What lights?

[This Time Next Year]

No apologies for the stupid question, it's your own fault for having a section called "Beginners".

I've seen many mentions on here of "buy cheap buy twice" etc. on this forum with regards to bike lights, so thought I'd get some views on here.

I currently have a set of cheap lights that I inherited from the wife. Whilst these are sufficient to get me home, the front light is nowhere near bright enough to light my way, which will become an issue in the winter as my commute includes a near unlit bus lane. I'd also like a brighter / another rear light to make me as visible as possible to motorists. Don't want to be caught out with a rear light that is deemed "not bright enough" should I be hit.

So... what do you all suggest?

Also to further complicate matters... My saddle bag seems to overhang the rear light when both are mounted on the seat posts. Any tips to avoid this? Can you get lights to clip onto the back of the bag? (It has a short strap section on the rear) Is it a good idea to mount lights / reflectors lower down on the rear forks(?) (sorry, don't know the technical term yet, I'm a newbie!) or does this severely limit visibility?

Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[fossyant]

What is the budget ?

Lots of us use Hope Vision 1 lights, so good we got two, lots use exposures lights. Many reasons.

Budget, battery types as well. What's best for you ? Also Chinese lights, cheap, very bright, some issues though.

 

[musa]

There's hope1 magic shine and Cree lights all which you can get from the far east. Shame with rears or the smart lunar or Blackburn mars

 

[This Time Next Year]

Preferably as light and small as possible AA/AAA batterys are preferable, just for their ease of replacement.
Budget, wasn't expecting to pay over £50 for both (tops), a quick google of the hope vision 1 lights suggests I may be fishing in the cheap end of the pond...

 

[This Time Next Year]

How about...
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-hl-el450-led-front-light/
and
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/smart-lunar-r2-rear-light/ (I assume belt clip implies it'll clip onto my saddle bag)

 

[Enid Agnus Dei]

These I rate as a rear light, very bright and never let me down.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-tl-ld600-led-rear-light/

 

[HovR]

Blackburn Mars 4.0.

The 1 watt LED is comparable to a cars brake lights. Battery life is also very good. I've only changed the batteries once since Christmas. It will also clip on to a saddle bag, however I don't like this method as LED's tend to be quite directional, meaning you have to angle them right which is hard/impossible to do on a saddle bag loop.

It is possible to mount lights on the seat stays (rear forks). I use 2 Cateye TL-LD130's on the seat stays on either side of my wheel, with the Blackburn Mars 4.0 on my seat post.

 

[summerdays]

I use the Hope 1 on the front and a Smart half watt or one of it's similar relations on the back (and have loads of spare lights for when I loose one at the bottom of my bag). They use AA and AAA respectively.

There are usually a clutch of new lights to tempt the magpies amongst us each year.

 

[Bigsharn]

I have an Ultrafire bodied Cree XML-T6 as my front light (need a new hbar bracket though), which I can see with on unlit roads. Cost me £40 but the price *may* have gone up. Rather than look at bike lights I think getting a torch then a universal mount (as I did) might be on the cards.

 

[PpPete]

Smart 35 Lux Front and 1/2 watt rear ?
The 35 Lux is about as good as a Hope 1 on low setting... which for something running off two AA batteries is not half bad. Pretty lighweight too.
Wouldn't be my main light on an unlit country lane, but a pretty good light for most urban commuting.
At that price you could almost get two sets in your budget.

I tend to use two Smart 1/2 watts on the back....one on the loop of the saddle bag, so it hangs down a little, and creates a "pool" of red light on even the darkest road, the other on the seat stay set as near horizontal as possible - should be visible about half a mile away.

OTH the Cree XML-T6 1000 lumen torches will give you something close to car headlight levels of light on the road in front of your. They do use 18650 batteries though. This would be my current choice. I have a older bulkier model from the same seller. Mount it somewhere you can put your hand over the lens though.... cos you will be dazzling a lot of oncoming cars otherwise.

 

[Nebulous]

I haven't really sorted out my lights to my satisfaction on my bikes, and like you see £50 as being as much as I want to pay for a set, preferably less. Best I have is probably the Smart 25 set, the smaller brother of the one previously linked.

However my main reason for posting is to say- always have back-up. I use one on solid, and one on flash, on both the front and the back. Occasionally on very dark commutes I also use a headtorch.

 

[summerdays]

However my main reason for posting is to say- always have back-up. I use one on solid, and one on flash, on both the front and the back. Occasionally on very dark commutes I also use a headtorch.

Very good point - especially for the rear light which you don't actually notice fading since it is behind me. (Or in the case of the Hope light - it doesn't fade but simply cuts out if you don't remember to recharge the batteries in time!)

 

[on the road]

I use this one whenever I ride at night

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-hl-el530-led-front-light/

Although it'll probably blow your budget at nearly £50 (don't seem to remember paying that much for it a few years ago) considering you want a back light too but if you ride at night regularly then I think it's worth getting. It doesn't have flash mode but I don't see the point of only using a flashing front light, I can't see how it will help you see where you're going.

edit: I think that might me an up dated version to the one I've got.

 

[cyberknight]

How about...
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-hl-el450-led-front-light/
and
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/smart-lunar-r2-rear-light/ (I assume belt clip implies it'll clip onto my saddle bag)

I use the smart r2 and its very bright !! combined with a standard smart flaher on each pannier, i use rechargeable batteries for my standard battery lights as it saves you money in the long run .

For my main light in winter for unlit country lanes i use a magicshine light with its own external battery pack that you recharge by plugging it into a charger .the batteries have lasted 2 winter so far and are still going strong and it is more than enough to ride at full speed in total darkness.
There are many variants of the magicshine and the cheaper xml-t6 lights knocking about so i shall just link to what i use , one with a sealed battery pack that has an led readout for battery charge.
http://www.bestofferbuy.com/magicsh...lumen-led-bike-light-set-uk-plug-p-68214.html
Here is a cheaper version .....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1800-Lume...isure_Cycling_Bike_Lights&hash=item4844106bd7

 

[MrJamie]

I have two Smart Lunar R2s, i wouldnt really want anything brighter, theyre very visable at distance in total darkness in fog on country lanes. Bought mine here as theyre cheap http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Smart-Lunar-R2-Rear-Light_39274.htm

These are very good value at the cheap end or as a backup http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-1w-led-front-light/ but youd probably want more light, i doubt the cateye fronts are more than twice as bright though at 5 times the price. These are chinesey but very powerful for the money http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t6-smo...ed-bike-light-with-battery-pack-set-904482507

Youve got to compromise between price, power, build quality, depending on how much light you want and what kind of night riding you do. I use a magicshine mj-872 costing £80 which is obnoxiously bright in traffic, its like 4 of the £70 Hope Visions 1's (or a £230 Vision 4) from memory. Cheaper because the components and build quality are a little lower. The chinese dealextreme lights are also super bright, but its a cheaper chinesey light.

Another thing to consider is side visability, most rear lights arent very visable from the side and front lights like the cateye and the lifeline have narrow beams. The very bright lights put a visably large puddle of light in front of the bike which helps on that front. Lidl from time to time do spoke reflectors like these but half the price http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002QV7X...de=asn&creative=22218&creativeASIN=B002QV7XTC which are very good and noticable in car headlights.

Im a bit of a lights junkie though so may be excessive, but like you said i did buy cheap and then kept replacing/upgrading. Ive got over £200 worth of lights on a £500 bike and am very tempted to add fibreflares.