Good Cycling Lights at a Good Price?

THORHUSHOVD

Bonjour Fellow Cyclists,

I am looking for a good set of Lights for Cycling at a Bargain Price please, 8)

I am after some recommendations if possible please Fellow Cyclists?

The set i have now are ok for communting but i am looking at investing in a "Good Set" that enables me to see more when out cyling in the dark! My Budget is approx £80 or less if possible? I would rather not spend more than that BUT would do so if need be.

Thanks In Advance!

CYCLEMANIA!!

bungalballs

http://www.candb-seen.co.uk/bikehead-li ... r-kit.html

davep1

There are loads of threads on here about this, just use the search function, or have a look at Amazon and see what people there recommend.

You should be able to get a good Chinese front light for about £25 and a rear for £20. I would strongly advise you have at least one front and rear backup light (you can get a set of Chinese LEDs for £5) in case of emergency (batteries run out, bungees snap, rain can get in etc) I also bought a combined front and rear light to attach to my helmet for about £12.

Another thing to carry is a head torch, if you are out in the countryside and have a puncture or other minor mechanical you won't be able to fix it without a torch and both hands free.

arran77

I bought a set of these on ebay for about £30, seller is "mighty-lights".

THORHUSHOVD

Cheers All,

Cree seem to be a Bargain and have got some Great Reviews,

Cheers!

CYCLEMANIA!!

Pross

Cree is just the manufacturer of the LEDs. They make lots of different types LEDs of varying brightness. They then get assembled into lights by manufacturers of various quality and get found in lights ranging from a few quid to a few hundred. Cree don't make lights or torches themselves AFAIK.

chris_bass

arran77 wrote:

I bought a set of these on ebay for about £30, seller is "mighty-lights".

not to be confused with "my tea lights", very different and not suitable for bikes!

arran77

Chris Bass wrote:

arran77 wrote:

I bought a set of these on ebay for about £30, seller is "mighty-lights".

not to be confused with "my tea lights", very different and not suitable for bikes!

I tried those but they kept blowing out

bianchimoon

After my hope 4 battery died, rather than pay £80 for a new battery I bought a Cheap cree type torch with bike mount off ebay and 2 li-ion batteries plus charger for less than £30, well impressed with both performance and battery life. Each battery lasts 70-80+ mins at 2/3rds power, plenty enough light for 20mph rides on unlit country roads

wishitwasallflat

All the wisdom on this topic is here

viewtopic.php?f=20005&t=12660193

and here

viewtopic.php?f=20005&t=12807034

dread_i1

The wife got me this for christmas.

http://dx.com/p/mj-808e-ha-iii-cree-xm- ... w-ST38gGSM

Really good, most of my riding is done on the lanes and have been more than happy. Good for about three hours on main beam. Only thing took about four weeks to arrive but that was over the christmas break.

craker

£17 got me a new chinese led @ 1800 lumen (yeah, right) + back light.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251288567677

Makes me feel a bit sorry for premium light sellers, this ticks most boxes for commuting at night. Get two, have one spare.

kingofthetailwind

As above, cree lights are great. I have a Solarstorm with 2 x U2 LEDs. Ridiculously bright. I run it on medium most of the time on unlit roads. And a 501b T6 (or even better L2) torch as back up, which is convenient as it doesn't have an external battery.

And Planet X Phaart Bleep/Booster lights for rear: http://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/accessories/lights/rear

bendertherobot

Halfords. Lezyne mega drive loaded. 90 quid with British cycling discount. 100 without.

Only light you'll ever need

cat_with_no_tail

bendertherobot wrote:

Halfords. Lezyne mega drive loaded. 90 quid with British cycling discount. 100 without.

Only light you'll ever need

I bought one of these myself, thought it rude not to for the price. Mine arrived on thursday and I went out to test on Thurs night.

Mine is replacing a Magicshine MJ 872, which after a couple of years worth of constant abuse on both the MTB and road bike, has finally started playing up.

I was purposefully looking for a self contained light this time. I've had a few of the cree torches, and have attached them using lock-blox and similar mounting options. All 3 torches I've tried have rattled apart within a couple of months. The beam patterns tend to be pretty tight too, very focused.

Anyway, I've had a few other Lezyne products, and have always been impressed with the quality, saw this on offer, saw it had good reviews, so figured it was worth a shot.

So far, I'm very impressed, the beam pattern is great for road riding. Gives loads of throw and a great amount of spill for side visibility. Settings on this one are 500lm, 1,000lm, 200lm and a 200lm flash (in that order when you press the button).

The 500lm mode is easily as bright as the alleged 1,600lm you get from the Magicshine (with a much better spread and reach as well), and I've seen a couple of reviews where they've tested the output on the Lezyne and found it to actually exceed the stated 1,000lm by about 10%. It's worth remembering as well that this years version is 1,200lm too, so even more powerful than the one Halfords are selling off.

There is also a "race mode". You hold the button in for 5secs and this then sets the light to switch between full power and low power (200lm).

The clamp is one of the most secure I've seen on any lights before. The part on the light is CNCd from the body, so it's not going to come loose. The clamp (on the loaded version) is CNCd, it's a very tight fit, but feels incredibly secure. On my test ride there was zero bounce or wobble over rough roads and pot holes.

The loaded version comes with a USB cable for charging. I've charged both batteries using my wall mounted phone charger, but I like the idea I can pop it into the laptop at work should I need a little boost at some point.

I was out for about 2hrs with the light, and didn't really take it off the 500lm setting (except very briefly to see the difference in settings, and once on a very fast descent). There was plenty of juice left when I got home.

Now, the bits I'm not so keen on.

The button to switch modes, turn the light on/off etc, is recessed into the light body. As such, it's a pain to get to when you've got full finger gloves on.
Race mode only switches between 200lm and 1,000lm. I'd prefer to be able to select which option I want. For me, I found that the 500lm mode was perfect for unlit country roads. 200lm wasn't enough, and 1,000lm would probably be a bit dazzling for oncoming cars. 200lm would be fine for riding round town though.
Although the "loaded" pack comes with a spare battery, which is great, you can only charge it when it's in the light. I'd prefer a way to charge the battery out of the light, so I can be charging one while I'm out riding with the other.

That's my £0.10 worth anyway

Also, if you're looking for a comparison in light patterns, throw etc, there is a good one on road.cc here (scroll down a bit)

bendertherobot

Yep, it's a bloody great light. I rarely switch the 1000l mode on now given that the 500l is so good.

Beware the claims of other lights 240,000,000 lumens.