Front wheel Dynamo Hubs are the modern way to go.
Lights - the commuting version
- Thread starter biking_fox
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Front wheel Dynamo Hubs are the modern way to go.
si_c
Guru
Very much this, Shimano hubs are good quality and reliable but more expensive hubs are available with higher power outputs and lighter weight (mostly useful for on - the - go USB charging).
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
Dynamo is the way to go. My oldest setup is 12 years and going strong.
Tail End Charlie
Well, write it down boy ......
Another vote for a front hub dynamo, although I do use battery LEDs on the rear.
freiston
Veteran
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
Little thread resurrection - nearly that time of year.
Roll on three years (wow that long) and I'm still using the NewBoller light with the beam cut off - really good on shared paths - essential on my route TBH as it's heavily used by pedestrians and cyclists.
I've just invested in a new Magicshine HORI 1300 (they do a 900 as well) which consists of a main 'dipped' LED and a 'Spot' for dark areas. Chucked in is a remote, so it's one press to access the spot beam. The dipped beam has a really good cut off with no light spill. The LED 'bulb' is actually a rectangle, so you get a wide spread, and spill onto the road below the bike
Biggest plus point it it uses Garmin style mounts and the go-pro connections using the supplied out front mount.
Magicshine did do another light, the Evo1300 for commuting, but there are many reports of broken mounts, this new light uses replaceable garmin brackets.
https://magicshineuk.com/product/hori-1300/
Roll on three years (wow that long) and I'm still using the NewBoller light with the beam cut off - really good on shared paths - essential on my route TBH as it's heavily used by pedestrians and cyclists.
I've just invested in a new Magicshine HORI 1300 (they do a 900 as well) which consists of a main 'dipped' LED and a 'Spot' for dark areas. Chucked in is a remote, so it's one press to access the spot beam. The dipped beam has a really good cut off with no light spill. The LED 'bulb' is actually a rectangle, so you get a wide spread, and spill onto the road below the bike
Biggest plus point it it uses Garmin style mounts and the go-pro connections using the supplied out front mount.
Magicshine did do another light, the Evo1300 for commuting, but there are many reports of broken mounts, this new light uses replaceable garmin brackets.
https://magicshineuk.com/product/hori-1300/
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
Up at just after 4 am today as heard cats fighting and needed to pee. Properly dark again so the full beam lights are going to be back on the bike
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accountdeleted
Active Member
I've started and stuck with Moon brand. Made in Taiwan, reasonably priced, simple, doesn't weigh much and reliable. I've accumulated 3x front & 3x rear lights over 8-9years and they are still going 
! Never changed the base batteries or broke, charged via Micro-USB though. The attachments are pretty robust and never snapped on me before. I do however have to have 2x fronts in the darkest winder months (400Lm + 700Lm) to have enough light ahead.
These are my dailies. And yes, full beam morning commute at 6am start is back. So long summer, hello autumn.
! Never changed the base batteries or broke, charged via Micro-USB though. The attachments are pretty robust and never snapped on me before. I do however have to have 2x fronts in the darkest winder months (400Lm + 700Lm) to have enough light ahead.These are my dailies. And yes, full beam morning commute at 6am start is back. So long summer, hello autumn.
palinurus
Velo, boulot, dodo
I've had two Cyos since 2005. The first one was still working when I replaced it but I broke the fitting eye in a crash. Fixed it with Sugru, then retired it a few years after when that bodge started failing.I've just broken the plastic casing/mount bit on my commuter's B&M Cyo
(It did still work to be fair! Just went very wobbly until I did the sensible thing and took it off.)
Time Waster
Guru
Just trying to get my Ravemen PR1600 bracket sorted so it does not swivel round to point to the ground. It is a very good light with a dipped beam and a dipped beam plus 1600 lumens beam for highest power needs. I commute before 6am on a country lane without lighting. Then I commute on lit town streets at the other end of the train line. So the double beam option is good for the dark but I have a low risk of dazzle with the dipped and cutoff fresnel lens on my 800 lumens max solo beam option on the light.
On my Brompton the bracket is a useless plastic grip you hand twist to tighten it. That loosens badly with rough roads. My road bike has higher diameter bars so the allen key bolt fastened bracket for that tends to work well, until I lost the bolt and my replacement has a head that is just oversized to fit in the head end of the bracket so when I tighten it catches on the outer edge not within the bracket like the original bolt does. I can hold it but I think it will need tightening until it digs into the bracket bolt hole surround to become secure. I am planning on replacing the bolt with a better bolt for the job and if I do that there will be no issues with it.
