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Please can someone do this then sell me one?
I'm sure it would work, but then you'd have to power the Pi, which could be done from the battery but it would whack the life a lot. And even a Zero in a waterproof case would be approaching the size of a battery pack, so negate the point of an all-in-one light.
your poor wives
has anyobe tried the 500 as a head torch yet? i`m tempted i do tend to like my head torch to be more powerful tham bars though (super twisty singletrack here)
I picked up a 500 and a 1600 the other day to replace some cheap non-branded ebay crap I got end of last year.
Rode Penhydd on Tuesday night in the worst conditions I think I've ever encountered on a night ride, probably top-10 for rides of any time too. Rain and fog meant viability was at 3 metres even with my lights and my mates Exposure Six Pack at full tilt.
Anyway, once the fog cleared it was a nice pairing, the 500 was light enough not to give me a stiff neck and the Bikehut helmet mount (sold separately £5) stopped it bouncing about and gave enough light for berms n' that. The 1600 is probably about as bright as the '10000 Lm' 7 lap Chinese one I ditched for it, better spread and better light 'colour' the 10k one is very white, almost blue and makes for very sharp shadows making the trail harder to read than the softer, more yellow bike hut one.
The functions don't bother me, the 1600 has a separate on/off button and the 500 you need to hold down the button to turn it off/on - I only run full power anyway. I think it took about 2 hours to complete because of conditions and even with the lights on full to help see get ready / change etc they were still showing 1hr left on 500 and 2hrs left on 1600, don't know how accurate that was.
The only downside was the out in front mount was pretty crap - it's hard to fit with using Geoff Capes strength hands and however much I tightened the GoPro style knob, it slipped, the plastic feels like the sort of 'self lubricating' stuff you get bushes made from, I'll try the rubber strap next.
I’d buy an alloy mount to use like the one I posted on the last page. Much better and still cheap.
Well I decided to refresh my light collection, after realising that faffing around with wires and chargers with my old fashioned set was making me use my bar-mounted light even though it's not ideal.
Bought a 1600 for the bars and a 500 for my head.
The beam is actually quite spotty compared to others I've had, so throw looks like it should be good. Light quality looks good too - but not tried them on the trail yet.
But the mounting system looks like a great idea. With the OIF mount fitted the light is so far forward there's no light leakage into my eyes or onto the cables and then into my eyes. I bought two mounts for different bikes, then the helmet mount, so I can do away with rubber straps altogether.
And the helmet mount is the crowning glory. It's way better than previous velcro things (it has straps and clip buckles) and it sits far back enough to balance the weight without compromising light output. The 500 is now the most comfortable lid light I've tried - even better than separate battery ones, despite being an all-in-one.
The OIF mount might be a bit wobbly though.
I've had to move from the rubber strap mount to an old GoPro bar mount I had. Even with the stabiliser thing fitted, I found I was descending with one hand on the bar and one on the light to stop it falling forward. Not ideal!
I think the weight of it will overcome the ability of the supplied out front bracket, that's a lot of leverage for a narrow plastic friction face to contend with.
Was out again last night with my 1600. I've ditched the GoPro mount for being wobbly crap and used the rubber strap.
Best MO I found was to strap it tight at the grip end of the bar than side to the middle, I've got 35mm bars so it was very tight, didn't move and didn't snap which was a fear.
mid term update - 1600 still going strong, have just left it on the bike all summer for dusk rides and daylight running. For mounting I use a 'Moon' XL out-front mount which has the gopro bracket underneath and it's absolutely solid. recommended
1st ride with mine last night as a helmet light to replace (hopefully temporarily) broken troutie. As you'd expect it's not as good as that but seemed pretty decent output. Weight was manageable too.
Main issue is that the helmet mount is far from low profile, so wondering if there is a better solution. Something akin to the exposure mounts, that fasten against the inside of the helmet but top out with a go pro style connector.....
I found a better aluminium GoPro mount for my bikehut light recently. Instead of being ‘out front’ which looked slightly dubious it literally loops the bar and the light mounts straight on top. Really happy with it now - the light is bright enough and lasts a decent amount of time. Paired with the Moon Vortex Pro on the helmet I’ve got enough light for steep technical off road riding.
