unlike the more expensive fenix have only two modes - one and off