Leodis
Veteran
- Location
- Moortown, Leeds
Same here on the Lezyne macro on front, got a Cateye LD1100 for the back and use Knog Frogs as back ups.
best lights . . . .
- Thread starter clid61
- Start date
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I had a look at the cateye for a back light but ended up with a blackburn flea, I can't believe how bright it is for the size but it doesn't seem to last very long (3 hrs or so) which isn't quite enough for 2 days between recharging so I'm still keeping an eye out for something to use as a backup
Arjimlad
Tights of Cydonia
- Location
- South Glos
In June I got a MoonXP300 for £40 which I am looking forward to using on my commute along mainly unlit rural roads. In previous winters I have been using an ebay chinese Ultrafire LED torch which is very bright, on rubber lockblocks, which I can angle downwards when traffic approaches.
The advantage of the MoonXP300 is that I can easily charge it at work or at home via USB.
I also have the Moon Gem 1 mini USB lights which are great for the streetlit parts of the ride, and I've been using them over the summer for filtering on grey or rainy days.
At the back an Aldi rear light (2xAAA) does very well and is plenty bright enough with the Gem as backup.
The advantage of the MoonXP300 is that I can easily charge it at work or at home via USB.
I also have the Moon Gem 1 mini USB lights which are great for the streetlit parts of the ride, and I've been using them over the summer for filtering on grey or rainy days.
At the back an Aldi rear light (2xAAA) does very well and is plenty bright enough with the Gem as backup.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
I likes me current rear lights. 2 x C&BSeen crazy twin LED units (probably about 200 lumen each) and a couple of smart R2's as backups.
The C&B Seen lights are fantastic. They do, however, take a custom battery pack I knocked up out of 18650 batteries - can either charge them with a Magicshine charger, or take them out and put in my Xtar lipo charger. Flaming bright they are.
The C&B Seen lights are fantastic. They do, however, take a custom battery pack I knocked up out of 18650 batteries - can either charge them with a Magicshine charger, or take them out and put in my Xtar lipo charger. Flaming bright they are.
MisterStan
Label Required
- Location
- Out there somewhere
A Moon X Power 300 on the front and one of these on the back. Always a good idea to have back up lights/batteries when out for those 'Oh b@gger' moments.
MisterStan
Label Required
- Location
- Out there somewhere
Where did you get the Moon for £40? That's cheap!
Same here but my rear macro has packed it in! Also use a head mounted Joystick extreme with rear attachment for those dark late nights.
Arjimlad
Tights of Cydonia
- Location
- South Glos
Amazon - the white ones were cheap - I just spotted it & knew it was a good price. They are back up to £55 now though.
MisterStan
Label Required
- Location
- Out there somewhere
Even that's cheaper than what I paid last winter!
Boris Bajic
Guest
One Cateye Cube on the front and one of those Cateye rear lamps with two independently-switched rows of LEDs.
I've been known to use two fronts in foul weather, but the second one is really there in case the batteries go.
Some Warriors of the Dark get slightly competitive about how many eyeball-frying watts they can light the moon with, but I like my simple, cheap, effective Cateyes.
(Many years ago I carried around a heavy, rechargeable wet-cell battery powering a twin-lamp set-up, but it was unweildy, complicated, unreliable and heavy).
I've been known to use two fronts in foul weather, but the second one is really there in case the batteries go.
Some Warriors of the Dark get slightly competitive about how many eyeball-frying watts they can light the moon with, but I like my simple, cheap, effective Cateyes.
(Many years ago I carried around a heavy, rechargeable wet-cell battery powering a twin-lamp set-up, but it was unweildy, complicated, unreliable and heavy).
Wobblers
Euthermic
- Location
- Minkowski Space
It depends on where you're cycling. A Smart Lunar 35 is more than enough for most urban roads. For dark country lanes, you'll need something brighter. I do a lot of night cycling with fast twisty descents - I've found a Philips Saferide paired with a Hope Vision 1 ideal. The Philips has an appalling battery life, but makes up for it by having the best beam shape on any bike light I've ever used: it puts all the light down on the road, where you need it rather than blinding oncoming road users (essentially it's a souped up version of the Ixon IQ, itself a good if fragile light).
For Chinese lights, Magicshine is probably the pick of the bunch: they've improved their quality by leaps and bounds over the last few years - I've got a 838B for back up duties (though on paper it's brighter than the Philips light, in reality the Magicshine is quite outclassed) and very good it is too. While you can get cheaper Chinese clones of the Magicshine, they are of far poorer quality: count it as a bonus if they last the winter, so I'd run two lights in the event of the clone breaking.
If you go down the road of using the Ultrafire 501B torch, I'd recommend going for the variant with the Cree XP-G R5 LED rather than the XML version: it's nearly as bright, but the battery life is twice as long on high beam. Ultrafire's quality isn't the best, so again I'd have a back up light. Most importantly, use decent quality protected 18650 lithium ion batteries and a good Li-ion charger such as from Xtar. The cheap ones will have poor runtimes... or, worse, catch fire...
For Chinese lights, Magicshine is probably the pick of the bunch: they've improved their quality by leaps and bounds over the last few years - I've got a 838B for back up duties (though on paper it's brighter than the Philips light, in reality the Magicshine is quite outclassed) and very good it is too. While you can get cheaper Chinese clones of the Magicshine, they are of far poorer quality: count it as a bonus if they last the winter, so I'd run two lights in the event of the clone breaking.
If you go down the road of using the Ultrafire 501B torch, I'd recommend going for the variant with the Cree XP-G R5 LED rather than the XML version: it's nearly as bright, but the battery life is twice as long on high beam. Ultrafire's quality isn't the best, so again I'd have a back up light. Most importantly, use decent quality protected 18650 lithium ion batteries and a good Li-ion charger such as from Xtar. The cheap ones will have poor runtimes... or, worse, catch fire...
RedRider
Pulling through
- Location
- Location Embrocation
Could this be the battery has died? When I bought my set the LBS said they'd send it back to the manufacturers who'd replace the battery for free when this eventually happened and they've mentioned it a couple more times when I've been in. Can't see anything regarding this from a brief search online but might be worth looking into.
where do you find room on your bike for that many batteries?
Yet another iteration of the same tired old joke
tincaman
Guru
- Location
- Chudleigh, South Devon
7 XML-T6, just for laughs
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
7 XML-T6, just for laughs
Bonkers. Got a 3 x T6 for the MTB and that's crazy.
