Mr IGH

I agree, two hours minimum is a tall order. OP will need a second battery pack and stay on top of charging. Or pay more up front for a dyno system and never worry about batteries again.

Mr IGH

LOL about over-priced, everything on my bike is over-priced by most folks judgement. My commuter/gravel-grinder/touring bike cost me ~$1200 with dynohub and disc brakes. Over-priced for certain, a $200 Craigslist bike is all I really need.

Every other claim you've made hasn't been true since 1980.

Mr IGH

I have two sets of wheels, one lightweight for gravel grinding and a second set of heavy duty wheels for commuting and touring.

Leebo

Look at cygo lights, highly recommended. 300, 500, 750 and such. Sealed and usb rechargeable. Helmet or bar mount. These days, you should not be paying more then $ 100 for lights. Look at sing fire, $ 32 shipped from amazon. Running 2 full years now, no issue. Claimed 1200 lumens, maybe more like 8-900. 3 settings plus blink. To those recommending dyno lights, how many lumens? The OP rides on dark, suburban roads. Needs LOTS of light. I like my battery ones, able to switch between any one of 5 bikes I may commute on.

velocity

This ^^^^^
I have had people ask me to dim it. "So sorry let me try. But while you wait here's some sun glasses"
V

cyccommute 

Asking for 2 hours on high with a 18650 battery pack on a Cree single emitter light isn't a "tall order". It's not even asking much out of the battery pack. I regularly get 3 hours out of the stock battery pack and can get 4 to 6 out of the larger 28650...all at tiny fraction of the price of a generator system.

cyccommute 

Maybe since 1990. While his statement is less true today than it used to be, generator lights really weren't all that viable until LEDs came into vogue around 2005. Halogen lamps and generators just didn't go together all that well and fit much of RR3's description. That's why battery lights are so prevalent.

Mr IGH

Speak for yourself, I had great generator lights as early as 1980. Lon Halderman used my generator powered lights for PBR back in the early 80s. This is why I have you on ignore, your advice is a blitzkrieg of bad, made-up facts....

Mr IGH

Couldn't care less about the price, it's about the best performance. In my opinion, your light suck, I wouldn't be caught dead with 'em. Charging batteries for a regular two hour ride is as bad advice as I've ever seen you give, and that's saying alot...that's why I have you on ignore!

BobbyG

I use a Niterider 500 and am very happy with the brightness, spread, duration and convenience of clipping on whatever bike I'm using and USB recharge. The Niterider 750 can only be better.

jade408

I am so happy with my dynamo! I love not needing to remember to charge the light.

I got a premium hub: Shutter Precision. I do not notice the difference other than my front wheel is a little heavier with lifting, my wheel stabilizer could use some adjustment. My light has a stand light, and it lasts for 5 or so minutes. I also ride pretty slow. The light starts off a little dim at walking my bike speed, and gets bright enough at maybe 5 miles an hour (on city streets), really bright at 8 or so. I got a 50 lumen light, you could easily get way more output.

For me I got the dynohub to take away "friction" from choosing my bike as the vehicle of choice. That small change was huge. Now I don't have to worry about lighting.

RoadTire 

My commute will be a time trial every run because the whole idea is exercise, which for me, without a destination, is hard to maintain. Commuting will cost me 4 hours a day, so the $ I save per hour are minimal. Now if I went totally car-free, the $ would be significant and ya, the commute would not be a race for me.

Oh wait, we were talking lights, right. Sorry I went off the track a little.

Dang those fries and beer looks good. What's the little round thing on the plate?

cyccommute 

Well, if you have me on ignore, why did you respond? And you apparently don't read what I write anyway. I don't charge batteries for a "regular two hour" ride. I get about 3 hours out of the smaller capacity batteries and about 6 out of the larger ones. Who's facts are made up?

And I wouldn't get caught dead with my lights either. That's the reason I use them. I get to see the road and I get seen rather than having to hope that someone sees the weak single light that you have.

I also have the ability to use my lights if I happen to stop and fix something. Kind of hard to change a tire if the tire is part of your light system.

