Bike light countdown - what do you use?
Ringpeace
Posts: 105
As title really.
Sadly nothing annoys me more than people riding bikes in full high viz, helmeted up but without using lights.
As a driver I don't notice high viz half as much as I do a decent flashing light. Even if you do decide to go all ninja. Although the ever increasing band of ninjas without lights is getting out of control IMO. There's high viz and then there's NO viz. Tools.
Anyway, I have worked my way through various lights from Smart and Moon - the Cateye's I have owned are completely redundant.
I own a Smart Lunar 25, 35, 1/2 Watt rear, 1 Watt R1, 1 Watt R2, 1 Watt R2 USB rechargeable, Moon XP300 and have just taken delivery of a Moon Meteor 200 lumens.
Can be had for £29.97 at Amazon or Tredz http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moon-Meteor-Front-Light-Titanium/dp/B009CU4UB4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399128425&sr=8-1&keywords=moon+meteor
The Smart rears, all of them are very good although I find my R1 my "go to" light. I still use the Smart front lights (as I have a load of them) and they are fine on lit roads on flash. To actually see on unlit paths they are utterly useless unless you want to dawdle at under 10 MPH.
The Moon lights are incredible. Especially the Meteor, for it's size, that I have just picked up. Makes the Smart front lights look like £ shop specials.
In summary - what lights do you use - and why? How much did you pay, what are the mounts, battery life, longevity like etc?
Please note that this is only riding road and unlit paths. This is not a showdown over off road lights - especially the ones that require frame mounted external battery packs!
Cheers
Sadly nothing annoys me more than people riding bikes in full high viz, helmeted up but without using lights.
As a driver I don't notice high viz half as much as I do a decent flashing light. Even if you do decide to go all ninja. Although the ever increasing band of ninjas without lights is getting out of control IMO. There's high viz and then there's NO viz. Tools.
Anyway, I have worked my way through various lights from Smart and Moon - the Cateye's I have owned are completely redundant.
I own a Smart Lunar 25, 35, 1/2 Watt rear, 1 Watt R1, 1 Watt R2, 1 Watt R2 USB rechargeable, Moon XP300 and have just taken delivery of a Moon Meteor 200 lumens.
Can be had for £29.97 at Amazon or Tredz http://www.amazon.co.uk/Moon-Meteor-Front-Light-Titanium/dp/B009CU4UB4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399128425&sr=8-1&keywords=moon+meteor
The Smart rears, all of them are very good although I find my R1 my "go to" light. I still use the Smart front lights (as I have a load of them) and they are fine on lit roads on flash. To actually see on unlit paths they are utterly useless unless you want to dawdle at under 10 MPH.
The Moon lights are incredible. Especially the Meteor, for it's size, that I have just picked up. Makes the Smart front lights look like £ shop specials.
In summary - what lights do you use - and why? How much did you pay, what are the mounts, battery life, longevity like etc?
Please note that this is only riding road and unlit paths. This is not a showdown over off road lights - especially the ones that require frame mounted external battery packs!
Cheers
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Comments
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I use Cree XML T6 mountain bike torch lights, 1000 lumens each and only £29 on eBay for a pair of them, don't see the problem with 'mountain bike' lights myself
"Arran, you are like the Tony Benn of smut. You have never diluted your depravity and always stand by your beliefs. You have my respect sir and your wife my pity"
seanoconn0 -
arran77 wrote:I use Cree XML T6 mountain bike torch lights, 1000 lumens each and only £29 on eBay for a pair of them, don't see the problem with 'mountain bike' lights myself
Yeesus - can't anyone take this seriously! Especially seeing that most of you are oh so serious and anal. Disappointed. You do know that those 1000 lumens are only "claimed" don't ya?
An external battery on a road bike light - I'll have to try that.
Anything to add a kilo here and there. I'm totally not against blinding oncoming traffic though, especially pics, sorry, police officers.
