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Hey all
My ride to work takes in a 4 mile off road section covering unlit double track and a fire road, with the nights drawing in I'm in need of a replacement front light after my old Lumi HiD died last winter.
I've got around £100 to spend, but anything less will please the wife 🙂 I'm not going to be doing any long night rides any more so all I really need is something which will let me see the double track during my daily commute to work and back.
I've seen a few different lights and wondered if anyone had any experience with either the Niterider Minewt USB (150 lumen version from CRC) or the Electron 16 LED system? Or could suggest an alternative I could look at?
Thanks for any advice.
The Hid is a nice host for a diy light iirc in fact so nice they stopped selling the empty cases just before they did their own led lights
so it could be recycled using the battery and ripping the guts out and installing leds .
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/lumicycle-hid-cutter-led-conversion-tell-me-how
Be interested in buying the case if you dont want to go down that route.
Whatever you chose make sure you take an emergency back-up light. Those frog things are great, just leave it on your bars all the time. Will get you by if you have sudden and unexplained light failure !
Not had any experience of the lights you mention, but I recently bought one of these:
http://www.spokeshirts.co.uk/product.php?productid=16399&cat=265&page=1
It's pretty much the same as the latest DX offering.
It arrived quickly, comes with all the accessories you could reasonably require and I have so far been really impressed with it. I used it at the D2D on the weekend and it did a great job. I used it on low all the time mounted on my helmet and it did a good job of supplementing my main light.
It would easily be enough on low for lighting up fire roads/doubletrack and apparently gives 9hr run time. On high it is very bright.
I did some beam shots last week comparing it to my Lumi LED conversion:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/spokeshirt-light-beam-shots-pics-of-helmet-mount
what about one of these?
http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Lighting/Bike+Lights/Rechargeable+Lights/RSP+Asteri+3_2083.htm
^^^^ wasn't there a link a few days ago on here to a review of that RSP light (bike radar??) saying how good it was for the priced.
I reckon a Hope 1 would do the job - about £70, plenty bright enough for what you need it for, easy to remove, last ages on easy to buy AA batteries, bombproof, 240ish lumens.
I second the Spoke light. Got mine for £88 about a week ago, on low it's easily much brighter than my old triple shot or Hope Vision 1 but lasts 9 hours (apparently). Ran mine on full power for 2.5 hours last weekend and it was still going strong (claimed 3 hours on full so I think run times are pretty accurate).
Hope Vision 1 is a pretty good commuting light too, just make sure the batteries are always fully charged or they can turn off without warning - I've been left light-less before as there wasn't even enough juice left to scroll through to the flashing mode. I think at £90 (rrp but available for a bit less) it's a tad over priced but it is well made and the bracket is decent (though changing the rubber inserts to go from normal to oversized bars is a total PITA)
you could probably pick up a Maxx2 Joystick for around that now the new ones are out ?
don't know about most of those mentioned ( and CBA to look TBH ), but i doubt many of them have any side visibility. this is a requirement for cycling with lights on the road, so bear in mind you might end up with two lights on the front if you go with some of the suggestions above and want to comply with the law. you may not care, of course!
many of those above don't give much bang for buck IMO - particularly the hope 1 or the joystick. the joystick is at least convenient and neat.
otherwise look at the dealexetreme light or the spokeshirts equivalent for lumens/pound.
IMHO.
I've just gone for a Hope 1 and an Exposure Flare for commuting in London at one end and through country lanes at the other
Thoughts are:
Hope is great as can do flashing mode in city and full beam on country lane downhill, looks well made, takes AA's so I can have a spare battery pack at the ready but on the downside has fairly rubbish mounting system and still manages to switch on in my bag - why the heck this has to happen in this day and age I don't know.
On the whole I'd recommend
Exposure Flare is quite bright but has rubbish switch, cheaply made, odd battery size and totally inadequate mounting system that can't be adjusted, comes off and won't fit to a backpack or seat bag. Total FAIL and I'd be unhappy if I'd paid £20. At £40 its pure comedy.
No body's mentioned one of [url= http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.44459 ]THESE YET?[/url]
I would have thought a self contained light and battery that has a simple and easy quick release wuld be top requirements for commuting, hence my suggestion of Joystick or similar. You can use flash mode in traffic and lit areas and have more than enough light for the doubletrack/fireroad unlit sections, with a light that unclips in a second and fits in your pocket..
I bought two of the these for £80 posted, 200 lumens each, quick release, with 2 I have a charger at home and at work, low, high and flash settings, love them.
[url= http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RSP-Asteri-3-Rechargeable-Front-Bike-Light-200-Lumens-/300477841342?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Cycling_Bike_Lights&hash=item45f5dfffbe#ht_2669wt_994 ]Lights[/url]
Bought one of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110427206085 following a reccomendation here. Ziptied to a £4 stopwatch holder for easy removal from the handlebars. It has been great on flashing mode for city commuting and a friend borrowed it and used it as his only light out on the Surrey Hills on Tuesday night . Good for the money.