Lights for commuting

[Downward]

£50 should be fine
Those Tesco torches were about £8 in our local store. £12 for 2 Twofish holders, £6 on 2 sets of micro led flashers (Tesco) leaves you £15 for a rear light.

 

[HJ]

If you are looking for lights to see by then this review is probably useful...

 

[threefingerjoe]

I wonder why the Busch & Müller Ixon IQ isn't on the list. I can't imagine needing more light than that on any commute. Runs on 4 AA batteries (self-contained, re-chargeables last me about 2 weeks on a charge, half-hour commute) and can be recharged while riding, from a hub dynamo. I didn't mention it earlier, because I think it may be out of the price range that you're aiming for.

 

[MrGrumpy]

still running about with my modded cateye triple shot plenty bright enough even for off road

 

[ACS]

still running about with my modded cateye triple shot plenty bright enough even for off road

MrG
Do you have any more information on this? I have been following this thread with great interest being in the market for a new set of lights for my 10 mile commute, 20% street lit the rest on rural country roads / lanes, known locally as the 'Rat Run'

Like many I am working off a very limited budget so a home brew solution may be the way to go.

 

[Davidc]

If it's of interest I've just written a review on how to keep a Cateye EL530 pointing the right way

http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=39956

 

[fossyant]

If you are on a budget, then LED torches, plus lock blocks, plus some decent rear led's and a couple of backups is the only way for good light output.

Nearest good high power cycle lights are £80 each and more.....

 

[ACS]

If you are on a budget, then LED torches, plus lock blocks, plus some decent rear led's and a couple of backups is the only way for good light output.

Nearest good high power cycle lights are £80 each and more.....

Seen and taken on board the Tesco 3w solution and I think this is / will be the way to go. 1/2 w smart on the back with a Cateye backup and a couple of those Tesco mini led in the pannier for emergencies, used this combination last year with no close calls, so I am comfortable that I can be seen.

With the narrowness of some of the lanes (natural pinch points) and the speed of oncoming drivers I wanted to gather other riders tested and tried lighting solutions for seeing and being seen and this thread has been very informative. Thanks to all.

 

[semislickstick]

Seen and taken on board the Tesco 3w solution and I think this is / will be the way to go. 1/2 w smart on the back with a Cateye backup and a couple of those Tesco mini led in the pannier for emergencies, used them last year and no close calls, so I am comfortable that I can be seen.

With the narrowness of some of the lanes (natural pinch points) and the speed of oncoming drivers I wanted to gather other riders tested and tried lighting solutions for seeing and being seen and this thread has been very informative. Thanks to all.

Budgie, the tesco 3w torches are very good along unlit country lanes,(though they aren't side on visible, like bike lights are for safety) I usually just need the one, they are really bright and light up the way ahead, they come in useful when someone is coming at you with full beams, if you just flick them up you do tend to get noticed, I've even had a few people flash me cos they've moved slightly on the handle bars and been a bit too bright for on coming cars. Opps. (on the rechargable AA's they last about 2 hours....if you are using rechargeable AA's, take the stickers out of the barrel of the torch or its a tight fit)
I really didn't get on with the two fish blocks, jumped around a bit too much, you can get some really cheap holders(one with 360 swivel mount) from deal extreme, all though they are a bit flimsy or what I did that has worked well was cable tie the torch to the base of an old quick release bike light and use that.

 

[fossyant]

Tesco do two types of backup LED's - some little dangly ones, and some which are identical to Sigma Micro lights, but come with a pulsing flash (which is eye catching) and for about £2.60 they are bargains (I have both the Sigma and Tesco's).

This year's lighting solution for me is significantly higher budget wise, mainly due to being knocked off last year, so I've upgraded front lighting (still got knocked off with 2 x Cateye 510's and a Tesco 3w together with the backups on the rucksack.....think Blackpool illuminations).

Now have 2 x Hope Vision 1's, and for increased side visibility, I've got two fibre flares attached to the side of my rucksack for very good all round side lighting. Rear lighting remains as before Blackburn Mars 4.0, 3.0 and a Smart superflash...I think I may be paranoid though..........

 

[semislickstick]

Tesco do two types of backup LED's - some little dangly ones, and some which are identical to Sigma Micro lights, but come with a pulsing flash (which is eye catching) and for about £2.60 they are bargains (I have both the Sigma and Tesco's).

This year's lighting solution for me is significantly higher budget wise, mainly due to being knocked off last year, so I've upgraded front lighting (still got knocked off with 2 x Cateye 510's and a Tesco 3w together with the backups on the rucksack.....think Blackpool illuminations).

Now have 2 x Hope Vision 1's, and for increased side visibility, I've got two fibre flares attached to the side of my rucksack for very good all round side lighting. Rear lighting remains as before Blackburn Mars 4.0, 3.0 and a Smart superflash...I think I may be paranoid though..........

I was the same after being knocked off, I'd rather not go through that again if possible and at the very least it will be obvious, even to the police that the driver just didn't look if they didn't see me. My friends take the piss but then they haven't been hit by a car!

Did the police get involved with you accident fossyant?

 

[J4CKO]

I have a couple of the Tesco torches which I bought whilst my Cateye Single Shot Plus kept breaking due to the bracket cracking the case of the lamp, I then went made and bought a Hope Vision 2, very bright, good duration and built to last, I do some very dark lanes so have the torches mounted along with the Hope and thats plenty bright enough.

At the rear a flashy cateye thingy and one of those emergency flashers on the bottom of my right pannier to give drivers some idea of where I end.

I think I would like something that gave me more of an outline from the rear, like leds sewn into a coat, sometimes I think drivers get confused by a single point of light.

Agree on not dazzling them as they retailiate, some get confused by powerful lights on bikes and misjudge not sure if you are a bigger vehicle with one light out or a motorbike, sometimes this makes them think, put it on flash they then see a cyclsit and you are then demoted from unidentified vehicle and possible threat to mostly harmless.

Also wear a Altura nightvision, no rucksack as I use panniers but I do notice a lot of cyclists go hi viz and then spoil it by putting a black rucksack over the top, when I used a rucksack, I adapted one of the many pockets to hold a spare rear light which meant there was a list halfway up, I found that quite reassuring.

What do people think about two rear lights, is there a danger in the dark a driver could mis-read two rears at the same height as being a car in the distance ?

 

[RedBike]

What do people think about two rear lights, is there a danger in the dark a driver could mis-read two rears at the same height as being a car in the distance ?

You don't often get red car headlights or brake lights one above the other.
I think two lights is a very good idea. If one light stops working for whatever reason is then there's always the backup

 

[summerdays]

Although I have a couple of those little elasticated rear lights - now tried 3 types the best one (obviously not the cheapest) is the Electron EHP251 Backupz with 6 little LED's on it. It is significantly brighter than the other ones and has side visibility. I have it attached to my helmet which I hope helps cars to see me when further back in the queue with perhaps a car blocking their view of my main lights.

 

[MrGrumpy]

MrG
Do you have any more information on this? I have been following this thread with great interest being in the market for a new set of lights for my 10 mile commute, 20% street lit the rest on rural country roads / lanes, known locally as the 'Rat Run'

Like many I am working off a very limited budget so a home brew solution may be the way to go.

Its not the cheapest way to go from scratch, I happened to get my triple shots for a third of the price 2yrs ago and then preceded to upgrade the 3 LEDs to more than double the lumen output. Anyway as mentioned elsewhere if i was back to square one with no light id go the LED torch route there are some seriously bright lights for under £50!

if ur still interested in seeing what some blinding nutters do with lights check this out http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/