Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Light choice for pitch black roads

The nights are starting to draw in again & I need to get some new front lights for my road bike with 31.8mm oversized bars.

I live in a very rural area that has no street lighting at all - so I need front lights that are fully capable of lighting up the road ahead so I can see where I am going, safely and at a reasonable speed.

I know this isn't going to be a cheap option - & i'm assuming that it'll cost over £100 to do the job properly...at this stage i'm not limiting my selection by budget, but i'm not looking for the most expensive option out there and looks are also fairly important to me as well.

Can anyone suggest some suitable lights - preferably ones that they have had experience with in similar conditions.

Ironically, in complete darkness, you'll probably need less raw output since your eyes can adapt fully.

One option would be a generator-powered light. I can recommend this headlight now that I've tried one: http://harriscyclery.net/product/busch-mller-lumotec-iq-cyo-n-plus-headlight-with-standlight-for-hub-generators-3084.htm The light is applied to the roadway very well. Your best bet is to pair that with a front hub dynamo, which means buying the hub and having your wheel rebuilt.

I don't know about U.K. availability, but Cygolite makes some good quality lights with integrated batteries (no seperate battery pack and cable to futz with) that can be had for about $100 USD.

For example-

http://www.cygolite.com/products/expilion170.html

or-
http://www.amazon.com/CygoLite-ExpiliOn-350-Rechargable-Headlight/dp/B005DVA37Q.

I use the Expilion 160 (last year's model) and it works well, and is solidly built.

I live in a very rural area that has no street lighting at all - so I need front lights that are fully capable of lighting up the road ahead so I can see where I am going, safely and at a reasonable speed.You should consider the need for a helmet mounted light or understand why backup lights are important.

Or consider that whatever light you do purchase should be head mounted for most benefit.

You should consider the need for a helmet mounted light or understand why backup lights are important.

Or consider that whatever light you do purchase should be head mounted for most benefit.

I use a decent Cygolite (Rover II LED, supposedly 250 lumens) for my main head light though I'll get a generator hub and light when I can find a new bike. I also use a Blackburn Flea on my helmet so that I can see where I look off to the side of the road, behind me, what ever. It's nice but not enough by itself. I woudn't want a heavier light on my helmet.

Edit: my commute is also unlighted, rural back roads, very little car traffic.

What kind of burn time do you need? I agree with mech, dynohub light would be worth looking into. Initial cost can seem a bit steep, but once you have the system up and running, there's virtually no maintenance or running costs. The B&M he linked to is an affordable good quality dynamo light. Supernova (www.supernova-lights.de) also make very good dynamo powered lights. They're more expensive, but they have products that don't adhere to the (somewhat restrictive) StVZO specs. That means they're not street legal in Germany, but also that their light output is maximized.

--J

I use a decent Cygolite (Rover II LED, supposedly 250 lumens) for my main head light though I'll get a generator hub and light when I can find a new bike. I also use a Blackburn Flea on my helmet so that I can see where I look off to the side of the road, behind me, what ever. It's nice but not enough by itself. I woudn't want a heavier light on my helmet.

Wow! That's what I used when I commuted through a dark, tree-lined bike path! The Cygolite lit things up well enough that I never had problems adjusting from sodium arc vapor lights in the parking lot to the pitch black path.

(And you'll love the generator light and IQ Cyo. It's just a tad less light, but the lower angle shows up the path surface just as well, if not better.)

Lighting is weird, and as other people have said it is counter-intuitively the case that for truly unlit path you actually need less light. The most expensive lighting situation to try to overcome is actually oncoming cars and bright street lights where you need to put out enough light to match what the cars/lights are putting out so you can see where they don't light up. I'm in the US so I'm not sure how much £100 is (google says it's about $165).

My one piece of advice is that several light companies are coming out with 400-600 lumen lights this year, so don't buy the older 180-250 lumen lights they sold for the same price last year. I know Niterider and Cygolite announced (and some are available) lights with brighter light output like the Niterider 600, or Niterider 350, or the Cygolite Expilion 400.

