Originally Posted by
hhnngg1
400 lumens is plenty for the vast majority of night riding, even going 20mph. (Probably not a 25mph descent, though.)
I love superlumens as much as the next guy, but after about 500 lumens, it's as bad as a car high beam for oncoming traffic since there's no cutoff filter. Not as big a deal if you're a lone rider in low-traffic area, but if you start seeing even a few people with superlumens on a trafficked street, it gets downright obnoxious.
I'd say that 200 lumens (Fenix L2d flashlight) is probably the minimal you can use for respectable night time riding. You can do it on less, but it's a lot more dicey. At 200 lumens, you can at least see a short distance ahead.
This is correct. 400 lumens is plenty light for the average rider, the average rider pedals along at 14mph. I use to cruise in the old days at 20 plus mph with the old 2 c battery halogen bulb bike lights! Later I graduated to a 13 watt halogen and rode down mountain roads at over 30. Neither of those lights were even close to 400 lumens! Today because technology is so cheap it's not a big deal to pay $100 for a 600 lumen light like the Cygolite ExpiliOn 600 which you can see the comparison of it here:
http://www.performancebike.com/bikes...ghtBuyersGuide
Most car headlights brights are 1200 lumens, but that level of brightness is made for a car traveling at 70 mph or more, and people think they need that level of lighting on a bicycle? Oh my god give me a break.
I use two headlights when I ride, a Cygolite Mitycross 480 on the helmet, and a Phillips Saferide on the bar, I never use the bright mode of either when I'm riding on lit city streets, and on pitch dark nights I rarely turn the Phillips on high though I may turn the Cygolite on high, but it's not as bright as the Phillips and it has a flood beam.