Light Recommendations (formerly Front Light For Dark Country) Road Commute

Lumen

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055705708

Surveyor11

It depends on the commute - if you're going urban (i.e street lighting), a Cateye LD130 on the front (or similar) with the matching rear is sufficient to be seen, the flashing mode is IMHO quiet intense - in around the same budget for the bontragers as a pair. I also have a second cat eye cube for the front that throws out a decent constant beam (don't know the lumen value, but not too hectic and certainly not suitable for a back road that is unlit - the fenix seem to do the job better here). For me, you can never be too over lit, so I have 2 flashing cat eyes mounted back - one on the frame and on atatched to cclothing / bag. I'm also toying with the idea of mounting my cateye cube on my helmet this winter - some posters have pointed out that it can make you more visible, as you point your head towards where you're going it invariably catches the eye of the driver.

Beasty

Threads merged

Beasty

ccull123

Surveyor11 wrote: »

It depends on the commute - if you're going urban (i.e street lighting), a Cateye LD130 on the front (or similar) with the matching rear is sufficient to be seen, the flashing mode is IMHO quiet intense - in around the same budget for the bontragers as a pair. I also have a second cat eye cube for the front that throws out a decent constant beam (don't know the lumen value, but not too hectic and certainly not suitable for a back road that is unlit - the fenix seem to do the job better here). For me, you can never be too over lit, so I have 2 flashing cat eyes mounted back - one on the frame and on atatched to cclothing / bag. I'm also toying with the idea of mounting my cateye cube on my helmet this winter - some posters have pointed out that it can make you more visible, as you point your head towards where you're going it invariably catches the eye of the driver.

I cycle from Dublin city centre to lucan. Whilst street lighting is good in some places I'm just thinking like you "the more light te better". I had a couple of close calls last year with cheap run of the mill lights. I was just concerned that maybe this was too much money too spend on them. I'll have a look at them cat eye lights. Thanks

quenching

Lumen wrote: »

Useful resource for bike lighting, including comparisons of Magicshine with various other battery and dynamo powered lights.

http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/verlichting/index_en.html

Conclusion: the Philips LED bike light is worth investigating.

http://www.bike24.com/p214244.html

I've just received one of the Philips lights and it appears to be as good as claimed, we'll find out tomorrow morning but it'll happily light up my 25m long garden with a nicely angled beam. Got mine from RoseBikes, took about 4 days to arrive.

dooverylittle

quenching wrote: »

I've just received one of the Philips lights and it appears to be as good as claimed, we'll find out tomorrow morning but it'll happily light up my 25m long garden with a nicely angled beam. Got mine from RoseBikes, took about 4 days to arrive.

I have got one as well, and it is top class.

G rock

think i'm gonna take the plunge with the phillips as well.

have you both been out with it? how do you find it?

mount etc good? low power effective enough too?

dooverylittle

G rock wrote: »

think i'm gonna take the plunge with the phillips as well.

have you both been out with it? how do you find it?

mount etc good? low power effective enough too?

I have been out with it, but only a short part of the ride was pitch dark.
The power of the light was great, I dont have huge experience with other lights. It is not disimilar to a motorbike head light.
It is far superior to my old light which cost 150euro.
I cant say anything about battery life yet, other then it seems to take along time to charge.

void2500

Anyone have any good recommendation on a good torch light with good running time? I would most likely order from Deal Extreme, budget is around max 30 Eur.

BostonB

What a god torch. Or that a typo for good?

void2500

BostonB wrote: »

What a god torch. Or that a typo for good?

It should of course be good, wrote to fast, edited my post now

manwithaplan

BostonB wrote: »

What a god torch. Or that a typo for good?

It's a typo for goo. Do you not have a goo torch? How do you find your goo?

BostonB

Potential innuendo alert - enuff said....:cool:

Ciaran500

void2500 wrote: »

Anyone have any good recommendation on a good torch light with good running time? I would most likely order from Deal Extreme, budget is around max 30 Eur.

The best of them I posted above. There is more powerful lights on there but with single 18650 batteries your don't want to be using them. The extra current draw drops their efficiency alot.

Be warned it does take a long time for delivery from DX, its going to be close to a month after I ordered by the time my order arrives.

Super Freak

Be warned it does take a long time for delivery from DX, its going to be close to a month after I ordered by the time my order arrives.

Very limited selection in the UK warehouse. Postage is much quicker (not used it myself).

http://www.dealextreme.com/c/100002 Couple of lights there.

I'm still waiting for my new ones via the slow boat from China.

