Front Light Recommendation

northpole

Not exactly the time of year most associated with buying new lights however my main light needs to be replaced. I'd be okay to pay circa £100 - £200, exclusively for road use and I wondered if any of you kind folks could help point me in the right direction. Main function is to be visible to other road users - the more visible the better in my opinion on London streets. Are there any models which at the moment stand head and shoulders above 'the crowd' in this price bracket. Thanks.

Peter

PS I particularly want a rechargeable battery unit rather than ever replacing AAA's or AA's!!

ademort

Hi
Try www.dealextreme.com and have a look at the P7 two-mode about 900 Lumens.
You need the charger to go with it and buy two 18650 rechargable batteries. You can get all that for about 60 quid i think and it,s free delivery too They really will see you coming, believe me.
Ademort

andy_wrx

Agreed.
It's a torch, not something sold as a bike light, but the performance is better than bike lights costing several times as much : bike lights are hugely over-priced for their performance, whereas there's an arms race/price war going on between torch manufacturers and you get so much more for a fraction of the cost.

I bought
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12623 SSC P7 torch
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5776 Li-Ion batteries
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13820 charger
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15342 bracket

ca $57 USD or about £40GBP
Free shipping from Hong Kong.
If it says 'in-stock, ship in 2-3 days', you should have it the next week.

I use it on unlit country lanes in conjunction with a Cree Q5 light zip-tied onto my helmet
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14909
$18.80 USD or about £13GBP
Takes rechargeable AA's, but don't confuse it with your typical little 2AA bikelight or MiniLight torch...

antfly

ademort wrote:

Hi
Try www.dealextreme.com and have a look at the P7 two-mode about 900 Lumens.
You need the charger to go with it and buy two 18650 rechargable batteries. You can get all that for about 60 quid i think and it,s free delivery too They really will see you coming, believe me.
Ademort

Not if you blind them they won`t!
If you want a torch type light for the road a fraction of the weight and better quality but not too bright,fenix p3 is a good one.You don`t need the p7 just to be seen.

mkitson

I bought the roadie (multisport) set up from Ay-Up! Cost £130 includes spare mounts for handlebars and a helmet mount so you can use it for mountain biking if you want to. I also use mine as a headtorch for mountaineering as the lights and battery are so small but very, very powerful. Have done 30mph on a dark country lane with them so plenty bright enough. They are very well made, waterproof-you can apparently use it for snorkling!

The battery lasts 6hrs and there is a car lighter adaptor for the charger which increases it's versatility.

The down side is that they are made in Australia and the UK distributor has very recently stopped selling them so it's buy direct from Australia now so shipping may add a bit. Customer service has been excellent. I would highly recommend them.

http://www.ayup.com.au/kits.php

Wappygixer

If you want a top quality cnc'd last forever front light then look at the Hope range.
Good enough to see where your going on off road rides so plenty of power to see on the road.
Runs times are more than adequate with up to 12 hours on low setting which is still very visible and lights up signs around 1/4 mile away.
Small and compact and also very light weight.

northpole

Thanks for your responses to my request.

It turns out that I have duped myself a bit in so far as my current defunct light is being accepted (rather generously I have to say) by my LBS/ Cateye as a warranty item and I am being offered a replacement or another light with me topping up the difference in costs.

This really only leaves me with a choice between the nite rider newts and hope vision. I like the look of the quality of the newts but the light output from the hope units seems much greater £ for £ (still nowhere near the levels offered by the P7 suggested above!).

I'm inclined towards the Hope 2 but it is very difficult to tell in a shop whether that's a great road solution or if it makes any sense to cough up more for the Hope 4 which is twice as bright but bulkier and with a heavier battery unit. Mind you, can think of somewhere else that could do with some weight reductions!! :oops:

Any opinions / experience would be most welcome & apologies for having to shift the focus into a much narrower range - I hadn't appreciated this when I first posted.

Peter

antfly

On wiggle there is a lights test with lots of photos that gives a pretty good idea how bright they all are,it`s worth checking out.