I bought a spare plastic mount - one came in the box with the 500. But I might return that one and get a Moon instead if it's going to be wobbly. Plastic one might be ok with the 500 on road.
EDIT guessing for the 1600 I'd need the XL Moon as, despite more length meaning more flex, the bigger light wasn't far off the bars with the stock one. Am I right?
my charge port fell out. had 2 weeks left on the warranty and halfords replaced the light without quibble.
still seems like very little space and a very fiddly fit.
good light though.
I have one of these I’m not using if anyone fancies a lightly used one?
Russyh - how much are you looking for?
Can anyone link me to any of the alternative mounts they're recommending- as noted already when offroad the supplied one wobbles around all over the place!
Cheers
I use one of these - it’s much more solid than the mount that comes with the light and weighs almost nothing plus is cheap so quite happy with it
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F122851708371
I’d be interested to see the mount that @joebristol has found as I could do with one for another bike and like the idea of mounting on top of rather than in front of the bars
I’d be interested to see the mount that @joebristol has found as I could do with one for another bike and like the idea of mounting on top of rather than in front of the bars
This is the one I bought:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F273988348865
I’d say it’s a little more secure than the out front one and it looks a bit nicer.
excellent - thanks for the links both of you
For those of you who have a free plastic mount that came with the 500, or who bought another (like me), you may be interested in the following mod. I noticed that the flex in the mount comes from twisting of the main stem, not up and down flexing. I had a look at the underneath:
[img] 
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When it twists, all these little rectangles become parallelograms. So I filled them with epoxy putty that sets rock hard, to prevent the rectangles from deforming:
[img] 
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It's worked a treat. Absolutely rock solid now in normal riding; only a tiny bit of vibration on properly rocky fast descents which I can live with. I'm sure you could do a neater job than I did, it would be easy to get a proper finish - not that you can see it ever.
I will probably still get a Moon one for my rigid bike because I need a third, but I'll happily use these now at under half the price on road and FS.
@molgrips good bodge - did you use Miliput?
EDIT guessing for the 1600 I’d need the XL Moon as, despite more length meaning more flex, the bigger light wasn’t far off the bars with the stock one. Am I right?
I bought XL although the mount puts the light under the bar and the GPS level with it so overhang is less of an issue. It's really rigid so I wouldn't worry about flex.
It's Unibond Repair Xpress just normal B&Q stuff.
Anybody else noticed the remote draining the battery if left plugged in over the course of a week? Mine's held it's charge fine for best part of a month without it.
Tempted by these lights. 1600 on the bars, anyone using the smaller ones on the helmet, either 500 or 1000?
Down to £40
Thats brilliant Halfords are still selling these, I imagined they were an end of line job due to charging port niggles.
Mine has been great but the battery bank output has stopped working and I can't see how to open up the unit without using force. I think I used a 1 into 2 way USB lead to charge my Wahoo and phone at the same time whilst bivvying and overloaded it as later that day it wouldn't charge anything.
I was expecting a straight refund but I should get a replacement if its still available 🙂
if you get one, get a hope QR bracket to replace the rubber strap bar mount.
it's solid after that upgrade.
Well finally chucked £40 quid the way of Halfrauds today,and like most im reasonably impressed the max setting is a fair old amount of USABLE light. I say that as its the amount of light emitted out as apposed to the throw of the beam, In conjunction with my China 100,000 lumen mini sun (£13 special )its brilliant. The rubber strap seemed to hold up well on my 35mm Renthal bars to, well worth the money and i mean what else can you get for £40 these day £40
Does anyone know what GoPro connector Halfords have used? I bought one yesterday and was expecting it to include one based on the on the photos (just the attachment that screws into the light, not the mount for the bike) but my box only contains the rubber strap.
I also might have a dud straight out the box. Haven't had time to investigate, but I didn't manage to turn it on this morning all charging it fully overnight.
I just went to buy one of these now that they're 40 quid. Just got a rubber strap in the box, I was expecting the Garmin mount as in the pictures on the website.