There's also the Magicshine light...not sure how much it sell for now.

Honestly, and weirdly, lighting is really complicated. Another complicating factor is the beam pattern...unfortunately, I could write an essay lol...

My minimum for road riding is 200 lumens. That being said, if I was buying a light now with the recent lights you can easily buy something in the 350-600 lumen range for pretty much the same cost.

Thanks for all the replies - very helpful, & good to see you agreed for once ;-)

My biggest problem was not knowing the power range I should be looking at - its now pretty clear that 600 lumens will do me proud.

I have a small, powerful LED light already that will work as a backup on my bars - I have also been considering adding a couple of frogs on the forks for increased bike visibility as well.

As yet i'm not completely sure what I need as i'm moving house in 2 weeks & I don't really know what the roads are like there yet. Also this is the first winter season with my road bike - so again, to a certain degree, I will have to see how it goes in regard to what I need & run times etc.

I'm liking the Cygolites - need to see if i can find a UK source as my 2 normal suppliers don't stock them.

Its worth considering that lighting shouldn't just be for seeing whats in front of you, but also making yourself seen, especially in winding little backroads like the ones around where I cycle. Mind you generally the best bet is just not to use those at all after dark.

Its worth considering that lighting shouldn't just be for seeing whats in front of you, but also making yourself seen, especially in winding little backroads like the ones around where I cycle. Mind you generally the best bet is just not to use those at all after dark.

Little lights are normally enough to "be seen." Performance, for instance, has had a cheapie light ($15-20) with 5 LEDS with steady and flashing modes. Flashing is plenty visible unless you ride the wrong way on an interstate or something equally stupid.

"See" lights are bigger, more powerful, and more expensive. You're not just trying to catch someone's eye if you're trying to see with a light. You need something that will illuminate a black surface (asphalt), at a low angle, and get enough backscatter into your eye that you can see there's a blacker pothole in that black surface.

Point is, any "see" light is more than enough to "be seen."

I live in Minnesota where there's a ton of regular bikers on the roads, and blinking lights are definitely the best for "be seen lights". lol, though they also make terrible "to see by" lights (when blinking)...fyi.

I've also seen a lot of underpowered blinky lights on the road here.

My situatuation is like yours. After some experimentation I have settled on a Shiningbeam MC-E flashlight that runs off of 18650 rechargeables. A number of places sell handlebar clamps. I got mine from Deal Extreme for less than $5.
I prefer the flashlight to a dedicated bike light because I find it easier to switch barreries, and if I need a super bright flashlight I've got one.

http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_41&products_id=314

You should consider the need for a helmet mounted light or understand why backup lights are important.

Or consider that whatever light you do purchase should be head mounted for most benefit.Helmet mounts have certain advantages to be sure.

However, they are a bad idea in fog. In fog you want the light to be as far from your head as possible. It's a reflection issue. Light reflecting straight back into your face from fog is not so good. There is a reason why cars with fog lights have them mounted as low as possible.

Lower mounted lights also lose less light on their way to the road. They end up being brighter on the road for the same output.

I like to go with both when I can.

Another problem with helmet-mounted lights are that the shadows they cast on an object (say, a chunk of rock in your path) fall behind the object itself, so the shadow's not visible from where your eyes are. Put the light below your eye level, and now that chunk of rock is highlighted by a black shadow behind it, showing you "oh, that has height, I should avoid it." This also applies to potholes, washboard, and rutted snow/ice. The only exception is an object suspended above the surface, like a log across a trail.

For this reason, I like to have my higher-powered light on the bars, or even at the fork crown.

The other problem with a helmet light for road riding is that your light looks where you. Are you looking behind you at a car that's going past in the left lane so you can get into the left lane? Now you have no light so cars can see you in the front. Or you look over at the car next to you - now you've blinding the person in the car by shining your light right at them (a technique road riders sometimes use deliberately when they think a car at an intersection hasn't seen them).

Quite a stream of anti-helmet light remarks. I don't buy any of them.

Bottom line - having a light available to point at the area of interest is of tremendous value. While its possible that certain situations are better lit by a light mounted elsewhere doesn't invalidate this very simple premise.

