Am I expecting too much of my headlight?

[Browser]

My current front light, a quoted 540 lumen Niteflux Visionstick Enduro 8, is not bright enough to illuminate the road ahead so that I can maintain the same pace in darkness as in daylight without occasionally hitting a blip or hole in the road. SHould I be slowing down or do I need a better light?

 

[RedBike]

It might be worth trying a helmet mounted light with a narrow 'spot beam'.

This light will only illuminate a small patch directly where you're looking (if you've positioned the light correctly that is) so you will need to run it in conjunction with your existing Niteflux light.

 

[RedBike]

btw 500lumens / the Niteflux light is relatively bright compared to most lights so you'd need to spend quite a bit of money in order to get anything significantly better.

 

[tincaman]

Are you sure its not the battery, all the reviews say it lights up the road really well?

 

[fossyant]

Hmm....... my two Hope 1's are 240 lm each (quoted) (480 total) and are more than sufficient - seems odd.

 

[DrSquirrel]

I get the same feeling with my "900" lumen (more like 700 ish), and 240lumen tight spot on my helmet.

I think no matter what light you use it will never be the same as full day light.

Maybe time to slap some heavy panniers on for resistance training?

It might be worth trying a helmet mounted light with a narrow 'spot beam'.

This light will only illuminate a small patch directly where you're looking (if you've positioned the light correctly that is) so you will need to run it in conjunction with your existing Niteflux light.

+1 on helmet light.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I do a bit of night riding, on and off road and I work for an eyecare charity.. No matter how good your lights some would argue your eyes, and entire visual system, didn't evolve to recognise hazards when illuminated at a (relatively) shallow angle. Can you tell at speed if that dark spot is a wet patch, or a pot hole or a shadow? Nope. In a motor vehicle you probably would not car but on a bike, well getting it wrong can be a bit of a catastrophy. If you can't tell then you are probably going too fast for the conditions but even if you had car headlights you'd likely have the same problem.

And it gets worse as you get older.

 

[Browser]

I do a bit of night riding, on and off road and I work for an eyecare charity.. No matter how good your lights some would argue your eyes, and entire visual system, didn't evolve to recognise hazards when illuminated at a (relatively) shallow angle. Can you tell at speed if that dark spot is a wet patch, or a pot hole or a shadow? Nope. In a motor vehicle you probably would not car but on a bike, well getting it wrong can be a bit of a catastrophy. If you can't tell then you are probably going too fast for the conditions but even if you had car headlights you'd likely have the same problem.

And it gets worse as you get older.

You've nailed it for me Greg, it's not so much not seeing hazards and not being able to tell apart a black-coloured damp patch from a potentially rim-buckling pothole or raised tarmac edge. I've got a couple of ideas to try so I'll see how they pan out.

 

[Tynan]

yep, my eyes are only so so, I have a good front light and I find it much harder in bad light to spot stuff that's easy in daylight, it's two different things, night and day almost, that sun is one bright sob

 

[RedBike]

Different lights have different coloured beams. My Niteflux had a very 'white'.

HID lights are normally blue and halogen lights have a yellow tint to them.

 

[Davidc]

No bike light can possibly light the road to the same standard as daylight! Surely some speed reduction is inevitable no matter what when it's dark.

 

[e-rider]

I use a single 130 lumen nite rider mini and have no trouble seeing at night even off road and it only cost £85 and runs for 3 hours.

I think you guys have faulty lights or they are no way near as powerful as quoted, or you need to eat more carrots!

 

[e-rider]

I get the same feeling with my "900" lumen (more like 700 ish), and 240lumen tight spot on my helmet.

I think no matter what light you use it will never be the same as full day light.

Maybe time to slap some heavy panniers on for resistance training?



+1 on helmet light.

Yes, the Sun puts out a little more than 900 lumens!!!

 

[MacB]

I have read some write ups where people have gone to a different shade/colour of light or a lower output and found an improvement on visibility for them. Some of the really bright, and white, ones seem to almost reflect back and cause a blinding effect. As others have said your own eyesight will matter as well. Just because someone else can see really well with a certain light doesn't mean it will be optimal for you. Problem is they're bloody expensive things to experiment with.

The regular routes I do in the dark I tend to have the problem bits memorised anyway. Even to the point that I continue to swerve/avoid long after a road repair has been done

 

[jimboalee]

When there's no streetlighting and you are the only vehicle on the road, the only objects you are going to see are the ones which reflect the light from your lamp back to your eye.

Puddles look like black holes in the ground because there is no reflected light coming back to your eyes.

It is only the surface roughness of the tarmac that makes it visible because there are tiny facets in the correct orientation for light to rebound to your eyes.

Remember.... Light travels straight. Except when caught in the gravity of a collapsed star ( a real black hole ).