Recommended Lights Thread

supersonic

Kieran_Burns

Hehe, no probs at all, take what you need!

Those P7 torches are very good for the money.

JonS123

I just have:

Cateye Singleshot on the front (http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/463)
Cateye TL-LD11 on the back (http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/550)

As well as some cheap 5 led rear light pointing at a higher angle than the cateye

I do like the singleshot range, easy to re-charge, I did see somewere about the singleshot plus being to heavy for its bracket, and the bracket sometimes snapping? dunno if they have improved this or not.

cat_with_no_tail

Ok, so I charged my lights up when I got home (3.5hr charge). And took some photos of the light itself and the beam.

Not going to double post, so I'm going to ask you to venture over to the MTB Forum twice in one thread :shock:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... 3#15533153

Some pics for you there.

Stone Glider

Although I do not intend to ride at night, i believe in the "be seen" part of the visibilty equation. Both my bikes have lights permanently fitted and permanently on.

The tourer has "reelights", induction powered LEDs affixed to the hubs. They are "street legal" with a stand alone feature. Fit and forget, they are great in overcast and gloomy weather or deep shadow.

The hybrid has a Shimano front hub dynamo, with halogen front and rear lamps constantly running. The rear lamp is made by Smart for the German market where flashing rear lights are not legal. So I supplement with the ubiquitous Cateye 5LED flasher on truly murky days.

IME a flashing red light up the road is a sure sign of a cyclist ahead for fellow road users.

@KB Hope I have not departed too far from OP?

Kieran_Burns

Nope - but if you put up the models you use... or links to them.

You might want to (ahem) shed some light on how effective hub dynamo lights are. I personally have no experience of them, and others may appreciate knowing the pros and cons (I would)

Stone Glider

I had a front wheel with a dynamo hub built for me @ Byerscycles, who also sold me the front and rear lamps. They advertise regularly in the cycling press and seem to have an offer on ATM for £75. ( www.byercycles.co.uk. )

Another site for information as well as products is www.dynamolight.co.uk. There is a very informative site in the USA. I have lost the link but I am sure many will readily find it. It has a similar style to the famous Sheldon Brown site - who says Americans don't do irony?

As far as performance is concerned I cannot help you much, the idea is that they provide a light source in conditions, which although visibility is poor, there is still general illumination. LEDs are very bright but halogen bulbs give a "gentler"beam. I have ridden through a couple of old railway tunnels (abandoned) and they were adequate but I was going from bright daylight into total darkness. Your eyes take a long time to adjust by which time I am beginning to reach the other end, they are only 400 metres or so in length..

So no bold claims from me i'm afraid. For me, the important element is their ubiquity.

fury21

Front:
- 2x Tesco Cree "cut n' shut" torches (body removed, each running on 3xAA stored in separate pouch) - were previously used un-modded, so not sure what run time will be yet
- 1x simple be-seen light
- [optional] 1x Fenix L2D - helmet mounted.


Rear:
- Blackburn Mars 3 (on the bike)
- Smart "Kidney" (on rucksack)

Headhuunter

fury21 wrote:

Front:
- 2x Tesco Cree "cut n' shut" torches (body removed, each running on 3xAA stored in separate pouch) - were previously used un-modded, so not sure what run time will be yet
- 1x simple be-seen light
- [optional] 1x Fenix L2D - helmet mounted.


Rear:
- Blackburn Mars 3 (on the bike)
- Smart "Kidney" (on rucksack)

Did you use the Tesco torches unmodded for long? Mine were sh*t as mentioned previously, within a matter of weeks both had developed bad contacts internally and flickered on and off all the time. Probably something to do with the jarring they receive from the road but I'll never use torches not designed for cycle use again, they were utterly crap.

prawny

Headhuunter wrote:

fury21 wrote:

Front:
- 2x Tesco Cree "cut n' shut" torches (body removed, each running on 3xAA stored in separate pouch) - were previously used un-modded, so not sure what run time will be yet
- 1x simple be-seen light
- [optional] 1x Fenix L2D - helmet mounted.


Rear:
- Blackburn Mars 3 (on the bike)
- Smart "Kidney" (on rucksack)

Did you use the Tesco torches unmodded for long? Mine were sh*t as mentioned previously, within a matter of weeks both had developed bad contacts internally and flickered on and off all the time. Probably something to do with the jarring they receive from the road but I'll never use torches not designed for cycle use again, they were utterly crap.