After hundreds of hours of night riding - I have absolutely no doubt that if left with only one light - I would want it - on my head. And even though I am a "roadie" - I would bet the majority of veteran mountain bikers would say the same thing.

But I'm sure - there's at least one here to argue - I mean that's what I'm here for......

Except when riding in fog, I generally go with both. It's the best of both worlds. Fog makes a helmet light just about useless.

I'm not against helmet lights per se, but the terrain-revealing nature of a bike-mounted light is too useful to pass up. Whether it's a debris-strewn highway shoulder like Highway 195 here, or rutted "cookie dough" snow, or a high-speed attack on a rock garden out at Riverside, there's real value to those shadows. I have uses for helmet lights too, such as spotting deer by their reflective eyes, showing up over parked cars, and looking around switchbacks.

Thanks again for all the responses - I've found a UK supplier for the Magicshine lights mentioned above, I'm pretty sure that they fit the bill & the wallet.
www.magicshinebikelights.co.uk (http://www.magicshinebikelights.co.uk/front-bike-lights.php?ca=1)

I think i'll probably get one of these - see how it goes & then get a head mounted light if I find I need one....interesting debate on these ;-)

I have both a bar mounted floody torch and a throwy torch on the helmet. The other day I forgot to put my taillights on the bike and had to ride home from work with a red taillight. So I turned the helmet flashlight so that it pointed behind me. Not ideal, but better than no light. Boy did I miss my helmet light on my commute home. Where there is a good amount of street light, there was no problem. Where it was darker, it was scarier. Try making a left hand turn on a dark road. The handlebar light is not pointing in the direction you are headed and you can't see obstacles in the road soon enough at 18 mph.

You know, I kind of wonder if the Magicshine is still a great recommendation. It has a reputation for being not the best made light - for the last couple of years it was still the automatic suggestion as others lights with similar light output cost 2-3 times as much, so you could afford to buy an entire 2nd or 3rd magicshine light for the cost of other manufacturers lights.

Another note about the light is that while it's called the Magicshine 900, it actually puts out 400-500 lumens vs other manufacturers who rate their lights accurately.

I just wonder - with several companies with better reputations for durability releasing 400-500 lumen lights themselves, if it's still the cheapest decent light.

I just wonder - with several companies with better reputations for durability releasing 400-500 lumen lights themselves, if it's still the cheapest decent light.

It sort of seems so, though the waters are more muddled now. There prolly isnt 10c of difference between an MS and a Gemini; one or the other might have a feature that tips the scale on a user by user basis. The BR seems like it might be ok when it grows up - I've seen too many comments regarding being waterproof. Light and Go has some candidates, but shipping is excessive (25+ USD) or 3 weeks ala DX if you go cheap; I havent heard too much about reliability.

The MS probably isnt a "great" or automatic suggestion anymore - if you really want a proper bar mount and that is more important than other stuff, the BR or some LnG models might be better. If you want a sensible flash mode, some of the MS variants (ie Non Geo) might be better. If you have a preference on battery packs that opens another decision tree.

Why not... Night Vision???

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQVBxzOPYVDG3hQXul0RlQvluwL0pyoZutnb4Dus0cyG0_W2CzIrg

Bottom line - having a light available to point at the area of interest is of tremendous value.

agreed, but it is not the only or most important attribute in all situations. I love my helmet light on fast dark sections in the woods, being able to aim it without thinking it fantastic. I find it of considerably less value on streets. For seeing and being seen on the road, I want fixed lights aimed ahead. I dont want anyone loosing track of me because I was looking off to one side a bit.

How much light one needs is also related to how fast one is travelling (more light is needed for higher speeds).

How much light one needs is also related to how fast one is travelling (more light is needed for higher speeds).

lol...and *at least* 2 other factors...

For some reaason I don't like a helmet mounted light. I tried and it just isn't comfortable. Don't know why, it just is. I've only tried it on the road, not the trails.

