Front light to go under a GPS headunit on a 'Go-Pro' style mount.

daniel_b

Morning people of BR,

after some advice please.

I'm big into my lights, and have a raft of rear lights, including the Garmin varia R515 I think it is, the one before the price went into hyperspace due to the camera.

I have a pair of Ravemen 1600s which I use on my commuter/winter bike as required:


However due to the style of the lenses on these, there is no way I can mount this under a gps head unit, they are also LARGE and weigh a ton.

My Scott Addict, my kind of most recent bike, has fully integrated and specifically shaped bars, so I ordered a rear light mount and a front gps unit mount with the go pro mount underneath from Raceware who 3D print stuff.

It's not this one, but just in case I am explaining myself really badly, it's the bit highlighted underneath where I would like the option to mount a light.



Is there a decent light that has good battery life (Say ~10 hours on flash), a few different brightness levels and a flash mode too (Likely they all do I guess) and probably due to it's position on the bike, either a power/brightness button right at the back, or I suppose underneath would do.

I don't ultimately need it to be a 1600 lumens monster, but I would like something that has the ability to be a bit more than a 'be seen' light, and has a fighting chance of lighting the way, even if it takes full power to do so.

Budget wise - I've been good lately, and this is for the best bike, so ideally less than £100, but if something exceptional in terms of build quality/features/battery life etc etc, then would be open to pushing it higher.

Thanks

daniel_b

This one has just caught my eye - the fact you can change brightness just by touching the case is rather nice, and it's half price:

https://wiggle.com/p/exposure-axis-mk9-front-light

Presumably I would still need a custom mount (Maybe from Raceware again) to be able to mount it underneath the GPS unit?

EDIT: Actually looks like it might be more of a focussed spot light more designed for off road

whyamihere

I was going to recommend Exposure. Raceware do mounts, but Exposure do first party GoPro mounts for most of their lights as well.

EDIT: Looking at the Exposure mounts which would fit the Axis, I'd actually go with this one from Raceware: https://www.racewaredirect.co/shop/exposure-gopro-mount-with-security-tabs/ It allows you to wrap an o-ring around the light to hold it secure, I'd be a bit concerned about the light moving/coming out of the Exposure mounts with it upside down as they're just a clip. The mounting system for the Strada is much more robust, but that's both big and expensive so not likely to be a favoured option for you.

daniel_b

Thanks @whyamihere , further investigations seem to suggest the Axis is more of a focussed beam light, more akin to off roading, so perhaps not really what I need.

Have heard good things about the Trace light - anyone used it, up to the job?

joeyhalloran

The smaller trace or slightly bigger boost would probably do. Exposure do action camera mounts for all of their lights. If you want more light to see they do a sirius as well. All their road models come with daytime flashing function with a 'signature pulse pattern' to attract attention. The Axis does have a flashing mode but it's not the purpose-built 'day time' one.

I have a trace, sirius and Strada as I also seem to love buying lights. Also exposure lights are just lovely (imo).

dannbodge

Exposure for me.

I designed/printed mounts for all my out front mount options (K-edge, Wahoo, S-works and Generic) to mount the Trace and Sirius options.

The sirius is plenty bright enough for the riding I do, even country lanes in the height (or depths) of winter.

The Trace is more of a "see me" light than being able to use it to see.

If there are any other screw holes on the bottom of that mount, measure the size and pitch and I can edit my model and send it across.
I get them printed for about £5 each

i.bhamra

I've been using a Garmin Varia UT800 for the last year or so. 20+ hours on flash. Highest constant power is 800 lumen but that's good enough for unlit roads in my experience unless you are descending at speed. Only a couple of hours run time at 800 lumen constant though. Attaches to a go pro mount but also comes with it's own mount that works with standard Garmin out front mounts. Can control modes from Garmin head unit and also auto mode changes power of steady beam based on speed and flashing pattern dependent on light (if your Garmin head unit has a light sensor), can also set it so auto switches off if you stop your ride on the head unit. For long dark rides I'd have a second light on the bars as preferred option to see with and leave the Garmin on flashing mode. I think you can pick one up for a little bit more than £100.

veronese68

I agree about the quality of Exposure lights, I have a couple of older ones myself and they are still going strong. My Strada is a Mk2 and it doesn't seem to have what I would call a road specific pattern, it just spits out a cone of light so I have to have it pointed downwards. The newer ones say they have a road specific pattern, but if you mount it upside down would that not put more light upwards? Or does it just have more of a flat sideways pattern that you tip up or down accordingly?

i.bhamra

For mounting on bars that are not round also worth a look at various 1000+ lumen options from Moon. They are pretty reliable in my experience and the rubber strap type mounts are very secure. Usually cheaper than similar powered options from Exposure but can't comment on quality comparison as I've never used anything from Exposure.

dannbodge

veronese68 said:

I agree about the quality of Exposure lights, I have a couple of older ones myself and they are still going strong. My Strada is a Mk2 and it doesn't seem to have what I would call a road specific pattern, it just spits out a cone of light so I have to have it pointed downwards. The newer ones say they have a road specific pattern, but if you mount it upside down would that not put more light upwards? Or does it just have more of a flat sideways pattern that you tip up or down accordingly?

