tarwheel 

Same here. I got by fine with a 110-lumen Fenex LED for several years. Went to a 500-lumen Light & Motion Urban 500 a couple of years ago, but I usually run it on medium and low (250-125 lumens) to extend the run time. I also have a L&M Vis 360 helmet light system, which adds another 120 lumens on high, 60 on low (and I usually run it on low). So my typical setup is about 300 lumens total and it is all the light I need for commuting from the suburbs to downtown. I turn my lights to low when it gets bright enough outside that I am using them to be seen rather than to see. People who claim to need 500-600 lumens minimum must have night vision much poorer than mine.

One point I would mention is that you actually need a brighter light when riding in areas with a lot of ambient light from street lights, signs, headlights, etc, than when riding on dark roads. When riding in dark areas, your eyes adjust and open wider, so a given headlight will seem brighter. When riding in relatively well lit areas, the opposite happens and your light gets drowned out by competing sources.

mstraus

The good news is there are many great options out there. The bad news is there are many great options out there.

I guess to each their own. I personally do not want an external battery pack (I want one small convenient package), and a mount I can quickly and easily add and remove without tools.

I want USB charging for my primary lights - Not having to deal with ANOTHER proprietary charger is worth real dollars to me. A backup or extra light can use regular old batteries (AA or AAA)

A quality and reliable product is also important to me, and if I can buy from a local/US company that is a plus.

Light and Motion looks very attractive to me as its a local CA company, seems to make quality products that meet my needs (with accurate lumens ratings), and I really like the side lights on the urban series. I also have a niterider that works quite well and is well designed. These are also brands I have looked at also as they are what my LBSs sell, and I do like to support them.

As for number of lumens - tarwheel makes a good point about the ambient light. I have noticed my light seems VERY bright in my back yard at even the low setting (~200 lumens???) but when in a brighter area with headlights, etc to compete I really like it on a higher setting to see where I am going clearly. If bright enough, the light is almost not needed to see, but important to make sure you are seen. Personally I think that the 500-700 range for max lumens seems pretty good, though I have found in many conditions a good 200 lumen light is OK.

GeneO 

Mine seems really bright in my back yard, but just sufficient riding through woods on even a wide trail.

daihard 

I may be one of those who naturally need a brighter light. My wife always complains that I leave too much light on at home. I do that so the room is bright enough, but obviously that's too bright for her.

Garfield Cat

But how subjective is it? Inside your living quarters is one thing, but outside with various types of darkness and moving objects is another thing. Maybe a test ride with someone else riding my bike and then viewing how that particular light setup works is at least an attempt to quantify things about "how many lumens".

I may "naturally see" things different than someone else. But on some roads, it takes two to tango.

pdlamb

The "right" number of lumens from a light is like the "right" number of bikes. For bikes, it's n+1, where n is the number of bikes you currently own. For lights, it's n+100, where n is the output in lumens of the brightest light you own.

It's so dependent on riding location, speed, style, and age and night vision of the rider, that there's no single answer.

noglider 

I found that moving from one car to a new car with more power than the old car, I can get addicted to the power. After a while, I want even more. I notice a lot of people go through this. Same with motorcycles, and, I guess, headlights.

Null66

My L&M 360+ seems to punch way above it's 150 lumen (low for run time) weight class. Extremely effective.
It even worked on a dog chasing me. Shined in his eyes and seemed to help deter. Will try again next time I'm chased. Pulse might be disorienting to others though.

rekmeyata

Actually this makes a lot more sense then people are willing to give pdlamb credit for. I had excellent night vision, when other people went out and bought HID systems I got a 13 watt halogen and rarely ran it on full brightness. Now that I'm 60 my vision has dimmed, but I rarely run my lights pass about 450 lumens (the Phillips is an odd light, it has the brightness of 1000 or so lumens but only puts out 220 or 230 lumens, so the mid setting is about 120 to 140 which is about 500 for other lights). If you are a slow rider than why do you need 1500 lumens? I average about 20 mph and don't have a need "yet" for a brighter light, maybe when I'm 80 I might. Also location, if you ride on well lit city streets all the time all you might need is 450 or so lumens...again depending ones eyes. My wife can't see well at night at all, so much so that she won't drive at night unless it's an emergency! thus she won't ride her bike at night, I only put the ExpiliOn on her bike for flash in case she needs it.

