Front lights

[TimO]

I'm a big fan of Exposure lights - I have a MaXx-D and a joystick. Both are excellent lights, but you'll be paying for that sort of quality and reliability. If I didn't get one of these I'd be most tempted by a Hope, followed by a magicshine for value.

If I had any spare money this year, I might have bought an Exposure six pack.

I like the Exposure designs, because they're essentially cable free, and I have had failures in many cables on other lights, and they can be a faff to route.

The Flash and Flare are good cheap little lights, but relying on unscrewing the lamp unit to turn them on and off is more than a little useless on a £35 light (without batteries!) They work OK for what I carry them for, which is emergency lights for use on group rides, where you can't rely on the other person having a suitable mount, and their rubber band mounting arrangement will work most places.

I just wish Exposure would bring out a decent metal bodied rear light, possibly based on a Joystick, with a red LED, and suitable mounting arrangement.

What worries me about the Six Pack is the weight. ½kg on that mount seems like it's pushing your luck. It's a good mount, although it does tend to wear out and need replacing periodically (otherwise it rattles very annoyingly), but there's a lot of difference between a Joystick and a Six Pack in weight!

 

[goo_mason]

I'm also very happy with Ayups, the built quality is superb.

My only slight grumble is the lack of any led or some other means to determine how much charge is left.

I also think they could do with a less bright 'commuting' setting to prolong battery life.

I use mine for around an hour or more a day, four days a week, in Winter and have never run low on power. I charge the battery up once a week on a Monday night, ready for my Tuesday morning commute. I guess an indicator would be good if you use them for longer, but I'd just charge them every other day if I used them more to ensure they never ran out.

I love the fact that you can just drop the lights into the sink and wash them without any worrys that they'll get damaged.

If I had more money I'd be buying a 2nd light unit & either attaching it to my helmet for more forward lighting or put a red cap on it and using it as a very bright, waterproof rear light.

 

[Dave Crampton]

I have three, The Cateye EL220, the Eurolight (from Amazon) and a Dive Torch SSC P7 with a Handlebar mount from Deal Extreme (who I've heard are quite slow to arrive). The Cateye is the first light and is fine for lit paths and roads. The Eurolight is nice as its rechargable and you can angle the lights at different spots, like on the road and a little further away, but its not so bright on its own as they are spots so don't floor the road. But the P7 is good as its got three brightness settings, and can be VERY BRIGHT. It has rechargable batteries and is definately waterproof, though I've never has a problem with water ingress into any light.

 

[cyberknight]

I have three, The Cateye EL220, the Eurolight (from Amazon) and a Dive Torch SSC P7 with a Handlebar mount from Deal Extreme (who I've heard are quite slow to arrive). The Cateye is the first light and is fine for lit paths and roads. The Eurolight is nice as its rechargable and you can angle the lights at different spots, like on the road and a little further away, but its not so bright on its own as they are spots so don't floor the road. But the P7 is good as its got three brightness settings, and can be VERY BRIGHT. It has rechargable batteries and is definately waterproof, though I've never has a problem with water ingress into any light.

DX now have a UK warehouse

Sounds like your diving toech is the same as a MS, same LED and same power source , well you get 2 batteries and the MS gets 4 but much of a muchness.

 

[Parrot of Doom]

I just wish Exposure would bring out a decent metal bodied rear light, possibly based on a Joystick, with a red LED, and suitable mounting arrangement.

Buy a joystick and put a red gel in front of the lens. Any theatrical lighting supplier will sell you some, it costs pence.

 

[TimO]

Buy a joystick and put a red gel in front of the lens. Any theatrical lighting supplier will sell you some, it costs pence.

That doesn't really solve the problem of the mount, as well as being inelegant from an electronic engineering point-of-view.

Most of the Exposure lights can be adjusted (to a limited degree) left-right, which may work if mounted on a seat pin for up-down, but the Joystick can't be adjusted in this fashion.

A mount designed for the seat pin would do it, and if a red LED was used, a smaller battery could also replace the current one, and still give an acceptable operational lifetime (and realistically it probably wouldn't need the brightest settings anyway, they'd just be far too bright).

 

[PpPete]

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/LISMRT35FR/smart-lunar-35-lux-front-light

Was excellent value when it was £15. At £22 it's still not bad.

Tend to carry mine as an emergency/secondary light - as it's about the lightest thing with which I'd be happy finishing an audax on country lanes in extremis
Primary is either Hope (which has never let me down even in torrential rain) or the Philips SafeRide Dynamo light (an excellent light, let down by a crappy bracket & worse customer service, so I ended up bodging my own) depending on how much time I expect to be riding after dark.

 

[jig-sore]

this is my winter set up...

the cat-eye's are used for flashing and back up

this is one cat-eye on its own....

no use on an unlit road.

this is the hope on its lowest setting. already a lot better...

and on highest...

its a no brain-er really

 

[Matty]

Another hope1 user here. Cannot fault really, bit of salty crud got into one of them last winter, seemed to coat the PCB giving intermittent problems. Whole light replaced quickly without fuss.

I like being able to switch bikes easily and not having to leave on at work and using as a torch and taking AAs.

 

[Matthew_T]

I currently have very cheap lights on from Halfords. The rear light is sufficient but the front light provides no light at all. I can only see a small reflection on the road. I only have the front one on so that other cars can see me, I just have to strain my eyes to see the road.

I am going to have a look on amazon and argos to see if there are any bargins though, or I might just ask my parents for a high quality christmas present.

 

[hennbell]

I run a Cygolite mitycross 350, very bright and compact.

Fits on helmet or handlebar and is bright enough to scare most motorists.

http://www.cygolite.com/products/mitycross480.html

 

[gaz]

this is my winter set up...

the cat-eye's are used for flashing and back up

this is one cat-eye on its own....

no use on an unlit road.

this is the hope on its lowest setting. already a lot better...

and on highest...

its a no brain-er really

I take it each image is using the same picture settings. What was the exposure, ISO and aperture?
I'm guessing quite high, the full power on the hope is a white out and the cat eye looks too good to be true. Not a true representation of how the lights perform from a human eye point of view.

 

[Matthew_T]

Have a look at how expensive these lights are: Evans cycles

 

[jig-sore]

I take it each image is using the same picture settings. What was the exposure, ISO and aperture?
I'm guessing quite high, the full power on the hope is a white out and the cat eye looks too good to be true. Not a true representation of how the lights perform from a human eye point of view.

fair point. the camera was a basic digital camera set on auto.

i guess they might not be a true representation of what the human eye would see but they show the difference between the lights, no ???

 

[gaz]

fair point. the camera was a basic digital camera set on auto.

i guess they might not be a true representation of what the human eye would see but they show the difference between the lights, no ???

They show a difference but not a true difference. You really need to take the pictures with a camera where you have a fixed exposure, aperture and ISO so the comparison is a level playing field