[Closed] Is it too soon for a lights thread?

Was considering a solarstorm x2 for the helmet. My trusty MTB batteries jobby died after a good few years service.

^ if it's just the battery that's died get in touch with Smudge, he might be able to sort it out. I've had loads of batteries off him over the years and have had a few repaired due to a dead cell or something simples.

just commenting on this thread so i can find it again... been thinking about new lights too

I went through all this on Tuesday.
What I wanted was more flood than the Solarstorm X2, and then move the Solarstorm X2 to my helmet for more lumens up there.

Couldn't really work out whether the BT70 with normal lens was floody enough, but took a punt anyway. It shipped yesterday.
I'll have to get a better mount than rubber bands though as it's a bit bigger/heavier than most.

I'm also not totally sure about the connector compatibility with battery packs I have, so I decided to order early and work it all out once the head unit arrives.

Apparently another good one (for £16) is the [i]original[/i] YinDing with NEUTRAL LEDs:
http://www.gearbest.com/headlights/pp_133573.html

Use code "Yinding2015" to get it to £16 (head unit only)

It also seems that the nitefighter BT21 and BT40 are worth exploring too. Decent chargers and battery packs are one of the main factors, as there are so many cheap copies of others around now.

---
Edit: One thing that I picked up on from the MTBR forum about the BT70 is that it pulls more current than anything else. Some say that the springs in the Solarstorm battery case aren't up to the job. I have the older battery case without springs, so I'll see.

@stevied

I've also had some other stuff off him to keep my lumicycles going.

Did consider sending it off but the light is almost 5 years old and heavy (use it on the helmet) so am using this as an excuse to get a new light 😳

Too soon, we've not had summer yet!

Does anybody have a link to a decent charger for a magicshine type battery with a UK plug?

I got a Nightfighter BT40 (head unit only from gearbest) and its great for the money. Build quality seems good.

Nice and floody with the difuser lens fitted - I prefer it to the solarstorm x2 it replaces. Not had to use it on high (turbo?) yet as its so bright.

Its compatible with my existing magicshine typre connectors.

Took 8 weeks to arrive though - and I notice the price has gone up a lot since I ordered.

Not sure what to do this year, have the ubiquitous P7, and a smudge lumenator, but the only battery left is the original magicshine, and that's down to ~60min.

That BT70 looks mental, good to see a brand that charges a sensible amount for batteries, gives some hope that they may actually work!

looking forward to seeing what Exposure have in their 2016 line up. Have had loads of chinese lights over the years, most have failed or chargers cooked, so I'll be sticking with Exposure for now. Currently have a Mk 9 Joystick and a Mk6 MaxxD and they have been used this week and last on Wed night club rides - it's getting dark 🙂

Are people mounting these on helmets or bars? I've found mounting a battery on the back of a helmet a bit annoying. Is there a better alternative? Running a cord to a pocket? Or do I need to pony up for an Exposure?

I'll be on my 4th winter with the same lights this year.

The bar mount is 2000Lumens so still lovely and helmet 600 so still not outgunned by riders behind me.

Having seen the amount of faff and grief riders on bargain basement lights seem to go through (even with annual replacements) the much higher price I paid then seems to have been worth it.

If I had the money and was making a choice today I'd look at something from Exposure or one of the German brands.

^^^ Current Joystick can be had for a touch over £100. I think that's good value for a reliable helmet light that will last for years, hassle free use, mounting and charging. I tend to buy new Exposures, use for 2 winters and sell on. I dont think it works out much more than a stream of chinese lights, battteries, chargers etc (I have tried both) and much less faff having a good self contained light, whether helmet or bar mounted

Yep I do like exposure lights, but they are quite an investment and I like all this research and getting the latest brightest lights and if they are no good or next years lights are even brighter/smaller then I can get rid and buy something else.

I bought a battery and charger off of torchy on ebay a while back and they are much better than the ones supplied with these lights. Now if possible I just buy the new head unit.

Are people mounting these on helmets or bars?

a light on the bars means that lumps and bumps cast shadows, which helps you 'see' the terrain a bit better.

[img] ?1309448118[/img]

see? that's a 2D image which your brain immediately understands as a 3D environment, isn't that really ****ing clever?

i use an additional, smaller light on my helmet, to fill in the gaps.

