[Closed] Come on then.. What light 2016?

I was ignored as well!
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/the-winter-201617-light-thread

I'll be using this one: http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/i-made-a-new-mtb-light

And the helmet light I'm working on... 😀

Well as you've got a bit of time before they become critical, I can thoroughly recommend this Ebay seller for batteries.
Fastish service (it is from Hong Kong).
Quality build and cells.
http://stores.ebay.com/A-OK-battery/Li-Ion-/_i.html?_nkw=magicshine&submit=Search&_lns=1&_sop=2&_fsub=1752112010&_sid=911311590&_sc=1

(I also got a charger from him as they were recommended and not much money)

Then you don't have to play the lottery with the batteries or chargers from the millions of solarstorm copies around. You can buy a head unit only.

I still really like my 'neutral white' Nitefighter BT21 from Gearbest, but I see they don't sell that or the BT70 any more. Just the (also excellent) BT40.
http://www.gearbest.com/nitefighter-_gear/

Then you don't have to play the lottery with the batteries or chargers from the millions of solarstorm copies around. You can buy a head unit only.

Or you could just buy one from [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GZWIL34 ]Amazon [/url]& get full buyer protection.

Nitefighter BT70, it's not light (pun intended), but the output is impressive. Decent panasonic battery too. With the diffuse lens on it pretty much fills your field of vision as far ahead as you're ever likely to be looking.

2800 lumens doesn't sound like much, but it's closer to 'UK' lumens than 'Chinese' lumens (i.e. not a super bright spotlight, and not 1/3rd or worse of the claimed number).

http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_190305.html (out of stock, but they might come back again?)

Exposure diablo.

Probably the new exposure STRADA 1200 for me. The next couple of years will be mostly road riding.

One of Torchy's offerings.
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/ilovetorchythebatteryboy/

Exposure Toro for me (as I'd found £70 worth of Tesco vouchers and doubled them up at Evans) 😀

How does a magic shine 872 compare to a diablo?

Bought a 2nd hand Exposure Reflex mk2 from Exposure.

I've a feeling I'll just do another winter on the MJ872s, they're still great tbh. Might need to throw a new battery pack at them though.

zippykona - Member

How does a magic shine 872 compare to a diablo?

Diablo goes on the head easier, which is really useful if you don't wear a pack. MJ872 better at everthing else ime- wider beam though, which not everyone likes. At peak power the Diablo's got a little more real world power ime but it can only run at peak for an hour so that's not really all that useful. Unless you fit a smartport expansion battery at which point, it's a worse helmet light because you have extra bulk on your head but you still have a cable.

For short blasts the Diablo'd be awesome, but it's a lot of light with not a lot of battery.

Do you already have the MK872? It's ancient now, there must be something better out there if you're buying new.

Zippy, it won't be quite as bright, and it won't last as long, that's the long and short of it.

However.

No battery pack, it's all enclosed in the torch. Toggling between a slightly lower setting for climbs and full bright for descents, it lasts a 2 hour night ride no probs, and as there's no battery pack I can ride without a pack just having a tube etc in a rear pocket.

Warranty is very good too, and once you make that initial outlay, some folks like to sell them every couple of years to buy the latest offering, resale prices are so high it doesn't cost that much.

I've been using lights pretty much the whole year!

Nitefighter BT40 and an Exposur Diablo on my lid

I bought a nitefighter last year, but didn't like the neutral light, okay if you only use that, but soon as you pair it with another light or ride with others, it gets dominated. Gave it to a young local lad.

Unless they've changed them this year.

Yeah, I thought that too, I reckon the light's actually better, it's just that it gets glared out by normal lights. Shame, it's a nice concept

Toro for me. Just right, bright , not too heavy or big decent run time.

Four4th OMG on the lid and a Holy Moses on the bars.

Alpkit have a new light out...spec sounds good for the £100.

Depends what you want thought, 2000 lumens is way to bright for my liking but I don't want to turn night into day.

I'll still be running my Light & Motion Seca 900 Ultra...

AlexSimon - Member

Well as you've got a bit of time before they become critical, I can thoroughly recommend this Ebay seller for batteries.

I would also recommend that ebay seller for batteries.
I bought one earlier this year to replace the rapidly failing battery on my Spokeshirts helmet light. The battery was 5 years old, so it had done OK.
The new one cost me £19, turned up in about 10 days & has better run time than the previous battery.

i'll be buying a gloworm CX trail soon. on the basis itll be as good as my x2 without any traily wires and i can charge it on usb.

The Alpkit job is actually a Magicshine. They're identical

Or maybe they're identical to some other no name chinese light I've never heard of

Magicshine are pretty innovative these days, so I wouldn't expect it to be a copy of something else.

The Alpkit is the Magicshine MJ-902 - it's interesting. I think Magicshine do more models of similar systems.

The Alpkit price is pretty competitive though and their support is second-to-none ime.

