Advice on a helmet light

Welsh_sheep

Looking for a helmet mounted light for anything up to £60. I already have a Lezyne power drive mounted onto my bars but I want something on the helmet to accompany it on mtb night rides. I'm currently looking at getting a similar lezyne again and buying a helmet mount for around £10. But after reading a few scientific lux tests, I'm not so sure they are my best option for the price. Other lights I've looked at are the Cateye nano shots and moon xp300 lights. Does anyone have any experience with these or anything other suggestions? I've read the main thread's suggestions but I'd rather have a big name brand than a chinese light for my peace of mind.

Mojo_666

You can buy single AyeUps now for approx £71 at the current exchaneg rate.
http://www.ayup-lights.com/products/categories/4/

Very light weight even with battery, I ditched all my bulky china deal exterme specials and went to AyeUps for last winter and I am very pleased with them.

Welsh_sheep

Seems like a really good deal but a bit too expensive for me. I'm guessing there are pretty big postage fees on top of that too? thanks for the suggestion though.

cooldad

Don't see the 'peace of mind' problem with a Chinese light - even if it goes on the blink you still have the light on the bars to get back. Especially at under £20. Just buy two.

Welsh_sheep

Hmm not too sure. Have you used them before? any ones in particular that are reliable-ish?

stubs

Welsh_sheep wrote:

Hmm not too sure. Have you used them before? any ones in particular that are reliable-ish?

Mine went through last winter and is still working fine. Battery pack weather sealing is rubbish but easily solved with a meter of clingfilm. The beam pattern is not as good as £500 lights but its pretty damn good on mine I can easily see 50 meters up the trail on the low setting. To be honest for what I paid for mine I cant see why anyone would spend 10 pound more, they are better than £500 lights from 5 years ago. Not just a bit better but lots better than HID set ups which were the dogs danglies 5 years ago.

A lad I know bought 2, one failed he emailed the seller got a replacement within a week or so. He took the duff one apart and all it was was a dry joint on the power wire connection to the circuit board. dab of flux and solder and let there be 3 x light.

spankwilder

If you like the Lezyne gear I'd get another Lezyne. If you go for the loaded version you get a spare battery and helmet mount - sure the mounts are backward compatible so you could mount your powerdrive to your lid and put more light on your bar.

Mojo_666

My chinese lights were OK as far as Lighting went, but I had a few failures and I ended up with 5 torches and 3 lamps plus mounts, were not that straighforward in regards to getting the beams where you want. I had to take extra batteries for the torches on longer rides, basicaly the gear I was taking out started to mount up, 2 of the 3 chargers over heated one made cracklings sounds, th lamps were also not very waterproof so that was extra time and hassle sorting things like that out, it just got to be more hassle than I was willing to entertain.

I agree about the £500 gear, its not worth it as far as I can tell. I opted for some mid range stuff that came with the support/warranties etc, having said that some of my mates run with china specials and don't have any issues.

Welsh_sheep

I'm not against the idea of getting a chinese light but I don't think I have the balls to take the risk, even if they are dirt cheap. I looked around on ebay etc and couldn't find any with helmet mounts. The alternatives are: 1.Buying another lezyne and then buying an additional helmet mount that I will use for my old lezyne (which would cost about £55). 2. Buying one of the lezynes with the loaded kit. 3. Getting a different brand. The cateye volt 300 has caught my eye but I would need to pay a ridiculous amount for a plastic helmet mount (much like the lezyne ones), along with the Moon meteor that was at a bargain price of £31 with a helmet mount (but is now sold out) sadly. It was only 200 lumens but a good deal. I don't think I need anything substantial, 500 lumens at the most. The new lezynes, especially the XL models that are nicely discounted at the moment, are pretty much the kind of power I'm looking for but I would like a longer run time than they offer. What do you guys think?

stubs

The chinese lanterns I and my mates have bought all came with helmet mounts. Exactly why do you need balls to buy an £18 headlight. If it breaks and the seller wont replace it wow your out £18 shock horror thats what a cheap tyre, 6 pints of beer or a decent takeaway meal for two. Cateye lights are commuter lights and you will get more power out of a candle in a jam jar.

Welsh_sheep

That particular cateye has the same no. of lumens as the lezyne I have actually. I'd rather have something that I know will last a long time to be honest. I don't trust the quality of control on the cheap ones.

bartimaeus

501b XM-L2 torch - Lightmalls £8... a mount like this or this £1.30... charger £4, with adapter £1.20. Cells can but had for anywhere between £2.50 and £10 each, but if you know someone with access to old laptop batteries then they are 'free'.

Giraffoto

Get a decent torch and attach it to your helmet with some velcro tape (the double sided stick-to-itself variety). LED Lenser P7 would be a good choice - adjustable beam, light, not too expensive, nice and bright, and reliable. The cheap DX ones aren't too bad if you don't mind buying two to be pretty sure of getting a good one (I bought two - one's good)

kajjal

Very simply you get what you pay for. If you want to risk a Chinese light in the pitch black of night you are taking a risk. They have random quality control , "optimistic" output / spec claims and often appalling batteries. That said they are very , very cheap so you could buy two.

cooldad

Kajjal wrote:

Very simply you get what you pay for. If you want to risk a Chinese light in the pitch black of night you are taking a risk. They have random quality control , "optimistic" output / spec claims and often appalling batteries. That said they are very , very cheap so you could buy two.