(1000ish lumens on the bars, 200ish on my head, perfect)

Where's your sense of adventure Wwaswas? 😀
We all love a faff.....

One on the bars and one on the lid for me. Where I ride just a bar mounted light is no good as it's so tight and twisty.

[i]Where's your sense of adventure Wwaswas?[/i]

I've followed darkcyan down too many trails whilst his lamp either failed to work at all or strobed enough to give me a headache 🙂

Why doesn't it surprise me that his light doesn't work?

Have always kept an eye on exposure lights. I really need to weigh my current helmet set up (helmet light and battery in the back pack). I like the idea of no cables but would want it to be lighter.

For balance wwaswas, my cheap Chinese jobby has done five years, finally the battery died last winter. All for £20 or so.

[i]Why doesn't it surprise me that his light doesn't work? [/i]

"Darkcyan - living life on the shonky side."

It's not just him though, most of the issues on Thursday nights are with the cheaper lights. Buy two so you have a spare in your fanny pack?

You might be right for you wwaswas, but all my Chinese lights still work as well as they did the day I bought them.

I have the original Bastid (around £40), a cheap X-ML (£17), an early Solarstorm X2 head unit (£12), a Solarstorm battery pack with 4x 18650 batts and charger (£30) and a XP-G torch for the helmet + 1 spare batt. (£16)

Never had a moment's trouble out of any of them over 6 years. As I've upgraded, I've passed down the previous ones to my son.

ymmv

One on the bars and one on the lid for me. Where I ride just a bar mounted light is no good as it's so tight and twisty.

Same for me. I currently use the better on on my helmet so I can see what's coming but the battery annoys me. I'll give Exposure a try. The Diablo looks like the one, although I'm sure the Joystick would probably suffice.

Are people mounting these on helmets or bars?

battery pack not too noticeable on enduro style lids. Not fond of trailing wires

I'm going to put the battery pack in my Camelbak. The wire is long enough on my Solarstorm X2 to reach. Not as neat as an Exposure, but I already have the Solarstorm.
I've tried it - it's fine.

Are people mounting these on helmets or bars? I've found mounting a battery on the back of a helmet a bit annoying. Is there a better alternative? Running a cord to a pocket? Or do I need to pony up for an Exposure?

I run either a smudge lumeator or MJ-808 on my helmet and a battery pack in my jersey pocket (in a camelback causes faffage when you need to take the bag off). Might need to lengthen the cable in which case some 3A wire from B&Q is about right, just be sure to splice it well (split the strands out and twist both ends together, don't just hook one through the other, it'll get too hot) and shrink wrap the individual wires as well as the outer.

Also ditch the mounts, just zip tie it directly to the top of your helmet (somewhere quite near the back works well), the closer it is to your head the less pendulum effect it has.

Leave the [u][b]MAN[/b][/u] pack out of this.

I've had a couple of crap batteries supplied with the lights, so now always use the same pack that I bought separately. A SS X2 I had kept dimming if left on high for more than a couple of minutes and not going fast enough to keep it cool (I have tried riding quicker, but just results in tree hugging). As yet nothing has completely failed me (which guarantees a total light failure this evening)

EDIT: always run the head light battery pack into the camelbak.

Can't tell my Gloworm X1 is on the hemet - its stupidly light even with the battery pack.
The X2 on the bars and it's like a scene out of Mad Max coming towards you....

Ticking the box to find later too...

I have a Lupine Piko helmet mount and find that lamp at the front/battery at the rear is fairly balanced and avoids having a big lump on top of the helmet to catch in the branches on singletrack.

I have tried various pack mounted cable options and they've been a pain in the bum. You either have the cable short enough it's not flapping around and then can't get the back on on and off with the helmet straps done up or so much loose cable it's catching on stuff the whole time.

And if you get a mechanical you end up tethered to your pack whilst you try and fix it so you can see what you're doing.

New from Solarstorm

[url= http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S024280 ]The X5[/url]

Reading that it looks like its one or the other on - not both?

I think from one of the MTBR threads that both are always on and they are independently adjustable with the long or short presses

Checks in

That x5 looks promising, what are the batteries like on them?

Apparently the initial feeling is one of disappointment.

