cheapest light to see by?

trevtherev

For my backup bike I want a cheap light to commute along the bath to bristol cycle path...yes i Know it will not be brilliant but I would like to be able to see in front of me a little...is there such a light...is there an existing post on this?

simon_ramsey

I have a Cateye HL-EL610 LED Single Shot Plus http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-hl-el610-led-single-shot-plus-front-light/ which is really good for riding on unlit roads , flashing & low/high beam and rechargeable £90 which is cheap compared with lights that cost £300+ but expensive if you were looking for a £3 homebrew torch based solution.

bartimaeus

If you want cheap bright lights then see the MTB What Lights sticky - http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... 0#15720460 and the new discussion thread http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12730302

P7 or XPG torches are the way to go - depends on how long a run time you need.

I have a P7 torch on my bars and an XRE (older generation than XPG) on my lid - and that's bright enough for 90 mins off road in pitch dark. Cost £65 total including torches, cells, spares and mounts. Sounds like you only need one light - so £35 should cover it easily.

cougie

A p7 will blow your mind ! Sure there are cheaper lights around there and you can ride by them, but it will be a strain.

shouldbeinbed

I'm not going to suggest my hope vision 1 cos its not a cheap option (£70-80). you can get sigma and cat eye ones that will light your way enough from decathlon and most LBS for around £20.

you'll not be going at full tilt with them but they'll make the road in front more visible than it was and are the cheapest realistically you should consider.

in all honesty though (upto a point) you get what you pay for and investing a bit more in a decent light will have you commuting as well in pitch dark as you would in broad daylight.

gentlegreen

Whichever one you choose, a request here from someone who's been using the path for 23 years to make sure it is aimed at the ground, and never to ever use the strobe off-road. It's like WW2 on the Bristol to Bath path this winter - in addition to the dozens of idiots blinding oncoming cyclists, there's the phenomenon of vastly more ninjas than ever before - perhaps encouraged by the new, and in places totally over the top path lighting - which are that much more difficult to spot with compromised night vision.

The crazy thing at the moment with all the fallen leaves and branches is that I see hardly anyone with their nasty dazzling lights actually aimed at the ground.

For myself, I have yet to find a single off-the-shelf product that's truly fit for the purpose - so have DIY-ed for the past 20 years - even though domestic

I have dip and main beam and a handlebar switch to do the dipping, and a "flash" button attached to nearly 9 watts of LEDs to remind the selfish to turn off the strobe.

andrewc3142

Not cheap, but I forked out on an Exposure Race and bloomin brilliant it is too. Spare mounts for other bikes are only a few quid.

Lights to see by = £££

rolf_f

RSP Asteri 3 from Merlin - about £45. Works for me; decent battery life and much neater than a torch if you are fussed about such things. A little marginal in the rain but otherwise hard to fault.

downfader

cougie wrote:

A p7 will blow your mind ! Sure there are cheaper lights around there and you can ride by them, but it will be a strain.

The magicshine is P7 isnt it? Thats about 40 quid, I think.

jeremyrundle

trevtherev wrote:

For my backup bike I want a cheap light to commute along the bath to bristol cycle path...yes i Know it will not be brilliant but I would like to be able to see in front of me a little...is there such a light...is there an existing post on this?

Yes there is an existing post less than a week old

jeremyrundle

An LED Lenser P7 has 200 LUMENS as apposed to the Hope visions claimed 240 which I think is less but TWO P7s cost the same as a hope vision and give a combined 400, and you have two if one goes down.

downfader

jeremyrundle wrote:

An LED Lenser P7 has 200 LUMENS as apposed to the Hope visions claimed 240 which I think is less but TWO P7s cost the same as a hope vision and give a combined 400, and you have two if one goes down.

I think more companies should publish their Lux ratings too, as that is usually more important than lumens when off main roads.

I may have this wrong, but I thought that by using 2x 200 lumens didnt equate to 400 lumens, you're increasing the Lux instead and the lumen stay the same?

The hope is actually about 190 lumen iirc, still plenty bright enough for most! The Magicshine isnt 900 as the company state, more 4-600 according to some independent tests...

djrock

As no ones mentioned it about the Lenser P7. The P7 is its model. I don't think the Lenser P7 uses the SSC P7 led. Where the magicshine does.

dilemna

downfader wrote:

jeremyrundle wrote:

An LED Lenser P7 has 200 LUMENS as apposed to the Hope visions claimed 240 which I think is less but TWO P7s cost the same as a hope vision and give a combined 400, and you have two if one goes down.

I think more companies should publish their Lux ratings too, as that is usually more important than lumens when off main roads.

I may have this wrong, but I thought that by using 2x 200 lumens didnt equate to 400 lumens, you're increasing the Lux instead and the lumen stay the same?

The hope is actually about 190 lumen iirc, still plenty bright enough for most! The Magicshine isnt 900 as the company state, more 4-600 according to some independent tests...

A Lumens measurement on it's own has very little comparative value. A measurement in Lux is much more useful - the brightness of a light over an area of 1 square meter.

