Front light for sub £100
FOAD
Posts: 318
I need a new front light sharpish for my 5.30am commute over 12 miles of country lanes.
My budget is £100 and I would prefer a light that runs off AA or AAA rechargeables, or that has spare replacement Li-Ions available at a reasonable price.
So far the Hope Vision 1 (chunky but bright for the money at 240 lumens) and Dinotte 200 have taken my fancy, both of which are around the £80 mark.
If there are any others I should look at please tell me, and no I am not buying a torch that I have to strap to my bars with tape etc. so please don't go there.
My budget is £100 and I would prefer a light that runs off AA or AAA rechargeables, or that has spare replacement Li-Ions available at a reasonable price.
So far the Hope Vision 1 (chunky but bright for the money at 240 lumens) and Dinotte 200 have taken my fancy, both of which are around the £80 mark.
If there are any others I should look at please tell me, and no I am not buying a torch that I have to strap to my bars with tape etc. so please don't go there.
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Niterider Minewt USB ? Its Li ion not AA's but quick and easy to charge from either a 240v or a PC USB socket. You will get 3 hours from a charge and its brighter than those running on AA's regardless of what the lumens blurb says.
Most of the single bulb lights i've used have a narrow beam though.
If at all possible I would stretch the budget to 150 and get a Hope vision 2 the wide beam is much nicer on a unlit trail or exposure race maxx 2 160 on wiggle if you are more roady. Doubt you'll regret the extra outlay.0 -
FOAD wrote:I need a new front light sharpish for my 5.30am commute over 12 miles of country lanes.
My budget is £100 and I would prefer a light that runs off AA or AAA rechargeables, or that has spare replacement Li-Ions available at a reasonable price.
So far the Hope Vision 1 (chunky but bright for the money at 240 lumens) and Dinotte 200 have taken my fancy, both of which are around the £80 mark.
If there are any others I should look at please tell me, and no I am not buying a torch that I have to strap to my bars with tape etc. so please don't go there.
Prejudice or ignorance?
A Fenix LD20 gives similar output, uses 2 AA's, weighs 100g, fixes to the bar with a Twofish Lockblock mount which is very quick to use, easy and reliable, and its all self contained in one small neat unit at around £40. I gave up my Dinotte in favour of this - simpler, cheaper, more versatile. 0 -
Forgot to mention... you may as well ask what car you want to buy next.
This forum is dominated by people too cheap to buy the proper gear and for every sensible answer you will get a few of the serial forum dwellers telling you to buy a torch.0 -
...Because they work perfectly at a fraction of the price of the proper bike lights?starseven wrote:Forgot to mention... you may as well ask what car you want to buy next.
This forum is dominated by people too cheap to buy the proper gear and for every sensible answer you will get a few of the serial forum dwellers telling you to buy a torch.
Don't get me wrong, I have a Hope Vision 2 as my main light, but my Fenix torches are what I mostly use on my commute as I don't want to risk the Hope getting damaged/pinched, and detaching it from the bike involves more than pulling a velcro strap.0 -
Check out this thread in the MTB forum, you will find what you need for £30 delivered.
http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12641036'nulla tenaci invia est via'
FCN4
Boardman HT Pro fully X0'd
CUBE Peleton 2012
Genesis Aether 20 all season commuter0 -
starseven wrote:Forgot to mention... you may as well ask what car you want to buy next.
This forum is dominated by people too cheap to buy the proper gear and for every sensible answer you will get a few of the serial forum dwellers telling you to buy a torch.
That's the thing, i've used lupines that were so expensive they were never released to the general public. Yes they're much brighter, but for the price I could buy a cheap car and driver to follow me everywhere...
In terms of technology most bike lights are nowhere near where the current crop of torches and the cost per lumen is far lower. It's a no brainer, plus i've never seen a helmet front light with a mount that doesn't involve self adhesive velco or zip ties...0 -
Bike light manufacturers are well behind the curve with performance and price, of course there are always suckers that believe they are the right and only proper gear, who are always prepared to pay more for less. Fine, not a problem, their money, those of us with less narrow minds can enjoy all the benefits that thinking outside the box can offer 8) !starseven wrote:Forgot to mention... you may as well ask what car you want to buy next.
This forum is dominated by people too cheap to buy the proper gear and for every sensible answer you will get a few of the serial forum dwellers telling you to buy a torch.0 -
+1, after all, why pay £20 for something when you can get one just as good for £100?starseven wrote:Forgot to mention... you may as well ask what car you want to buy next.
This forum is dominated by people too cheap to buy the proper gear and for every sensible answer you will get a few of the serial forum dwellers telling you to buy a torch.0 -
starseven wrote:Forgot to mention... you may as well ask what car you want to buy next.