[url= http://forums.mtbr.com/lights-night-riding/new-cheap-o-chinese-led-bike-lights-2015-a-946724-post12105975.html#post12105975 ]X5 1st thoughts[/url]

This one looks good

[url= http://forums.mtbr.com/lights-night-riding/review-kd-2-x-cree-xml-u2-4-10-mode-2200-lumens-bicycle-light-picture-heavy-940595.html ]KD 2[/url]

Did my annual charge-up then run down of my old std 4-cell Chinese laptop battery pack that came with my X2. On the std inflammable charger. Gave up waiting after 14hours on medium, still on 2 bars!

So this year again it'll be that on the bars and the Lezyne Macro Duo on the lid, got that free with a mag subscription last year, that also works well alone on the road bike bars.

I'm sticking with my Solarstorm X2's and Pannovo battery packs for the third winter.

annual charge-up then run down of my old std 4-cell Chinese laptop battery

Li-ion packs are best stored at about 60% and full discharges reduce the life of the cells.

Checking in for later reference..

think i'm gonna bite the bullet and buy a joystick mk10 this year. and stick with the tumble&fall 2000 alleged lumens thing on my bars.

This is the first year I'll have to embrace the dark winter nights!
Is there anything wrong with the Lezyne lights? Seem good value and there'll be good support.

Are Exposure the only ones who do a self contained light as opposed to a sperate battery pack? Would prefer an all in one but looking for a minimum 800 lumen?
Willing to try a solarstorm that people mention but am i right in thinking its best to order a more reliable battery pack for them?

What a reasonable estimate for a Solarstorm X2 on full chat. I was thinking around 1000 lumens

Would prefer an all in one but looking for a minimum 800 lumen

mk10 joystick is advertised as being 800 lumen...

There are more self contained lights now. Like the look of the fenix one

[url] http://reviews.mtbr.com/2015-lights-shootout [/url]

Mtbbatteries Lumenator on the bars and Solarstorm X2 on the lid for me. Plenty bright enough, and they were needed in t’woods yesterday evening. The lumenator battery pack is under the stem (70mm stem not too much of a squeeze). The X2 battery pack is in the top pocket of my small camelbak. I use a small loop of Velcro around one of the bottom rear vents on my lid to keep the cable in check. It is a minor inconvenience when the mechanical gremlins strike, but not a massive issue.

P.S. last night’s ride was the first where lights were really necessary – does anyone else find the first half an hour of a new lights season terrifying? I was slow to pick out shadows and even when I did, my mind didn’t seem to be able to process it quick enough. The result was lots of pinging off of wet rocks and spinning rear tyre. After about 30 minutes it was fine – but up until then it felt like being back to night riding square one.

So where is the most reliable source and cheap for the solarstorm lights? Is it ebay?

From what I've seen eBay seems awash with copies of variable quality.

Edit: I tend to buy from gear best these last couple of years as they do head unit only options and up to now they've been pretty reliable.

Thanks muggomagic, will take a look at them now.

If you're after self contained relaibility, my Mk9 Joystick is on the classifieds 🙂

Iainc my budget is far lower than that.

Has anyone bought anything from ledsupermall.com? Some interesting prices and they will supply lights with a uk plug. Never heard of them before and not seen them mentioned on here either.

Gear best are doing the [url= http://forums.mtbr.com/lights-night-riding/nitefighter-bt21-2x-xm-l2-nw-light-965949.html ]Nightfighter BT21[/url] for £16
[url= http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_181149.html ]Head lamp only[/url] or £38 for [url= http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_180344.html ]Head lamp, battery and charger[/url]

Looks like a great little light. Should be perfect for helmet mounting.

Muggomagic that is a very interesting deal. Which is better a solarstorm or nitefighter?

Nitefighter is far better than the Solarstorm plus if you go for the set you get a decent battery pack with BAK cells. Gearbest seems to be the go to place for Chinese lamps at the moment. Also consider the Yinding from Gearbest. I wouldn't get the Yinding from anywhere else as they are inferior versions (see the thread on MTBR for the full story about how they the decent version)

Nitefighter it is then. Whats the norm for delivery times?

Not sure. I think it's somewhere in that thread, but it's 16 pages long and I only skimmed through it. One of the benefits of the BT21 seems to be being able to use Gloworm optics to get a better beam pattern.

You'll be looking at around 4 weeks if you go for the standard free delivery option. It's why I start looking now, so they hopefully arrive before the end of Sept.

posting to find later - tempted to replace my halogens this year.

Cheers muggomagic, have been dithering for ages but that Nightfighter ticks allot of my boxes.

