Front light, 4h life + clever mount

shirley_basso

I am after a light which will be bright enough to keep me riding in unlit lanes with questionable road surfaces, which can operate on a strong setting for approx 4 hours. I'll be riding on my own so aside from location sharing on my phone, noone will know where I am, so want to make sure people can see me and I can see them as well as deep potholes.

I have seen redvee's cockpit photo which looks really good as my current setup puts my light adjacent to my Garmin, meaning light only projects forwards and to the right and I would like better 'all round' visibility.

If I went for a garmin/gopro joint mount, attached the 'exposure gopro mount' as per http://www.racewaredirect.co/shop/expos ... unt-large/ and then got an exposure light, would that see me through?

I am pretty flexible but if I can find a good looking solution that would also be great. Rear I am covered.

Currently using a Moon something which clips on top of the bars which is fine for London and maybe for the short term but want a long term fix. Thanks.

j_mcd

They've got some good bargains in Cycle Republic at the moment. For example...

https://www.cyclerepublic.com/accessori ... light.html

They are pretty hefty beasts but the light output is very good.

Clever mounts is probably an issue. I've considered hanging it under the bars but am worried (probably for no reason) that gravity will aid it falling off somewhere. I'd really like to mount it to the bottom of my garmin mount as well.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIMSMJ900 ... ycle-light £30

An insanely bright, insanely small bike light. I've never needed more than "low" or "pulse" for commuting.

shirley_basso

Will that magicshine glow for 4h though? I am moving from London to pitch black country roads.

Clever mounts aren't urgent but need to be thinking about it in the future as I am a massive poser and I don't like the look of excessive real estate on top of the bars. Something mounted below my garmin or stem would be great.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Had mine ~18 months and I get more than 4 hours between charges on "low." I couldn't give a specific battery life, as I can't remember the last time I let it run down to nothing, I bring the battery indoors to charge every 4-6 weeks during winter from three ~20min morning commutes per week.

shirley_basso

I need 4 hours of constant running time in pitch black country roads, so assuming around 600-800 lumens.

Basically I will commuting from London to Cambridge by bike once a week, so it's for that.

TBH I think my current setup will be fine for the time being. May get a leyzne 700xl which could mount under the stem, but I'd love a clever solution and a light with mega lumens and battery life that at 1/2 or 1/3 power would have longer battery and sufficient brightness.

keef66

I have a B&M Ixon IQ Premium which will do 4 hrs plus at full power. Decent amount of sideways spill for verges / junctions plus a good shaped beam which doesn't dazzle. I have mine mounted on the fork crown so it's not cluttering up the bars. Runs on 4 x AA rechargeables, so I can carry a spare set for emergencies.

Alternatively would you consider a dynamo + wired front light? That's going to be my next investment for the winter bike. I'm needing new wheels soon so I may as well have a dyno front hub at the same time, and some of the current crop of dynamo lights are very good.

shirley_basso

Not a bad idea Keef, I may look into that for next set of wheels. The B&M sounds perfect if it will also produce enough light to operate on unlit roads.

spasypaddy

exposure strada.

fact.

cookeeemonster

Exposure strada (expensive but great) or check out the ravemen 1200 - got a great review on road.cc for less than half the price of the strada £99).

Battery life on both will be great

keef66

Shirley Basso wrote:

Not a bad idea Keef, I may look into that for next set of wheels. The B&M sounds perfect if it will also produce enough light to operate on unlit roads.

The B&M seems to divide opinion. It's my only illumination on pitch dark country lanes I know well, and I can go as fast as I do in daylight. Not sure it would be quite bright enough for breakneck riding on unfamiliar roads.

Mine's had a few soakings and survived, but I'm still not convinced it's as tough or weatherproof as say the Exposure lights. It's a lot cheaper though...

shirley_basso

Seems to be Strada, but at nearly £300 its pricey and it looks pretty jack as it's so huge.

What is the opinion on the Diablo or Joystick (latest versions) at considerably cheaper (nearer £100!)

keef66

My son borrowed a mate's Diablo last year. Exquisite little thing* and very bright, but a bit antisocial for road riding because it doesn't have the shaped beam / dip function of the Strada. Not sure it would do 4 hours at a decent illumination either.