The Alpkit one is sold elsewhere, cheaper. And it is claimed 2000 lumens not actual. Check the MBTR forum, and get a Nitefighter, Yinding or Gemini

The last lot from Aldi.
Very good indeed.

Dynamos are the new woodburners, dahling.
On road, at least.
I think I ride too slowly off road to use one.
🙂

Depends on what i'm riding as to what lights will be used.
Got a choice of ~4yr old Exposure Race (~625lm), a Fluxient 1xXML-U2 (~1000lm) and a Beema AS-2000.
Beema probably won't see much use apart from Relentless24 as its overkill for most of my night riding, and beam pattern is guaranteed to blind drivers on any road sections.

Use all 3 at once and I can crank out ~3600lm for 3hrs which seems plenty 😀

My main bit of off road riding is out with a mate once the kids are in bed. I can't imagine I'm alone in that. For that reason, I find I need lights all year round, whatever happens I'm coming home in the dark and I use the road for a couple of miles

Am I alone in this?

those with Exposure - how often do you charge them over the summer months when not in use ? My new in May MaxxD has been every month or so, yet last night it was totally flat.... - have mailed Exposure today

Thinking of just replacing the battery for my C&B Seen. Also may need a new charger as mine seems to have gone missing!
Any links to good chargers to avoid the worry of exploding batteries?

Ituo seem to be gradually filling a nice mid-range gap between cheaper lights and known brands. Roughly 3 times the price of a cheap setup, but 1/3 the price of an expensive one, with a warranty and UK sales via Bright Bike Lights. Only doing the Wiz20 for now, but external battery versions showed up in [url= http://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/fresh-goods-friday-305/ ]Fresh Goods[/url] last week.

In terms of batteries: Any decent brand you buy (xtar, nitecore, etc.) will be rewrapped Panasonic cells, which are among if not the best available. [something]fire branded 18650s are a roll of the dice. Anything claiming more than 3400mah per cell will generally be fake and only have about a tenth of that capacity.

iainc - Member

those with Exposure - how often do you charge them over the summer months when not in use ? My new in May MaxxD has been every month or so, yet last night it was totally flat.... - have mailed Exposure today

For lipos the standard advice is store them about 50% or 2/3ds charged (varies a bit). Storing them discharged is worst, storing them fully charged somewhere in the middle. I never really "store" mine, I just charge them after a ride and sooner or later it's the last ride of the year... So I kill batteries 😆

After years of mainly pretty good service from various bastid-a-like clones, I've finally bitten the bullet and bought a Hope R8 for the bars.
Ran an XT40 for the whole of last year, bright enough, but it didn't have the spread and following a mate with his R8 made me realise it was a poor substitute.
Still got a Solarstorm X2 on the lid which has been faultless for at least 3 years now.

My Trouty Liberator is still going strong. But I think I'll be needing a new battery for it this winter.

those with Exposure - how often do you charge them over the summer months when not in use ? My new in May MaxxD has been every month or so, yet last night it was totally flat.... - have mailed Exposure today/

Once, maybe twice in the summer as I use the bike to go to the pub. Have had trouble with an ancient racemaxx, which is 6 or 7 years old – looks like it is my charger (2nd time) rather than the light unit itself. Hard to judge expected burn times as I use it to run a redeye too. But the LED flashes red very quickly compared to 2 years ago when I’d get a week of commuting out of it.

Don’t use my joystick in summer and that’s working fine each winter (and the 24/12) each year.

 

those with Exposure - how often do you charge them over the summer months when not in use ? My new in May MaxxD has been every month or so, yet last night it was totally flat.... - have mailed Exposure today/

Once, maybe twice in the summer as I use the bike to go to the pub. Have had trouble with an ancient racemaxx, which is 6 or 7 years old – looks like it is my charger (2nd time) rather than the light unit itself. Hard to judge expected burn times as I use it to run a redeye too. But the LED flashes red very quickly compared to 2 years ago when I’d get a week of commuting out of it.

Don’t use my joystick in summer and that’s working fine each winter (and the 24/12) each year.

 

^^^^ thanks, mine is hopefully fine then 🙂 will find out this evening !

I bought a Magicshine MJ900 last month, in preparation for the winter, was quite happy at buying it for £30. The weight of the light itself is incredible and its size is tiny!

Just like the Knuckleball bars I also bought last month, they are now cheaper in the PX "Fibonacci sale," just £21. 😯

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIMSMJ900/magicshine-mj900-1200-lumen-led-bicycle-light

Does anything innovative put the ~10 years old Smart 0.5W rear to shame and ideally is USB rechargeable?

I'm still using my 2 year old UniqueFire hd's. Think I might treat them to some new Hunk Lee batteries now as the run time is definitely decreasing.

That MJ900 light is cracking value

Was nearly tempted to buy one despite not needing one at all

Ticks thread.

Does anyone know how many Lumens the old Lumi HIDs kicked out? I flicked mine on at the weekend and it still works, but are modern lights a lot better?