And, finally, price isn't that much of an issue for me but I don't need to go spending all of my money on lights. For less than the cost of a dynamo system with a single light for a single bike, I have a light system that puts out more light...I'm not sure what "sucks" about that...and I can use it on any one of the 9 bikes I own. Using numbers thrown around here, to do that with a dynamo system, I'd need to spend $1900. I can buy an awful lot of other bicycle stuff for that amount of cash.

Now who's giving out a "blitzkrieg of bad" advice? And, yea, those 1980 generator lights were pretty horrible. I had some. It's why I went to batteries and haven't looked back.

thebird55

I went the cheap route. Two of these rigs. (Although I bought the components separately, and more cheaply.) Maybe not enough run time from the rechargeable 14500 batteries, but they are more than bright enough. AA NiMH batteries will run longer, but not as brightly. These lights also come in a single mode version.

I keep a magnet stuck to the clip, to pull the batteries out without having to take the flashlight off the mount (which is difficult and can actually destroy the mount). I also carry spare batteries, as these go out quite suddenly when the lithium battery is discharged below a certain point.


Edit: One of these lights is bright enough. I just have this thing about symmetry.

RR3

Dynamos certainly do require power to create power. 6-8 watts worth to power the headlamp at around 25-30kph and this figure is for the very best dynamos. Unless you have created the perpetual motion machine?

I have been on many climbs recently with the dyno bikes and the lights flicker. Are you saying their shiny dynamos are 35 years old? I doubt it. The flicker on a steep climb is annoying. If there is dynamo that will not flicker on a 30 minute climb at a 4 mph pace, please let me know and I will stand corrected.

Do a little research, there have been plenty of head lamp water infiltration issues and yes, some high priced German lamps have a cute little hole positioned perfectly to let water inside.

As I indicated, I can do an all night summer ride on one set of batteries with better (in my opinion) light output than a dynamo power headlamp. I always have batteries charged.

Both battery and dynamo power sources have their place depending upon a rider's needs and budget. A dynamo makes no sense for my use. I want to be able to take the entire lighting apparatus off the bike and put it on only when needed and to do so quickly. I want to be able to swap from one bike to the next. I am also unwilling to lose 1 kph from the generator drag. My two battery setups that I use on a long ride weighs about the same or less than a complete dynamo setup and has significantly higher reliability due to redundancy alone even if we ignore the waterproof issues on some dynamo headlamps. For my needs, there is absolutely nothing you can say to convince me a dynamo makes sense. I have analysed this from every angle....from my requirements that admittably are not the same as yours......

dognamedbanjo

I really like the idea of a dynamo hub and have enjoyed hearing the pros and cons here. I could see that it would be useful on longer tours where you don't have charging stations readily available, and I do expect to do those at some point. I think, though, for now, I will forego this option, until I can convince my husband to add a 4th bike to my stable for a dedicated commuter :-) (If only he'd sell his motorcycle to make room!)

I'm checking out all of the recommendations here. So many great ones! I think I may try out one of the cheapie options first, because it's worth 40 bucks to give it a try. If that doesn't work, then I have a lot of great options to pick from that will fit the bill. Thanks everyone!

agmetal

I just got a Trelock LS950 the other day, and I'm pretty impressed by it so far. It's made in Germany, for the German market, so it meets the StVZO requirements with a shaped beam and all that, and there's no flashing mode (although supposedly there's an "export" version that does flash, but I didn't know of its existence until I saw it mentioned in the documentation included with my light).

Here's one of the reviews I read while researching it: Trelock Control Ion LS 950 Headlight | Road Bike Rider

It's about $200 on Amazon, but I got mine with two extra handlebar mounts ($40 each on Amazon) for about $118 including shipping from a German webstore. It took about two weeks to arrive.

rekmeyata

First things first, if you want a cheap generic light like the MagicShine then don't pay Magicshine prices and instead get a generic light that is priced like Magicshine should be; see: Amazon.com : Bright Eyes Rechargeable 1200 Lumen Bike Headlight : Bike Headlights : Sports & Outdoors Keep in mind that these generics or Magicshine way over estimate their lumens, they're closer to about 1/2 the rated lumens.