* the light, not my son. He's huge.

lostboysaint

Four 4ths -https://four4th.co.uk/ - because you can order a variety of heads and batteries and mix and match to suit your needs. I tend to use the Exodus as my "road" light and the Holy Moses as my trail light. I can run the Exodus on full power for 4 hours very easily on the battery pack that I have - which also allows me to use the Holy Moses for 3 hours + on mixed power (you won't be using the full power unless you're on a very dark descent).

Great lights, British designed and made, by cyclists.

shirley_basso

Four 4ths require a seperate battery which I don't want.

Looking at Cateye Volt 1200 (80 quid), Moon Meteor Storm Pro (85), Exposure Joystick (100).

Of the 3, Cateye ticks all the boxes but the mount is a pig. Would I be able to Araldite a go-pro fixing to the top of it and use the garmin/gopro mount?

fenix

I've one of the ebay specials with the external battery pack - I do three hour rides in the pitch black with it no bother. It was under £20.

I do have another torch on the bars - just in case - but never needed it yet.

That magic shine and a back up is what I'd go with.

Hell of a commute !

shirley_basso

Only once each way, once per week (so round trip split over 2 days).

We shall see if I keep it up.

keef66

Shirley Basso wrote:

Only once each way, once per week (so round trip split over 2 days).

We shall see if I keep it up.

can you reclaim it as business mileage?

shirley_basso

I don't think so if you are going to your normal place of work.

spasypaddy

i have an old exposure strada that i would part with about 600 lumens.

shirley_basso

For how long? 4 hours? Price?

figbat

How about the Hope R2i? Pricey but perhaps worth it. The review here suggests you could get 4 hours out of it using lower power modes.

The reason I suggest Hope is that I have the R4+ on my MTB and it has been awesome. Not mega bright but a sensible beam pattern and colour temperature that makes riding with it like following a small pool of daylight. Really, really well-made and a neat mount. I know you don’t want a separate battery but I put mine in the front bottle cage making it largely out of the way and not directly touching the frame (so no strap marks). The mount allows the light to sit centrally over the stem and has a quick-release bayonet so I can take up it with me into the pub etc.

shirley_basso

Sounds good but for 55 miles I'll need the bottle cage for water!

figbat

The R2i has an integrated battery. Besides, you have another cage, no?

shirley_basso

Has tools in it. Will look anyway though. Thanks for the refommendation

essex-commuter

Just buy an Exposure. No battery pack, very reliable, bright, long run times. I don't know what's available now but I use a Toro MkII. I've just checked my spreadsheet (!) and astonished to see it's 7.5 years old. Battery life is still as good as it was when I bought it, that's quite impressive I think. It's been so reliable that I stopped carrying a back-up years ago. I use it on medium brightness for unlit lanes and when I go through towns I set it to pulse.

I wouldn't buy and other brand front light to be honest.

chunkytfg

Silva Exceed 2XT is what i've now got with a larger 9.9ah battery pack which has a nice elasticated velcro strap allowing easy attachment to the top tube.

According to Silva's website it's max output is 2000lumens which I believe as it is insanely bright.

4h's run time at -5DegC and 12h @ 20DegC on max mode.

USB rechargeable battery pack

Handlebar mount is neat and offsets the lamp so you could mount it centrally under the stem.

Not cheap but worth it is you go anywhere completely unlit and want to be able to see where you are going at speed swell as being seen yourself.

shoulder_of_orion

what did you go with?

I have an ebay special as well - bright as f**k but the external battery and wire is a PITA and the mount was sheet so in the market for a replacement.

will check out the strada... wanders away to google... holy hell - £200 is a lot to spend on a single light - I'm into my kit as much as the next man (or woman) but I could almost afford a pair of rapha shorts for that! would worry about leaving it on bike at station...

shirley_basso

To be honest I haven't sorted it yet. I wonder if I will need to now as I just quit my job in London to work closer to home (Cambridge).

I only started riding at the start of April since after the clocks changed, so I have been able to use my Moon on full brightness to start with then turn it down as the sun came up and vice-versa for the return commute.

The Strada was probably going to be the one I would have settled with. I wanted something which is massively more powerful than I need when on max setting, but I can turn down so it would happily ride along around 6-700 lumens for 4 hours.