New set of lights

[Scotty1991]

Anyone got any good recommendations on a good set of lights. lights with a good battery life and will light up the road nicely?

 

[G3CWI]

...do a quick search of the forum. This question appears every 10 days or so.

 

[Sharky]

Without particularly recommending this make, the cateye beam chart app makes good viewing
http://www.cateye.com/intl/news/detail/218/

With this you can compare the relative performance of the cateye range, then compare lumens etc with other makes.

I know one of my Christmas presents is going to be the volt 300!

Cheers keith

 

[Mrs M]

Always Cateye

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Without particularly recommending this make, the cateye beam chart app makes good viewing
http://www.cateye.com/intl/news/detail/218/

With this you can compare the relative performance of the cateye range, then compare lumens etc with other makes.

I know one of my Christmas presents is going to be the volt 300!

Cheers keith

Good choice an excellent, well made light and nicely bright enough to light your way even in pitch dark & without burning retinas too badly in company on the road.
Also has a surprisingly good battery life for the output and if you get the volt 50 rear too, the battery units are interchangeable & as a 50 lumen light in theory it lasts 6 x as long so you'd be unlucky to have them both die on you at the same time.

I've been in Evans today looking at the volt 700 (which apparently is 800 lumens according to the packet - and is an interchangeable battery with the 300 & 50) as a replacement for my increasingly flaky dealextreme T6.
they let me in the staff room to get some proper darkness to compare them & the 700 is a whole different level of brightness again from the 300 with a bigger spread of light too. While I do use the 300 to take me home in country parks in absolute darkness I do it at a slightly more sedate pace that the t6, I suspect with the 700 I'd be rolling along as fast as my little legs could take me. I don't think I'd ever use it on full whack in even a poorly lit area. The £100 price tag puts it into birthday and christmas combined territory tho, luckily I'm a December baby

 

[The Rover]

I got my volt 300 from this company. Good price and quick delivery.

http://www.totalcycling.com/en/Cate...Head-Light---EL460RC---300-Lumen/m-17208.aspx

Edit. £80 for the 700.

http://www.totalcycling.com/en/Cate...-Front-Light---EL470RC-800-Lumen/m-21595.aspx

 

[Turbo Rider]

I like to say Moon Comet but people like to ignore me about that one. One thing I will say about them though is that the battery life is only 1hr 40 mins on full charge, when you put them on max beam with no flash. They only take 2hrs to charge though and are USB charged. They also have a great clip, which is made of rubber, is easily detachable and hasn't once shown any sign of falling off. You can usually get them in a double set and though they are RRP at £50-£60, you can usually get them somewhere around the mid £30's. some good videos on Youtube if you want to see them in action, though that generally applies to most light sets.

Edit - I should add that the battery life varies and if your economic, I think you can get 5 hours out of them.

 

[Scotty1991]

Thanks guys on the lights. Now going to check them out.

 

[CRVFR]

I got a Volt 700 a couple of weeks ago after struggling with a 200 lumen light since the clocks changed. Fantastic light & plenty enough illumination to enable me to ride without any concerns about not seeing potholes etc. Battery life is accurate at 2 hours plus on full power. Best buy so far this year.

 

[totallyfixed]

300 lumens is more than enough, or it would be if the beam was concentrated like a car on dipped beam. My better half has a light that goes one better, it has dipped and full beam exactly like a car, mine only has dipped but a fantastic spread, I have it set to light up the road about 20 metres or so ahead and I can ride on the darkest lanes at the same speed as I do in daylight.

 

[huwsparky]

Personally, I think to be able to ride at anything close to full speed on an un-lit road you need 1000 lumen minimum. I know a lot won't agree with me saying that it's not necessary etc but it really is IMO.

I have 1500 lumen with a battery pack that lasts 2.5 hrs on maximum power giving me options to go out for decent rides as the higher setting is only really used for the higher speed descending. On maximum I can pick out potholes easily from about 40m without straining to see them.

I have a 700 lumen setting on mine but it's just not enough after having a brighter light. I suppose if I didn't know better I may consider 700 lumen enough.

I'm lucky really as the roads I use are hardly used at night by cars so hardly ever have to dip. But they can be dipped easily but what I prefer to do is tilt it to the side as the bracket is designed allowing it to be done.

To anyone interested I bought it for £100.

http://alexscycle.org/2014/02/12/moon-xp1500-bike-light-review/