I use two tesco torches on the front, mine have been fine, although I only switch them on for part of my commute as I use a small flasher type for general use.

I'm gonna load up on lights this winter ooh yeah!

fury21

Headhuunter wrote:

Did you use the Tesco torches unmodded for long?

not very long :?

Though any problems now are more likely to be down to my wiring than the torch itself... or maybe I'll have eliminated any problems with large blobs of solder

biondino

prawny wrote:

I'm gonna load up on lights this winter ooh yeah!

I'm glad someone finds the thought exciting!

R_T_A

biondino wrote:

prawny wrote:

I'm gonna load up on lights this winter ooh yeah!

I'm glad someone finds the thought exciting!

It sounds as if there may be many UFO sightings this winter...

c12345

The crees are still a good way to get 3W leds, heatsink and colminator for very little cost. I got similar ones from HK via ebay, and run off a sealed led acid battery (Li ion would be a better choice, but for the cost). I also use a constant current charge pump so that I get constant light output until the battery goes flat, and because it is more efficient than a dropper resistor.
http://www.ledsupply.com/buckpuck.php

All in cost is about -

battery $7
buckpuck $5
tourches 2x7 = $14

---

$26
(uk pounds, my keyboard is screw`d)

constant 6W (much brighter than running off AA`s) 200 lumens of light. 6hrs of battery life.

supersonic

No P7 torch users here?

Aguila

spen666 wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

spen666 wrote:

I use Ay-up lights on the front and a couple of Smart 1/2 Watt lights on rear- supplemented by at least 1 Cat eye LD600 - can never have too manyy lights

I'm a little confused about the ayups in that they appear to be one for the bars and one for the head only. Is this right?

The ay ups come with 2 lights attached together and can be either bar or helmet mounted. Mine are bar mounted.

They are very bright and are effective to see with and be seen by.

The battery life is good as well and the lights including batteries are not heavy

Are the Ay-ups waterproof?

spen666

Aguila wrote:

spen666 wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

spen666 wrote:

I use Ay-up lights on the front and a couple of Smart 1/2 Watt lights on rear- supplemented by at least 1 Cat eye LD600 - can never have too manyy lights

I'm a little confused about the ayups in that they appear to be one for the bars and one for the head only. Is this right?

The ay ups come with 2 lights attached together and can be either bar or helmet mounted. Mine are bar mounted.

They are very bright and are effective to see with and be seen by.

The battery life is good as well and the lights including batteries are not heavy

Are the Ay-ups waterproof?

Aye!

mac10

Kieran_Burns wrote:

spen666 wrote:

I use Ay-up lights on the front and a couple of Smart 1/2 Watt lights on rear- supplemented by at least 1 Cat eye LD600 - can never have too manyy lights

I'm a little confused about the ayups in that they appear to be one for the bars and one for the head only. Is this right?

You can mount multiple light sets on the bars if you wish, I have this set up most of the time as i dont wear a lid :?



I have the gheko mount for the helmet which makes mounting (the light) easy; and as hard as it is to admit there is a benefit to wearing a helmet (but only with an ay up fitted): you can blind other road users who have incurred your wrath simply by turning your head in their direction. :twisted:

fossyant

I have....

2 x Hope Vision 1's - use one on medium, one on flashing. In rain during daylight, I tend to have both on flashing. They are fitted and removed in seconds - the brackets remain with the lamp, so it's dead easy to transfer to another bike. Fantastic light and use aa's so no battery issues. You can also buy spare battery holders from maplin, so you have a 'hot swap' if necessary.

They are seriously bright lights..cars just 'move'..... Riding in recent thunder storms, had both lights on, passed a kid (who was on the pavement) - he said "whoaah bright lights"...

PS to the poster with the Hope Vision2 - press and hold the power button to switch off.

Rear - Currently have 2 x Smart 1/2 watts and a Blackburn Mars 4 (1watt).

Rucksack - 2 x Fibre Flares - these are 15cm optical fibre lights - clip on just about anywhere and offer 360 visibility. I use these for side visibility.

rhext

fossyant wrote:

PS to the poster with the Hope Vision2 - press and hold the power button to switch off.
.

