Front light for unlit roads

Le Commentateur

There are two types of front light. Ones to be seen by, and ones to see by.

I'm interested in the latter kind, for occasional use.

I don't want to lug a heavy rechargeable battery pack or spend a huge amount of money on some MTBing off-road system, but a light (maybe a pair) that does a decent job of illuminating the road ahead, so I can avoid riding into a pothole or mis-timing a bend when I'm on some country lane at 2 a.m.

Recommendations?

markos1963

I use a Night Rider Ultra Fazer Max(£31 from CRC). I use one and find it just about ok for unlit Norfolk lanes, you might feel more comfortable with two of them.

STEFANOS4784

I use a Fenix l2d:

http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torches ... 2d_q5.html

And the lock block as shown here:

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


Works a treat on un-lit roads but i do find that when theres a lot of traffic about it becomes almost useless. But for dark country lanes it's great

doyler78

ayup lights are brilliant as they are very bright, lightweight, compact & look really, really well. They used to sell them in the UK however they are no longer distributing from the UK and therefore you would have to buy from Australia. Good news is that there are lots of people on here who bought them from Australia without issue.

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

cougie

I have the L2D that Stefano has - I thought it was a brilliant torch - far better than any bike light I'd had.

UNTIL I bought this one...

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

I usually run with the L2D on my helmet and the P7 on the bars - but theres really no point having the L2D on unless you're off road. The P7 floods it out completely.

Only downside is that the battery lasts an hour or so - but stopping and swapping over takes only seconds.

vinnn

I use the Cateye Power Opticube EL530 which isn't crazy expensive whilst being pretty good for night riding away from street lights (1500 candlepower), you can also buy extra Cateye brackets quite easily if you have more than one bike.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Catey ... 360025758/

cougie

This is a pretty stunning piece of work that puts pretty much all magazine reviews to shame....

The Cateye doesnt come out particularly well - the L2D is on there, but the P7 isnt - but I can vouch that the P7 is at least twice as bright as the L2D


http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=11751.0

ademort

Le Commentateur wrote:

There are two types of front light. Ones to be seen by, and ones to see by.

I'm interested in the latter kind, for occasional use.

I don't want to lug a heavy rechargeable battery pack or spend a huge amount of money on some MTBing off-road system, but a light (maybe a pair) that does a decent job of illuminating the road ahead, so I can avoid riding into a pothole or mis-timing a bend when I'm on some country lane at 2 a.m.

Recommendations?

How much is your budget ?
Ademort

sicknote

One more choice is the Tesco's 3w cree on a budget.
I have two got them
Plus I think they are under £8 now

andy_wrx

Agree with Cougie - I'm running a similar set-up : a SSC P7 on the bars and a Cree Q5 (which is what the Fenix contains) on my helmet

You can buy both from DealExtreme pretty cheaply, but need to factor-in the cost of Li-Ion battery and charger for the P7, but still about £40-ish.

The Q5 takes standard rechargeable AA's, again I bought from DX and much cheaper than Fenix

The P7 is a broad floodlight, good on the bars to light-up the whole road.
The Q5 is more of a spot, having it mounted up on your helmet gives enhanced perspective into potholes and so on than just a light mounted down on the bars, plus you can turn your head and look around corners with it, or direct it at drivers about to pull-out from sideroads or refusing to dip their lights...

Bike lights seem massively over-priced for what they are, these Chinese-made torches shove out a massive amount of light for a fraction of the cost.

Mattinthezie

+ 1 for the Ay Ups - Very bright, very light, can be fitted to bars or helmet, just a great set of lights!