The good thing about the smaller exposureones is they clip into the mount (it's C shaped), so you can keep them the right way up, even when the mount is upside down.

daniel_b

Thanks for all of the replies - I think the Sirius is looking to be the current favourite, and as mentioned above, as long as it can be clipped in from underneath and maintain the correct orientation, then all should be fine.

My only slight concern is whether when securing in from the underneath it will stay in the mount when you hit an unexpected pot hole for example - I wonder if I would need a custom mount with a rubber strap around (Going underneath the light) to also to secure the light in?

Something like this maybe:

whyamihere

I have an Exposure Switch - I don't think they make it any more but it was similar to the Sirius though a bit smaller. I don't run it below the bar because I don't have confidence it will stay in the clip. The Raceware mount I linked allows an o-ring to secure it, I may buy one of those myself.

daniel_b

As a kind of aside, I found I had a couple of these Blackburn central 300 lights kicking about, and I can kind of get one on the flat of the bar, but it's not ideal, though due to the rotational style of the attachment I can get it pointing exactly where I want it, though how it will handle bumps I'm not too sure.



I did get excited though, as you can potentially see, it has what looks to be a go pro style connector, so I removed the bolt completely, which revealed the light body with the two 'prongs' but they are too wide to fit into the Raceware mount I have for the creston bars

I don't really want a light on these bars, but the blackburn central will cut it on the inner curve as it can be rotated anywhere, but I suspect most other lights would have to be on the straight section which eats into places for the hand when climbing.

daniel_b

whyamihere said:

I have an Exposure Switch - I don't think they make it any more but it was similar to the Sirius though a bit smaller. I don't run it below the bar because I don't have confidence it will stay in the clip. The Raceware mount I linked allows an o-ring to secure it, I may buy one of those myself.

I clicked the link, but neglected to take in what the tabs were for

That does indeed look like it should do the job, wonder if the light would come with a suitable o-ring, though almost certain to have one of a suitable length somewhere.

veronese68

dannbodge said:

veronese68 said:

I agree about the quality of Exposure lights, I have a couple of older ones myself and they are still going strong. My Strada is a Mk2 and it doesn't seem to have what I would call a road specific pattern, it just spits out a cone of light so I have to have it pointed downwards. The newer ones say they have a road specific pattern, but if you mount it upside down would that not put more light upwards? Or does it just have more of a flat sideways pattern that you tip up or down accordingly?

The good thing about the smaller exposureones is they clip into the mount (it's C shaped), so you can keep them the right way up, even when the mount is upside down.

Yes, I've got a smaller one, Joystick I think, that's definitely just a cone of light, do they do that type of light with a road style dipped beam? As whyamihere says, I'd want the security of a loop if mounting upside down.

joeyhalloran

I run my sirius upside down with exposures mount. It's pretty tight in there but I like using the supplier mount incase their is an issue, it's more defensible compared to a 3rd party. That said my older exposure lights have bounced down the road a few times and have heard of others too, all without issue.

All their road lights can be run upside down. The road specific beam is about having a narrow beam of light far away and a broad one close by the wheel.

daniel_b

Out of interest, for those who run their exposure light under a gps mount, how easy is it to get to the power/mode button to adjust it?

I haven't looked at videos yet or read reviews in detail, but noticed a couple of posts that seemed to suggest the method of going through the modes is not that straightforward, and also there are a lot of them, so if you go to far, you have to complete a near full circuit to get to the light level you were after.

I have to say, with a lot of my lights, it would be really nice if you could somehow program it to only offer the light options you actually want - clearly not easy, as I guess they would have done it by now otherwise.

joeyhalloran

daniel_b said:

Out of interest, for those who run their exposure light under a gps mount, how easy is it to get to the power/mode button to adjust it?

I haven't looked at videos yet or read reviews in detail, but noticed a couple of posts that seemed to suggest the method of going through the modes is not that straightforward, and also there are a lot of them, so if you go to far, you have to complete a near full circuit to get to the light level you were after.

I have to say, with a lot of my lights, it would be really nice if you could somehow program it to only offer the light options you actually want - clearly not easy, as I guess they would have done it by now otherwise.

