£100 Front Light

[Peteaud]

I have a £100 for a front light for commuting.

Whats the best system for the money.

Is rechargeaable best?

Looking at
Electron Terra 2 at £99
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/electron/terra-2-evo-li-ion-front-light-ec029679#features

or

Magic shine 816 at £104 (just above budget)
http://www.magicshineuk.co.uk/products/MJ-816E-1800-lumens-Magicshine

Are the cheap ebay cree lights any good?

Thanks

 

[middleagecyclist]

If you could stretch to £130.00 then a Schmidt Edelux is the biz. Of course you would need a hub dynamo and wheelbuild to go with it

 

[Broadside]

I bought the Magicshine MJ808 2 years ago and still think it is amazing. From autumn onwards the majority of my rides (2-3 hours) are on unlit country lanes and it provides loads of light. Neat enough to hang under the bars out of the way and £25 under budget, you can get it cheaper from Dealextreme if you can wait 3-4 weeks for it to arrive.

 

[Peteaud]

I bought the Magicshine MJ808 2 years ago and still think it is amazing. From autumn onwards the majority of my rides (2-3 hours) are on unlit country lanes and it provides loads of light. Neat enough to hang under the bars out of the way and £25 under budget, you can get it cheaper from Dealextreme if you can wait 3-4 weeks for it to arrive.

How does it fit to the handle bars?

 

[Broadside]

It copies the mounting system of the Tesla 5 (or is it Tesla 3?) German (£250) light, basically a bit fat rubber band. Very simple and very good IMO so long as you hang the light under the bars, mine is rock solid but I can move it up and down/side to side to adjust the beam.

I swap the light between mine and my wife's bike every week as we both ride in the dark and it takes about 30 secs to remove the unit and battery and fit to another bike.

 

[bushy]

I bought a cheapy from ebay last year after a recommendation, can't find the exact one on there now but it's almost identical to this one
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Magicshin...isure_Cycling_Bike_Lights&hash=item20be8e23bb

Only mine wasn't Magicshine it was unbadged and only cost £35 from a uk seller.

Excellent light, battery lasts at least 3 hours on full beam tested and still had life in it.
Higly recommended, and fully weatherproof.

 

[Hacienda71]

I have a magicshine MJ808 bought a couple of years ago from Deal Extreme for iirc about £60. Good light, very bright for the money (equivelants are cheaper now as mentioned above), good battery life and no issues with water ingress. My slight issue with it is the head unit if not mounted correctly can move a little. Also the battery pack was fine on my Ribble but tends to move around a bit on the carbon bike where the top tube narrows. All that said you would get that with any sling on battery pack.

 

[Bigsharn]

I use an XML-T6 based Ultrafire torch and an innertube. Cost me £40 total with a rechargable 18650 battery, and charger

 

[MrJamie]

I use a magicshine mj-872 with series 3 battery, its a little brighter than my friends older mj-816 but with a shorter range more floody beam pattern and about the same price. I like that the 816 has the low side lights as well as the bright main beam, but its annoying they arent independently adjustable or you could set them up a bit like car headlights. Its been pretty reliable so far and you can buy replacement batteries and light heads online if you do break it. They get you noticed and they confuse drivers as to what you are especially if you ride two side by side Im forever getting cars stopping at junctions and behind rows of parked cars to let me pass first because presumably they mistake the bright headlight for a motorbike, you can also see a magicshine user on country lanes hundreds of metres ahead from the lit up trees/hedges.

Both lights are really bright to oncoming traffic even if you angle them down significantly, stops cyclists in front of you from being able to shouldercheck for cars and really annoys peds and dogs on trails. I would definitely buy it again though, but it might be worth pairing with a cheap "to be seen" light for lit urban cycling

 

[MissTillyFlop]

I have a £100 for a front light for commuting.

Whats the best system for the money.

Is rechargeaable best?

Looking at
Electron Terra 2 at £99
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/electron/terra-2-evo-li-ion-front-light-ec029679#features

or

Magic shine 816 at £104 (just above budget)
http://www.magicshineuk.co.uk/products/MJ-816E-1800-lumens-Magicshine

Are the cheap ebay cree lights any good?

Thanks

I can vouch for the greatness of the lights on deal extreme:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t6-smo...ike-light-with-battery-pack-set-82507?item=48

They also seem to have them in the Uk warehouse at the moment as I ordered one for Mr TF and it arrived in 6 days.

 

[Moodyman]

PeteAud - from another thread, I got the impression that you are going to start commuting on unlit paths.

I wouldn't want one front light in those circumstances in case one fails, so you may need to get two of whatever you get.

I don't ride on unlit roads/paths much, but when I do, I use two 5 watt torches that I bought from Aldi. There are clones on Dealextreme around £10-£15 each.

Although I take two lights, I find one is ample for unlit canal paths.

 

[Scoosh]

Here's yer man. His research and advice is very good .. as are his products on his e-bay site.

He's been used by quite a few CC members and comes well recommended (from this one, at any rate )

I read a report (either on here or on yacf) from someone who was impressed with this set-up.

 

[mcshroom]

The Second light doesn't have to be as strong as the first one, just good enough to commute with. I have a T6 torch mounted on a lockblock mount and a Smart Lunar 35 as a back up. The Lunar actually is good enough on it's own, but I prefer the spill of the more powerful torch.

Another one to look at is the B&M Ixon IQ which has a similar beam to the IQ Fly dynamo light, and you could get two of them for £100

 

[gaz]

I've got a Hope Vision 1 and a Magicshine MJ-808.

The Hope Vision 1 is amazingly well built, a great piece of kit.
However it has a narrow spread which isn't great for using on dark roads and it doesn't have a battery indicator (not possible due to it using AA batteries)

The Magicshine MJ-808 is a good light but the build quality isn't as good. The claimed lumens is also far off what it produces.
It has a wide spread but still produces a good spot. The battery from mine has pretty much died after 1.5 years of use.

I'm currently waiting delivery of a Dinotte 1200L, it will be interesting to see what that light can do.

Note that high powered lights should be used with caution on the roads, they can easily blind other road users if positioned pointing too high.

 

[Peteaud]

PeteAud - from another thread, I got the impression that you are going to start commuting on unlit paths.

I wouldn't want one front light in those circumstances in case one fails, so you may need to get two of whatever you get.

I don't ride on unlit roads/paths much, but when I do, I use two 5 watt torches that I bought from Aldi. There are clones on Dealextreme around £10-£15 each.

Although I take two lights, I find one is ample for unlit canal paths.

I already have a reasonable light but i (may) now need full bore headlights.