Ah, cool, thanks. I now have no criticisms of this light at all!

Catfish

Like many here i use ay.ups on the front. I got mine last year and can't say enough good things about them. Simple bomb proof construction, very bright, in town you can't fail to be seen and in unlit areas you can see the road ahead with ease. The mount for the handle bars is very robust and the lights can be adjusted without any tools, as yet i've not found any weather conditions that have caused problems,fully water proof, i've even comuted when it was -5.
If anyone is in any doubt about these lights just bye them you won't regret it.

russelle

It looks like ay-up uk aren't trading.

I was thinking of either a Dealextreme SSC P7, a Hope vision 1 or a Minewt mini USB

Any comments!?!

Aguila

russelle wrote:

It looks like ay-up uk aren't trading.

I was thinking of either a Dealextreme SSC P7, a Hope vision 1 or a Minewt mini USB

Any comments!?!

I was set on ay-up but would need to get from the aus site, this means $45AUD delivery and paying import duty plus VAT so a bit galling. Also wondered about the minewt X2 dual, similar price gets mixed reviews.

Anyone got one??

supersonic

I'd get the DX P7 and kit. Blows the Hope Vision away.

Kieran_Burns

supersonic wrote:

I'd get the DX P7 and kit. Blows the Hope Vision away.

Got any reviews / links?

supersonic

Have a look here:

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

And also the stickies in the MTB Buying section.

daniel_b

Another mention for Ayups.

I, or rather myself and my girlfriend, have 4 sets between us, narrow beam for the helmets for when we offroad at night, and intermediate beams for the handlebars.

The 'big' batteries on these beauties will last around 6 hours.

IMHO these are some of the nicest pieces of bike kit you will ever handle, beautiful quality and feel.

I then use one of these on flashing:
http://www.parker-international.co.uk/5816/Electron-EHP217-Front-Nano-9-Bike-Light-LED.html

I then have a Cateye LD100 on the rear, complemented by either a Smart Superflash or a Blackburn Mars 4.0 all running rechargeable AAA's, apart from the AA cateye.
One on fixed, and one on flash.

My gf has the same setup, apart from having 2 of these on the front to compliment the Ayups:
http://www.parker-international.co.uk/5811/Electron-EHP216-Front-Light-Micro-5-WP-Bike-Light.html

Purely because with the clear ring behind the lens it throws a bit of light back on to the rider, thought it was a useful visibility feature.

She will also have 2 rear lights, one blackburn and one Smart superflash.

Cheers

Dan

Dazzza

The p7 is a good torch but those of you that fuss it's too much light or not enough runtimes then an r2 emitter torch will be fine, it'll run above 3 hours and kick out plenty for a road ride.

I use the ultrafire c1 as it takes p60 hosts, this means when a new led comes out you just throw in another host rather than replace the whole thing, handy as cree have the r5 xp-g on the way with 350 lumens.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14443

I use a superbright r2 host, it's on dx and it's only a single mode making it ideal for a helmet light.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11836

If you have any questions or just wish to generally berate me then fire a pm and i'll see what i can sort.

crosstowncommuter

I've tried various incarnations of the Cateye's over the last few years of commuting (ok, but nothing special), the Blackburn Mars 3 rears (excellent bang for the buck).

About 18months ago when the USD exchange rate was way better than it is now I took the plunge and ordered a set of Dinotte LiOn lights and can't see myself switching to anything else - they are superb in a "visible-from-space" kind of way I tend to ride with my lights on all the time and these definitely make sure other traffic knows you are there - saved me a couple of times already I reckon. The lights themselves are also tiny and completely waterproof with a simple but effective mounting system.

I used them for an overnight ride to Suffolk, and even the single white front is easily good enough for fast riding in complete darkness. I have mine rigged up to run off a single LiOn pack and in city commute flashing mode they last a good few hours before needing a recharge.

They sometimes have sale prices on, so worth keeping an eye on their site, alternatively should the exchange rate go in our favour again then maybe take the plunge. If you cycle year round in all weathers then your lights are the one thing it really pays not to skimp on imho.

The road rider front and rear setup is more than bright enough for most commuting duties:

http://store.dinottelighting.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=dinotte&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=767788112&Count2=684928536

crosstowncommuter

oops - double post :oops:

russelle

I have the eleron nano 9 on my bike, it's nice & compact