Lights to see with

secretsam

Right, I'm going to get fit and that means riding in the dark :shock:

Need recommendation for a light to see with when out in darkest Bucks, where street lights are simply unknown

No mad £400 nuclear efforts, budget £50ish, maybe a bit more

Wrath Rob

For that money you'll get recommended Magicshine's from somewhere like DealExtreme. Lots of light but poorly controlled (i.e. blinding other road users) and suspect quality and reliability. Not much else will throw out sufficient light to see for that money.

Personally I'd recommend saving more and going for Ayup, Hope of Exposure lights. Yes they cost more but they give a better, more reliable, longer term solution. Year 2 on my Ayup's and loving them.

gabriel959

year 3 on my Magicshine and loving them too ;-)

rolf_f

These are great

You should be able to get one for about £45 eg at HighonBikes

http://www.highonbikes.com/rsp-asteri-3-watt-1-led-front-bike-light-rechargeable-laa910.html

Review here -
http://road.cc/content/review/15798-rsp-asteri-3-led-front-light

I now use two (never a good idea to rely on one light no matter how expensive it is!) I'm away from street lights but originally I was relying on one and it was fine up to about 25mph. Two gives a bit more depth of field.

Anyway, very compact, very neat, no external batteries to worry about. The metal casing means it doesn't interfere with wireless computers if you use those. Battery (rechargeable) lasts for ages and the on-off switch goes red when its on its way out. Tough too - once I didn't clip one on properly and it came off on the road suffering only minor scuffing. In winter I normally run two with one on flash mode and the other fixed - changing to two fixed beams if I am on unlit roads. Really the only complaint is that the button is too small to operate with winter gloves so changing mode en route is slightly bothersome!

The basic design is used by other companies too - eg Edinburgh Cycles. Of course the output might vary so needs checking but they may be cheaper.

Wrath Rob

gabriel959 wrote:

year 3 on my Magicshine and loving them too ;-)

Did you sacrifice a bottle cage to mount the battery> Much soldering, weather sealing in that time? Any issues with hot batteries on the re-charge?

Drfabulous0

Rob what makes you think the light spread of a Magicshine will blind other road users? It all depends on the angle of the dangle. And I casn't agree about suspect quality either, I have never seen a broken one and I have seen a hell of a lot of broken Hope and Exposure lights. Magicshines are cheap because they use standard batteries and it's about time the big manufacturers cottoned on to this.

mudcow007

Wrath Rob wrote:

gabriel959 wrote:

year 3 on my Magicshine and loving them too ;-)

Did you sacrifice a bottle cage to mount the battery> Much soldering, weather sealing in that time? Any issues with hot batteries on the re-charge?

did you guys who run magicshines just run the one or two battery pack?

i dunno if to split a battery with a Y harness to run to two lights or have two battery packs?

Drfabulous0

One is more than enough.

DrLex

Two other options:
1) Proper, shaped beam from a Philips ridesafe for around £80 inc. delivery. USB chargeable & 4 x 'AA' batteries.
2) LED torch like an LED lenser P7 for £40 and a lockblock for a few quid from dealextreme

woodnut

What Rolf F said, Ive had one for 2 years. I have a dark lane commute and find it gives me more than enough light for a fast commute. I had a cloned magicshine from DX for a while, very bright, but very heavy, a faff with the external battery and it didn't las t very long

getting_on_a_bit

Just bought the MTB Batteries V2 Light [based on the recommendation on Bike Radar]
Ordered Sunday,arrived today.£89 inc postage.Looks good quality.4 light settings,3 constant,1 flash.
Will post first impressions in a few days.My route is a mix of pitch black paths and road.

Pufftmw

What "getting on a bit" just said. Arrived yesterday, good finish, looks robust and lights up the neighbourhood

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/categ ... -xml-46489

Its not too heavy overall (nothing that will affect my overall ability anyway) and sits nicely out of the way underneath the top tube. Put it on the lowest of the settings and that's perfectly adequate for my commute but with loads of off-road capability when I want to go play.

getprg

year 3 on my Magicshine and loving them too

+1 - I keep waiting for said Magicshine (or even the battery) to die on me based on all the dire warnings from those on here who know better and presumably have more experience than me - it stubbornly refuses to stop working. A few observations on my experiences with this light set up:

1. Now coming up to 3rd winter and both battery and light working fine - battery life hasn't shortened noticeably.

2. Battery kept half charged in fridge over summer - as recommended for this type of "laptop" battery if unused for long periods.

3. Set up has been used for commuting through two winters in rain, fog, sleet and snow on West/North Yorkshire salted roads - no water or other damage (when riding I keep battery pack in a £10 tri bag on the top tube)

4. Commute (about 2 hours each way) involves mixture of heavy urban/town centre traffic on lit roads and unlit rural roads - so far I have never been flashed by a car for being too bright. In any event the O ring handlebar mount allows you to temporarily "dip" the beam if you have it set too high.