Exposure are a bit weird in that you select your mode with the slight switched off and then can cycle between 3 or 4 light modes (High, Medium, Low, Flash) with a single click of the button (normally one is a flash). The mode selection I would always do off the bike as it is a bit fiddly, but once that is done it's very easy to cycle round and if you go too far it's just a few more clicks of the button. The mode select is a bit annoying but it's not too bad and most of the time I leave it in the same mode anyway.

For example with my strada "Mode 1" gives me 2 hrs, 6hrs, 12 hrs and day time flash. That covers nearly all my riding. But if I want longer burn times I can change it to "Mode 3" (for example) which changes the High, Medium and Low to 4hrs, 12 hrs, 36 hrs and flash".


If you want to completely customise your lights you can look at the Knog Pwr as that has a program which allows you to connect the light and choose. That said I do think the exposure method is good as it gives you ~30 different run time options but makes it very simple to choose between them.


One thing that is hard is reading the screen of the bigger exposure lights when it's mounted under the stem though. I don't think that is solvable unless you have a connection to a garmin which would be cool.

dannbodge

I either unclip the light to switch on or off, or poke my finger round the mount. You can also see the battery indicator from the top too.

Normally I'll just unclip it and then change the mode (one button push changed brightness high-med-low-high etc and a long push puts it to pulse).
It's really a non issue.

I've never had a light bounce out of the mount (considering it's one I designed up and specced material etc) and that's with country lanes, going up and down dropped curbs and normal built up roads. I've been using this light and mount all year for around 3 years (it's my daytime light too)

Defblade

I've got a Ravemen CR1000, with the lense rotated to preserve the beam shape and their dedicated go-pro adaptor. Comfortably under your budget. The wired remote is less useful than you might think, but still nice to have.
https://ravemen.com/CR/CR1000.html

And a couple of rubbish videos that show you a real life (very real... I could really do with an extra hand trying to steer, change light modes and film on my phone all at the same time!) idea of what it's like

https://youtube.com/shorts/UhBy6wS9RJc

https://youtu.be/tdkLu_bdf6Q

daniel_b

@Defblade that's rather interesting, especially as I have 3 Ravemen lights already.

It looks VERY bright, and appears to have a whacking great battery.

How easy is it to rotate the lens - do you have to disassemble the light to achieve it, or is it ridiculously easy.....?

I had looked into mounting a PR1600 in the position, but there would be no way to flip the lens around.

Would I be correct in thinking it is this AUB01 mount you are referring to?
>

I would agree on the wired remote - the PR1600s have a wireless one with a little velcro rubber strap, that I have around the bit at the top of the drop if that makes sense, really handy for changing modes.

Defblade

Yes, that's the mount, so the light slides/clips in underneath. It's only fallen out once, and that was 100% my fault... having said that, it bounced down the road with no damage other than a couple of cosmetic chips so that's some strength testing too I swapped out the enormous plastic knob for a normal allen key/cap head bolt as I'm not taking it off and on regularly.

To rotate the lense, you just need to unscrew the front retaining ring - there's a small notch you can tap around with a screwdriver or whatever to get it started. Then the lense IIRC has locating tabs either side, so it is literally just fishing it out and putting it back in the other way around, screw the ring back down. Takes less than a minute all told probably.

daniel_b

Fantastic, thanks for the detailed reply @Defblade , think I'll be placing an order tomorrow

daniel_b

Nearly ordered from Certini, who I have not heard of before, but they only had one go pro mount in stock, so ended up with the trusty Merlin and ordered all 3 of the mounts they had - put one on my Addict, one on my partners bike, and one on my daughters bike.

1 light plus 3 mounts for £68 comes in well under budget :-)

dannbodge

daniel_b said:

Nearly ordered from Certini, who I have not heard of before, but they only had one go pro mount in stock, so ended up with the trusty Merlin and ordered all 3 of the mounts they had - put one on my Addict, one on my partners bike, and one on my daughters bike.

1 light plus 3 mounts for £68 comes in well under budget :-)

Certini are spesh dealers. I've used them a few times.
Always very quick

plymouthsteve

A couple of things.. both very relevant.
1. Certini.co.uk are my local go to. Very good business. Bigger than they look online and have huge buying power so get some deals that are mad.
2. Lights. Hope I'm in time for this.. bontrager ion pro rt is about 1200 lumens.. and good lumens too. Can mount on a go pro mount with a £12 bonttrager blendr bracket. Sure it'll be upside down but it has Bluetooth so you'll be able to pair it with your garmin to show battery level.
Best of all its reliable. I've had one for three years and riden three hours in the dark in the rain on one charg. When they were on offer last year I bought a spare despite the old one still going strong. It even survived a crash bad enough to snap the bracket off the bars.
They're only £120 and Sigma Sports have them currently at £75.
I've spent several times this amount before for less light and or range