Front light

[eldridge]

Depends on budget but have been well chuffed with my Exposure Strada and TraceR;if that's too pricey then the Cat-eye Volts,my 300 (now used as a back-up or flash)has done ok for the last couple of years but you would probably need the higher ones for unlit roads and the charge light is dickey on mine now.
The Lezyne macro duo I have is good but the run time is poor on high setting(not bothered though as I got it with a ProCycling sub).

I really like the look of the exposure lights, but the one's I like are way out of my price range! Are the cheaper one's any good do you know/had any experience with?

Thanks Eldridge.

 

[Turdus philomelos]

Exposure strada six

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/27566...6yE8irf_q_qegtlRDUiY3VcnAL41pJBlZYaAlC38P8HAQ

I know you will gulp at the price however, if you commute ride every day and for leisure this light will pay you back very quickly.

I too used cree lights however the batteries could not cope with minus temperatures. I would panic several times fearing they would pack in before the end of the commute. No worries with this lamp. I get weeks full commute on one charge.
I have observed a marked change in some drivers attitude when approached by this light, and I've never been flashed at once for dazzling on coming drivers unlike previous lights. The ability to remotely dip this lamp is a brilliant feature

Dinni fret about lumens neither, this lamp will light up the whole road on any dark morning.
British design and technology.
You can tell I love this lamp cant you.

Good luck with your search.

 

[steveindenmark]

Anything Busch and Mueller is well made and very reliable. They are not cheap but in my experience, cheap lights are false economy.

 

[Elybazza61]

Exposure strada six

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/27566...6yE8irf_q_qegtlRDUiY3VcnAL41pJBlZYaAlC38P8HAQ

I know you will gulp at the price however, if you commute ride every day and for leisure this light will pay you back very quickly.

I too used cree lights however the batteries could not cope with minus temperatures. I would panic several times fearing they would pack in before the end of the commute. No worries with this lamp. I get weeks full commute on one charge.
I have observed a marked change in some drivers attitude when approached by this light, and I've never been flashed at once for dazzling on coming drivers unlike previous lights. The ability to remotely dip this lamp is a brilliant feature

Dinni fret about lumens neither, this lamp will light up the whole road on any dark morning.
British design and technology.
You can tell I love this lamp cant you.

Good luck with your search.

This^

They are very expensive but have to say so far they have been brilliant.

The Strada is designed for use on normal roads so has a wide beam,most off the others are for trails and offroad.With the Strada though I can ride at 30kph+ on unlit roads whereas with the Cat-eye that wasn't really possible(the bigger ones may be better though).

I really like the look of the exposure lights, but the one's I like are way out of my price range! Are the cheaper one's any good do you know/had any experience with?

Thanks Eldridge.

I was like you and baulked at the price but as I'm commuting more regularly now I thought it was worth it and after speaking to them at the London bike show I'm pretty confident about the support they give.

You can pick them up a bit cheaper,I got both mine from Sigma sports with a favourable discount;Exposure also have a sale page.

 

[mjr]

I know you will gulp at the price however, if you commute ride every day and for leisure this light will pay you back very quickly.

Too right! For £200, you could have a pretty good sports dynamo lighting setup with a front light that has side-visibility and meets the Road Vehicle Lighting Regs requirements - the Strada doesn't, does it?

 

[Elybazza61]

Too right! For £200, you could have a pretty good sports dynamo lighting setup with a front light that has side-visibility and meets the Road Vehicle Lighting Regs requirements - the Strada doesn't, does it?

Don't mean to sound facetious but does anyone(including the Police)really take any notice of the lighting regs? Has anyone here ever been stopped for not having a 'proper' light?

And surely the disadvantage of a dynamo set-up is either having to have a dedicated wheel or rim/hub generator,the best thing about re-chargable and battery lights is the ability to swap around on to various bikes.

 

[Nibor]

I used to ride off road at night and this is what I used http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/...2_n5Ow90DZqES5BBhTY4VxoCYG7w_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds it is a beast and you could ride as fast as you like along the lanes with it.

 

[Jody]

Yeah the light is ok, it's the battery and charger where it falls down!

Where do you suggest buying these two from?

Thanks the snail.

http://www.gearbest.com/diy-parts-a...currency=GBP&gclid=CL31quP0gMsCFVIW0wod4NAINg
Box to fit Cree lights, will take 18650 Li batteries and has built in overcharge/discharge protection circuits. Will run/charge USB items also.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/big_f_d_d?rt=nc
Torchy the battery boy on ebay for quality, tested cells

http://www.amazon.co.uk/VC4-Capacity-monitoring-indicator-activation/dp/B00UVYNRFK
A highly rated digital charger for Li and other types of batteries.

