what lights?

specialized hardrock

i am looking for a front and rear lights and i noticed this on merlin and was wondering does any 1 know if this light is any good at all ?

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Clearance ... D_2101.htm

has any one got any other suggestions for good front and rear lights in the price range of £20 - £25 for front and rear ?

anto164

Front and rear for £20-25 total?

Question.. Do you want to see, or be seen with these lights?

I can't recommend a front without an answer to my question, but i can recommend this rear allllll day..

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop ... LD610W.htm

I have the black version which is super bright, can be seen from the side, and has many different modes. GREAT light. And you can spin th elight 90deg around so the light is taller than it is wide, or vice versa.

specialized hardrock

cheers i think i will purchase that light

answer: i want to see these lights

bartimaeus

If you want 'to see' and you only want to spend £20-25 front and rear then you should read What Lights - but even then you will be pushing it, as you need a decent front light for off-road.

In summary your cheapest decently bright option is a a torch which runs off 18650 cells, together with a charger and cells from either DealExtreme or BestOfferBuy in Hong Kong.

You can get an XPG torch like this for £13. Other options are the MC-E for about £12.50 or a P7 for £13.50

The cells are about £6.50 for 2 - so you get a spare. A charger will set you back £5.50. You will also need a mount - something like this for £2.

One XPG will be reasonably bright (300 lumens), and will run a long time on full, but it won't have a great spread of light... from the discussion thread it looks like people run 2 of these on their bars if they use them. An MCE or P7 will give you about 500 lumens and a much better spread of light, but will not run for as long on full power. I have a P7 like this which cost me £20, and it is a great light... good floody beam, nice and bright, and I have had two hours from it running on high power without it becoming too dim (though it was dimming towards the end).

If you go down the 18650 torches route you can always add more very cheaply... e.g. get 1 x XPG with cells and a charger now (under £30), and then buy another XPG later... and then a third for your lid when you decide you really want to see where you are going

specialized hardrock

thanks mate that what really helpfull i think i am going to look into more of these light
cheers!

diy

I completely agree with Bartimaeus, except 300 Lumen is only "reasonably bright" for people who are in to torches or LEDs, for comparison the 330 Lumen 501b XPG unit is almost 3 times brighter than the large 3 cell mag light.

Run time on the XPG will be around 3 hours on full, and 10 on low. You can harvest 18650 batteries from most full sized laptops. Typically there are 6 - 9 cells in a battery pack and even if the pack is dead its normally only 2 or 3 cells that are dead.

Lastly for comparison of size, the 18650 is 18x65mm and packs about 3 times the power of the top of the range 3AMP rechargable AAs.

bamba

I cant see why any one would want to buy any thing else to be honest, can some one make the new lights discussion a sticky ?