Am I expecting too much of my headlight?

[Browser]

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

Ah, thanks for that, I'll try to avoid that poxy black hole on my commute in future, it's been playing hell with my lights!

 

[helmet tester]

I have a couple of 'proper' front lights, a cateye single buld LED thing and a similar revolution one from edinburgh cycles. Pretty reasonable for their size etc but instead of spending a lot of money on brighter but expensive lights, i got two of those 'lockblock' gadgets - i use a couple of small, lightweight but very bright torches (those multi LED things). i tend to use the 'proper' light for more of a 'spot' focus, whilst the torches basically give a wider brighter field of vision.
And those lockblocks, they make an ideal banana / energy bar / fruity cereal bar holder, saving a bit of pocket / bag space and easy to reach.

Ah, thanks for that, I'll try to avoid that poxy black hole on my commute in future, it's been playing hell with my lights!

 

[downfader]

I think with front lamps you really do need to experiment, especially if riding outside of an urban setting. I have a great collection of lights now, I've bought prolly 50 front and rear over the years to play with, they pretty much all have their uses.

A light is an investment in your safety, but also your riding comfort. I note that some people suffer with different colours (called light temperature iirc) in the same way people do with household lighting. Its a shame the big clubs/shops cant do a day, or rather night where you can try out how a light responds. A few guys on youtube (myself, Magnatom and others) have made some videos of lights, but that only takes you so far.

 

[Davidc]

I find that having 2 lights at different heights helps a little with showing things up. I now have one on the fork crown and one on the bars. When bikes had braze ons half way upthe forks that helped a bit, but the lights were so poor you couldn't see anyway.