Very cheap bike lights on Amazon- any good?

[mattsr]

I've been thinking about some more powerful lights for my winter commuting, a fair bit of which is along unlit lanes, often going both ways in the dark. The bike is my sole means of transort so I have to go out in all weathers as well. I can stretch to about 100 quid or thereabouts, but I don't really want to go much over. The Magicshine range seems pretty good, and I think this front and rear pack would suit me very well:-

http://www.magicshine.co.uk/front-rear-bike-light-sets/magicshine-mj-872r-kit.html



But there are some lights on Amazon which seem to offer similar levels of brightness for about a quarter of the price:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/iaMOutdoor-...B41Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357559214&sr=8-1

Although the reviews seem pretty good, I am not sure that a 1200 lumen light at that price can possibly be very reliable or long-lasting. It seems unbelievably cheap, and there are others around Amazon at similar or slightly higher price points.

Has anybody got any experience of these lights, good or bad? I don't want to go for what looks like a bargain only to find that the thing dies on me the first time it rains. And any experiences with Magicshine would be useful to read as well!

 

[Rob3rt]

The lamp will be fine, but the battery will likely be poor. I have several cheap lights, they all work great, but the battery packs seem to hate the cold and just say no after a while.

 

[Paddygt]

I have the 1200 lumin from Amazon, so far it works fine. Cannot comment on the longevity as I have not had it long but the power is amazing

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Dealextreme do similar priceson magischine and Fenix -a-like stuff.

3 years ago £26 got me a plenty bright enough for completely unlit country park at 5am in December cree torch, 2 x 18650 batteries with charger (the torch takes 1 so I'm always lit up) and handlebar mount. They're all still going strong but even if they died tomorrow Ive had more than my my moneys worth out of them.

the drawback with these cheap ones is the import time, Dealextreme and invariably the Amazon ones are coming from China and take quite a while to arrive (I had a look at some amazon reviews the other day, several mention an extended delivery delay over the usual 10-14 days quoted).

They're one purchase that should be a late summer order to be sure they're on the bike for when the nights start to come in.