I put a battery pack together for about £35 quid including 4x18650 Li 3500 MhA cells. Nothing wrong with my standard Solarstorm batteries that are doing their 3rd winter but was fed up with reading horror stories about them going wrong, wether genuine or scaremongering.

 

[mjr]

Don't mean to sound facetious but does anyone(including the Police)really take any notice of the lighting regs? Has anyone here ever been stopped for not having a 'proper' light?

Few do at the moment and yes, but police-dodging is not the main reason to follow the regs, which is that a regulation light won't dazzle if mounted level (so no tilting down to aim beam centre just ahead of the front wheel), but will still be visible to vehicles approaching from the sides.

And surely the disadvantage of a dynamo set-up is either having to have a dedicated wheel or rim/hub generator,the best thing about re-chargable and battery lights is the ability to swap around on to various bikes.

In theory, you can swap battery lights around, but in practice, most mounting brackets are incompatible and not sold separately - that used to be why I bought Cateye, but then they introduced incompatible mounts (H, EL and SP fronts, LD and SP rears) but at least they're still sold as spares.

Also, I suspect most people have a favourite night bike, don't they?

 

[John_S]

Hi eldridge,

I've not tired tonnes of different lights so don't have a wealth of comparison knoweldge to hand but I have got a Trelock LS 950 which I like.

https://www.trelock.de/web/en/produ...erie-frontscheinwerfer/8002095_LS_950_ION.php

Compared to other rechargeable lights that I've had the battery lasts well inbetween charges and I find the light good for my commute on a mix of rural unlit roads followed by urban roads with street lights.

http://road.cc/content/review/47688-trelock-ls-950-ecopower-control-front-light

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/...t/review-trelock-ls950-ion-front-light-46774/

The only negative that I'd say about it is I don't think that the mount is that strong or very well engineered but to be fair I think that can be said of quite a few lights and it's worked absolutely fine for me & hasn't broken in the year and a half that I've now had the light.

I've not looked around loads of sites for it but I know that you can get it for about £70

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/trelock-ls-950-control-ion-battery-front-light/aid:470889

Hope that you manage to find the light that you want.

John

 

[eldridge]

Hi eldridge,

I've not tired tonnes of different lights so don't have a wealth of comparison knoweldge to hand but I have got a Trelock LS 950 which I like.

https://www.trelock.de/web/en/produ...erie-frontscheinwerfer/8002095_LS_950_ION.php

Compared to other rechargeable lights that I've had the battery lasts well inbetween charges and I find the light good for my commute on a mix of rural unlit roads followed by urban roads with street lights.

http://road.cc/content/review/47688-trelock-ls-950-ecopower-control-front-light

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/...t/review-trelock-ls950-ion-front-light-46774/

The only negative that I'd say about it is I don't think that the mount is that strong or very well engineered but to be fair I think that can be said of quite a few lights and it's worked absolutely fine for me & hasn't broken in the year and a half that I've now had the light.

I've not looked around loads of sites for it but I know that you can get it for about £70

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/trelock-ls-950-control-ion-battery-front-light/aid:470889

Hope that you manage to find the light that you want.

John

Thanks John for all that info, getting more difficult to make a decision now.

 

[oldstrath]

Thanks John for all that info, getting more difficult to make a decision now.

You might want to read the last comment on this page. More Li battery issues I suppose, but the build quality sounds a possible issue.
http://road.cc/content/review/47688-trelock-ls-950-ecopower-control-front-light

Personally, if you want to go the German route I'd buy the Ixon IQ Premium, which uses standard AA, and is as good a light as the Trelock. Build quality isn't that wonderful, but doesn't have the possibly dangerous failure mode described by the road.cc poster.

 

[carcharodon]

Smart 700 lumen USB for £30....?

 

[DRHysted]

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/b--m-ixon-core-led-front-light-2014-model/aid:761149

 

[shouldbeinbed]

+1 to the cateye volt recommendations. 300 on full power does me for 12-15mph through country parkland in proper dark

Also Smart 700 - somewhat OTT on full power in urban areas but like daylight in the aforesaid country park. (Edit TMN to carcharodon - it really is a good light at a bargain price)

depends on budget and weight considerations etc but for a long term overall easy answer you could consider a hub dynamo and Trelock/B&M made lamp????