My PR1600 is no longer sold. It has USB C charging cable and USB A out to charge another device from the light battery. However the light takes absolutelly ages to fully charge. A big battery but the charge is at a slow rate annoyingly.
When I got sick of the light bracket rotating on my Brompton I bought a set of front and rear lights for a tenner off amazon as a stopgap. They were not that bright but they did a good enough job if I rode slowly in the dark morning sections of my commute. They have two lines of LEDs on the front with separate button for each line. They had different lenses on those two rows so one was highly diffused the other was slightly more directed,not much more but noticeable. The rear had a ring operated by one button and a square center operated by the second button. You could have one solid and the other flashing, both flashing or both solid or only one flashing or solid. Plus there were three light levels for each set of light LEDs for both front and rear. Not bad for a tenner.
The other benefit is how those two cheap lights really hold a charge. I know i am only doing about 20 minutes a day with lights in the morning at the moment, but I cannot remember how long ago it was when I last charged them. At least a month of use two days a week and probably two months. For the same journeys I have had to charge other, much larger, more expensive and larger batteried lights from better brands more than these cheapo Amazon ones.
On my Brompton the bracket is a useless plastic grip you hand twist to tighten it. That loosens badly with rough roads. My road bike has higher diameter bars so the allen key bolt fastened bracket for that tends to work well, until I lost the bolt and my replacement has a head that is just oversized to fit in the head end of the bracket so when I tighten it catches on the outer edge not within the bracket like the original bolt does. I can hold it but I think it will need tightening until it digs into the bracket bolt hole surround to become secure. I am planning on replacing the bolt with a better bolt for the job and if I do that there will be no issues with it.
My PR1600 is no longer sold. It has USB C charging cable and USB A out to charge another device from the light battery. However the light takes absolutelly ages to fully charge. A big battery but the charge is at a slow rate annoyingly.
When I got sick of the light bracket rotating on my Brompton I bought a set of front and rear lights for a tenner off amazon as a stopgap. They were not that bright but they did a good enough job if I rode slowly in the dark morning sections of my commute. They have two lines of LEDs on the front with separate button for each line. They had different lenses on those two rows so one was highly diffused the other was slightly more directed,not much more but noticeable. The rear had a ring operated by one button and a square center operated by the second button. You could have one solid and the other flashing, both flashing or both solid or only one flashing or solid. Plus there were three light levels for each set of light LEDs for both front and rear. Not bad for a tenner.
The other benefit is how those two cheap lights really hold a charge. I know i am only doing about 20 minutes a day with lights in the morning at the moment, but I cannot remember how long ago it was when I last charged them. At least a month of use two days a week and probably two months. For the same journeys I have had to charge other, much larger, more expensive and larger batteried lights from better brands more than these cheapo Amazon ones.
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
When I used to commute on rural roads I'd have a Niterider Swift 450 and 500 on my bars either side of a Garmin Varia 800. When the bracket of the 450 snapped I got a Lezyne 800 in its place. Lately though my commute has been mainly under street lights and I have just used either the Lezyne 800 or Swift 500. I may use the Varia also when it gets a bit darker to give me a degree of redundancy.
froze
Veteran
Stay away from Lezyne lights, their pumps are fantastic but their lights suck. Their reported lumens is about 400 to 500 less than what they say. Their batteries will not last more than 3 to 4 years before they will no longer take a charge, I found out that was true with their headlights and their taillights.
I have a few lights one is retired but lasted a long time and that was a Cygolite Metro that held 4 D batteries, I had to replace one of the bulbs to a 14 watt halogen to get me a longer reaching beam, but I didn't do that with the other bulb for the flood beam due to battery life, so left it 12 watts. For its time it was a good light.
When I decided to replace the Cygolite I got a Cygolite MityCross 400 OSP in 2011, which I still own today, and use it as a strobe light on the front of my touring bike now, that battery is still good after all those years.
Then I decided I didn't want a separate battery and light, so I got a Philips Saferide 80 about 12 years ago, I still use it today! I have since gone to high capacity rechargeable AA bats but the run time is rather short at about 2 hours on high with the better bats, Philips overstated their run time by about 50%. I like the cutoff beam pattern on this light.
