Lights

austin_parratt

Apologies if this has been done to death ...

I am looking to buy a front light, now it seems to be the case (more so than with anything else) 'that you get what you pay for / buy cheap buy twice' but I don't have pots of cash!!

So does anyone have an recommendations for a front light that will not only get me noticed on the road, but will also enable me to see in un- lit areas. At a resonable price ..?!

Thanks in advance,

Nathan

DrLex

Nathan,
How much do you want to spend? There's a thread dated August in commuting chat with good advice about lights (900 lumen front from dealextreme looks a winner) and a long running one in the MTB section. On my phone, so can't easily search and c&p links. I've just bought a set of smart lamps from planet-x that were reduced to £20 and have a £30 led lenser torch that also mount on the bars for the unlit sections. I'd considered Hope, but the price is just too high for the amount and type of nighttime cycling I do.

king_jeffers

I just upgraded from bog standard Halfords lights to http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-hl-el320 ... light-set/

Bit more than I wanted to spend but they seem worth the money, well built and best of all give off a lot of light.

Alinshearah

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12730302&start=1240

Have a look here. Deal Extreme is your God. Cheap and bright.

Bobbinogs

...and another thread, found using "lights" to search :

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... ts&start=0

FSR_XC

Looks like Leyzne are bringing out some pretty good lights: http://road.cc/content/news/40851-blind ... hts-lezyne

dilemna

Forget Dealextreme Magic Shine lights that fail, Exposure's Max D is the best front light.

Mark Bom

I've got a Cherry Bomb for the rear that is really bright, but for the front I bought an LED one from Wilkinsons of all places, for £8.

It is more for being seen than lighting the way, as my commute is all well lit, but I used it recently on a night ride and it gave off just enough light to show the way when angled down.

andyrr

DX lights DO seem to have iffy QC but there is nothing as bright for that sort of money - just bought this
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t6-waterpr ... -set-82510
under £30, brand name lights with the same light levels are at least 5x the price. Do some searching around before you take the plunge.

bartimaeus

Alinshearah wrote:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12730302&start=1240
Have a look here. Deal Extreme is your God. Cheap and bright.

Before diving into the "NEW What Lights Discussion Thread" you should go to the master MTB "What Lights" posting, as this gives you a summary and recommendations... then you can spend a couple of days reading through the lively discussions on the subject!

It is worth noting that many (most) of the lights discussed will be too bright for road use when used on full power (unless you manually dip them, or switch modes when you meet oncoming traffic). We use these types of lights for riding singletrack in the dark

I've got the 2010 recommendations - so a P7 LED torch on my bars and a XRE LED torch on my lid, together with cells, mounts and chargers. Cost about £55 I think. You can get cheaper, brighter and longer burn times with the latest LED lights.

chiark

I'm still hoping to find the summary in that thread

Looks like a torch on the bars is the way to go, but what about the mounting?

cougie

Lock Block.

http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torches/lockblock.html

bartimaeus

Depends on the torch. My P7 works with this one, but the smaller 501B body torches (I have an XPG, and the new What Lights recommendation is an XML) are too small for this unless you bodge something. In the discussion thread you will see diy's recommendation for homemade mounts using pipe clips.

cougie

Lock block works for my P7 and my Fenix AA cell torches.

bartimaeus

cougie wrote:

Lock Block.
http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torches/lockblock.html

Cheaper on DX - this or this are the same.

These might be OK on the road, but in my experience they are not secure enough for off-road use. It is embarrassing when your light suddenly points at your forks when descending at 20mph off road in the dark :shock: .

keef66

Yep, I have a Fenix L2D mounted on the bars with a Lockblock. Handful of 2900mAh rechargeable AA cells in my back pocket and I'm good to go for several hours on completely unlit roads. Occasionally get flashed by oncoming cars, but at least I know they've seen me. They also dip their lights pretty smartly.

The torch and Lockblock was IIRC about £45 from the Photon shop, 8 x batteries £12 from Vapextech, smart Technoline BL700 charger about £35 from Battery Logic (Now down to £30 with free delivery!)

So, £90 all-in. Not cheap, but it's been working fine for 3 years now. And it's handy to use off the bike as a torch too.

Anonymous

Can I quickly pipe up -

Where can I get the p7 + mounting from a shop in London? or better still the fenix L2D and a lockblock?

Got a night ride on Sat eve and not sure I have time to wait for the post - thinking 2 P7s or one L2D

Cheers

bompington

dilemna wrote:

Forget Dealextreme Magic Shine lights that fail, Exposure's Max D is the best front light.

Fortunately most DX lights don't fail, so you can get a magicshine light with the same kind of power as the Maxx D for £200 less :shock:
There certainly are quality control issues, but most of these were with the original un-proofed battery, since replaced.

cougie

Fenix L2D is washed away by a P7. Try them both at the same time and you wont even know the L2D is on.

I had the L2D before the P7 came out and loved it. Then the P7 came along and it was a totally different ballgame.

Anonymous

Where can I buy a p7 in london + mounting?

thanks for the tip cougie

Anonymous

Found it for 45 in tooting...not ideal, but somewhat desperate.

Any ideas where I can get a mount for it?

Cheers

kilo

If your looking for cheap lights I use a number of these;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1000-Lumens-C ... 45fce3be76

for various bikes. Have one cable tied onto a stop watch holder for easy cliping on to bars and one cable tied to a helmet for mtb night riding. Very bright (able to do mountain biking at night with them), very cheap and have a strobe mode for the road. Bought the torches of e bay and then got some rechargeable cells and charger although they run of aaa's

ChrisSA

andyrr wrote:

DX lights DO seem to have iffy QC but there is nothing as bright for that sort of money - just bought this
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t6-waterpr ... -set-82510
under £30, brand name lights with the same light levels are at least 5x the price. Do some searching around before you take the plunge.

We discussed head torches and bike lights on our run tonight. Bought. Thank you Sir!

greenphotos

I'm in Ealing and can show you my P7 bike light I got from DX one evening if you like.

I know they now do specific ones if you're in US or Europe etc to make shipping quicker.