[Closed] Recommendation for Bike Lights

If you read the T&Cs on the home page of the C&B Seen website they only give a one month warranty, which is pretty poor.

I've ordered some cheap 1000+ lumen ones from china on eBay (I think they're 1300 lumens).. I borrowed a friends for the ride home in the dark along unlit country lanes and it was like main beam on a car, it was that good. Quality is good, he's had his for a few years now with no problems and battery life more than adequate.. I ordered two units at £17 each, but they must be on the slow boat from China as I still haven't got them yet two weeks on 🙁 though my mate did say they took a good few weeks to arrive when he bought them. I realyl don't see the point in spending hundreds of pound on these things - assuming I eventually get mine.

For commuting, anything 300 lumens or more is fine. It's only for serious off road stuff you need more (at least 900)
Cheapy Chinese ones are fine but quality is mixed.

Oh, and 1300 Chinese lumens = @900 uk lumens!!

The Fluxient XPG light there is probably the best for offroad use but for onroad, I use a cheap chinese torch. It's not just power/expense, but also aim- good bike lights have quite a wide beam, but on road that's more likely to cause glare for other road users.

Whereas inferior mtb lights like the "1200 lumen" chinese XML lights, or my XML torch, are too tight beamed to work well offroad but that's an advantage on road as you only light what you want to light.

The other advantage of torches is interchangable batteries- very useful if your ride is long or if you just forget to charge a light.

There is so much rubbish on this forum about lights. Our MTB group rides at night all year round, every week and in all weathers. We ALL have the "crappy inferior" chinese lights from Deal extreme. These have replaced the best from Hope etc.....If you want to pay more than £40 then do ahead, try Lupine.....

If you want warranty and some decent back up, buy a light from Smudge:

http://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/

Yes, you can get similar cheaper from China / Ebay, but if they go wrong there's no comeback. Eg my Deal Extreme light battery died after 3 days!

Where in this thread has anyone said they're crappy? There's no doubt that the cheap ones are inferior though.

I don't own any expensive lights- my best is a MJ-872 which cost £70, but it's enormously better than my single-XML light. Much better value tbh- you need multiple cheapo lights to get anything like that effectiveness.

But like I say, the tight beam of the XMLs which counts against them offroad, is great onroad.

Interested in this thread as i have a 60 pound limit on my xmas pressy from the inlaws. It either goes towards some new forks or a decent front light. Unfortunately we dont have an answer yet. *sits back and waits*

There is no answer, it's your choice.

I got three Chinese lights for £16.50 each, upgraded them all with orange-peel reflectors, one with a wide-angle lens, and waterproofed all the batteries with some liquid rubber from B&Q. All for about £20 less than one light from mtb batteries. However, I have almost certainly got inferior batteries, and there's a chance that they might not last that long, and while I theoretically have a 6 month warranty, having to send them back to china basically makes it pointless. However, I've got one whole light spare, and if two batteries do go then I can always get a better quality replacement.

My brother has one of the C&B Seen lights, it cost twice as much as one of my lights, but it did come with an orange peel reflector, and the connectors look slightly better. No idea if the batteries are any better, they look pretty much identical on the outside, and will also be waterproofed in the liquid rubber because they don't look very waterproof as they come. They are in the UK, but they only have a one month warranty, so it's unlikely to be much use.

I can't imagine there's much difference in build quality or power per LED between any of the £15-£70 Chinese made lights from eBay, Amazon, C&B Seen or DealExtreme. Some obviously have more LEDs than the others and therefore more output. On the single LED versions having an orange peel reflector does make a big difference to the quality and usability of the beam. If you're in a hurry order from the UK, if not then order from China and get them cheaper. They're all a bit of a gamble quality wise, unless you can find somewhere in the UK that sells them with a good warranty.

After that you have the £80-£150 mtb batteries/magicshine UK lights which are still made in China, but look to have more waterproof batteries. They should also have better QC and better (internally) batteries, but its hard to tell that from the outside unless you have testing equipment and some idea what you're doing. They do however have good warranties and UK support.

Above £200 you're into the big brands like Hope and small scale stuff like Trout Lights. Lots of reviews of those around and you can expect them to do pretty much what they say. Good reviews on road.cc, bikeradar.com and [url= http://www.torchythebatteryboy.com/p/bike-light-database.html?m=1 ]here[/url].

Thanks pleader that's really useful. Having only ever ridden with bog standard lights from Halfords I find it rather difficult to take the financial leap to 200 quid. Maybe starting with a cheap Chinese number is best.

I'm gonna have to agree with Northwind here, MJ872 is a class bit of kit and worth every penny IMO. Had cheaper 'power lights' before and wouldn't buy again as quality in chassis and battery worried me slightly. The light needs to be tough on a mountain bike.

Have fun with your night riding OP!

£100 budget = Magishine 872

@abductee - that is insane

I've had cheap chinese ebay lights, got fed up of them failing unexpectedly, so I've invested in one of Smudge's lights

PleaderW, great summary!

Fantombiker - Most guys in my riding group have DX/Magicshine lights. They are a great intro into night riding, and in terms of lumens/£ nothing matches them.

[b][u]BUT[/b][/u]

They are now onto their second season of winter riding. Nearly every night ride, someones light head or battery has an issue. I recently bought a £30 chinese DX light as a spare. I had gone less than 100yds, when there was a bang, and it all went dark. The velcro on the battery pack had come unstitched, and the battery had fallen into my wheel, and was dead. In that 100 yds, I had already decided the light wasn't very useable due to the bar mount being very flimsy and shaky.