This forum is dominated by people too cheap to buy the proper gear and for every sensible answer you will get a few of the serial forum dwellers telling you to buy a torch.
Not an entirely fair post that...
I spend a ridiculous amount of money (when compared to my income) on my bikes and its usually a case of no expense spared. I have a hope led 2 which mounts to my hope stem and is lovely, its neat tidy and obviously made for the job.
After a recent night ride I realised that I wanted to add a helmet mounted light and looked at getting another hope led 2. After a lot of research i plumped for a p7 torch as it simply does the job well and doesnt have a trailing battery lead to my backpack.... just cos it isnt branded by hope, lupine et al doesn't mean that it isn't fit for the job and the simple mount is by no means a bodge.
In comparison an exposure maxx2 is about £160 to the £38 i spent, and its not as bright, and the batteries cant be replaced....
to the OP for what you want the hope vision will be ideal, its just you can get "more bang for your buck" elsewhere
If you did decide to have a change of heart and think outside the big brands, this is a purpose designed bike light, with battery pack and replaceable batteries, it will give you a much brighter light than the hope too...
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25149
Hope this helps
Dave
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whyamihere wrote:
...Because they work perfectly at a fraction of the price of the proper bike lights?starseven wrote:Forgot to mention... you may as well ask what car you want to buy next.
This forum is dominated by people too cheap to buy the proper gear and for every sensible answer you will get a few of the serial forum dwellers telling you to buy a torch.
Don't get me wrong, I have a Hope Vision 2 as my main light, but my Fenix torches are what I mostly use on my commute as I don't want to risk the Hope getting damaged/pinched, and detaching it from the bike involves more than pulling a velcro strap.
I went down the Fenix route last year with two of them and whilst they are great lights but ridculously hard on batteries on full beam i always seem to have mine on charge at home an at work and when they die they go within minutes which isnt much use for me on the unlit 5 mile stretch of my commute. So i am going to go with one this winter and maybe a hope vison or single shot plus as the other.Gasping - but somehow still alive !0 -
what i find interesting is that fenix now are distributed by a large cycle distributor.0
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Hmmm well I've been riding at night for ooh more than 25 years now. I bought the Dinotte and wasnt impressed - but it was lots better than the cateyes and co that I had had up until that point.
Then I bought the Fenix - amazing little torches and was quite happy riding with them until I heard about the P7.
I bought that and the Fenix was blown away. Its easily 600 lumens and will run for an hour happily.
Buy that - swap batteries after your commute and recharge over night. It straps on and off the bike in seconds, and is less than half your budget.
7 seconds to get the torch on and off - http://www.youtube.com/user/fenixtorch
Why you want to pay double for less than half the light is beyond me ?0 -
There are plenty of threads on here extolling the virtues of torches. The OP of this thread clearly excludes them.
And yes we all know torches from deal extreme are cheap and the new ones use p7 bulbs which are very bright. We should know it now anyway,every second thread is banging on about it.
Trouble is I dont want to buy from deal extreme, I dont use paypal , I dont know who the sellers are, I dont know what back up I,ll recieve when it goes wrong, I dont want to own somethig called a "tactical torch", I dont want to faff around with batteries of types I dont understand and I dont want to be the type of person who knows about weird batteries because that would make me boring.
What I do want is a nice bright light that works in every way , easy to charge , easy to adjust , reliable and consistant in use, easy to fix/replace when it breaks, perhaps even made in Britain by people who like cycling, most of all though, it must look the absolute dogs danglies when its fixed to my bike,
There is clearly a market for both products but quoted lumens and cost are not the only considerations. Go on wiggle /crc your local bike shop, buy a bike light, stick on your bike and ride around. It'll cost £50 more but your wife wont leave you for someone more interesting and in the long run you'll be much happier.0 -
starseven wrote:There are plenty of threads on here extolling the virtues of torches. The OP of this thread clearly excludes them.
And yes we all know torches from deal extreme are cheap and the new ones use p7 bulbs which are very bright. We should know it now anyway,every second thread is banging on about it.
Trouble is I dont want to buy from deal extreme, I dont use paypal , I dont know who the sellers are, I dont know what back up I,ll recieve when it goes wrong, I dont want to own somethig called a "tactical torch", I dont want to faff around with batteries of types I dont understand and I dont want to be the type of person who knows about weird batteries because that would make me boring.
What I do want is a nice bright light that works in every way , easy to charge , easy to adjust , reliable and consistant in use, easy to fix/replace when it breaks, perhaps even made in Britain by people who like cycling, most of all though, it must look the absolute dogs danglies when its fixed to my bike,
There is clearly a market for both products but quoted lumens and cost are not the only considerations. Go on wiggle /crc your local bike shop, buy a bike light, stick on your bike and ride around. It'll cost £50 more but your wife wont leave you for someone more interesting and in the long run you'll be much happier.