Mine came with the rubber strap and a garmin out front mount but I did buy it either the start of this year or the end of last year.
I got my fault 1600 replaced yesterday and the new one didn't come with an out front mount. Luckily I kept the old mount but annoying as I could have done with another! Halfords description is out of date and some of the reviews point this out.
It's available separately but might as well buy one of the alloy mounts instead. Mine also allowed the light to droop when off-road so only good for road work anyway.
It does say on the web page now that the mount is sold separate I just didn't read it properly on the way to the shop.
Not too bothered, as I don't have a Garmin but I do have a bunch of Go-Pro mounts which would have been useful.
Slight irritation with the 500 - the part of the go pro mount that bolts to the light (the thing I think sharkattack is missing) is a bit too far back, so the light isn't balanced. This means it has to be really tight to stop being knocked downwards over bumps on the road bike. Oddly the 1600 which is much larger does not have this issue on the MTB because the attachment point is more centred. And my MTB has suspension obvs.
Slight irritation with the 500 – the part of the go pro mount that bolts to the light (the thing I think sharkattack is missing)
This is what I was expecting to get, because I thought earlier versions had it included.
As I said, I don't have a Garmin so I would have settled for the little Go-Pro screw on attachment to use on my existing metal bar mount. I'll see what the rubber band is like off-road before I buy anything else.
I found the rubber band wasn’t up to full off road - that’s on a bike with a 170mm Lyrik on the front (160mm rear travel).
Further up the page I linked an alloy gopro style mount which costs about a fiver which is perfect so far.
Pure go-pro mounts are easy to find online for peanuts. Will be better than the band - I tried it, bounced all over the place, but that was on a 25.4 bar.
Further up the page I linked an alloy gopro style mount which costs about a fiver which is perfect so far
That's what I've already got. Unfortunately the attachment for the strap/bracket screws into the body of the light and I don't have the go-pro compatible part. I'm not too concerned, I'll work something out from my box of nuts, bolts, adaptors etc.
Im looking for a new helmet light to replace my aging Ay-Ups. Given I have a Gopro mount on my lid would this work as a helmet light?
The 1600 would be too heavy and too bright, IMO, but the 500 is spot on - I use one.
Yeah don’t run the 1600 on a helmet m, it’s quite big and heavy.
A good cheap option is a Moon Vortex / Vortex Pro - I run those with the bikehut 1600 on the bars. Think £30-£40 online.
If you’re feeling more flush then the Exposire Joystick is another good helmet option - there’s a psa on the forum for £99 I think.
Picked mine up this week in Halfords for £40. Took it out tonight for 1.5hr, ran it one level down from max and it's still indicating full charge so pretty impressed.
The rubber stabilised mount provided was fine but I do have a piece of road inner tube on the bars to provide grip.
Light spread and colour both worked worked well alongside my MTB Batteries helmet mounted unit.
I'd say well worth £40. My only criticism is that the mini USB socket is buried deep within the unit and takes few goes to plug in correctly.
I picked up a 500 for the helmet and 1600 for the bars. Not had chance to try them out yet but look good enough with the garden test.
Annoyingly I didn’t receive the bolt adapter that screws into the light body that enables go pro mounts to be connected. I don’t think they come with these anymore. However I did buy a helmet mount and one comes with this so will probably buy another as these are only £5 so can use a go pro mount for the bars.
Gav: was that this helmet mount (that's £10)
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-lights/bike-lights/halfords-helmet-light
or is there a cheaper one that comes with a GoPro mount that you could transfer to the 1600?
That’s the one that sweepy posted
I bought a 1600 version of this light from Amazon but it came as a 1000 so I got a partial refund and bought the 1600 just because. My mum is also buying me one for Christmas so I have a spare 1600 as I am planning on using all three to use at the Strathpuffer in Jan. I am not mental or fit enough to do it solo so am part of a 4 man team so I am hoping that between the three lights I will be able to do my 6-7 hours worth of riding and can also charge them a bit between runs.
I have bought three different alloy and plastic go pro mounts off ebay ranging from £3-£6 most of which have already featured in this thread. I will report back how they perform in the freezing and grueling conditions the puffer has to offer!
