Originally Posted by
Athens80
The point is, whether you spend $17 on a cycling headlight set with a Cree LED, or $10 on a bare flashlight with a Cree LED, you're getting a light to see by, not just to be seen. You don't have to "up the ante" to get a bright light. It's just wrong to say that the inexpensive bike lights only put out 100 lumens. Buy a $17 light, buy a $50 light, buy a $200 light; they each have their purpose. But all the lights people are recommending here are not just "to be seen" lights and they put out more than 100 lumens.
Not true. Please see this:
http://reviews.mtbr.com/2012-bike-li...ttern-photos/2 now scan down to the last two rows at the bottom and the look at the first square in each of the 2 rows, the first is a pic of a 400 lumen MagicShine, the second one is a pic of the 400 lumen (on the box it says 270), note how bright the MagicShine is, it's not 400 lumens probably closer to 150 unshaped light that can barely light up the test scene, you can't see with that light well enough to be moving at the speed a bike travels, for a flashlight standing around and holding it it's fine, but not moving at the speed of a bike. Look at the nearby 100 lumen headlights, the Niterider Mako 1, Light & Motion Vis380, both are too dim to see with adequately moving at the average cyclist speed of 15 mph on a bike. I have a "100 lumen" flashlight and there is no way I would ride with that light because I would override the light.
But the OP needs to decide for himself what is comfortable for his needs to ride with, not what you or I say, he may agree with you or he may not, it's his idea of what is safe for him.