Garfield Cat

Sounds like the single answer is with that single person. The older you get, the eyes get weaker (whatever that means) and you may need changes. That will keep the makers happy. Chime in the eye specialists and these lights will soon be at your local optometrist's office. But is it a medical deduction?

tcs

I recall my BEREC had an impressively engineered lens and a wonderful shaped beam pattern. In addition, it presented a nice, big, round light to the rest of traffic, rather than the intense pinpoint of so many of today's headlamps. The run time was excellent, too.

Admittedly, it was rather let down by its 3W filament bulb.

agent pombero

I am at 2500 lumens and I want to double or triple that number.

ItsJustMe

I'd be more tempted by the Philips if it had a better run time. For all this talk of "less light is needed" they still don't have any better run time than the "wasteful" lights that are 2 or 3 or 4 times brighter.

rekmeyata

When you look at lights you do have to figure out how long you need it to run for at night, I like the Phillips but I never ride for more than two hours anyways after dark...but I also rarely put it on high so on low it will run for 8 hours, so for me I have more battery then I'll ever need on a ride.

Keep in mind that those lights that are 2 to 4 times brighter (in the MTBR beamshot comparisons) are a lot more expensive and they have a separate battery that you have to mount to the bike. For some people mounting a battery and having another run of wire on a bike is no big deal, it isn't a big deal for me either, but I prefer not having a separate battery, but for others they may hate the idea of a separate battery.

Performance has a decent sale on a couple of decent lights; this one is the brightest but has a separate bat pack, decent run time on medium and low: https://www.performancebike.com/bikes...42508__1842508

The next one has slightly lower run times but has a self contained bat: https://www.performancebike.com/bikes...42508__1842508

rekmeyata

Great point about the pin prick of light. You can have a 2500 lumen light but if it's a very small lens surface all the motorists see is a very small light and that disables their brain in telling exactly how far away they are from the light source because we're all use to seeing large lights found on cars and motorcycles. When I tested my lights at night with my wife in a car coming toward me from 4 blocks away the very first light she noticed immediately when she rounded the corner towards me was the Philips because, as she put observed, she saw a large light and saw that first before she noticed the pin prick light size of the Cygolite MityCross 480 and could more accurately judge her distance from her to me.

Obviously we can't have lights the size of car lights but the size of the lens should be something that should be considered when purchasing a light. The Philips, I think though not sure, has the largest lens of any light I've seen, but there may others that are equal or maybe larger?

ItsJustMe

My current favorite light cost $35 shipped WITH the aftermarket wide angle lens and runs for 3 hours on high, 6 on low. It's "rated" 1600 lumens, actual output I would guess is around 800, 400 on low, maybe a bit more than that.

I'd love for shaped beams to become standard. I might even love to have one. But I'm not going to spend $100 on a light I've never seen before in person. I've done that several times in the past and as a result I've bought many lights that just sucked. I've got a box full of lights I used for a few days and tossed aside. Beamshots don't mean squat, and I've gotten truly lousy lights that someone said was great.

rekmeyata

Speaking of long run time, Cygolite has the TridenX 1300 Xtra OSP that will run for 10 HOURS at the medium setting of 650 lumens! And since it's a OSP light you can custom set the brightness level of any of the 8 lighting modes and the brightness and flash rate of any of it's 4 flash modes without buying additional stuff. So for example if a person wanted a brighter low setting then the standard 150 lumens but not as bright as the 650 mid setting, they could set it for 400 lumens and get about 15 to 20 hours of battery run time. Of course it's not a cheap light at $252 on Amazon.

tcs

In the last ~10 years we've experienced a revolution in light-making via LEDs & high-tech batteries. I'm gonna guess that most of the (non-German) lights designed during this time were designed by electrical/electronic guys and gals. They've pushed ever more photons out of the LEDs, put something reflective behind them and a window over the front and called it a headlamp. Now that abundant photons are becoming a commodity, I'm guessing in the next phase of the revolution companies will distinguish their products by re-introducing optical designers to their teams. Perhaps it's already started: I see Magicshine - yes, even Magicshine! - is advertising a rudimentary lens rather than a plano on the front of their latest bike light. Maybe in a few more years the industry will tame those rampaging photons into intelligently designed beams pouring forth from highly visible, non-dazzling large diameter reflectors.