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I did search but the results returned made no sense, so sorry if this has been covered and please share a link.
I need some new bike lights, googled to find the best available lights and these came up among the search results.
Supernova M99 Mini Pro B54
They look great but are over £420 without batteries!!!
I then looked for some like the ones I used to have an found these
5 Lights CREE, 8000 Lumen XM-L
These look similar to the ones I had and only cost £24 including batteries.
I appreciate the build quality and beam pattern may be better on the posh ones but £400 better? Any reason not to go for the cheap ones and possibly buy some decent batteries from somewhere?
What is the link to the guy on here who used to do batteries (smudge?) as I bought my originals about 7 years ago from him and they were still okay when they were stolen?
The cheap ones are perfectly fine and do the job. They are great value if you are on a budget but if you pay a bit more then you do get a better product. I like olight and magicshine. Not too far off the posh brand quality but only a little more expensive than the cheap Chinese. RN 3500 is great. Prices fluctuate a lot and there is often a deal on if you can wait a bit.
Stealth Ad, i do actually have a now redundant MTB Luminator here if that would be of sny interest, sits between cheap and jesus mary mother of joseph expensive when new.
Smudge is mtbbatteries.co.uk I've recently replaced my ancient mk2 six-pack and diablo with his current(!) Lumenator and Lumen 800 combo. I also asked him to make an upgraded battery for the L800 so I could also use it on the Lumenator for long rides/back up.
As I rarely go on a night ride without a frame bag of some sort I really don't miss the all in one nature of the six-pack and I'm quite happy to get that big lump off the bars!
I tried a succession of cheap lights over the year, but eventually when I started doing longer rides, overnighters where having a reliable light became more important, I bought an Exposure. The main issue with cheap lights is the rubbish chargers and batteries.
Batteries are usually the issue with the cheap lights. You may be lucky and they last and last. You can, however, buy a separate battery pack these days, and install your own quality lipo's - that's what I do. Also have a smart charger that I can take the batteries out to do a balanced charge once in a while, but with quality batteries, I've found all 4 are usually charged within 5-10 minutes of each other.
https://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/ I think is smudge of this parish.
Or the standard answer for expensive lights is Exposure - which have the advantage of being 1 unit
I think most people have started cheap with lights but if they can afford it, end up getting expensive.
Bought an Exposure Maxx-D in 2011, still going strong now! Use it virtually everyday (although, these days more often as a torch in the garden or camping than night-riding!)
Not only is the quality great (it's the only MTB main light I've ever needed to buy) it's functionally miles better as you don't have to sod around with cables.
I've only ever had the cheap ones. They'll normally do a 90 min ride. One on helmet. One on bike. Over the years only one has gone on fire. Just one. So that's not too bad.....
I went kinda middle ground - known brand, proper shop but good deal.
They really are great, but the battery pack is a bit of a brick if that's an issue
https://www.jejamescycles.com/product/46753/moon-moon-aw20-canopus-front-light/option/
(This for MTB, they'd be massive overkill on road)
I had a bunch of cheap lights when I did regular commute and night rides, after a couple on instances I bought more reliable and expensive lights. But this was 10years ago so cheaper lighting tech may have become more reliable, but I doubt it - the lights I bought then are still going strong now...
I've got a cheap £40 job from Amazon that I bought probably about 6 years ago.
It was the light of choice at the time. The build quality is great and the battery hasn't exploded.
I am sure there was some thread on here about a couple of years back comparing a cheap £20, £100, and £400 (not the mag)
The cheap light was ok but the light pattern wasnt brilliant. The £100 light was better than the £400 light
There are plenty of historic threads on here about lights, but I cant find the one I was thinking of
I've both - £15 ebay specials thru to an Exposure MaxxD bought last year to replace a 11 y/o Exposure Toro. I use the cheap ones as a helmet light and the Exposure's on the bars.
The cheap lights have never failed (except when smashed in crashes) but it's the batteries that die/fail (enough that on full-on night rides I'll bring a spare).
If you can afford the upfront costs or you know you'll ride enough to get the 'value' from them, buy Exposure.
And the only reason I got the MaxxD was that the Toro just didn't have enough illumination for the higher speeds when on my gravel bike.
For your gravel bike you don't need the sun on yours bars Nick. Lower power, better beam shape for not blinding drivers and longer run time more important. Then a small head torch to help on the off-road bits.
I went kinda middle ground – known brand, proper shop but good deal.
Same here. We have some Moon Meteor and Bontrager lights - rear @£30 and front @£70-100 in the sale. They are all a few years in and doing well.
I noted that the last two cheapy rear lights I carry always in our saddlebags are corroding this weekend - and will replace likely with the Bontrager Flare rear lights.
I've tried any number of cheap and cheerful light over the years, and have been impressed by the light output for the money, but the quality and optic are rubbish compare to the expensive units. If you want all the light then Magic Shine 8000 is probably where want to be, as the 3500 was sent out to all the YT bike creators last year and everyone rated them..
Having tried lots of lights I found I don't want or need the whole forest lit up, so I run a Exposure Maxx-D (2nd hand) and a joystick, as they provide all the light I need and it's all directed up the trail where I need to see, not a light house in the forest.
I'd thoroughly recommend a two light setup, bar and helmet (for depth perception), and bear in mind if your riding with other ppl, if your running so much light that the rider in front is in a shadow, it is not cool or funny, as your spoiling their ride.
PS MTB batteries is a great middle ground, not stupidly expensive but a great setup without committing too much https://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/mountain-bike-lights/
[i]Lower power, better beam shape for not blinding drivers and longer run time more important.[/i]
I agree. I have an exposure Tracer that was thrown in free witht he new bike which will be fine for the helmet when I get the right mount. On the bar though, there is so much light thrown directly up into my eyes that I can't see the road directly in front of the wheel, or the bar computer and power switches for that matter.
