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

quenching

Plastik wrote: »

Just ordered a Philips from RoseBikes, should I expect quick delivery?

Mine took about 5 working days.

Surveyor11

Got a Terrelux LED upgrade for an AA Mini Maglite, as well as an adaptor for fitting to the handlebar. Have to say well impressed so far, the maglite was gathering dust at home so now provides a great front light.

Plastik

email received from RoseBikes this morning saying that it has been shipped by DHL and have given a tracking number! Impressively fast so far.

Plastik

Arrived

Plastik

The Philips LED light is a very impressive bit of kit. The only negative I have against it is that on dark country roads, there's a bit of a glare from the little blue lights that indicate battery charge. I'll probably cover this with a bit of electrical tape.

Great light from it though, high power mode is very impressive. I rode some dark country roads tonight for the first time and had no problem descending at 55kph + and being able to see where I was going/what was coming.

kingerae86

im looking to get some lights for my road bike.
whats the best option for going on back roads with no lights at night?
where has the best value?

Dermot Illogical

Up until recently I was using an 8 LED headlamp I bought for 3 euro in a pound shop type place on Camden St, Dublin 2. I found it did the job nicely in the absence of anything else. It has an elasticated headband and sat nicely under my helmet.
I've moved on to a Cateye Nano Shot rechargeable and it's excellent on unlit roads. Got it from my LBS for 110 euro. I had a voucher for 100 so was happy enough.

Lumen

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

kingerae86

Plastik wrote: »

The Philips LED light is a very impressive bit of kit. The only negative I have against it is that on dark country roads, there's a bit of a glare from the little blue lights that indicate battery charge. I'll probably cover this with a bit of electrical tape.

Great light from it though, high power mode is very impressive. I rode some dark country roads tonight for the first time and had no problem descending at 55kph + and being able to see where I was going/what was coming.

which philips light did you go for?
how much did it set you back?
thanks

kingerae86

Lumen wrote: »

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

cheers lumen,
from the few pages i have read in that thread,the philips seems to be the pick of them.
what model philips is best and where is the best price for one?
thanks

Captain Havoc

Threads merged

Plastik

This one, just under €100 delivered I think.

thebouldwhacker

Seeing as the 'its winter's threads have begun I thought I'd save a whole lot'a effort and bring this back to page one.
I have a BBB high power BLS63 and it suits me fine

smacl

Picked up a new B&M Ixon IQ for €49 after my old one got destroyed a couple of weeks ago. On the lookout for a helmet torch to compliment this for some planned night riding. Something that will also work as a backup if the B&M fails for any reason. Any recommendations?

G rock

smacl wrote: »

Picked up a new B&M Ixon IQ for €49 after my old one got destroyed a couple of weeks ago. On the lookout for a helmet torch to compliment this for some planned night riding. Something that will also work as a backup if the B&M fails for any reason. Any recommendations?

I used a fenix tk11 with lock block last winter.

Very bright, good enough battery light, downside is that you can feel a bit of weight on your noggin!

I got the one with the 18650 (is that the model?) Rechargable batteries

Lumen

IMO a TK11 is unnecessarily bulky/bright for a helmet light. One of the smaller Fenixes would do fine.

The fun bit is the searching...

lennymc

i was using a led lenser h7 last year, it is a light designed for your head (a head light?) that i mounted to the bars. It had a variable focusable beam and I found it fine for commuting on unlit roads. I have recently ordered another light from ebay, so will use either the h7 or the new light as a back up.

cdaly_

Lumen wrote: »

IMO a TK11 is unnecessarily bulky/bright for a helmet light. One of the smaller Fenixes would do fine.

The fun bit is the searching...

Just having a look at a Fenix E11 at the mo. Only 62g inc battery is about a third of the weight of the TK11. Bright enough for lighting audax route sheets / computer and for shining in the eyes of recalcitrant motorists with a high beam mode enough to ride at night by...

detones

Please save me reading 530 posts and tell me what rear light for under €50 and front light for around €100 to get. Have already spent a few hours looking at this.

Was thinking of this for the Rear (Smart Lunar), good reviews for the price and maybe this for the Front (Magicshine). I hope to commute home through the back roads of North County Dublin and want a front light which will light the road up without blinding drivers and keep me alive.

davgtrek

Its very easy now :

Front light :Either one of these.
http://www.myfenix.co.uk/fenix-bt20-bike-light

or I have 3 of these and they are excellent.
http://www.myfenix.co.uk/fenix-ld20-flashlight

Rear I use this and its very bright.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cateye-LD610-Rear-Light/dp/B000WFBP0C/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1381503866&sr=8-4&keywords=cateye+rear+light

But nearly any of the wide rear lights are great. maybe buy 2 cheaper ones and use both.

Surveyor11

My on opinion would be that 2000 lumen for a front light is total overkill. I would suggest a Lezyne Macro.

http://road.cc/content/review/72271-lezyne-macro-drive-front-light

I use a 250 lumen Led Lenser B7 and find it fine for dark roads.

