torch/light reviews

I got lights early in the year as I wanted to ride my local loop in the evenings after the kids were in bed... throught the summer I was out two nights a week, and I still try to get out once a week.

I read 'What Lights' and got myself a P7 SSC and a smaller XRE C1 for my lid, from DealExtreme in HK. Both lights, two chargers, 6 cells and a selection of mounts came to £65... best 'upgrade' I ever made as it is plenty bright enough for a 90 mins ride. For off-road I would definitely recommend a 'flood' on the bars and a 'spot' on your lid, as it makes it much easier to see especially when the trails are twisting.

If I were buying now I would buy the 501b XPG instead of the XRE (in fact I have just got one, and ordered a second one as they are great little lightst) as they are slightly smaller, quite a bit brighter and very cheap at £12.50. One of the great things about going with 18650 torches is that the marginal cost of new lights is so very low once you have cells and chargers... my £12.50 XPG should be as bright as a £140 Joystick.

When I have my second XPG I will try 2 x XPG on the bars instead of 1 x P7... apparently this gives pretty much the same amount of light with a similar spread, but gives you a much longer run time. So, it'll be a choice between a 2+1 XPG set up or a P7+XPG set up.

If I were buying another P7 I would get a 5 mode rather than the 3 mode I have now, as I reckon a MID setting would be useful, especially when riding on lit roads. In my experience HI is a bit too bright in traffic (unless angled well down), while LO is a bit too dim for my liking. If you look at the new What Lights Discussion there are some helpful recent posts by "diy" with recommendations on cheap P7 SSC or P7 MTE torches.

Whatever you use, I would also have a cheap commuter light with a strobe function for commuting... the strobes on the 18650 torches are far too bright to be of any use, but some sort of flashing light can get you noticed on the roads.

The only downside with lights from DealExtreme or BestOfferBuy is that you may be looking at 3 to 6 weeks for delivery (more likely 6 now it is getting on for Christmas).