It is a bar mounted set I am after and want the beam pattern rather than 5000 Chinese lumen but £400?!?!?
I will check out MTB Batteries as the service and batteries were great last time I used them.
Piemonster - messaged you regarding your lights
I have an exposure strada. It’s well made, but it’s actual function doesn’t impress me. It’s not that bright (fine for road riding to be fair) but equally doesn’t have a particular impressive run time. I’d have expected due to its size one or the other
My Chinese light for 20 quid is just as good, albeit more likely to burn my house down at any point
For your gravel bike you don’t need the sun on yours bars Nick. Lower power, better beam shape for not blinding drivers and longer run time more important.
Disagree, but then I'm in a very rural setting and the roads/lanes I ride rarely have any traffic.
On the bar though, there is so much light thrown directly up into my eyes that I can’t see the road directly in front of the wheel, or the bar computer and power switches for that matter.
Is that because it's just not set far enough in front of you?
On an MTB it's rare you'll have your line-of-sight above/in-front of the light, but on drops...
Maybe look at a more road orientated light?
8,000 lumens?
Are you trying to light the trails up or dry them out?
[i]8,000 lumens?[/i] Chinese lumens I believe about = to 1,500 of the European variety
[i]Is that because it’s just not set far enough in front of you?
On an MTB it’s rare you’ll have your line-of-sight above/in-front of the light, but on drops…
Maybe look at a more road orientated light?[/i]
Quite possibly and yes, I will/am looking for just that
I got one of the Halfords advanced 1,600 all in one bar lights when they were cheap. Also got an exposure joystick for the helmet. Both are good lights for what they are. However I did buy a hope handlebar mount for the Halfords light as it was too heavy for the rubber one when run off-road.
I figured I'd go cheaper on the bars as it just needs to flood the area and provide infill. Then more expensive on the helmet light as that's used to see where I want to go.
I wouldn’t buy the brand you linked at £400 - I don’t think they’re anything special.
I think there are a few levels of lights:
Amazon / eBay specials - the power from these is often ok - just the battery quality can be iffy. I tried a few of these and they did the job but often the connectors expired fairly quickly and I never felt comfortable charging them in the house.
Middle ground from U.K. sellers - mtbbatteries as above / Moon etc / Halfords stuff like their 1600 light.
Top end - Exposure.
I’ve not used mtb batteries but a mate has a luminator from them and it’s good and the batteries have been reliable. I’ve had a Halfords / bikehut 1600 and that was ok for me. Also had numerous Moon lights and they’ve performed well.
Now got an exposure Maxx d for night riding on the handlebars and it’s an animal. So bright and all conveniently in one unit. Well worth the money.
On that basis I picked up an exposure Axis for my helmet and I’ve been quite underwhelmed with that - it’s not much brighter than the Moon Vortex Pro I had and the battery life isn’t good.
So I’d recommend the Maxx d - but for a helmet light I’d get a moon vortex pro 1300 if I had my time again.
I have one of the halfords 1600 lights, fitted with an exposure cleat, so it can go on any of my bikes and is totally interchangeable with my six pack.
This was due to
as it was too heavy for the rubber one when run off-road
OR on road.
Halfords light gets the most use though, bright enough, but not too bulky/heavy.
On the road, I always use either the dynamo or another STVZO light. Anything else is a dick move IMO. Even a low powered ~200lumen light is significantly brighter at eye level than a car's dipped beam.
Smudge +1, my original lumenator is still going.
From China, I got a Nitefighter BT70 for about £100 a few years ago, it's an insanely big head unit though so it breaks Hope mounts at least once a year.
Upgrades I'd like to make for this year are a smaller bar unit for the nitefighter battery, and a "hipflask" battery that actually fits neatly in a jersey pocket rather than the 2x2 18650 bricks.
+1 halfords lights
I really, really prefer self-contained lights over wired lights. I was running 2x Evolva X8's which I got in the back end of 2017. Self-contained units, decent battery life (4h15m claimed run time) and power (claimed 1800 lumen). Beam was good as well.
I replaced the bar light with a Magicshine RN3000 which I won on a YouTube giveaway, and a Magicshine Ray2600 on the helmet. The RN3000 is another level, although it has too many modes for my liking (YMMV). I found the Ray 2600 battery life was not all that good on full power so went back to the Evolva X8. Mountings are 1/4-turn Garmin style and secure. Both are USB-C fast charge compatible, and can be used as powerbanks.
Sadly the X8's are no longer available (at least on Amazon) and the equivalent Soonfire FD83S is £30 more these days. Mounting is a tripod thread-GoPro adaptor and a breakaway fitting on the helmet, and it's secure enough not to fall of, but femmer enough not to kill me if I land headside-down.
Beam patterns on all of them are good off-road and I don't ride on road.
The only thing that's tempt me away from the RN3000 is the Monteer 8000S V2 even though it's cabled and >£300
Evolva/Soonfire - £82-ish:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/soonfire-FD38S-Rechargeable-Waterproof-Disassembly/dp/B071DX232Z/ref=sr_1_2?crid=29DA161A282X7&keywords=soonfire&qid=1660129940&sprefix=soonfire%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-2
RN3000 - £127-ish:
https://magicshineuk.com/product/magicshine-rn-3000/
I just couldn’t buy a Chinese light with ‘fire’ anywhere in the name.....
I have gone with Lumenator 20 Mountain Bike Light from MTB-Batteries as the last stuff, especially batteries, I had from Smudge was great for 7-8 years, the price was comparable with other similar stuff and they are all brighter than you really need at this price
I had a Hope Vision 2 for years - bombproof.
I still have two hope vision 2s of the original design. Both now with upgraded LEDs. My gravel bike light is one of them.