Night Riding Lights (off road) <£100

bertypreston

Hi,
Im thinking of riding some local wooded trails but can't justify the £250+ price tag on the light sets.
Ive got commuting lights but they dont cut the mustard, can anyone suggest a front light which could cope with dark dark woods for less than 100 quid ?

impished

Ready for the tirade of "use the search button" posts?
Lights are the only subject on Bikeradar that guarentee's a flaming when asking, even though there's 1,000's of "what fork" / "what wheel" / "what frame" threads all the time.

Anyway, personally, I'd recommend going down the Tesco Cree or Fenix torch route 1st. Much cheaper way of lighting-up the woods. Remember, some people just don't get on with night-riding, and then you're left with £250ish of unused kit.
When you realise you're one of the lucky ones that enjoys night riding, then that'll be all the justification you need to spend more. That's what I did anyway. :P

Have fun.

bertypreston

ha ha ,yeah i did a search first but it threw hundred s of replys and none that i could see matched my price range.

I know what you mean about the being left with kit hence the meagre budget.

Im not sure what you mean by tesco cree or fenix torch ?

impished

do a google for Fenix (or a search here ). I've got 2 Fenix P3D's that I used for last years darkness. IIRC, they cost £40ish each.
From what I can gather, having done a search here (sorry), Tesco sell small torches with Cree led's in 'em for next-to-no dough. The Fenix's are slightly more expensive, but they're built better, brighter (controversial comment :twisted: ) and look better. I don't think Tesco show the torches on their webbie though.

Johnny Napalm

I'm currently eyeing up the Fenix torches too. I understand that the Tesco ones don't compare. I'm considering two mounted on the bars + a helmet mounted light.

bertypreston

which ones are you considering ?
do they come with mounts or is it a duck tape job ?

Johnny Napalm

Hi, Berty.

Fenix have recommended the following -

http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torches/fenix_LD20.html

Fenix also sell the mounts -

http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torches ... ounts.html

bertypreston

They look good , searched the forum , this seems to be contentious subject !!

think ill try two on the bars,

Johnny - any reason why your not going for the pd30 ones ? they are more powerfull and the same price.

canada16

I got one Fenix TK11 and its bright, it lights up my backyard and thats pitch black.

It even reached a few blocks over, got the whole set-up with 18650 recharge batts and the charger and bike mount for just under 80.00, a little left over for another little head light.

Plus tested out and put the light underwater and its fine.

Have a look here this will help

www.candlepowerforum.com

Surf-Matt

Quick alternative - Hope Vision 1 LED. Proper well made BIKE light (!) with 240 lumens of full blast and three other power levels for £70-80. Takes AA batteries so nice and flexible. Battery life? 3-36 hours depending on which mode you use.

supersonic

Or, ahem, these ;-)

http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/mountain_bi ... w_led.html

DIY job, but big punch for the 25 quid.

FSR_XC

Wow . . . . is that 2 whole days since the last time we had a new thread where we could mention Fenix etc.

Must be a record!

Johnny Napalm

Or, ahem, these

http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/mountain_bi ... w_led.html

DIY job, but big punch for the 25 quid.

Have you tried these in Wharncliffe, Super? Have you not used 'Lockblocks' with these?

Wow . . . . is that 2 whole days since the last time we had a new thread where we could mention Fenix etc.

I know...I'm walking on eggshells! :oops:

The Spiderman

I used a Blackburn X3 clamp,that I already had,with the P7 torch.Couple of zipties looped round the centre of the torch body and through the clamp,and has held fast so far.......
I also have a helmet mount,which I got from deal extreme,which is similar to the twofish mount( but with top and bottom clamps both in same diection)whch was £2.

Surf-Matt

I went mad and used a BIKE light for my bike.

I then used a BIKE light instead of car headlamps on my car and drove at 100mph, then dragged a 12v battery around and the car headlamp system to go for a night time walk.

Oh and removed all the local streetlights and replaced them with Fenix torches too.

cougie

LOL !

The Spiderman

I used to use a BIKE light on my bike.

Non bike flashlight weighs less than 200g and puts out in excess of 500 lumens and cost £25.My BIKE light weighs 500g,puts out less than 100 lumens and originally cost over £100...................

Unfortunately BIKE light technology hasn`t kept pace,and is expensive for what it offers.

Actually I might phoneup the council and suggest they contact Fenix for their street lights cos then they would be brighter and perhaps I wouldn`t need lights on my bike........

Surf-Matt

Maybe bike lights have moved on a bit too.
Bike light weighs 200g with batteries, and chucks out 240 lumens of properly spread bike friendly light. Which I can see more than a 1m^3 spot of ground with.

