Decent Commuter Light

Sanjay

My previous set of lights have just given up the ghost, so I'm looking to spend £100-120 on a good front light, with a focus on being seen around town but is also bright enough to use when riding on unlit roads. I thought the Cateye Volt 1200 looked pretty good:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cat ... rrency=GBP

Does anyone have any experience with it? Are there any other other lights which might be suitable?

Thanks!

meanredspider

Might be a better idea to post on the commuter forum

bendertherobot

It does look good and has been well reviewed.

I use a Lezyne Mega Drive XL with extra battery. Also 1200 lumens. Very robust indeed. Worth keeping an eye out on Halfords and Sportpursuit as the "loaded" pack is often discounted very favourably.

darkhairedlord

just ride faster and get home before dark

maddog 2

I use an Exposure diablo. Light, easy to swap between bikes, easy to recharge at work, and bright enough for unlit roads.

Sanjay

Thanks for the replies folks. Going to have a closer look at the recommendations.

iron-clover

A slightly different suggestion:
I bought a second hand Hope Vision 1 for commuting after dark- as it takes AA batteries there's no worries about any rechargeable batteries inside being knackered, and you can get good deals on them.
I then run it using rechargeable2400mAh NiMH which hold their charge almost as well as regular disposables, and will run the light in low power (enough to see by when there are no car headlights in the other direction) for well over 24 hours. That was when I was trying to run the batteries down to recharge them after using it on the second setting for about 6 hours!
I tend to use the second setting for dark country riding, 3rd is brighter for fast, twisty roads and 4th there isn't much difference except for battery life- but seriously dazzling to others if it's angled poorly...

I personally love the Knog blinder road rear lights as it is very visible and has so many different modes, between murky high flashing and a low power 'peloton' mode. However, if you use rechargeable batteries you can use any reasonable rear light cheaply and reliably.

Crozza

I bought the Volt 1200 earlier this year after having a couple of the dealextreme magicshine knock offs. The DX lights were fine but delivery time was ages, they packed in after a year and I got bored of having the battery pack swinging around on my top tube

the Volt 1200 is plenty bright enough for all road riding, including plenty of dark country lanes in mid-winter - in fact I can only really use full power on my 5:30am Sunday morning rides, otherwise it's a bit antisocial. the clicker button needs a bit of a press to work, and turns red to indicate low battery life way too early (eg when you still have 3 hours left on medium power).the only other slight gripe is the charge time - it's an overnight job to get from 0 - 100% On the plus side the mounting system is very good and takes about 60 seconds to swap from one bike to the other, and it is of course self-enclosed so no separate battery pack. it is quite big on top of the bars I suppose

overall I'm very happy with mine. too early yet to comment on durability and it hasn't done a full winter

freefall_junkie

This might interest you viewtopic.php?f=40042&t=12946383 I tried the Volt and didn't get on with it. Bought an Exposure Strada instead which I used throughout last winter. Quite simply one of the best bits of bike kit I have ever bought. Pricey but definitely worth it.