700 lumens is more than enough to see the road with, I run my lights most of the time at 1/2 that power and can see the road just fine at 20 mph and I'm old so my vision isn't as bright as it was when I was younger. Here is a decent comparison of different lights, only wish they kept the test area the same instead of two different ones, anyways see: 2014 Mtbr Bike Lights Shootout: Tunnel Beam Patterns - Mtbr.com

However in my opinion this light, even more especially since it's on sale, is the best light for the money: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-SafeRi...llips+saferide I own this light, the only flaw is that it has no flash provision because it was made for Europe where flash is not legal. This light is way over built compared to other lights, the body is thick aluminium, the clam shell design is very solid so much so it's difficult to get it open or closed, the power switch feels solid and not plastically; it features a ring around the perimeter of the lens that glows so it can be seen from 90 degrees, it uses 4 AA rechargeable batteries so in the event the batteries fail to hold a charge you simply buy new ones rated for at least the same amp hr as the originals, completely waterproof thanks to pain to open clam shell design. Phillips rated the light to be able to run on high for 2 hours which while only 220(?) lumens it uses aimed optics so that the light on the road is over 1000 lumens equivalent and no light wasted lighting up tree tops, and up to 8 hours on low which is where I use it most of the time because the light is bright enough on low; after 2 hours running on high it auto switches to low and will run for 2 more hours after that; Philips battery life estimates are right on, it's exactly what I get out of mine. See this MTB shootout for a comparison done in 2012: 2012 Bike Lights Shootout ? Backyard Beam Pattern Photos - Mtbr.com The Philips is on the last row, notice how intense the beam is on the grass compared to others on the grass.

cyccommute 

Well, you don't have to spend $40 to try an inexpensive "Magicshine" clone. This one is $20. But I would suggest you spend $40 and buy 2. Redundancy is always good. I've not had any of the Magicshine (brand or clones) fail but stuff happens and depending on a single light...including a dynamo light...can leave you stranded in the dark.

Many of these lights come a head mount that can be adapted to helmets as well. A helmet mounted light is even more useful than a bar mounted light because the light goes where you point your head which you do when you look at something. Bar mounted lights don't do the same and can leave corners dark. A helmet light illuminates corners so you don't get surprised. You can also use it to alert drivers who may not see you and start to pull out at a stop sign...I'm not sure how that happens but people pull out in front of trains too

Word of caution: If you use a helmet light be very conscious that you have it on. If you use it to alert a driver, don't stare them in the eye. If you stop to talk with someone, either turn the light off or look away from them as you talk. The light won't "blind" people...i.e. render them sightless...but it is uncomfortable up close so be courteous.

10 Wheels

Advised a friend to get two.

https://www.amazon.com/Headlight-Flas...iglink20253-20

He did and they put the wrong light in the box.

5 Leds with an 8 Cell Battery Pack.(Two of Them)

spare_wheel

No. Thank You. I use head lights in the city primarily to see things that are not the grass or road, such as, my ninja walking/biking neighbors and darting fur people. Philips lights and german stvzo standards are not designed to help cyclists -- they are designed to not annoy motorists. When it comes to my neighbors safety, I will happily annoy an infinite number of motorists!

cale

Looks like a copy of the Lights & Motion Urban. Very bright!

Juha

You do realise that even just the bike lighting related part of StVZO is a lot more than just requiring shaped beams?

Archwhorides 

2/3 of my ride is on a rail-trail with a lot of other bikes and pedestrians during good weather months.

On my last Breezer I had a Shimano disc brake dynamo hub with a B&M shaped-beam light up front and a wired tail light, and I liked the system a lot. The only problem I had was that over the course of two years the wiring and connections to the rear light eventually corroded and required maintenance - kind of a pain and source of anxiety at points.

I have a USB-charged L&M flashlight now on my newer bike and I shaped a cowling out of flashing to reduce glare for oncoming bicylists and pedestrians. It works well for the 1 1/2 hours of commuting that I do, but would not reliably make 2 hours, and I wish the light had an integrally shaped beam.

spare_wheel

I do and the prohibition of flashing lights and, until recently, many battery-operated lights are additional examples of german car head when it comes to bike lighting. (And I am this forum's biggest fan when it comes to Munich-style bike infrastructure.)