Actually I need to chop some logs for the fire - damn that silly axe. I'm going to use a much lighter penknife and a nice compact hacksaw to slice them up with.

I am then going to light up the local stadium with powerful little "point at whiteboard" lasers rather than those pesky bulky floodlights.

I shall then go for a surf. In my car.

cougie

If money was no object - I'd prob go for full on bike lights - but I cant justify in spending more on lights than I did on the bike ! ;-)

Anonymous

I love how people stand up for what they've paid money for on this forum. Passion is great.

Surf-Matt

Well I feel proper bike lights are under represented.

I spent a fair while looking for a decent light and at no stage in my search did I consider a torch for the job. Sellotaping/blu tacking/nailing one to my bars just doesn't seem to do the right job.

However I am considering one of these saddles - they look comfy.



Do you think I could get saddlebags to carry a spare Fenix in it?

cougie

If it works - then who cares what it was originally sold for ?

(you may get chapped legs with that saddle tho ?) ;-)

canada16

I love my fenix, I have never seen a proper bike light work, but 50.00 for a 220 lumen that will run 2 and a half hours on high which is not needed, and like 60 hours on med which shoots blocks and blocks away is good enought for me, and its like 2 inches long so nice a stubby.

Same hope vision 1 75.00
maxx joystick 150.00
fenix tk11 50.00

The Spiderman

If you have money to burn,buy a bike specific light,and pay the extra for the fact that it says ,bike specific on the package.
If you are a cheapskate,like me ,who is happy to use a perfectly serviceable 500 lumen light for £25 -50 buy a P7/Fenix......
I`d rather spend the savings on go faster bits!

supersonic

Surf-Matt wrote:

Maybe bike lights have moved on a bit too.
Bike light weighs 200g with batteries, and chucks out 240 lumens of properly spread bike friendly light. Which I can see more than a 1m^3 spot of ground with.

Best thing about the MTE P7 I have is the beam flood.

Here is a pic of the flood:



The shed is about 30ft away from the torch.

davomrmac

canada16 wrote:

I love my fenix, I have never seen a proper bike light work, but 50.00 for a 220 lumen that will run 2 and a half hours on high which is not needed, and like 60 hours on med which shoots blocks and blocks away is good enought for me, and its like 2 inches long so nice a stubby.

Same hope vision 1 75.00
maxx joystick 150.00
fenix tk11 50.00

Hello Canada16, I like the look of the TK11, might go for one. May I ask, which mount did you get from them, Fenix or Lockblocks?

FSR_XC

The real issue here is that we have the same thread started every couple of days.

No-one has any doubts that the Fenix / Tesco / whatever is a bright light.
For me, there are some issues about the spread of the beam - as torches are designed to shine a beam of light, whereas a proper off road light has a flood of light. I don't care if I can see 500 metres in front of me if I can't see that root a metre to the left.

As for the weight issue. Does anyone consider carrying a couple of sets of batteries in the total weight of the light?

I guess if one of these threads were a sticky everyone could post how good their torch is on it, without flooding the rest of site! Maybe even have a lights subject category?

Strangley I started this: http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... highlight=
Not because I wanted another thread, but because I was fed up of them. Yet it then became another lights thread.

BTW I'm not bitter, just can't understand why all there is to read about is lights.

cougie

Are people that bothered about weight for lights ? Doesnt really enter into it for me really - certainly four aa batteries when compared to the weight of me plus bike plus all my night kit - well its a tiny percentage.

rowlers

MY 2penneth!

I have 2 C cell Tesco Crees on my bars, after reading about them here. one is standard the other is modified so it floods abit more rather than a spot. I then bought 1 of these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3607

to go on my helmet.

The combination of these is good enough for me, riding on local trails and unlit paths. I doubt tho it would be good enough for proper night time trail rideing though.

BUT they are a cheap way to get into night riding without the cost of proper bike lights

canada16

Hey

Sorry been away for a while.

I have the lockblock, it did shift up and down but turned it around and its fine now.

I love it and for 50.00 cant beat it for quality

Northwind

For me it's simple, there's 2 approaches to night riding. Some people want huge amounts of light, so they can ride almost like they would in the day. Others embrace the night riding experience and enjoy it largely for its difference, and they're happy with a bare minimum of safe lighting. I'm in the latter, night riding for me makes familiar rides more interesting and totally changes how I ride, which is good. But I know other people who just consider the dark an inconvenience, and they demand better lighting than I do.

rowlers wrote:

I have 2 C cell Tesco Crees on my bars, after reading about them here. one is standard the other is modified so it floods abit more rather than a spot. I then bought 1 of these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3607

to go on my helmet.

How would you compare the dealextreme one with the standard tesco one?