Eh? Mate, I'm the biggest bike tart around but come on, you use your light when it's dark!!
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Its true
- he really is the biggest bike tart around !
;-)
And weird batteries ? Its just a battery but a different size. How is your AAA powered phone getting on ?0 -
Moray Gub wrote:whyamihere wrote:
...Because they work perfectly at a fraction of the price of the proper bike lights?starseven wrote:Forgot to mention... you may as well ask what car you want to buy next.
This forum is dominated by people too cheap to buy the proper gear and for every sensible answer you will get a few of the serial forum dwellers telling you to buy a torch.
Don't get me wrong, I have a Hope Vision 2 as my main light, but my Fenix torches are what I mostly use on my commute as I don't want to risk the Hope getting damaged/pinched, and detaching it from the bike involves more than pulling a velcro strap.
I went down the Fenix route last year with two of them and whilst they are great lights but ridculously hard on batteries on full beam i always seem to have mine on charge at home an at work and when they die they go within minutes which isnt much use for me on the unlit 5 mile stretch of my commute. So i am going to go with one this winter and maybe a hope vison or single shot plus as the other.
My Fenix L2D will do 2.5 hours on full beam, over 4 hours on high. Usually high is plenty for my fast unlit commute. 2 on high would be as much as I ever would need. All lights with NiMH will fade fast when exhausted, this is a benefit over primary cells which fade throughout their life. It is extremely easy to carry two spare AA's in my pocket for the rare occasion (actually never happened) when I forget to take a charged set in the Fenix. It certainly beats the setup I had with Dinotte (4 AA's) or light sets with dedicated batteries (no where to go when they run out!), or just a few years ago, the bottle batteries weighing in at 1kg that gave just 2 hours of light.
What cells were you using? Were you using a smart charger?0 -
I've long been fascinated at the cultural phenomenon that you see expressed in lots of different ways in this country, namely that it's cool to be ignorant.starseven wrote:I dont want to be the type of person who knows about weird batteries because that would make me boring.
If you want to know why your carbon frame is made in Taiwan*, and why the future belongs to Asia, look no further for an explanation.
*Yes I know some are made in Italy etc., but then we're just back to the "why pay twice as much for something that's no better" debate aren't we?0 -
I'm a Fenix LD20 person and swear by rechargeable batteries. Charger at work, charger at home. The Fenix easily does two round trips to work in the dark (2-2.5 hours) on flashing and my Cat Eye Rear light gets charged up when needed. Dead simple, the only drawback is that the traffic seems to think I'm some sort of mobile searchlight and I often get flashed and shouted at, shows they've seen me though.0
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B&M Ixon IQ Gives you 10 hours on max, the lens gives you a large very bright block of light at least a carriageway wide. Thought I had been riding in the dark after I got mineNeil
Help I'm Being Oppressed0 -
Bit beyond the OPs price range - Planet-X just launched a new range of lights - 900 Lumens for £140 as a special introductory offer. Hope to get mine in 2 weeks...Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..0
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Yeah I did see that - looks good but just a bit pricey.
I paid >£100 for the Dinotte from them a few years back that didnt live up to the cost.0 -
As the OP, I clearly stated I didn't want to be bombarded with post about "get a torch", but just for once I am glad very few of you read my post and said "get a torch" anyway...
Seen a few things that have given me food for thought so thanks...0 -
The Planet-X is a prime example, £140 intro price, £199 normal price, performance on a par with a £30 P7 setup.
I too went down the Dinotte route, didn't really live up to the hype, sold it once I saw the light (Fenix).
FOAD, I don't quite understand, are you glad we ignored your plea? 0 -
I read loads of threads, reviews etc, then bought the Fenix L2D. £40 seemed a lot for a torch, but I couldn't justify spending more on cycle-specific stuff. I think it looks OK on the bike, and if I'm fixing a puncture or something mechanical it's off the bars in seconds.
Amazing little thing, saw me through last winter, and if I wanted to I could cycle right through the night with a pocket full of charged AA's
If I could get a P6 based torch from a UK company I might have one of those too, but I never fancied the Dealextreme option0 -
L2D - great torch.
P7 - bloody amazing torch.0 -
If you really want to avoid using dealextreme then all the fenix torches can be ordered through your lbs from moore and large.0
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The Photon Shop is the best source for Fenix in the UK, excellent service from Rob, next day delivery always.0
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+1 for Rob at The Photon Shop.0
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The Photon Shop is where I got my L2D. Do they do a P6 or P7 that takes AA's?0