Having googled a few of the other lights mentioned in this thread I am also now looking at a Magicshine MJ900 or similar to put on the helmet as they seem tiny and light weight and also keep the battery in my backpack along with my other essentials.
Just picked up one of these from halfords for £40 as my current aldi light set front light, although decent for how much they cost, was lacking in the depth and brightness for commuting down backroads at 25mph, and not great for off road. Plus at full power is only lasted an hour.
Comparing the 2, my old light is equivalent to the 640 lumen setting on the bikehut light. Should be a bit better on 1600 lumens 😁
I'm gonna need a better mount for mine, on both my bikes, one with 35mm bars and the other with 31.8mm, the rubber mount isn't tight enough to stop it rotating, the adjustment isn't close enough, even with the gripper.
I'll get the helmet mount to get the gopro mount, and probably the 31.8mm alloy mount from ebay linked earlier, but has anyone found a similar 35mm mount? Cheers.
I tried a couple of options yesterday:
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49149017112_807f52fb3e_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49149017112_807f52fb3e_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2hT8ysL ]Untitled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/166000635@N05/ ]Mark Talbot[/url], on Flickr
and
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49148316898_179e508fdc_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49148316898_179e508fdc_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2hT4Yj7 ]Untitled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/166000635@N05/ ]Mark Talbot[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49148807311_eac7ef71d5_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49148807311_eac7ef71d5_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2hT7u6v ]Untitled[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/166000635@N05/ ]Mark Talbot[/url], on Flickr
I think the one closer to the bars will be more stable but not ridden it yet.
I rode mine properly off road last week, as above the rubber mount didn't hold tigjht enough and I ended up blinded a few times. Now looking to invest in a go-pro stem mount.
Here's the 1600 in combination with an Exposure Joystick.....very happy with that. Enough light for me, certainly more and better thrown than the solarstorm/magicshine combo I've been using lately.
The Bikehut mount has been swapped for a Hope quick release, rock solid.
[img] 
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No more battery packs and wires wrapped around the bike and running from the helmet!.
The hope QR mount has everything needed to mount the light, correct? Seems the best option reading through the thread.
Probably going to pick up one of these in the next day or two, anyone care to link the Hope mount? My last foray into lighting was the cree torches from Tesco with a DIY innertube mount!
Hope QR mount £9 at Wiggle. 5mm (i think) hex bolt, the QR comes complete with its own bolt - straight swap.
Much obliged!
I relented and bought one of these to replace my ancient Fluxient (that’s finally died). The Fluxient was also 1600 lumen so a good comparison. I think the Fluxient was a bit more ‘floody’but the Halfords light is a bit brighter - not much in it. Took a couple of rides to get used to using it and the myriad settings - but really pleased with it now. Did 2.5 hours this evening (minus 2 brrr), and it was still saying it had 1-2 hours left on the highest setting. The rubber mount has been fine for me with the extra rubber stabiliser trail riding. I have a Joystick on the helmet which complements it perfectly. Anyway a great buy for £40.
arsing ****ity!
Just unplugged the charger from the light and the metal bit of the microUSB charge port came out with the cable.
This is the second one to do that.
back to halfords again tonight, once I dig out the packaging..
balls.
Thanks to whoever mentioned the Hope QR mount. I've had a couple of the cheap Hope lights in the garage for years.
Perfect fit. Absolutely rock solid now.
Still haven't been out to test the light though. My mojo has gone awol.
Got my hope QR mount today, it's excellent. Took a bit of working out where it would fit my 35mm oneup mtb bars without the threaded bit contacting the bar, but got a section where it'll fit. Of course it fits on the gravel bike with zero issues.
Takes almost no pressure to be rock solid going by a garage test, those little rubber pads do their job!
Mine is on its second year, and I think I might have killed it tonight. Pretty dry ride (I'm usually out in the evening at least once a week) and when I turn the light off it doesn't turn off. Anyone had this happen? It's on a pretty low output and only the two lower emitters are on. It's charging at the moment - but I don't want to leave it on charge (or on, for that matter) overnight.