Do keep up

cooldad wrote:

Don't see the 'peace of mind' problem with a Chinese light - even if it goes on the blink you still have the light on the bars to get back. Especially at under £20. Just buy two.

bamba

Ive been using these "cheap chinese" torches for the past 4 years or so now, putting my life totally at risk. Think ive brought about 6 in total now,no major problems, had to resolder a switch on one once.
they all benefit from a good strip down, clean the threads up, lub the o rings and make sure every thing is tight.
received 3 xml2 torches last week for about £26 delivered, all fine.
If you can afford hundreds of pound on top line uk lamps often using out of date leds then do so, otherwise its a no brainer.
think there may already be a thread about lights on here.....

Welsh_sheep

Welsh_sheep wrote:

I've read the main thread's suggestions but I'd rather have a big name brand than a chinese light for my peace of mind.

You can keep up too I'm not looking to blow ridiculous amounts of cash on a high power light, I just need a decent 300-500 lumen light to pop on my helmet. Preferably for less than £50.

Giraffoto

As an additional point, don't fixate on a number of lumens that you want to shine up the road - it's possible to way overdo these things. Too much light makes everything look white (so you lose some insight into what the ground's like) and if the brightest light's on your helmet you won't see any shadows (so you lose even more insight into what the ground's like).

paulneenan76

Giraffoto wrote:

As an additional point, don't fixate on a number of lumens that you want to shine up the road - it's possible to way overdo these things. Too much light makes everything look white (so you lose some insight into what the ground's like) and if the brightest light's on your helmet you won't see any shadows (so you lose even more insight into what the ground's like).

^^^^^^^ This. And in addition, if it's too bright, you'll lose most of the point of night riding in my view - improving your skills, reaction times, practice looking down the trail, general spookiness etc - you could just as we'll be riding in the day. I ride with a guy who has two big exposures on handle bars and two smaller exposures on his helmet - it's overkill - and he blinds you with his helmet when you stop ;D The fun factor is reduced with too much lumens.

chrisw333

Bartimaeus wrote:

501b XM-L2 torch - Lightmalls £8... a mount like this or this £1.30... charger £4, with adapter £1.20. Cells can but had for anywhere between £2.50 and £10 each, but if you know someone with access to old laptop batteries then they are 'free'.

exactly.

hainman

why not just buy from C&B seen and get it next day delivery,plus they are uk based so be easier to arrange returns if any problems,they were on the ball with my order,

Giraffoto

Bartimaeus wrote:

if you know someone with access to old laptop batteries then they are 'free'.

Or they could cost you some cleaning up and redecorating . . .

If you buy good 18650s - Weiss, Panasonic etc. - they'll have built-in protection from overcharging. In a laptop battery this is provided in the casing, and the individual cells aren't protected. Some cheaper 18650s can be just reclaimed laptop cells with the end caps held on by the shrink wrap cover. Anyway . . . if you put an unprotected cell in your charger overnight, it may overheat and if this happens it can burst or cause the charger to catch fire.
It's also worth pointing out that by the time you get to salvage cells fro a laptop, they're pretty well used up - lithium batteries have a lifespan. So back to the point that several people have made, that you get what you pay for.

Mojo_666

Giraffoto wrote:

Bartimaeus wrote:

if you know someone with access to old laptop batteries then they are 'free'.

Or they could cost you some cleaning up and redecorating . . .

If you buy good 18650s - Weiss, Panasonic etc. - they'll have built-in protection from overcharging.

If you can garuntee they were original which is an other issue, I got some Sony ones for this reason, turned out not to be worth the extra as they were fake, so no protection and back to overheating chargers.

bartimaeus

I'm going to do some more reading on 'safety' I think... there seems to be a lot on CandlePowerForum, and there may be something in one of our own What Lights discussion threads.
I test my reclaimed cells, and I only keep ones that are undamaged and hold their full charge. I charge them on a timer for no more than 3 hours at a time, and they are charged on a metal tray... though I'm going to get a charging bag now I've read up on how they can vent if they suffer thermal runaway.
I'd be much more nervous charging a cheap multi-cell battery, but loads of people use them, and I have seen pictures of the aftermath of one of them going BANG.

Welsh_sheep

I agree with you guys on overly powerful lights, they take away the adrenaline feeling of the unknown. In the end I stuck with what I know, bought a Lezyne 400 lumen light at 40% off on CRC for £50. I bought a £7 helmet mount to go with it aswell. 400 lumens + the 300 lumens I already have = 700 (plenty enough for me) . Thanks for the advice.

kajjal

Welsh_sheep wrote:

I agree with you guys on overly powerful lights, they take away the adrenaline feeling of the unknown. In the end I stuck with what I know, bought a Lezyne 400 lumen light at 40% off on CRC for £50. I bought a £7 helmet mount to go with it aswell. 400 lumens + the 300 lumens I already have = 700 (plenty enough for me) . Thanks for the advice.

Multiple lights is a good way to do it as you get multiple bright zones ahead of you. Rather than a single bright zone.

prawny

My chinese torch stuck on with 3M dualock has turned out to be perfect. Quite looking forward to night riding this winter now. Was no slower last night that I have been all summer. Result.