Headlights on a 2 figure budget??

PhatPig
PhatPig Posts: 69
edited November 2007 in MTB beginners
Hi folks,

Just wondering what your thoughts on these are; http://www.twowheelsgood.co.uk/index.ph ... 4kld498ld4

I'm looking for fairly bright lights for on & off road use but can't afford to spend a 3 figure sum of money. I know they'll be heavy with a lead acid battery but am not worried about weight & I like the idea of being able to dip them.

Any alternatives? I've had a look at the WMTB light reviews & all within my price range are recomended as secondary lights only

Comments

  • PhatPig wrote:
    Hi folks,

    Just wondering what your thoughts on these are; http://www.twowheelsgood.co.uk/index.ph ... 4kld498ld4

    I'm looking for fairly bright lights for on & off road use but can't afford to spend a 3 figure sum of money. I know they'll be heavy with a lead acid battery but am not worried about weight & I like the idea of being able to dip them.

    Any alternatives? I've had a look at the WMTB light reviews & all within my price range are recomended as secondary lights only

    Thats exactly what I have and they are a good buy. Half of my commute is through town and I find the 2.5 watt light fine and the rest is in the countryside where the 10 watt is great. I find that I can get over 2 hours of battery life through a 50/50 use.

    Have a look on e bay for the sjs cycle shop website as mine were cheaper than that and they often do special prices on this set up.

    My commuting bike
    http://tinyurl.com/366awv
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    CRC do a similar one from Knightlite at only 20 quid.
  • Niteflux commuter 4.0 $ watt Let £95.00 and brighter than car lights and no extra battery to fit on your frame it is all self contained

    Ideal
    Racing is life - everything else is just waiting
  • Steve I
    Steve I Posts: 428
    I bought my lad a Cateye light set running from a lead acid battery a few years ago. He was lucky to get more than 1/2 an hour before the light dimmed, despite a claimed 2 hour run time. The shop swapped the set but the same happened with the new battery. These batteries are hopeless in cold conditions, just the type of conditions that you get at night in winter. Try your best to get a set running off a nimh battery, you won't be sorry. With lights, it really is a case of buy cheap, buy twice.

    I recently bought the AA battery version of the Dinotte 200l, it's absolutely superb and worth every penny of the £99.99.
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Yes, the old Cateye batteries were notoriosuly bad. Better now though.
  • papasmurf.
    papasmurf. Posts: 2,382
    CRC were doing those smarts for 20.

    They are okay, 2hrs ish burn time 10 hours charge, no smart charger, battery heavy and might no fit all bike types, and the mount is best on a oversized bar else it tends to move around on the rough and I doubt it'll survive rough handling or heavy rain.. but for that money who cares and you can buy bulbs from maplins to make it dual 10w if you want
  • You can get last year's cateye triple shot for 99.99 if you search around the internet hard enough (I've just got some from Evans - the last one but I think they were getting more stock in). Seems to work pretty well, was out for 1 1/2 hours last night and no noticeable degradation in light quality. So worth the budget stretch if you can.
    New '06 Giant XTC composite.(Black bike No.3)
    Specialized Allez double (Black bike No.2)
    Suzuki Sv650s (Black bike No.1)
    Subaru Legacy GT-B twin turbo (White not Black)
  • Was just looking at the original lights that were posted and trying to find run time and found them for 35 quid here

    Question is has anyone used activesportskit before, any comments to make?
    __________________________________
    (Why did I do that when I knew it was going to hurt)
  • supersonic wrote:
    CRC do a similar one from Knightlite at only 20 quid.

    Just found that, based on the reviews here: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Revi ... delID=8509 I think I'll go with them. If they don't work out for me it's only £20 lost.
  • Just bought some smarts - new to night pedaling and wanted something that would do off rd.
    Sought advice on this forum and advised worth trying these. Cheap but do the job.

    Got myself the 10/10 version so both lamps 10 W and can use both together for larger spot light.

    Batt heavy but will fit in bottle holder to hold tight. (with bit of packing).

    On one light - lasts at least 3 x 1 hr pedals, but if use both, clealy less time (1.5 hrs plus).

    Very bright as spots, but are spots so difficult seeing directly in front of bike !

    I got some on e bay for about £30 inl postage. Recomend cheap head torch as well to adress near floodlight and view where looking - again got e bay for £7.

    Up to you but they do me ! Guess if looking for serious off rd lights then need a second mortgage !!!

    have fun
  • wigganjg wrote:
    Up to you but they do me ! Guess if looking for serious off rd lights then need a second mortgage !!!

    Yeah - I noted that when looking around. I found Lupines :wink:
  • clas
    clas Posts: 187
    they are not bad. I have a pair of old ones. they are adequate off road but carry a spare battery or uprate the current one. I dont know what the modern one uses but at the price i guess it must be lead acids.
    Put a 6 or 7 ah battery in and it should be OK for wednesday night silliness!
    I never touched it! It was broke when I got here.