I tried mounting to my helmet, but it didn't work out so well. It was difficult to dial the position in while stationary due to the vents and rubber bands. Then I discovered that I essentially had to stay in one position to maintain that sweet spot. If I hunkered down to get a bit more aero, then the beam came closer in and sitting more upright caused the beam to become virtually useless. But it was nice having things lit up no matter where I was looking at.

I dont like them as a sole light source - too many things from bumps to shoulder rolls to the helmet moving in your head move the light off point. Rather than flicking your eyes to look here or there, you have to move your whole head.

lol...and *at least* 2 other factors...

Which you don't describe.

One was already covered (the ambient light level). Another, being visible was covered too.

Clearly, speed isn't the only factor (especially, if you read the thread).

Feel free to be critical but be useful with it.

Which you don't describe.

Lol...yes, I did not re-list them out because...


One was already covered (the ambient light level). Another, being visible was covered too.

Clearly, speed isn't the only factor (especially, if you read the thread).

Feel free to be critical but be useful with it.

As you pointed out, they've already been listed in this thread. :D

I was just making an offhand remark - however, rereading your post I realize that I missed your phrase "also related" so my response...doesn't quite make sense now. Sorry, it's my fault, I misread your post slightly, my response is a lot less weird if it was...uh...in response to what I thought you wrote. (Where's the slightly embarrassed smiley face?)

It sort of seems so, though the waters are more muddled now. There prolly isnt 10c of difference between an MS and a Gemini; one or the other might have a feature that tips the scale on a user by user basis. The BR seems like it might be ok when it grows up - I've seen too many comments regarding being waterproof. Light and Go has some candidates, but shipping is excessive (25+ USD) or 3 weeks ala DX if you go cheap; I havent heard too much about reliability.

The MS probably isnt a "great" or automatic suggestion anymore - if you really want a proper bar mount and that is more important than other stuff, the BR or some LnG models might be better. If you want a sensible flash mode, some of the MS variants (ie Non Geo) might be better. If you have a preference on battery packs that opens another decision tree.

Given the above it seems that MagicShine is being considered as a budget product (with hinted at issues)...I had a quick look for Gemini lights as well - but these seem to be available in the USA only.

If you were to take a step up the quality/price ladder, what would the next choices be?

Given the above it seems that MagicShine is being considered as a budget product (with hinted at issues)...I had a quick look for Gemini lights as well - but these seem to be available in the USA only.

If you were to take a step up the quality/price ladder, what would the next choices be?

Here is my ladder for light choice in terrms of quality and build starting with lowest to highest.

Disclaimer: This is just my personal opinion and will varies among individual ;)

Magicshine......(tied with Light and Go?)
Gemini
Bikeray
Nightrider? (not sure where to rate it and same with Light and Motion?)
Dinotte
Baja Design (almost tie with Dinotte, but the water proof immersion test sqeak by Dinotte)
Lupine


Not yet decide is:
Desgn Shine
Exposure
Nitelight

I think you will do fine with the Magicshine.

Given the above it seems that MagicShine is being considered as a budget product (with hinted at issues)...

If you were to take a step up the quality/price ladder, what would the next choices be?

I take the MS as a pretty much known quantity now...the lighthead has turned out to be remarkably - even surprisingly - durable; after the early quality issues the weak link turned out to be the battery. In terms of lumens per dollar (or quid, GBP, yen or shekles) the China trio (MS, Gemini, BR) seem to be on top. I've been waiting for pressure from the MS et al to cause the price to fall on name brand lights, but so far not much.

I'd agree with Colleen's ranking in general. Certain features that someone might really really want can juggle the order in terms of preference or fits-my-needs. If waterproofing is a concern, BR might be lower; if a useful blink is important some MS versions are insane and blink is non existent on most LnGs; if a solid bar mount is important to someone, they might float some of the Light and Go models up the list as well as some from Dinotte and Baja.

* I'd tack "JetLites" onto the list below MS in terms of value and quality.

Thanks chaps - its good to get an idea of the quality.

I'm about to move house next week...i'll look at the lights again after we've settled in & make a final judgement then.