Lights for around £100

scoobywrx

Im having trouble finding decent reccommendations for a front light for around £100
I do mainly morning rides in woods and tracks. Only out for a max 45-90 mins
Pleae can you offer me some sdvise or point me to a site that reviews

(out in the morning after 3-4 week layoff - Holiday) Can't wait!!

supersonic

Have a read of our what lights thread.

The Spiderman

To save you a lot of time trawling through the other thread,I would reccomend reading this review:http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/mountain_bike_lights_review_led.html
I have been using them since last winter and have been very impressed,as have many others on here,and other people who I ride with ,that now also have bought their own,having seen how effective they are.

Hougham

Yup for short rides there perfectly fine at a very good price

Flenser

Why spend £100 when you could get a P7 and a C1 for half the price?

Dazzza

Yup both are very good lights.

Btw details on your scooby please.

scoobywrx

these lights seems to come up many times
Hope 1
P7
Exposure joystick MaXx 2

(not familar with C1 Flenser)

I think I need to buy a bar mounted one first and I know the joystick is an excellent lid light. I guess the price reflexs the weight and size.

Another issue is will these lights give a wide beam as well as their spot beam

so do i need two lights one with a wide and one spot or go for one that does both

HELP!!

Dazzza

The c1 torch mentioned is the ultrafire c1 that i usually recommend for a helmet light.

You have the p7 on the bars for a nice flood and the c1 on the helmet as it provides a nice spot to light up trails you plan on biking, you'll find having a bar light alone won't be enough, you need to light different areas of the trails to see what's coming up, the bar light can only cover what is in front of you.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12623
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14443

That's what most people run, the c1 can take p60 hosts so when a new led comes you just replace the unit, or if you fancy different modes, i went for a 1 mode.

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

And the mounts i use for the lid and bars.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15642
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12000

scoobywrx

Dazzza
Very useful information. It makes sense having the wider flood of the p7 on the bars, then the C1 on your helmet.

Would 2 P7's be unneccesary on your bars?

My other half goes cycling in the morning once I return. I though about buying two of the helmet and bar light holders so we can swap the lights round. I think I need an extra set of batteries and charger too

Would you reccommend any other lights ?

Dazzza

Personally id stick with those two, quality can vary in these torches so it's usually best to stick to what has a good rep.

Two p7's would be a bit much tbh.

Batteries i would use these, they have ones with more capacity but they can't handle high current draws so end up worse off.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.28677

As for a charger this, as you see it has a two pin plug common to most things in the home so you may not need an adaptor, it also has a 12v input on the side if you have an adaptor the right size, handy for those trips away from home.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251

A p7 would last about 1 hour on full and the c1 with an r2 led about 3 hours though i haven't fully tested that, they do dimmer after that naturally, don't drain them down the batteries really don't like it.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251

The c1 torches are currently out of stock so this is a good alternative.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16240

Surf-Matt

Hope 1 - made for MTBs, strong, easy mounting, uses AA batteries which you can get anywhere, huge battery life on lower settings (3 hours in highest), compact (easy to stash in a bag), and backed up by Hope's great customer service. Oh and 240 lumens is plenty - if not spend a tenner on a helmet mounted torch and use the Hope helmet mount strap and a jubilee clip - about 55p.

About £70 well spent.

scoobywrx

My lights have been ordered from dealextreme
p7
c1
charger 2 sets of batteries
plug adapter
2 bar holders
2 helmet holders

Thanks to Dazzza for your help

Hope they arrive soon before the darkness does

Flenser

scoobywrx wrote:

My lights have been ordered from dealextreme
p7
c1
charger 2 sets of batteries
plug adapter
2 bar holders
2 helmet holders

Thanks to Dazzza for your help

Hope they arrive soon before the darkness does

I'm jealous now. That's exactly what I'm buying once I have the cash.

damo2576

Do you get charged any import duty etc buying from deal extreme?

Dazzza

scoobywrx wrote:

My lights have been ordered from dealextreme
p7
c1
charger 2 sets of batteries
plug adapter
2 bar holders
2 helmet holders

Thanks to Dazzza for your help

Hope they arrive soon before the darkness does

No worries and the bonus being if they fault or you need more run time it's no biggie just buy what extra you need rather than having to buy a whole new kit.

Led's are always improving, there's an r5 xp-g on the way which will bump your c1 from 250 max lumens to 350 for the same run time, hosts are quite cheap as well usually a tenner.

Im thinking of losing the p7 and running two c1's hopefully with a flood beam should it make a showing that way i get 3 hours of run time instead, but for now what you've ordered is what i myself run, it's up there with the high end lights.

A friend of mine couldn't believe i was going to turn up to a ride with just a torch.

damo2576

How does a 3W rated LED beam compare?

Quite liking this
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/sear ... &R=6553005

Dazzza

A mag would be destroyed by the likes of the r2 and p7, i have a 6 cell d mag with the double bright bulb fitted.

You really can't compare the two though modding the mags to take an led is very popular.

The p7 is a 10w led btw.

damo2576

Ta, just that they dont look that well made? Are they ok?

Design of the Mag's is very nice. Classic.

Dazzza

Perfectly fine and they're dirt cheap anyway.

cougie

I used the P7 last year on my bars - massive throw - wide beam - perfect. Match that with a AA torch on the helmet like a Fenix and you're laughing.

I have just ordered the new Dealextreme bike specific torch.

https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25149

Should be fun !

damo2576

How does the P7 compare to the Hope 1?

Flenser

damo2576 wrote:

How does the P7 compare to the Hope 1?[/quote

Hope 1 = 240 lumens.

http://www.ukbikestore.co.uk/product/21 ... light.html

The 1 high powered LED pushes out 240 lumens on max power!

P7 = two mode, 250 lumens on low, 900 lumens on high.

http://www.zled.com/en/product/prd/zpowerLEDp7.asp

Z-Power LED P7 series is single LED package providing the world highest brightness of 900 lumens and the efficacy of 90 lumens per watt to replace the conventional bulbs.

lock1981

i ordered my bike specific p7 week gone thursday.... still waiting!!!

i hate waiting!!!!

should be here soon though

eyepic

When it does arrive I would be most interested in how well it performs.

supersonic

The P7 torches aren't quite 900 lumens - that is the maximum manufacturer rated output for the LED. Given the power supply, optical losses etc they are about 5-600 lumens. Still bloody bright, and still twice what the Hope can manage.

Dazzza

Yup light wise they aren't too far behind a lupine betty as a friend has one.

Torch like bike lights are the future tbh it's just a question of time as improvements are being made all the time, rumour has it that if cree make an mc-e using the new xp-g emitter it'll be about 1000 actual lumens with a better run time than the p7.

So things are really starting to hot up.

psilocybe

My P7 arrived while on holiday (took less than time than expected as well). I havent actually tested it out in the dark on the bike yet but what i can tell so far is it kicks the censored of my Fenix TK11 and was much less money also.

DoIt

67 LED Outdoor Head Lamp Flash Light Flashlight



Does it suitable for you??