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I've been out of the scene for a few years and this time I'm doing it on a budget!
What's the go to sub £50 bike lights?
Still the £25 5000lumen cheap stuff off eBay??
I’m still liking my Halfords / Bikehut lights. The top model is usually about £50.
This one was getting a lot of mentions last yr and while there were some reliability issues, Halfords seemed pretty rock solid about replacing any that went wrong:
Also have a look at the Planet X Bobby Dazzler lights:
Recently bought the 1600 lumen bike hut/Halfords light and have been impressed. £45 with BC membership.
Don't buy the halfords one. The mounts are rubbish. They move all over the place on roughly terrain. You would need to buy an aluminium mount to go with them. Mine also had charging issues.
My Halfords light has been ace. It works as a power bank and charges from my hub dynamo. Whats not to like? The mounts are ace too.
TBH the go pro style mount on the Bike huts are shite, but the rubber strap and helmet mounts are fine.
No problem with the rubber mounts here.
Bought the Halfords light last year, it's been ace. No issues with the mounts (I use the rubber one, done up tight), or anything else. For fifty quid it's a bargain.
Each to there own but the mounts were the worst thing about it for me. Go pro with a Allen bolt instead of the flip lock was bad and the rubbers were even worse. Fine in gravel but for proper MTB they were useless for me. The only way I could have seen an inporvement was with a aluminium mount.
Magicshine MJ900, 1200 lumen, lightweight, robust and decent battery life.
Can be had for £45-50 from Planet X and other places.
One is good, 2 is more than enough!
Bikehut 1600 lumen here - I found the standard mounts (either type) weren’t secure enough for proper off road so I picked up an aluminium GoPro style handlebar mount off eBay for a fiver and it’s great now. Better light output and better battery life than the other lights I have tried (Torchy bk6ix / Ryder Alumia 1600 / Brite-R Duo).
I can’t imagine there are many comparable all in one units for anywhere near the same cost from a U.K. retailer with a U.K. warranty.
This
Mount is a bit flimsy, but works fine, it's more like 1600 than 2400 lumens, but amazing value , I use mine weekly, battery lasts for ages on full
I paid £14 on prime day !
Another one with Halfords, mounts are a bit wobbly for proper off roading but solved with a cheap eBay aluminium mount. All in one unit saves a lot of hassle over most eBay lights and the light pattern is much better than my solarstorm eBay jobby.
The Magicshine MJ902b is £55 at Planet X.
Anyone used an mj900b as a helmet light? I really like the idea of the Bluetooth feature but having used an external battery on the lid in the past I wander if the battery is light enough to be strapped to the back of the head.
I wander if the battery is light enough to be strapped to the back of the head.
Yes, it's very small and light, straps to the back of the helmet no issues.
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIMSMJ900/magicshine-mj900-1200-lumen-led-bicycle-light
Been using one for nearly two years now for road duties, rarely ever bother with medium or max setting, low and flashing modes are usually more than enough.
The only thing to be wary of is that you need to point the beam focus no more than ~5m in front of you, otherwise the beam is rather dazzling for oncoming vehicles and any you happen to creep up onto on your side of the road.
The Bikehut 1600 I got last year is still going strong for me, great value.
I'm one of the ones that returned their BikeHut 1600 lumen for a warranty replacement - the shroud around the micro USB charger port came off. I don't see it as a negative - I've had plenty go wrong with eBay specials down the years that I've had to fix myself as customer service has been non existent. The light was swapped out in about five minutes, and I've been using it since with an old Lumicycle QR clamp on it instead of the rubber mount thing. Plenty of people have the Hope or Lumicycle clamps in their spares box, and I've moved mine from light to light over the years very happily.
The gold standard for after sales service as far as I'm concerned is Hope and Exposure, both of whom have been awesome in the past and probably will continue to be for a while. I've got an Exposure as a helmet light, but can't really stretch to the same for a bar light at the mo. I'd buy a Six Pack in a second if I had the dosh to spare, but I don't. The Halfords light does the job and costs very little. That said, the On-One looks like a bit of a good 'un - I just would expect that one to last as long or be as nice as an Exposure.
“is been a while"
since a £50 candle lit my way?
Apologies to Nic.... Oh never mind
I'm really liking this BL-10MU2 at the moment - one on the lid and I have a very similar BL2S on the bars. They are the latest XM-L2 U3 / U2 emitters.
I'm a couple of wet night rides in so still early days.
I chose a neutral colour temperature as I prefer it to the harsh blue-whites.
The BL-10MU2 is nicer than BL2S as it has soft mode change and doesn't cycle to strobe unless you long press.
I use a soldered up battery pack (from the kaidomain full set option) on the bike and one of these sprung 18650 holders in the back pack as I have loads of good 18650s scavenged from laptops.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000016058799.html