Would be interested in if anyone has been pulled. Spotty 20 year overweight lads in uniforms has always been a turn on of mine!0 -
:roll:
I'd say your user name is quite apt :P"Arran, you are like the Tony Benn of smut. You have never diluted your depravity and always stand by your beliefs. You have my respect sir and your wife my pity"
seanoconn0 -
"Arran, you are like the Tony Benn of smut. You have never diluted your depravity and always stand by your beliefs. You have my respect sir and your wife my pity"
seanoconn0 -
arran77 wrote:
Seriously though - you seem a laugh - but can you let us know what you use to light up your ride?
Especially your behind.
TBH I guess I am as bored as you with the repetitive questions on here. F knows why I am coming back! Illumination is a major bug bear for me.
We need a comprehensive light off!
I'm pretty annoyed that some idiot asked a very simple question and got 1000 responses. What a dumbass! The guy obviously missed the tone of the users of this site.
Only took that moron over 3 years to reach that milestone.
LOL!!!0 -
Front I use Cateye EL-135, a great reliable light that will last through all conditions and be ready to go at any time, is visible and can be used to light the way home in an emergency if you take it slow. Also use the old HL-EL450 on the hybrid, but it's too temperamental/ fragile to use on the road bike (loose connection inside somewhere).
Second hand Hope Vision 1 with 2300mAh rechargables for proper night use- batteries hold charge ludicrously well and last >24h in lowest setting (still enough to see with at speed on good roads), and probs around 10+ in the next setting which is my standard.
Rear I use the TL Rapid 3, an excellent visible unit on the economy flash at dark and twilight, and 'attention' mode is nicely visible in daylight for dual carriageway TTs etc (not to be used at night though- dazzling at short range!) It also lasts for hours on disposable AA battery through all conditions.
Also have a TL-560 rack reflector/ light with automatic light and motion sensor. A great unit providing it turns on- when it breaks I'll be buying the 'dumb' version with no sensors.
Lezyne femto drive as a backup rear light.
I tend to stick with cateye lights purely because of the interchangeable brackets. That said I'll probably invest in a Knog blinder Road or Lezyne hecto drive for the simple recharging and easy mounting to use as a secondary light- I always appreciate having two rear lights in case one gives up unexpectedly!
On that note I had a pair of Tacx bar end lights for one winter- fantastic as secondary lights as you can see if they are still working and still very visible front and back. Bad news is one broke after just 4 months for no apparent reason...0 -
I recently bought a set of Lezyne Micro's for daytime riding. I've noticed a big reduction in the number of drivers that pull out of junctions having apparently not seen me. You could probably use the front light at night to light up the road but you'd only get about an hour of battery life at that power setting.
If I ever do start riding in the dark I'll add another front light.0 -
I use a pair of Lezyne Femtos for being seen around town, seem to do the job fine, easy to attach and use and are just bright enough.
For actually seeing on unlit paths I have a cheap chinese light (from deal extreme) bodged onto the helmet with cable ties. Works well but not expecting it to live very long as the build quality is pretty poor... but they are bloody cheap!Trek Domane
Cube AMS 130
Kinesis Maxlight0 -
Front I have a B&M Cyo and rear a B&M toplight. Both are powered from the generator built into the front hub. As the lights are german they comply with SVzO traffic regs and most of the light is on the road and not up blinding drivers.
I have an old dinotte mtb light if I use this on the road I angle it downwards to avoid blinding0 -
Primary Front Light for night riding: Philips Saferide 80 lux
Approx €90 a couple of years ago IIRC
Why? Best light beam I've seen on a bike light, there are very few using properly shaped beams - the B&M in the post above being another. The Philips is about 290 lumen (3rd party tested) but outperforms much higher output lights because the optics put the light in the right place without hotspots or excessive wastage. The beam is not a torch-like axial beam but rather a properly shaped beam similar in performance to a car or motorbike dipped headlight. It gives you a patch of fairly uniform illumination on the road ahead without an excessively bright foreground, central hotspot or dim distance. The cut-off avoids blinding oncoming traffic but spills enough light to get you seen. The beam is also wide enough in the foreground to allow you see adjacent paths, potholes, verges, pedestrians, etc but is not an axial beam so does not waste light illuminating the whole countryside in the distance. This light is much more comfortable to use than brigher axial lights IMO as it avoids the tunnel vision effect they can give and it's also more considerate to other road users who don't get blinded but do see you and generally seem to assume you're a motorbike.
