Advice on bike lights for seeing in the dark

Rebecca · 15 Oct 2010

Hacienda71 · 15 Oct 2010

I bought a five watt torch with bike bar mount from a guy in Hong Kong on eBay 280 lumen easily bright enough for my unlit country road commute. I don't go flat out but can see pretty well. All the cars dip so visible to them. Cost six quid inc p&p.

carpiste · 15 Oct 2010

I got one of these as a spare.........it`s now got the bracket fixed on bars alongside my other set.Really good kit for the price.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/9-LED-BIKE-LI...isure_Cycling_Bike_Lights&hash=item5d287a5757
&3.89 and free postage

marinyork · 15 Oct 2010

I'd say most of those are unsuitable. The cateye el-220 is all right but overpriced. Sigma Kalmit just about all right. Would dismiss all of the others (actually one of the bikehuts is all right but that's even more money).

Hacienda71 · 15 Oct 2010

This is the one I got link only down side you have to wait for about ten days while it is shipped.

Rebecca · 15 Oct 2010

marinyork said:
I'd say most of those are unsuitable. The cateye el-220 is all right but overpriced. Sigma Kalmit just about all right. Would dismiss all of the others (actually one of the bikehuts is all right but that's even more money).

Could you tell me why most of them are unsuitable? It would help me to know what I should be looking for. You said the cateye is overpriced, where should I be looking then for something of a better price? And which of the bikehuts did you think was alright?

marinyork · 15 Oct 2010

Rebecca said:
Could you tell me why most of them are unsuitable? It would help me to know what I should be looking for. You said the cateye is overpriced, where should I be looking then for something of a better price? And which of the bikehuts did you think was alright?

They just output so little light.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_525135_langId_-1_categoryId_165636 or the combo one was what I was talking about and http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_525191_langId_-1_categoryId_165636 . Seen them on people's bikes. Cateye lights are overpriced in general, the 220 is a very old model, it's a bit better than my original light.

ACS · 15 Oct 2010

If you have an Aldi local see if the have any 3 watt torches left about 132 lumen - £10 each (get 2). I have read somewhere that Costco may be doing a similar deal but I cannot recall where I read it sorry.

Find some Twofish Lockblocks Bike Flashlight Holders about £8 each

and some rechargable battries 2500 mAh or better.

May not be ideal but could give you a possbile cost effective solution.

The subject of using 3w torches for cycling have been covered on many different forums; a search on this forum for Tersco 3watt torches (no longer availalbe BTW) would be a good starting point.

HJ · 15 Oct 2010

Rebecca said:
Could you tell me why most of them are unsuitable? It would help me to know what I should be looking for. You said the cateye is overpriced, where should I be looking then for something of a better price? And which of the bikehuts did you think was alright?

Those lights are OK for being seen, but know where near bright enough to see where you are going at anything above walking pace. With lights, as with so many things you have to make certain trade off's, so you can have any two of the following: cheap, bright, long battery life. But you ain't going to get all three. I am afraid that if you are riding away from street lights then you need to think about upping your budget, and remember that "cheap" and "good value" aren't always the same thing...

mcshroom · 16 Oct 2010

Not sure of your exact budget, but I find I can ride at just about normal speed using one of these - smart lunar 35, although I have considered buying a second one for riding downhill on little twisty back roads.

I've just ordered one of these torches from Dealextreme and a mount for my helmet which seems cheap, although it is taking a while to arrive.

jig-sore · 16 Oct 2010

OK, just a bit of advice on what to expect from the lights...

this is my set up. there are two kinds of lights. lights to see with and lights to be seen by. in the centre is a Hope vision 1 like this (to see with) and the outer two are smart 3 LED Polaris lights a bit like this (to be seen by). i use the outer two on flash mode to "get noticed" and also as a back up to the centre one (as the hope will just shut off when the batteries run out).

OK it costs a lot more for the hope but you really get better light from it

this is the light from one of the smart lights....

not really any good for unlit roads, unless you want to walk !!!

and the hope, already brighter on lowest setting...

and there are three more settings...

big difference between the first and last photo

the smarts run on 2 AA batteries and the hope runs on 4 AA batteries but the hope will eat batteries in the higher modes (1.5 hours with good batteries) so you have to invest in some high power rechargeable ones. so your looking at around £80 - 90 in total.

i like the hope and im really happy with it. cycling plus magazine have a good review on lights this month and they didn't rate it very high mainly due to weight (one of the brightest light outputs though). from this review it looks like there is now a lot more choice when it comes to this type of light. it may be worth you getting a copy.

so there you go, if you want good light output, your best NOT to waste your money on those cheap lights.

invest in something worth having :becool:

Rebecca · 16 Oct 2010

Thanks for your replies everyone. I appreciate what you're all saying about the need to make an investment in order to get good lights, but I am just not in a position to be able to spend more than about £25. It's not a case of me trying to be cheap, it's a case of what I can honestly afford. I should point out too that the part of my journey where there's no lighting isn't very long, and even in the past few weeks when it's been basically pitch black at night I have been able to just about manage even with my current extremely cheap lighting set up, which is another reason why I feel I don't need top of the range lights. Finally, some of you have talked about which lights are and aren't suitable for cycling at full speed in the dark, which to be honest isn't something that bothers me too much. I'm not the fastest cyclist in the world anyway, and I'm happy to slow down a bit for this part of my journey, I just want to be able to see where I'm going!

jig-sore · 16 Oct 2010

fair do's, but i would still recommend you get some high power rechargeable batteries. tesco sell them with a charger.

cycling plus have reviewed these... :becool:

Rebecca · 16 Oct 2010

jig-sore said:
fair do's, but i would still recommend you get some high power rechargeable batteries. tesco sell them with a charger.

cycling plus have reviewed these...

Thanks, that is really helpful. I quite like the look of the One23, but I've just been browsing online and can't seem to find it for anywhere near that price anywhere! Every website I've looked on they're about £20. Now I don't necessarily mind paying that, but I do if I can get them for half that somewhere! Am I looking in the wrong places? Or is the article just wrong?

jig-sore · 16 Oct 2010

seems the article is wrong. even the site they link to has them at £23 :sad:

Advice on bike lights for seeing in the dark

Rebecca

New Member

Hacienda71

Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire

carpiste

Guru

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation

Hacienda71

Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire

Rebecca

New Member

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation

ACS

Legendary Member

HJ

Cycling in Scotland

mcshroom

Bionic Subsonic

jig-sore

Formerly the anorak

Rebecca

New Member

jig-sore

Formerly the anorak

Rebecca

New Member

jig-sore

Formerly the anorak

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