25sean

out on dark roads tonight, wondering if cars see me or not with my cateye front light... cant do it this winter!

any recommendations on a good front light, something you could take off road at night.. one without any wires leading to a big battery pack.. any with usb charging on the market these days.. in or around the €100 mark...?

thanks in advance

Beasty

25sean wrote: »

out on dark roads tonight, wondering if cars see me or not with my cateye front light... cant do it this winter!

any recommendations on a good front light, something you could take off road at night.. one without any wires leading to a big battery pack.. any with usb charging on the market these days.. in or around the €100 mark...?

thanks in advance

Threads merged - it's always worth checking the Charter/FAQs before posting;)

Beasty

25sean

thanks beasty... perfect

J Madone

25sean wrote: »

out on dark roads tonight, wondering if cars see me or not with my cateye front light... cant do it this winter!

any recommendations on a good front light, something you could take off road at night.. one without any wires leading to a big battery pack.. any with usb charging on the market these days.. in or around the €100 mark...?

thanks in advance

Bought a Philips LbL light from bike24. Lumen posted a link to it( thanks),
It's absolutely brilliant and ticks all your boxes. Cost around 100 euro
Huge praise for this lamp on candlepowerforums.com
Beats lights many times it's price
Jm

donal2000

I have an Electron front, bought from CRC. Excellent light

http://www.electronlights.co.uk/

G rock

J Madone wrote: »

Bought a Philips LbL light from bike24. Lumen posted a link to it( thanks),
It's absolutely brilliant and ticks all your boxes. Cost around 100 euro
Huge praise for this lamp on candlepowerforums.com
Beats lights many times it's price
Jm

+1

just received mine last week from rosebikes and took it on its maiden nighttime voyage on wednesday night.

just brilliant. especially since before this i was just using a crappy cateye.

Khannie

Do any of you have that MagicShine from DealExtreme? What's the battery life like with it? I have one of these but find it's not quite bright enough on dark country roads that make up a small bit of my commute. It's putting me off enough to justify buying a brighter light.

J Madone

Khannie wrote: »

Do any of you have that MagicShine from DealExtreme? What's the battery life like with it? I have one of these but find it's not quite bright enough on dark country roads that make up a small bit of my commute. It's putting me off enough to justify buying a brighter light.

Seriously
Check out the lbl versus magicshine and others test
I can't find the link, but google has it !
It beats hands down most big brand road lights and even a lupine Betty on road test
Great value ( compared)
Regards

Lusk Doyle

I passed a Swords member in a long sleeved club top at Blake's Cross yesterday evening at approx 6:35pm. He did have a front and a back light but they were not great. If you are reading this and recognise it's you from the times, then I'd really recommend upgrading the lights to stronger ones as you were not that bright despite what you had. There was still a small bit of light left in the day at that point so any darker and wetter would make it difficult to see you.

Hopefully, this might help prevent an unfortunate accident in the future. No badness meant by the post, just looking out for fellow club members!

Lumen

This review of the Magicshine vs Edelux concludes that the Magicshine is dangerous and pointless for road use.

It's a fairly subjective view and I also think the reviewer is a bit mental.

I would be interested to read opinions from people who've used one for a long period, and who have taken the time to assess the safety to oncoming traffic (i.e. looked at the light from down the road when adjusted to various positions).

ednwireland

Lumen wrote: »

This review of the Magicshine vs Edelux concludes that the Magicshine is dangerous and pointless for road use.

It's a fairly subjective view and I also think the reviewer is a bit mental.

I would be interested to read opinions from people who've used one for a long period, and who have taken the time to assess the safety to oncoming traffic (i.e. looked at the light from down the road when adjusted to various positions).

since i got my magicshine 2 things
cars dip their headlights when i'm going the other way

i have it mounted on a bar extension so its easy to point closer or durther away,
i've only had one driver stop and flash his lights at me, but tbh he would probably have driven me off the narrow unlit road i was on

i ride mostly unlit roads on my commute

anyway when i get my new one i may look at setup more when my new one (with an XML-T6 emitter)

(i'd love a lupine but just cant face spending that much

G rock

i agree with j madone,

check it out before committing to the magicshines.

now i don't have much to compare the phillips with but i doubt VERY much you'd need any more light than what the high power on it throws out.

plus it seems to be well focused on the areas you need most light without flooding everywhere

plus you can have it within about 4 days.

minus: less than two hours life on high power, but unless you're riding a lot in absolute pitch darkness you won't even need the high power beam

Home:Ballyhoura

Can't really seem to find any discussion on rear lights in this thread, maybe something to do with the title being about front lights but a quick question.

In the past, I've used 2 x Smart Superflash 1/2 watt rear lights, one constant on the bike one flashing on the helmet which I find really great lights.

Unfortunately one was stolen and I don't want just a single rear light for night riding.

Would ye recommend the same again? Was looking at something maybe like its bigger brother, the 1 watt version, or maybe somthing like a similar priced but different style CatEye strip light the TL-LD600, or this more expensive Cateye TL-LD1100.

Any advice or anyone used these before or have any comparisons to make? Do ye see the need for some of the 50 euro plus rear lights like this one? Thanks in advance!

G rock

i have the cateye 1100 and the smart 1w.

the beauty of the cateye is that you can have one row of lights flashing and one row constant or whatver combination you want. good side visibility too, and the mounting bracket is nice and solid (more so than the smart)

the smart 1w is still nice and bright though.

have you looked at the mars 3.0 or similar?

have one of those as well (mounted on same bike with the smart) and it's fairly impressive too!

ps it must seem like all i do is buy lights (see posts above) but that's the lot now, promise!

cdaly_

I have a smart 1/2 W from amazon just recently. Well happy with the brightness of the flash and I'd get the same again.

For all round visibility, I saw a set of those light tubes seat stay mounted on a bike this evening. Could see them from front all the way around to rear.