I have the single 1/2 watt version of the Lunar at it's great, I supplement this with a 70 lumen flashing lezyne micro.

minterno

hi,i got the moon shield 60 rear light last week and its very bright,its usb chargable and seems well made,its bright enough for day use and I don't think you could use the full 60 lumens at night as it is too blinding,if u want to be seen it will do the trick,I paid 40gbp from evans but their going for 36euro I think at merlin http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/lighting/bike-lights/rear-led-lights/moon-shield-60-rear-led-light.html?utm_source=BISnotification&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BackInStock&utm_term=Moon+Shield+60+Rear+LED+Light. as for the front,i have an electron terra and its a fine light,i have used it for a few night rides on country roads and while it will do the job ok id prefer more light and am looking at the moon x power 500 or 750

CheGuedara

Lezyne SuperDrive front - upto 500 lumens of bright light. Never found it wanting when training at night on open roads.

Knog Blinder Road R rear - bright to to the point of being obnoxiously unignorable at its highest setting.

detones

Thanks for the reply lads. Some food for thought. There seems to be an opinion that up around 2000 lumens is too much but I simplistically would have thought you couldn't have a bright enough front light. I suppose it depends on how the light is projected and diffused by the lens. I know for sure I'd like to see as much as I can ahead of me as I hurtle down some of the descents around here in the pitch dark.

ford2600

detones wrote: »

Thanks for the reply lads. Some food for thought. There seems to be an opinion that up around 2000 lumens is too much but I simplistically would have thought you couldn't have a bright enough front light. I suppose it depends on how the light is projected and diffused by the lens. I know for sure I'd like to see as much as I can ahead of me as I hurtle down some of the descents around here in the pitch dark.

Dynamo hub wheel with philips light can be had through Rose and bike24 for about 150/160 approximately. No need for charging or running out of power

cdaly_

davgtrek wrote: »

Its very easy now :

Front light :Either one of these.
http://www.myfenix.co.uk/fenix-bt20-bike-light

Oooh! Looks nice! Have you used one of these yet? I wonder could it be used with a dynamo?

Then I started calculating and it seems this thing pulls nearly 10W in turbo mode and 3W in medium mode. This means a dynamo would only be able to power this to medium?

But then I started doubting my calculations 'cos my Smart 1/2W rear light claims 30 hours runtime on 2 AAA cells. Now, using 900 mAh rechargeables at 1.3V, 30 hours runtime works out at about 0.08W draw (a long way from 0.5W) so what am I missing? Calculation for two 900mAh cells is:

(0.9 Ah x 1.3 V x 2)/ 30 h = 2.34 / 30 = 0.078 W

petethedrummer

detones wrote: »

Thanks for the reply lads. Some food for thought. There seems to be an opinion that up around 2000 lumens is too much but I simplistically would have thought you couldn't have a bright enough front light. I suppose it depends on how the light is projected and diffused by the lens. I know for sure I'd like to see as much as I can ahead of me as I hurtle down some of the descents around here in the pitch dark.

It would be more to do with blinding on coming drivers. Which is easily done with these modern lights.

detones

cdaly_ wrote: »

Oooh! Looks nice! Have you used one of these yet? I wonder could it be used with a dynamo?

Then I started calculating and it seems this thing pulls nearly 10W in turbo mode and 3W in medium mode. This means a dynamo would only be able to power this to medium?

But then I started doubting my calculations 'cos my Smart 1/2W rear light claims 30 hours runtime on 2 AAA cells. Now, using 900 mAh rechargeables at 1.3V, 30 hours runtime works out at about 0.08W draw (a long way from 0.5W) so what am I missing? Calculation for two 900mAh cells is:

(0.9 Ah x 1.3 V x 2)/ 30 h = 2.34 / 30 = 0.078 W

Will have to check my first year Electrical Engineering notes (16years old by now) but something doesn't look right there.

Wishbone Ash

detones wrote: »

Thanks for the reply lads. Some food for thought. There seems to be an opinion that up around 2000 lumens is too much but I simplistically would have thought you couldn't have a bright enough front light. I suppose it depends on how the light is projected and diffused by the lens. I know for sure I'd like to see as much as I can ahead of me as I hurtle down some of the descents around here in the pitch dark.

I'm open to correction but I think that Magicshine is for off road mountain biking. It would be way to bright for oncoming traffic and would require it to be angled downwards which would defeat the purpose.

I have the older model of the Lenzyne Superdrive (450 lumens I think) and it more than adequate on the unlit roads of NCD. Some boardsies have said its too bright. It has 3 settings and a flash mode. Even the lowest setting is fairly adequate.

paudie2005

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I'm open to correction but I think that Magicshine is for off road mountain biking. It would be way to bright for oncoming traffic and would require it to be angled downwards which would defeat the purpose.

I have the older model of the Lenzyne Superdrive (450 lumens I think) and it more than adequate on the unlit roads of NCD. Some boardsies have said its too bright. It has 3 settings and a flash mode. Even the lowest setting is fairly adequate.

How do you fin the lezyne? I have the same model and it does a lot of flickering