Current Best Front Light - 600lm max

meanredspider

As per the title - looking to return my Garmin Varia front light - and get something else. I don't want or need more than 600lm, obviously rechargeable,

I can spend the whole weekend looking for lights - can anybody point me in the direction of a great light for a great price?

UndercoverElephant

Dynamo! Get a dynamo!

Recharging? That's so quaint!

meanredspider

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Dynamo! Get a dynamo!

Recharging? That's so quaint!

LMAO - my heart sank when I saw you'd replied to this thread
I knew EXACTLY what you'd say.

No chance

itboffin

Izone arc 650 can be had for £35 from Tredz I ran mine on full for just short of two hours with the battery indicator on red but still at full power.

I've just send back about four different front lights from leyzne and a lower powered arc 400

I need at least 600lm and at least two hours, seems to fit the bill.

UndercoverElephant

meanredspider wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Dynamo! Get a dynamo!

Recharging? That's so quaint!

LMAO - my heart sank when I saw you'd replied to this thread
I knew EXACTLY what you'd say.

No chance

Call yourself an engineer? :roll:

meanredspider

UndercoverElephant wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Dynamo! Get a dynamo!

Recharging? That's so quaint!

LMAO - my heart sank when I saw you'd replied to this thread
I knew EXACTLY what you'd say.

No chance

Call yourself an engineer? :roll:

Nope - the Institution of Mechanical Engineers does

I've got 4 different bikes - why would I want a dynamo?

meanredspider

Cateye seem well reviewed on Wiggle - any good? My last experience of them was about 10 years ago which wasn't so good.

bendertherobot

meanredspider wrote:

Cateye seem well reviewed on Wiggle - any good? My last experience of them was about 10 years ago which wasn't so good.

https://roubaixcycling.wordpress.com/20 ... volt-1200/

You can run it on less then 600 lumen mode. Or get the 800 instead, no reason to not think it's very good indeed. I think they've caught up and overtaken a load of manufacturers now.

itboffin

I would expect they have but I can't get over the fact that every cateye light I've ever owned has been lost or destroyed by coming out of their shite mounts, in the end I started adding a cable tie but got bored so bined them as an option

meanredspider

Yup - that was my experience (and it's where reviewers feel it's still poor)

A power level might be nice - save me charging it too often.

straas

I've got this light http://www.moon-sport.com/product-detail.php?id=7 seems to last pretty well, lots of light for offroad riding and bright enough to catch the eye of people pulling out of junctions.

wolfsbane2k

I've been looking at a cateye gvolt 80 that a colleague of mine has that might do you well?
Appears to be similar to the volt 600 in terms of output but with a trapezoid lens throw pattern to comply with German laws.

However I don't know what the lumens are.

bendertherobot

meanredspider wrote:

Yup - that was my experience (and it's where reviewers feel it's still poor)

A power level might be nice - save me charging it too often.

I've lost one light, ever. A Lezyne. But only because I clearly hadn't clicked it in.

My experience, so far, of the Cateye bracket is that it's very secure, you have to press little button in to remove it. Time will tell

prawny

Ive got this one https://www.rosebikes.com/article/trelo ... aid:470889
I don't know if it's the best, but the beam shape is good and the battery lasts forever. I have a magicshine as a back up if I'm going fast in the unlit dark and it's wet, but this is good on enough in pitch black on its own up to about 17mph. There's nothing wrong with the mount either despite the negative reviews.

meanredspider

I could use my Philips SafeRide 80 - but it always feels so heavy. Does anyone use theirs regularly (like others, I bought mine on the Rose deal)

davis

Well you know what I'm going to say.... Whichever Exposure light fits the bill!

That said, Sport Pursuit have the Lezyne Super Drive XL Front Light (575 lumens) for 50 quid. Can't be a bad deal.

Ouija

meanredspider wrote:

I could use my Philips SafeRide 80 - but it always feels so heavy. Does anyone use theirs regularly (like others, I bought mine on the Rose deal)

If you want something small and light then something like the Bontrager Ion 700R might do. It's tiny and USB rechargeable (always prefered removable batteries myself). Only good for about a hour and a half on full 700 lumen though.

Pufftmw

I've a Lezyne Micro 400XL

Seems pretty good & fine for London (I point it at the road). Took it to Ireland and it was perfect, used it as a torch looking for my sisters dog and it lit up the countryside.

slowbike

The Cateye Nanoshot+ is what I use - my wife has a Volt700 - both are really good lights.
On balance I prefer the Nanoshot+ due to the way you can swap between modes - press hold for on/off, quick press to swap between high and low power and a double press for the hyper-constant. Whereas the Volt700 is press hold for on/off and a quick press to go between the modes - ok you get 3 levels of brightness, flash and hyperconstant - the flash being useful when you want to save power, need a light but don't need it to see where you're going ...

