Head and Tail Light Suggestions for Cold Weather?

[fastdog]

I admit I need better head and tail lights for my daily commute (20 miles roundtrip). I have several head and tail lights but they all run on AA and AAA batteries. They work great when it's somewhat warm temperatures but not when it is less than 30F. It's very frustrating. Any suggestions? :)

[ViperZ]

Wander over to the commuting forums, there is a sticky there for lighting, and there are also many posts regarding lighting.

[cyccommute]

I admit I need better head and tail lights for my daily commute (20 miles roundtrip). I have several head and tail lights but they all run on AA and AAA batteries. They work great when it's somewhat warm temperatures but not when it is less than 30F. It's very frustrating. Any suggestions? :)

Look at Niterider TrailRat and Headshot. Both are fairly inexpensive as lights go (around $100). I'd suggest getting both so that you have 2 lights and half the possibility of being without light. Another choice is Cygo, but again get one for the bike and one for your head. Good, inexpensive, simple. Avoid lights that have lots of electronic bells and whistles because it's just another place for things to go wrong. In my opinion, a light that has an on/off switch is about as high tech as you want to go.

Batteries: Try to keep your batteries warm. If the battery is NiMH, this is much more critical than other batteries. Charge them in the house and only put them on the bike just before you go out the door. The battery will get cold as you ride but discharge will generate enough heat to keep them functioning down to around 10 F or so. If you are riding in super cold temps, you might want to have NiCd, since those are more cold tolerant than Li-ion (expensive) or NiMH.

[Jesse Smith]

You didn't mention exactly what brand and model of light and batteries you're using. That might clear some things up. Some lights just eat up batteries, some never get bright enough in any conditions.
I've used a Cateye TL-LD1000 ( http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/280 )powered by various Powerex AA rechargeable NiMh batteries for the past year. The light stayed bright for many weeks of use during the Maine winter off of one charge.

[Juha]

You say your current gear operates on AA & AAA, so I assume your bike lights don't need to light up the entire neighbourhood. Have a look at dynohub-based lights, they're totally immune to cold weather and will provide plenty of light to commute by.

--J

[flipped4bikes]

I have to disagree some with Jesse Smith. I have the same Cateye running on Energizer NIMHs (mH2300). I noticed that after several commutes the blinkie has dimmed. It's still "bright", but not the insanely bright I bought the LD1000 for in the first place. I do run one bank on steady, so that may drain the batteries faster.

I'm very happy with the Petzl Tikka XP on my helmet. Very bright for a single 1/2 watt LED. It supplements my PB Alias headlight. I also have a PB helmet blinkie that works very well on just one AAA.