Please recommend a good light...

[kehrhart]

I'm looking for a good light for early morning and late evening rides. Right now I only have one of those little blinking rear lights that I attach to my seatpost or, more often, just to one of the pockets on the back of my jersery. I know I need to get a headlight but should I also get something "better" for the back? I've been told to just stay clear of the cheaper headlights as they really don't do much - is this true?

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Sorry if this is covered elsewhere...

[1955]

Look at the Jetlite line of lights, very bright and also fairly priced. I have the HID and Tortise45 has the Halogen. They are very well made and look to last a long time. Both are good choices.

[Tortise45]

I'm looking for a good light for early morning and late evening rides. Right now I only have one of those little blinking rear lights that I attach to my seatpost or, more often, just to one of the pockets on the back of my jersery. I know I need to get a headlight but should I also get something "better" for the back? I've been told to just stay clear of the cheaper headlights as they really don't do much - is this true?

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Sorry if this is covered elsewhere...

Ya only got one life, so my opinion is don't scrimp on the lights if you plan to ride at night. I've got a Jet Lite Starfire, and most of the guys I ride with use Jet Lite HIDs. Here's a link for their site:

http://www.jetlites.com/products.html

[kehrhart]

Thanks to both of you for the quick response.

Do people generally consider the lights that mount to the bars or stem to be better than those that mount to your helmet?

[Scootcore]

ive been very happy with my donnotte lights...really small and really bright. also planet bike makes one HELL of a rear blinky!

[1955]

Thanks to both of you for the quick response.

Do people generally consider the lights that mount to the bars or stem to be better than those that mount to your helmet?

My thoughts on that is that you put the really bright one the bars and the lesser one on the helmet, to see around corners better.

[Rick@OCRR]

I've had great results with the Nite-Rider Blow-Torch. I can get 4+ hours out of a full battery charge and the light is bright and with a wide enough pattern to descend as quicky at night as you would in the daytime.

Rick / OCRR

[WhiteCarbonDude]

This thread is good.
http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=322478

This one is cool too.
http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=340472

[Jaguar27]

I commute by Bike most days and always ride home in the dark...plus I ride my roadbike at night a lot too....after the first few Days I realized I needed a good front light so I did some research and ended up with the light and motion ARC Li-ion......its so bright I have to point it towards the Kerb otherwise it will blind oncoming Drivers........
The battery is about the size of a Pack of playing Cards and doesn't ocupy a bottle cage unlike others on the market....
Its pretty spendy at over $400 but mine has paid for itself many times over because I can ride 24 hours a Day......if a Driver hits you with this light it would be bacause they are aiming for you not because they didn't see you......
For the rear I just went to performance and asked for the brightest one they had...I can't remember the brand.....
I use my MTB for my commute and left the wheel reflectors on...nerdy by Day but seen at night...that's my motto...
Hope this helps....

[Extort]

I ended up with the PlanetBike system (http://ecom1.planetbike.com/3025.html) and that works pretty well. Not as bright as others, but still allows me to run down hills at night at a good pace.

Also, I found mine at Performance for $99, but the one on the website is a newer model.

[Sewellymon]

ive been very happy with my donnotte lights...

I run Dinotte on helmet and bars. Simple/ low cost- not quite the brightest but sufficient? Going to their red rear light soon, since it IS UberBright

http://www.dinottelighting.com/Products.htm

[Psydotek]

I ended up with the PlanetBike system (http://ecom1.planetbike.com/3025.html) and that works pretty well. Not as bright as others, but still allows me to run down hills at night at a good pace.

Also, I found mine at Performance for $99, but the one on the website is a newer model.

+1, good light. I use it for my morning commute at 4:00AM. Keep an eye on Nashbar and/or Performance. It can be had as low as $90 when they have their lighting/electronics sales.

[brownlandshark]

turbocat makes the best lights bar none. No hype, just solid, reliable product that mounts clean and lasts for years. Check them out. My s32 is 12 years old and still going stong. Super friendly people to deal with too.

[CycloBlaster]

well, since i had been stopped by the Oceanside police in the past for riding at night without a light i decided to get this lil "CatEye OptiCube" light. it just uses 2 AA batteries and they last forever... unfortunately though, it's not very bright and hard as heck to see anything at night.
so i eventually decided to add a 2nd light and have this 2.4 watt TREK halogen light also. just to please the cops i leave the CatEye on, but when i need to i turn the TREK one on also/instead.