Budget Illumination

[ufkacbln]

I use a variety of lights

My rear lights are basically a pair of PDW Radbot 1000, one flashing, one constant mainly as this means that if batteries on one start to fade, the other will still work

On the front I have a pair of B&M Ixon again one on low and one on high to overlap battery life

Otherwise I always carry a pair of Lezyne Micro Drive as a backup in case I get caught out

 

[Blue Hills]

Thanks for the reply but I always find that odd.
I have AA lights that are no bigger than AAA ones.
Some that are the difference is very negligible.
The plus is more battery capacity and I can just keep one type of battery - other stuff runs of AAs.
At least we are not into the nether world of button cells
harrumph

 

[Mrs M]

I bought some Simi small back up lights a couple of weeks ago. Front one fell apart when I tried to put the batteries in, didn't bother opening the back light. Took them back to shop and got a £20 Cateye for front backup and found an old back light in the shed and resurrected it. Disappointed as the Similar lights were small and easy to attach to bike but didn't work

 

[Blue Hills]

I know the feeling Mrs M.

I bought a Raleigh city-type front light a while ago as it was cheap. It fitted a front mount I already had on the bike to take a Smart light (so if the batteries died on it I could just swap the lights) and had a nice flash pattern and intensity, better than the original Smart since time and tech has just moved on. The thing destroyed itself the first time I tried to take the batteries out - they were so tight in there there was virtually nothing to get a grip on (I usually use a small key or a pentop/tip).
Still it was AAA so another push towards AA.

Lessons hard learned.

AA
Case that comes apart easily yet clicks back together well.
Batteries are mounted tight but with no wobble yet actually possible to get out easily - in the cold and dark if you have to
Well water sealed
Uses a sealant system (usually it's a plastic gasket of some sort) which not only works but is easy to keep in place when taking the thing apart/putting it back together again. Some are right pigs.
Easy availability of spare mounts at a decent price - and the same mount system that you already have.
Mounts available in a variety of forms for easy attachment of light to bike bars/seatpost/luggage rack/clothing or bag.

That's for city use. Out on the lanes it's the Hope Vision 1 which effortlessly meets all relevant criteria by using good simple tough design.

 

[slowmotion]

Can I ask how they fell off/why?

I went over a bump on Battersea bridge, the light jumped out of the seatpost bracket and got trashed as it hit the tarmac. The other two just started turning themselves off spontaneously.

 

[Blue Hills]

sorry to hear that about the jump - it has happened to me once.

One other time I lost a cateye very close to you (must be a jinxed spot!) but that was because the clothing clip it was attached to came out of the loop on the seatpack - this problem now avoided with a small dremel hole and ziptie on the clip - the light still comes out when I want it to.

I've never had any cateyes go on or off by mistake.

all the best

 

[Ed no-more-lemons]

Ditto - that phaart light looks like great value but what about mount flexibility? Cateyes can be swapped between different bikes/different positions.

Can i ask why the OP favours AAA cells?

As I have a number of rechargable AAA's and those lights with dedicated batteries or USB charge look to be pricier than the mid market Cateyes that I have ordered.

 

[Blue Hills]

Sounds like a good choice to me - dedicated batteries are madness and usb chargeable stuff is mostly marketing guff as far as grumpy me can see.