The connector really is the achilies heal of these things.
Has anyone tried one of the magentic usb charging cables? Was thinking about buying one and leaving the micro-usb blug in the light all the time. I have 2 of them for longer rides and a moon Vortex pro on my helmet.
Really not a fan of the now moon vortex pro as they have not grouped the flashing modes in with the normal modes. Previously you had to switch between normal and flashing modes with a 2 second button press.
Well, I had to kill it, unfortunately. Pics when I can work out how to upload, but there was no moisture in the unit - I suppose it just decided it was time to go. I ended up pulling out one of the wires from the board after realising it was already too far gone from dismantling the case.
I’m assuming this is the Halfords remote Everyone using or converting, anyone thought to try alternative remote from raveman or the like for a better switch?
I'm not sure that's likely to be compatible. The Bikehut one goes into the USB-A port i.e. the one you'd plug your device into if you wanted to charge it from the light, no?
The Halfords remote I linked (& bought) goes to the USB charge port. I’ll buy one to test, as I can just return it, but wondered if anyone had tried it? (Or similar)
I've gotten over my hatred of all things Halfords to order this light and a remote. I'll hopefully get out tomorrow to test them. If it works well I'll get a 2nd one for my soon to be 10 year old daughter to join me on winter evenings
Mine is still going strong 18 months on. No noticable impact on battery life although on full beam it does dim slightly when the device gets hot. The beam is is not focused and you can easily blind drivers if it's not pointed at a sharp angle towards the floor.
I'm still using the rubber bar mount which does slip on rough trails, I really need to replace it.
on full beam it does dim slightly when the device gets hot.
Noticed this last night for the first time. Although I was using it to illuminate the bathroom while I changed the ceiling mounted light-switch over, so air-flow definitely below optimal. 😁
just joined the Bikehut 1600 club and will also try the hope QR mount as the rubber o-ring seems very very flimsy.
My 1600 let me down last week, the shitty micro-usb port lost the outer connector at some point over summer so wouldn't take a charge. I bravely/stupidly tried to take it apart to try to bodge it, they are not serviceable in my experience.
With 50% battery left I thought I'd risk it, it doesn't get dark till 8pm does it? Nope, I was wrong. I also didn't take my head torch. Rode the back end of Bluescar trying to follow my mate's light which was horrific, I actually rode the last, last bit by moon light / memory / sense of smell which was easier.
I've bought another one, it might have only lasted me a year (I was sure it was 2) but there was nothing else out there for the money / could get quickly locally.
FYI, if anyone is looking for one, they've been re-branded "Halfords Advanced" and Halfords site can't even find them if you search "1600 Lumen Light".
..had a hard time tracking one of these down but finally found one today - so pleased, feels like a great quality bit of kit. Looks like they've been discontinued, even the 1000 Lumen versions are hard to get hold of at the moment.
I don't see why they would go through the effort of rebranding it only to discontinue it. The availability problems are probably related to high demand and/or impacted supply chain. They are mostly out of stock here too except in one store.
Anyone using 35mm bars? If so, what mount with them? The Hope QR one apparently does not fit 35mm.
Bought one of these halfrauds lights.
Anyone got a link to a good replacement mount ? The fleabay Urls posted earlier don’t work.
Anyone using 35mm bars? If so, what mount with them?
The included mount might actually work. It’s a bit rubbish for 31.8 bars because you have to shim it out with the (included) wobbly rubber shim. I imagine it’d fix 35mm bars quite well. I haven’t tried it though.
any idea where they’re in stock? Can’t find one in Bristol or via mail order?
https://www.jastimber.co.uk/18mm-pine-jointed-board?tab=specification
I'd phone round if I were you - the web site led me a merry dance saying there was stock where there wasn't. I ended up getting mine from a store which was showing no stock on the web site, I only found out they had one while checking if they had the 1000 lumen after giving up looking for a 1600 - go figure..
Nice one Pealy, I’ll do just that. The website also told me there were some in stock, then changed its mind
Nice one Pealy, I’ll do just that. The website also told me there were some in stock, then changed its mind
Sounds about right! I found the staff at the stores really helpful on the phone..