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So I am an occasional mountain biker and I'm looking for some lights for night riding. If I'm lucky it will be once a week but probably less so I'm definitely not looking to spend a fortune. I'd really like a self-contained unit but can't justify spending £100+ on something exposure. Have spotted some good deals on the lezyne 600xl light (~£40) which seems a bargain for a self contained 600 lumen light. So is anyone out there using one of these off-road? I assume they are sold more as a road/commuter light so not sure how secure they are for off-road? I'm not too worried about the brightness, pretty sure it will be better than the 5/10w BLT lights I was using 15 years ago 😆
Any feedback appreciated....
I use the 600xl on the 250 setting as a bar light with a 1000lumen headlight. In 600 mode it doesn't last long enough to be useful and in 400 its not quite bright enough to use on its own. Fine for towpath/light xc stuff but no good for woodsy techy stuff
I had a Cateye Volt 800 that I used offroad and it was fine for normal usage and just about good enough on technical stuff. The 600xl (assuming it's slightly less powerful than the volt 800) may be a bit weak for anything except fairly steady off road, unless you combine it with another light.
If your budget stretches, I just bought the 1500 lumen self contained Itou Wiz20 for £94.50 from bright bike lights and it's been impressive so far. It's probably worth spending a bit more to get one that will work otherwise you may end up having to buy another, like I did.
Sportspursuit had them on deals a while back, so i bought two.... one for the helmet and one for the bars.
They're more of a spare light, or one to lend out. They're fine for night riding on your own, as you'll adjust to the level of brightness, but with others, you'll seem underpowered.
Mine last long enough on the full power output, for my 'shortish' 2hr night rides. they're waterproof and pretty robust too. Good basic light.
I use the 600 on my helmet and an aldi '1200' but probably really 900-1000 on my bars.
However when I crashed the other day I knocked out the wires from the aldi light and had to make it down some fairly technical wooded singletrack in the pitch black with just the 600. It was no problem but i wouldn't have wanted to do any fast flowing stuff - 600xl is very much a spot
However the 600 is a fantastic light with excellent build quality and mine came in the loaded pack with 2 batts for 50 quid or so
Paired with the aldi (now fixed and improved) which cost £20 and an upgraded battery from magic shine £35 I have a brilliant set up with a spare batt for each light for approx £100
as for security, the bar mount for the 600 is very good but the helmet mount i found to be a bit flexible no matter how tight you do it up so I superglued it. No adjustment but rock solid!
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this on the helmet and bars, but the smaller version comes in a box with Helmet mount, so get one of each and put the little one on the bars and the bigger one on the helmet.
Have a look for "Torchy" - he has a shop on eBay. I've got two Fluxient lights that have been flawless. One is a battery pack unit, and then a stick light on the helmet.
I ride with a lezyne 1200xxl light. I ride pretty fast offroad at night and typically only use the 300 and 600lm settings. The optics are pretty focused so the light isn't spread too far off track. Easily get a good few hrs of night riding out of them. Overall I like the light.