Personally, I have had the following lights:

Magicshine MJ816(£90) - good light, rubber band doesnt hold heavy triple head very well(fixed with an £8 hope clamp). Waterproof silver battery big, but pretty good. started to fade after a year, now dead.

Magicshine MJ808 (£40) - goes on my lid with a spotty beam - 1 yr old, still fine.

Bikeray IV (£130 with battery upgrade) - German battery upgrade well worth it. 2 yrs old now, still holds good charge. Lamp unit - clamp a bit rubbish, lamp now seems to overheat and power down quickly, so I use the german battery with the MJ816

DX 1200 lm XPG (£30) - lasted 100 yds as above. Cheap and nasty.

I am now splashing out on a Troutie Spidereyes, and keeping my Magicshine 816 for the bars, using the Open Light Systems german battery.

So all in all,a mixed bag. The Magicshine lights quality has greatly improved in the last 2 years, but are still sometimes let down by poor batteries.

Thought I would check the c&b seen warranty as on ebay it is 1 month and on their website it is 6 months.

Roger from c&b seen advised - "We offer 6 months guarantee for all of our products subject to normal usage. What our customers have to bear in mind is that retailers offer much longer warranties and charge treble the cost of the product as a result. We are operating on very slim margins in a very competitive market - how much of a warranty are direct suppliers from China and Hong Kong offering - and how easy would it be to get that warranty honoured. The original one month warranty was based on the manufacturer warranty, in that after using something for one month it is obviously fit for purpose. Our products, especially the bike lights, are for use outside in all weathers and, we are sure, get some pretty rough handling in the process. It is a question of balance - we feel that in the main, our customers appreciate the fact that we bring these products to the UK market at very competitive prices, and then support them. Anyway, in answer to your question, our warranty is 6 months."

Therefore I am leaning towards getting a light from them as I like the benefit of having a UK dealer to liaise with and I don't have loads of cash to spend. An added point is that it is cheaper to buy direct from their website than ebay or amazon.

As chas has said, the CandB Seen warranty is six months on their website:

[i]"Returns - We provide 7 days cooling off period and six months warranty for all items. Please inspect your item(s) carefully within 7 days upon delivery. If there are no quality problems, you can return your item(s) back to us at your own expense and we will offer a full refund.

If there are quality issues then again you must send the item back to us and we will either repair it, send a replacement to you or offer a full refund within 3 days at our expense. In this instance your shipping costs will be refunded.

Our warranty does not extended to any products that are physically damaged, or that are used under abnormal operating conditions,or that are damaged as a result of misuse or improper installation on the buyer/user's part."[/i]

I've just bought one of the 1200 lumen jobbies. For £40 I'll risk it...

Roger from C&B doesn't understand the Sale of Goods Act: the product must be sufficiently durable for its purpose, and (I think) for products less than 6 months old, it is up to the retailer to prove that there is nothing wrong with it.

I'm pretty sure Roger from C&B understand the Sale of Goods Act. I'm also pretty sure that he hopes the majority of his customers don't.

OP - do you want to get these lights for just commuting or MTB night riding also? Just wondering as if it's just for commuting I don't think I'd get anything like 1000 lumens - you'll end up dazzling drivers and putting yourself in more danger.

I use an old Exposure Joystick with a Flash for commuting, flash is, erm flash mode, joystick on permanent at the lowest setting which at a guess is about 100 lumens and it's ample.

If you do go for a high lumen light I'd recommend you get one that can easily be reduced for when you encounter traffic.

Edit to add: Joystick is the original 240 lumens model so lowest setting must be way below that, hence I guessed at 100

Oh dear I have stirred up a hornets nest when all I was trying to do was set the record straight on cand b seen's warranty.

In reality I would rather have the 6 month waranty, the sale of goods act on my side and the benefit of dealing with a UK trader.

I would suggest that everyone looks at the following http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/sale-of-goods/understanding-the-sale-of-goods-act/your-rights/ if relying on the sale of goods act, because if the retailer won't budge when your light dies after 6 months it is up to you to prove that the fault already existed.

I recently had to go down the path of getting an expert report into my son's bed that became unusable after 18months, Argos would only entertain the idea of a replacement if we provided them with a report from an accredited joiner...£55 pounds later and we had the bed replaced along with the cost of the report and although a pain it was worth it for a £300 bed. Would I have gone to this trouble for a light that cost me £40 I doubt it, but I would make contact with the retailer and see what they could do to help and if they did nothing then I would be sure to post some honest reviews online.

This is the last bit from the above link that I found interesting if you meet a brick wall with a retailer.

"Proving your claim for faulty goods
If your claim under the Sale of Goods Act ends up in court, you may have to prove that the fault was present when you bought the item and not, for example, something which was the result of normal wear and tear.

If your claim is about a problem that arises within six months of buying the product, it's up to the retailer to prove that the goods were of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, or as described when it sold them.

For example, by showing that the problem was caused by an external factor such as accidental damage.

Expert's reports
Beyond six months, it's up to you to prove that the problem was there when you received the goods even if it has taken until now to come to light.

So, you may need to prove that the fault was not down to ordinary wear and tear or damage you caused, and that the product (or a component) should have lasted longer than it did.

To do this you may need an expert's report, for example, from an engineer or a mechanic.

Always try to keep the cost of any report proportionate to the value of the claim and, if you can, try to agree on an expert you and the seller both agree has the necessary expertise."

Okay climbing back into my box know to contemplate which lights I need - as opposed to the ones I would like 🙂 - for the dark commute home...and I shall say no more about warranties!

Good info there chasmanp. Cheers.