Mounts - I've not had a problem with my Cateye mounts - they've been solid through 3 winters and all sorts of terrain - even used them on my 29er offroad (ok, tracks, not throwing myself down a mountain - I wouldn't do that in daylight let alone the darK!)
I'm often tempted by another light - but with the Nanoshot into it's 4th winter - or is it 5th? (not so much abuse this year due to other circumstances) I'll be getting another Cateye when it needs replacing ...

keef66

meanredspider wrote:

I could use my Philips SafeRide 80 - but it always feels so heavy. Does anyone use theirs regularly (like others, I bought mine on the Rose deal)

If you like the beam shape of the Saferide have you considered the 80 Lux B&M Ixon IQ Premium? It puts all the light on the road so it doesn't dazzle oncoming traffic, but it still lights up both verges, and if you aim it properly it throws a long way ahead too. Plenty good enough for fast night riding (I topped 36mph last night with that tailwind!) Good for 5 hours on full blast on a set of 4 rechargeable AAs, so with a spare set you could make it through the night.
£48 from Rose. I didn't buy the one with the charger and B&M batteries as I already had those (Eneloops). I did buy the fork crown mounting bracket which solves the problem of my side exit Shimano gear cables getting in the way of the beam of a light on the bars.

My only reservation about it is the lack of weather sealing; the Fenix torch it replaced was properly IPX7 or something; it still works happily if I drop it in a bucket of water. So far the Ixon has survived a couple of soakings on the bike, but they say you can't run it upside down because of water ingress (failing to point out that the beam shape would be all to c0ck) I'm hoping that the right way up, on a bike with mudguards, it'll be OK.

ugo.santalucia

meanredspider wrote:

Cateye seem well reviewed on Wiggle - any good? My last experience of them was about 10 years ago which wasn't so good.

I've got the Volt 400... used it daily since November... no problem at all

wolfsbane2k

Slowbike wrote:

The Cateye Nanoshot+ is what I use - my wife has a Volt700 - both are really good lights. <snip>

I was torn about recommending the nanoshot+ as I'm loving mine, but having done a walk around the bike at night time on low with it in the "normal" riding angle, it was so glaring I wouldn't want to be a driver or another cyclist coming towards me. I've played with a "g"volt, and love the throw pattern, but it's just not as bright - if I could convert the nanoshot plus to be more StVZO beam form compliant (fully complaint would be too much) I'd be in heaven - I'm looking at Fresnel lenses at the moment)

That, and it's back up at £80 ish when I got mine at £40 gives me the impression that must be better bargains out there now.

The Rookie

I have a Lezyne Macro drive, older 550 lumen model, I find it absolutely great for commuting, that's on country lanes and in the pitch black, it may not have a huge amount of light but what it does produce is well laid out with a bright spot straight ahead and fading out either side . My (USB charged internal) battery lasts for 2 hours on max power which is enough for 2 days commuting for me.

meanredspider

I'm appreciating all of the replies though I don't think I'm any clearer than when I started

I might try riding with my SafeRide next week to see if I notice the weight and to see how the beam pattern works for me. Even if it is too heavy and clunky, it'll be another data point.

veronese68

This thread reminds me of something that always irritates me. Why do some state outputs in lumen and some in lux, then some other twonk claims a brazillion candlepower for another light. How are we supposed to know which works best?
I've got an old Exposure Strada, very pleased with it. No idea of how many whatevers it puts, out but it's plenty. I run a redeye long off the back of it which is also very good.

timothyw

meanredspider wrote:

I'm appreciating all of the replies though I don't think I'm any clearer than when I started

I might try riding with my SafeRide next week to see if I notice the weight and to see how the beam pattern works for me. Even if it is too heavy and clunky, it'll be another data point.

That's what I would recommend. Very happy with mine, and just one more thing that'll make the summer bike feel faster without that weight...

meanredspider

Well I did a quick test tonight - hard to compare the beam totally fairly but here's pics:
SafeRide first

Varia


The beam on the Varia is much tighter both height and width. Remember that it adjusts up and down with speed.

The Varia is 215g and the SafeRide 315g (give or take)

UndercoverElephant

Veronese68 wrote:

This thread reminds me of something that always irritates me. Why do some state outputs in lumen and some in lux, then some other twonk claims a brazillion candlepower for another light. How are we supposed to know which works best?
I've got an old Exposure Strada, very pleased with it. No idea of how many whatevers it puts, out but it's plenty. I run a redeye long off the back of it which is also very good.

Lumens are the total output of the LED, lux are the amount of light that is reflected from a 1m square about 10 meters away. The German traffic regulations use lux (minimum of 10), so the lights that conform to that also use lux. Other places use lumens because the numbers are generally bigger.

If you have a bright LED, but very wide spread you'll have lots of lumens but not much in the way of lux. Likewise you can have a relatively low output LED with a narrow spread and get a lot of lux.

It's a mess, really.

meanredspider

If it helps, the two lights in my pic are 80 lux (SafeRide) and 600lm Varia

UndercoverElephant

Here's the one I've just bought: 100 lux, probably about 500 lumens (but I'm not sure).

DrLex

FWIW, I have two SafeRide80s (one mark I & one mark II). Can't say that the weight bothers me; the beam is so much better than other lights that I've used.
Must say, UE's choice looks very impressive.