At some point I decided to supplement the Philips so I bought the Lezyne Hecto, when it failed I bought a NiteRider Lumina 1200 because they told me I can send the light back when the bat dies and for $30 they would replace it, great, sold! I've had that light for about 4 or 5 years and still holds a charge like it did when it was new. It is built very rugged; in fact, it's over engineered for what it has to deal with.
Almost any light made the LEDs will last at least 20,000 hours, it's the batteries that won't last, most batteries last about 400 charges, which is only 800 to 1200 hours, which means you're throwing away a perfectly good LED light just because the battery failed. The best lights to get are the ones that the battery can be replaced, like the NiteRider Lumina series, who has the lowest costing replacement service of any light that can do that.
Taillights you need the brightest you can find that will have a high-quality battery. I have two NiteRider taillights, an Aero 260 and an Omega 250 now called Omega 300. The Aero 260 is fantastic as a helmet light, it has very bright side lighting that can be on either solid rear and sides or flashing mode in several different eye-catching patterns. The only downfall to this light is that it uses COBB LEDs, and cobbs while intense looking at night get washed out in direct sunlight if you want to use it during the day as well. Enter the Omega 250, this thing is extremely bright, and it can easily be seen from over a mile away even if the sun is directly on it.
I have a few lights one is retired but lasted a long time and that was a Cygolite Metro that held 4 D batteries, I had to replace one of the bulbs to a 14 watt halogen to get me a longer reaching beam, but I didn't do that with the other bulb for the flood beam due to battery life, so left it 12 watts. For its time it was a good light.
When I decided to replace the Cygolite I got a Cygolite MityCross 400 OSP in 2011, which I still own today, and use it as a strobe light on the front of my touring bike now, that battery is still good after all those years.
Then I decided I didn't want a separate battery and light, so I got a Philips Saferide 80 about 12 years ago, I still use it today! I have since gone to high capacity rechargeable AA bats but the run time is rather short at about 2 hours on high with the better bats, Philips overstated their run time by about 50%. I like the cutoff beam pattern on this light.
At some point I decided to supplement the Philips so I bought the Lezyne Hecto, when it failed I bought a NiteRider Lumina 1200 because they told me I can send the light back when the bat dies and for $30 they would replace it, great, sold! I've had that light for about 4 or 5 years and still holds a charge like it did when it was new. It is built very rugged; in fact, it's over engineered for what it has to deal with.
Almost any light made the LEDs will last at least 20,000 hours, it's the batteries that won't last, most batteries last about 400 charges, which is only 800 to 1200 hours, which means you're throwing away a perfectly good LED light just because the battery failed. The best lights to get are the ones that the battery can be replaced, like the NiteRider Lumina series, who has the lowest costing replacement service of any light that can do that.
Taillights you need the brightest you can find that will have a high-quality battery. I have two NiteRider taillights, an Aero 260 and an Omega 250 now called Omega 300. The Aero 260 is fantastic as a helmet light, it has very bright side lighting that can be on either solid rear and sides or flashing mode in several different eye-catching patterns. The only downfall to this light is that it uses COBB LEDs, and cobbs while intense looking at night get washed out in direct sunlight if you want to use it during the day as well. Enter the Omega 250, this thing is extremely bright, and it can easily be seen from over a mile away even if the sun is directly on it.
HLaB
Marie Attoinette Fan
That would be my experience of Lezyne lights, premature failure. I'd never use one on it's own. At the start of the ride a Lezyne light would say its good (green battery tester) but by the end of a 50min commute they'd be off (the battery had failed). I hope they've got better as the only thing I could find that would meet my requirements was a Lezyne 800. I love my NiteRider Swift 500, particularly its built in strap as oppose to a semi-permanent bar mount. But for an unlit commute, I wanted something a bit brighter (without being too bright) and a wider beam but still wanted a built in strap so I could quickly mount it anywhereand on any bike.
I don't use Lezyne pumps anymore, I've seen too many valves unscrew (luckily not for me) and their carbon pump failed on me. In my rear pocket the inner became detached from the inner. I've had their metal ones fail the same way but more gradually and not a complete failure (I could screw them back together). I got a similar Pro Bike Tool Mini pump for about a third of the price and that's lasted at least 6 years.
