Light for night endurance event

[aerobrain]

It does illuminate the road - it's bright enough that the lack of shaping pointing light only at the road doesn't matter. It's just that it's a round light, not a light that's carefully shaped to only illuminate the road.

The front lights I've linked to are substantial, reliable bits of kit with a metal barrel. Many Fridays use them as their only lights; I've seen Dellzeqq use one as a backup.

OK my misunderstanding, when you said it wasn't shaped to illuminate the road I thought you meant it literally wouldn't illuminate the whole road and would just be a narrow spot.

Well it's ordered now and like you say at worst it can be my backup. Didn't mean to sound negative, just had some bad experiences with "cheap" items before and in my other hobby equipment failures tend to lead to very bad situations so get a bit over cautious :-)

 

[Donger]

I did the London to Brighton Overnight recently, using a £70 Lezine re-chargeable front light. What I learned is to expect your re-chargeable light to last only half as long as advertised. Either take a spare, fully charged light, or go with a battery powered one with plenty of spare batteries. Alternatively, fit a dynamo hub and never worry again about running out of juice. (The latter option might not appeal if you are obsessive about the weight of your bike).

I also learned that riding at night is pretty scary when your light fails you. I ended up resorting to Plan Z and, when unable to ride in other cyclists' lights, riding along holding a little pocket torch at one point. I envied people with helmet mounted lights, as I also found that you cannot see what gear you are in or (in my case) read your computer.

Despite all the problems, I loved doing it, and know you will enjoy it. Good luck to you.

 

[aerobrain]

I did the London to Brighton Overnight recently, using a £70 Lezine re-chargeable front light. What I learned is to expect your re-chargeable light to last only half as long as advertised. Either take a spare, fully charged light, or go with a battery powered one with plenty of spare batteries. Alternatively, fit a dynamo hub and never worry again about running out of juice. (The latter option might not appeal if you are obsessive about the weight of your bike).

I also learned that riding at night is pretty scary when your light fails you. I ended up resorting to Plan Z and, when unable to ride in other cyclists' lights, riding along holding a little pocket torch at one point. I envied people with helmet mounted lights, as I also found that you cannot see what gear you are in or (in my case) read your computer.

Despite all the problems, I loved doing it, and know you will enjoy it. Good luck to you.

Yeah, I think if I was going to be doing more of these night time events then I'd probably go down the dynamo route but this is likely to be a one off so would prefer to avoid it if I can.

I like the idea of a helmet mounted light and could actually have that as a third light. Reading up more on the event and we have access to day bags at each of the stops so I can ditch anything that's not needed once it's light again anyway.

 

[aerobrain]

I did the London to Brighton Overnight recently, using a £70 Lezine re-chargeable front light. What I learned is to expect your re-chargeable light to last only half as long as advertised. Either take a spare, fully charged light, or go with a battery powered one with plenty of spare batteries. Alternatively, fit a dynamo hub and never worry again about running out of juice. (The latter option might not appeal if you are obsessive about the weight of your bike).

I also learned that riding at night is pretty scary when your light fails you. I ended up resorting to Plan Z and, when unable to ride in other cyclists' lights, riding along holding a little pocket torch at one point. I envied people with helmet mounted lights, as I also found that you cannot see what gear you are in or (in my case) read your computer.

Despite all the problems, I loved doing it, and know you will enjoy it. Good luck to you.

Oh and my computer is the next thing to think about, so far the longest I've done is 13.5hrs and it had plenty of juice left after that BUT I had illumination turned off. I know a mate of mine sometimes hooks it up to a power monkey so will look into that option.

 

[fossyant]

I commute with two Vision 1s, and have done for the last 5 years. I have a selection of the Chinese mega bright super cheap lights, but these are usually best for off road.

The Hopes are bomb proof. Not the brightest these days, but enough for unlit lanes. Two gives a better spread of light on the road at lower intensity.

 

[andrew_s]

I'd recommend a Philips Saferide 80.

It gives a good even light the whole width of a regular road, without wasting light on trees, hedges and the eyes of oncoming drivers (or cyclists). The low power mode is all that's normally necessary, for about 8 hours light. High power mode is comparable with 1000 lumen chinese lights as far as how brightly the road surface is lit, but only lasts about 2.5 hours, and isn't really necessary most of the time. Comes with 4xAA rechargeables, and charges by plugging into USB without removing the batteries,though it's easy enough to open it up and swap batteries or recharge them separately in a good charger.
(£60, inc p+p)

Somewhat opinionated review here:
http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/te...fkapping/Philips_LED_bike_light/index_en.html

If you want one, don't wait. Philips have decided to withdraw from the cycling market.