Other comments: No flashing mode which is fine for this type of light - in my opinion a rear flasher is warranted but a high intensity front flasher is inappropriate, front flashers should be low powered units for urban use. Duration is only about 70mins on full power then switches to eco mode or can be used on eco mode from the start for several hours (8 I think) of duration. Charging is too slow. The light beam is fantastic but the power management side of things could do with improvement. I think the newer version now available may have tackled this to some extent but not sure it's quite right yet. Regardless the optics are correct and that's the priority for me. I didn't ride much in the evenings this winter as I was doing a lot of running but next year I'll probably modify the LED driver and perhaps allow an external battery for more duration and faster charging.
Primary Rear Light: Smart 2R
Not sure of the cost - probably €15 to €25
Why? Easily available when I got it. Bright, flashing mode, long battery life, easily replaceable batteries (2xAAAs live in my saddle bag).
Back-ups: Lezyne Femto white front and red back
Approx €20 for the pair IIRC
Why? Look fairly good, flashing mode, mount easily and they were fairly cheap.
Other comments: Not terribly bright. I wouldn't use these on their own and don't think I'd buy them again but they're okay as back-ups.0 -
2x Moon XP500 headlights (in winter I also have a pair of Smart Lunar 35s duct-taped to my lid).
Cateye Rapid 3 (or Rapid 5 depending on which bike) + a Smart Lunar R2 for tail lights. Topeak Headlux as an extra backup in winter.
It all seems to do the job quite well.0 -
I use an exposure strada mk5 up front, I've got several Chinese lights/torches and while they are great from a light/cost point of view they have two issues, firstly they are a faff to fit securely, on my twin head unit I ended up buying a hope mount which sorted it, secondly the beam patterns on most are great off road but blinding for other road users on road which isn't easy to fix elegantly.
On the rear I was using a PDW radbot on the seatpost and a pdw fenderbot replacing the reflector on the SKS chromoplastic rear mudguard. the radbot is very bright but I've replaced it with a Leyzne Zecto as I need usb charging for a road trip.0 -
This is such a good topic, i was ordering some new kit for the summer and i though ill get a light incase im out with friends and don't get back till its dark and we will do some longer rides this year so it will happen, i liked the idea of USB rechargeable lights as i will remember to do this and all the cheap lights i have had previously corrode. A CRC search brought me this lezyne Zecto and wow did i like that, so anyway a few days later i was ordering some new tyres of eBay and i though on i need a light for safety reason so seated lezyne, found the zecto front/Rear for £39.99 an i was thinking perfect a high quality light set for £40. so it arrived a few days later and i was like theres only 1 light....
Turns out i bought the Zecto Pro which has front/rear built in which is not an issue to me. Anyway as far as the light goes it super bright for the size and fits in my saddle pack and its perfect for me, full waterproof an attached via a clip or rubber cord, so yea its perfect!0 -
I've got a smart r1 on the back and a cateye nano on the front for my mainly lit commute. About a mile is through a park which is pitch black and the nano is brilliant especially given its tiny size. I'm planning on getting a second. The rear light is stupid bright too a bargain for a tenner!0
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oxoman wrote:Moon xp300 on the front and Smart R2 on the rear, have 2 smarts on my wet / winter bike. Have been using a cheap Cree xml6 thing but currently sat in shed awaiting soldering back together. Will get used on MTB night rides me thinks. The moon gives plenty of light on unlit lanes and is bright enough on flashing mode for daytime running.
Basically same set up. What I like the most about this post is the "daytime running" comment.
I wish many more cyclists did this. Ironically saw a MTBer running a discreet front light at about 5.30 this afternoon.
It was very sunny - but made him so visible.
He wasn't rocking an absurd off road illegal on road front light. Good guy.
I don't wear high viz - at all. I have black jackets with high viz details - at night.
I also don't wear a lid 90% of the time. That's my choice.
However, I run a rear light 100% of the time - day or night. And it's a Smart R2 or R1.
What F's me off the most is drivers who have obviously seen that light, given me over a metre room - but as soon as they get past drive in the blo0dy yellow lines!
You've just seen me - why aren't you checking your mirrors? Why are you cutting me up - again!?
FFS!0