The Smart Lunar 2W 35 Lux front light is rather good - flashing, low and high beams, around £40. The high beam is very bright indeed. The road lights up as if using a car headlight. Motons immediately dip if you momentarily point it up :twisted: .

unixnerd

I sold my old Smart 10W halogen system for 20 quid when I got my new Magicshine. There's loads of them on ebay now for very little and they're nice and bright. Only downside is the big battery pack, they normally fit in your water bottle holder.

unixnerd

I sold my old Smart 10W halogen system for 20 quid when I got my new Magicshine. There's loads of them on ebay now for very little and they're nice and bright. Only downside is the big battery pack, they normally fit in your water bottle holder.

unixnerd

I sold my old Smart 10W halogen system for 20 quid when I got my new Magicshine. There's loads of them on ebay now for very little and they're nice and bright. Only downside is the big battery pack, they normally fit in your water bottle holder.

unixnerd

I sold my old Smart 10W halogen system for 20 quid when I got my new Magicshine. There's loads of them on ebay now for very little and they're nice and bright. Only downside is the big battery pack, they normally fit in your water bottle holder.

jeremyrundle

djrock wrote:

As no ones mentioned it about the Lenser P7. The P7 is its model. I don't think the Lenser P7 uses the SSC P7 led. Where the magicshine does.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Mod ... 6&T=Module

type in lenser P7.

They say it does but none of Lensers articles refer to a chip type.

But then Maplin say the P14 is 3w in fact it is 4w, so much for a well known store.

Oh and check out the safety wearnings about the other torch here and its Lithium cell, "Do not leave unattended while charging. Place charger on fire proof surface such as tile, or metal. Avoid wood or carpet".


http://store.advancedmart.com/safisscp7qud.html

I will stick to AAA batteries and a Lenser P7. wow

cyberknight

downfader wrote:

cougie wrote:

A p7 will blow your mind ! Sure there are cheaper lights around there and you can ride by them, but it will be a strain.

The magicshine is P7 isnt it? Thats about 40 quid, I think.

About £50 depending on where you get it, the new ones even come with a waterproof case for the battery so they should be better than the old model, rated at 900 lumens or from what i have read maybe 600-700 real lumen output and a mid settings of 500 ( mm so what maybe 400 real ? ).

You can do a search on ebay for them and most come from china taking a couple of weeks to come.
I am also considering the p7 torches but i am not sure if the battery life will be enough for my needs as i will need maybe 90 minutes a day and i do not want to have to do a recharge every day :shock:

redjeepǃ

I'm considering the Magicshine, but does anybody know if the 'premium' manufacturers offer any improvements over the Magicshine in terms of beam pattern and convenience ?

I've got a couple of P7 torches that are good, but I don't like the beam pattern as it's just round rather than dispersed like a proper headlight, and the clicky button thing is a pain. I'd like to be able to switch between 'blinding' and 'still able to see clearly' when a cars coming.

jeremyrundle

cyberknight wrote:

downfader wrote:

cougie wrote:

I am also considering the p7 torches but i am not sure if the battery life will be enough for my needs as i will need maybe 90 minutes a day and i do not want to have to do a recharge every day :shock:

Mine last for about 8 hours on full before I charge and then they are not flat (Lenser that is)

jeremyrundle

Redjeep! wrote:

I'm considering the Magicshine, but does anybody know if the 'premium' manufacturers offer any improvements over the Magicshine in terms of beam pattern and convenience ?

.

LED Lenser for example offer a LIFETIME no quibble replacement guarantee, I have returned three to them that I had either dropped or damaged, and received new torches, also the quality is as you would expect.

dilemna

unixnerd wrote:

I sold my old Smart 10W halogen system for 20 quid when I got my new Magicshine. There's loads of them on ebay now for very little and they're nice and bright. Only downside is the big battery pack, they normally fit in your water bottle holder.

So good you had to write it 4 times ................

cyberknight

jeremyrundle wrote:

cyberknight wrote:

downfader wrote:

cougie wrote:

I am also considering the p7 torches but i am not sure if the battery life will be enough for my needs as i will need maybe 90 minutes a day and i do not want to have to do a recharge every day :shock:

Mine last for about 8 hours on full before I charge and then they are not flat (Lenser that is)

Am i right in saying yours is about 200 lumens? i already have that output and it is not enough for my needs, looking at most of the lights in the power range i need they have enough juice in them to last me 1 day a charge.

jeremyrundle

trevtherev wrote:

For my backup bike I want a cheap light to commute along the bath to bristol cycle path...yes i Know it will not be brilliant but I would like to be able to see in front of me a little...is there such a light...is there an existing post on this?

Just thought, cheap means dull, what about people who need to see you, people with poor vision perhaps.

Valy

jeremyrundle wrote:

trevtherev wrote:

For my backup bike I want a cheap light to commute along the bath to bristol cycle path...yes i Know it will not be brilliant but I would like to be able to see in front of me a little...is there such a light...is there an existing post on this?

Just thought, cheap means dull, what about people who need to see you, people with poor vision perhaps.

Depends what kind of cheap you are talking about - sure a light for £2 would not be ideal - most lights available to buy over £10 should provide good visibility for peds.
___________________________________
A P7 light from me.

I have one and the battery is said to last around 3 hours and I can say that I've gotten around about that from it over a few trips.

Not sure if the idea of using it as a backup light will fly though, as while it is not by any means big, having it on the handlebars with another light [this goes for any light I suppose] it could become a little crowded.

It should be more than enough for unlit roads/paths - and for ~£50 it is pretty good value.