I cant really tell from gearbest website but does the nitefighter work with magicshine battery packs or am i best buying the full bundle?

I will add I've not got mine yet, so don't blame me if they are crap 🙂

According to that mtbr thread they have the same round connection as the older magicshine and solarstorm lights. They also say that the batteries are pretty good.

Who else can i blame muggomagic as it certainly cant be might fault for buying it! 🙂

Any chance you could put a quick review when yours turns up? Saying that i will probably order it this weekend anyway

Will do. I'm only getting the BT70 though. I have a Magicshine MJ880U that I use on the lid. I might get a BT21 as a spare though. After all you can never have too many lights to choose from.

There are good reviews on MTBR forum for all of the Nitefighter Lights. One thing to consider with these lights is the LED tint which is neutral white. Most other lights are cool white. Neutral White leds are seen as the in thing on MTBR light forum as they have better rendering than cool white. The only down side is if you plan to mix with an existing cool white light as it may not be a great mix. With the BT21 being so cheap at the moment (usually retails at around $32 on Gearbest) it may be worth getting either the BT40s or BT70 for the bars and sticking the BT21 on the lid!

I have found Gearbest to be around 3-4 weeks although it has been a week and they still haven't dispatched some gopro adapters which I ordered!

i've got the Bt20 lights, they're brilliant.

i'd even say that the highest setting is brighter than you really need, and i've got crap eyesight.

I followed the lengthy light thread this time last yr and bought a reccomended Solarstorm X2 Cree U2, battery and a UK Magicshine charger. It's sat on my shelf since and never been used apart from to test when I got it. Not sure whether the battery will still be optimum. email in profile if anyone wants to make me a sensible offer 🙂

I am trying to post my set up, but it keeps crashing

Solarstorm x6 on the bars, held on with a hope mount.

[IMG] [/IMG]

Battery last 2 1/2 hours on full, but will be replaced with a mtb batteries/magicshine once it's proper dark. Held in place with one of those cylindrical containers you used to get with Chinese batteries, modified to fit bottle bosses.

[URL= http://i1312.photobucket.com/albums/t526/nismogreen/ab7fa591f8ca21440adc4ca044c42ad2_zpshjhzfzpb.jp g" target="_blank">http://i1312.photobucket.com/albums/t526/nismogreen/ab7fa591f8ca21440adc4ca044c42ad2_zpshjhzfzpb.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Cree XML-t6 mini tourch zip tied and carpet taped to helmet, very light and does a good job of filling in and lighting throug the bends.

[URL= http://i1312.photobucket.com/albums/t526/nismogreen/a3c0c8b3bc6c9b4c1f4aa49ca29b32e3_zpsw0kbk574.jp g" target="_blank">http://i1312.photobucket.com/albums/t526/nismogreen/a3c0c8b3bc6c9b4c1f4aa49ca29b32e3_zpsw0kbk574.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350800657075?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Big light http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00Z53ZW2S?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

Batteries http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-Panasonic-NCR18650B-3400mAh-NCR-18650B-18650-3-7v-Li-ion-batteries-case-/291543814256?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

Charger from the same place http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fluxient-2A-charger-for-Torchy-Magicshine-Solar-Storm-etc-/291543840055?hash=item43e15df537

Light mount http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/hope-universal-handlebar-mount/rp-prod23533

How is the x6 Tom? Any beam shots?

Oh and I've Just had the shipping notification from gearbest. So the BT70 is on its way.

tom200 - that mount looks good.
Anybody know of any [b]35mm[/b] bar mounts that will bolt onto these magicshine/solarstorm/nitefighter lights?

The x6 is good, the beam pattern is fairly even, maybe could do with a bit more spread. It's way better than the x2 it replaces.

The hope mount has quite a lot of adjustment, so I recon you might get it to fit 35mm bar, worth a punt for the price.

Might be a good time to re-post my QR water bottle light mount lash up.
[img] [/img]

I am selling an unused Solarstorm X2 setup that I bought online on the back of the light thread last autumn. I can send details if anyone interested. It's going up on the classifieds in a mo.

Sooooooooooo, what category do these BT21 / Gearbest batteries & chargers fit into? Are they in the burn your house down category or generally seen as ok?

Buy cheap lights, but get better batteries (XTAR, torchythebatteryboy etc.) and a Nitecore charger.