[Posted on forums.mtbr.com] I recently spent several weeks researching for a light in the $200-$300 range, hope this helps you out. I'm a road rider but do light trail / closed road riding in the fall at night. I was looking for a bar mount, as I don't use a helmet mount on our trails but I have a Fenix L2D for that purpose if needed. Here's my short list:
JET Light A-51: $200 ($274 with bar mount and Smart Charger), 720 lumens, 345 grams, 3hrs runtime on high, Waterproof connectors.
Lupine Piko3: $310, 550 lumens, 210 grams, 2.5hrs runtime. Beautiful little unit, unfortunately bar mount not yet available.
Trail LED 500L: $175, 550 lumens, 5 hrs runtime. Kinda ugly, but solid, good spot/flood combo, extended battery options (for a price).
Trail LED 4X: $300, 900 lumens, 4 hrs runtime, see above comments.
Trail LED Darkstar: $420, 1200 lumens, 375 grams, 3 hours runtime. See comments above, but this is probably the best bang for the buck light out there anywhere.
Dinote 400L: $229, 400 lumens, 340 grams, 5 hrs runtime. Helmet/bar mounts, 2 spare lenses included, outperformed by others in light/$, but a very nice high quality light set.
Baja Designs Strykr: $300 ($200 with trade-in), 700 lumens, 520 grams, 3 hours runtime. Helmet & bar mounts, 2 lenses included - spot/flood, waterproof, lifetime warranty on head unit, 1 year on battery. Bomb-proof.
Baja Designs Stryker Pro: $350 ($250 with trade-in), 700 lumens, 470 grams. Other features same as Strykr, but slightly smaller and designed more as a helmet unit.
Amoeba XP-G: $240, 600+ lumens, 159 grams, 3.5hrs runtime. Nice little DIY unit, incredibly small and light, extra/extended battery options. This would be the ideal helmet unit, but also a solid bar mount.
Niteflux Enduro 8: $270, 540 lumens, 486 grams, 3 hrs runtime. All Niteflux units are convertible to flashlights, extra batteries are cheap.
Light & Motion Stella 400: $300, 400 lumens, 313 grams, 2.5hrs runtime. Dual Spot/Flood, beautiful unit, but outperformed by competition in terms of runtime and output for price.
Last - check out
Ayup lights: Beautiful, small and functional, I just couldn't figure out pricing and the options on the website, gave up. I suspect after you figure in exchange rates and shipping, $/lumen is too low, plus warranty - while excellent, has got to be a hassle without a US distributor.
Ultimately, I went with the Strykr - couldn't pass up the price/value. Very pleased with it so far, but there are some great options out there. MS900 was not on my short list - price is great but quality is extremely suspect and I prefer to buy for the long term.
There are numerous inexpensive tail lights out there for under $40. One of the best I have seen:
http://www.ridepdw.com/goods/lights
Good luck.