5. It is bright enough to encourage approaching drivers on an unlit road to dip their beams and also to overcome the temporary blindness that results after a car has passed - whether it was on dipped or main beam.

5. Has lasted longer than any cat eye or Blackburn rear light I have used on the same commute - so far these have all failed (usually switches) after 2 winters - I'm just about to order some more as I write.

Please explain what I am doing wrong to deserve such a reliable front light for just £40 - when it fails I will readily buy another at that price.

sketchley

What's the hive mind's opinion on the Exposure Flash / Flare combo?

notsoblue

+1 to Ayups.

mudcow007

Drfabulous0 wrote:

One is more than enough.

i meant a magicshine front an back so two batteries

gbsahne001

Rolf F wrote:

These are great

You should be able to get one for about £45 eg at HighonBikes

http://www.highonbikes.com/rsp-asteri-3-watt-1-led-front-bike-light-rechargeable-laa910.html

Anyway, very compact, very neat, no external batteries to worry about. The metal casing means it doesn't interfere with wireless computers if you use those. Battery (rechargeable) lasts for ages and the on-off switch goes red when its on its way out. Tough too - once I didn't clip one on properly and it came off on the road suffering only minor scuffing. In winter I normally run two with one on flash mode and the other fixed - changing to two fixed beams if I am on unlit roads. Really the only complaint is that the button is too small to operate with winter gloves so changing mode en route is slightly bothersome!

Agree with the above but would also add that the plating on the brackets is rubbish, a Winters worth of use has seen the adjuster fully corroded into the nut to the point where it has been binned. Thinking that I might have to improvise or buy a new bracket I contacted Raleigh and they've provided me with a new bracket. This will be sprayed in an anti rust (or grease) spray before being reattached to the Winter bike.

The first one I had also developed an intermittent fault with the switch, where it wouldn't change modes or turn off. Spoke to Merlin and they sent me a replacement, which has performed faultlessly; nb don't use flash mode, unless you want to trigger an epileptic fit!

Sharkyssurfers

mudcow007 wrote:

Wrath Rob wrote:

gabriel959 wrote:

year 3 on my Magicshine and loving them too ;-)

Did you sacrifice a bottle cage to mount the battery> Much soldering, weather sealing in that time? Any issues with hot batteries on the re-charge?

did you guys who run magicshines just run the one or two battery pack?

i dunno if to split a battery with a Y harness to run to two lights or have two battery packs?

i have a bottle battery that has only been used/charged twice, y splitter and 1 metre extension cable, that i tried selling at the beginning of the year, might have to put it on fleabay again and see if i can shift it.

supersonic

For £50 it has to me one of the MagicShines, or clones. Or a couple of torches ie XML 502b. Big threads in the MTB section, nothing comes close for output or flexibilty. Or price.

Nice soft flood:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SSC-P7-1200Lm ... 2eb9ad1316

More of a spot light:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-XML-XM-L ... 20c5013dc9

Torches:

viewtopic.php?p=17265285#17265285

cyclingprop

Sketchley wrote:

What's the hive mind's opinion on the Exposure Flash / Flare combo?

Quite happy with mine - if it is raining best advised to make sure you've done them up tightly, rather than just enough to turn them on though.

bobinski

cyclingprop wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

What's the hive mind's opinion on the Exposure Flash / Flare combo?

Quite happy with mine - if it is raining best advised to make sure you've done them up tightly, rather than just enough to turn them on though.

I am happy with mine too. The rear, which was attached to a topeak seat pack, came off when the seatpost mount "broke" last year and was run over by a black cab-i still remember the wild excited look in his eyes!- and is buckled enough that it takes a lot of effort to get the battery out BUT it sill works

The batteries and chargers in particular are often found wanting but i understand Exposure will replace under warranty.

veronese68

i use one of the torches Sonic recommends with a Smart light on flash and as a back up. So far the torch has been more reliable than the Samrt light. I'm going to order a couple more of the Ultrafire torches.

Gussio

notsoblue wrote:

+1 to Ayups.

Another +1 for the Ayup Roadie. Had mine for around 5yrs and the battery shows no sign of deterioration.

As an alternative, Fenix LD20 plus rechargeable eneloops and a lock block will set you back under £50 and give 2hrs of high quality light. Or longer in fit-inducing strobe mode.

fossyant

With the magicshine you can get the diffuser lense off ebay which spreads the light out more - just got one for my MTB. You could also point the light down and even cover the top section of the lense to reduce dazzle.

I use 2 x Hope 1's for commuting which are 3x your budget in total (4x for the new Hope 1). I use the magicshine on my MTB but have it pointed right down on the road.

bails87

The magicshine that requires the diffuser isn't actually a magicshine, it's a clone of one. So a cheap chinese copy of a good value chinese light that might itself be a copy of more expensive branded lights.

My Magicshine MJ872 is great, the quality of the T6-XML 'clone' is not so good, but for £30 it's bloomin' bright.