Looking for a pretty bright commuter light
 

Hi all,

I commute to work in the dark and have a helmet light and a handlebar mount light, the latter of which just died. Here's what I'm looking for to replace:

• Bright enough to ride on very dark suburban roads.
• Decent battery life - at least 2 hours on high or medium.
• I'm ok with a separate battery with a strap or not
• USB charge would be nice if max battery life is less than 2 hours on high so I can charge at work
• Helmet mount and bar mount
• At least 700 lumens
• Also has a blink mode
• Reasonably waterproof

So far, I've been very happy with my Light and Motion Stella 260, which I wear on my helmet, but lights have come a long way since I got that several years back.

I'm considering the following in my very early research:

• Niterider 750 lumens ($119) - NiteRider Lumina 750 Front Bike Light - REI.com
• Magic Shine 2000 lumena (do I need 2000 lumens?) - ($178) - http://www.amazon.com/MagicShine-200...attery-Charger
• Light and Motion Urban 800 Fast Charge ($180): Urban 800 Fast Charge - Light & Motion

What else should I consider? Any thoughts or advice is appreciated!

Robyn

P.S., please forgive the crosspost - also posted in the gadgets/lighting forum, but thought that you commuters would have great advice, in case you're not hanging around there.

This topic has been discussed extensively. I recommend a forum search. Use google, as the forum's search function is oddly hit and miss.

Check out ebay and amazon for cree headlights. These typically run around $15 to $20 with battery, a couple of rubber band mounts and an ac charger. If you can plug in an ac charger at work somewhere this might be a great option for you. Most of these cree lights have a blinking function, but it varies.

I also use a cree flashlight as a headlight on my helmet. A bit heavy, but functional and very bright. The batteries use an ac charger as well.

If you can use an ac charger, you can save a ton of money and get basically the brightest headlight on the market.

I like dynamo hub generator. no need to recharge, and your bicycle produces the energy. Actually I can say I love those. I think for a commuter a generator is a must have item.

Yeah, I have several of those lights. Check on ebay though. You can pick these up for $10 or less on certain auctions.

I have 3 candidates for possible replacement my LED flashlight. (which works great, I might want and addational wider beam and longer run times at about 500 - 1000 lumens.

This is one has wide / narrow beam setup and a remote boost button:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=442692
*GROUP BUY* - Fen!x BC3O Bike Flashlight | BudgetLightForum.com



Yinding YD XM-L2 Cool White and Neutral White
Yinding YD XM-L2 Cool White and Neutral White | BudgetLightForum.com

Full set with Battery Yinding 900LM CREE XM L2 2 LEDs 4 Modes Cool White Headlight Lamp Set ( 4 x 18650 Battery US Plug )-41.42 and Free Shipping| GearBest.com Price $38
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=442693



Nitenumen BC-A2 XM-L2 + R5 has a wide reflector and throw reflector, 2 bottons, one for each.

Nitenumen BC-A2 XM-L2 + R5- Mtbr.com

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=442699

I like my Light & Motion 550 but I don't think it will stay on a nearly as long as advertised. I think L & M, like so many other manufacturers of battery-powered devices, has seized on the most optimistic run-time figures possible. For me, after a couple year's of use, battery performance is probably 70% of original capacity.

Pros: Compact design and quick release strap make it easy to put on and take off. Weather resistant design that works. Charge indicator led tells you charge level of the battery using different colors. Micro USB charging.

Cons: Expensive (but it currently sells for far less than $180), gets hot when charging, and battery life tapers off steadily from a full charge that is fairly limited to begin with.

I'm currently using a PDW Lars Rover 600 lumen headlight. Plenty bright and lasts a good 2.5hrs on high.

For 2 hours nighttime commuting per day, I would seriously consider a dynamo.

I've got a set of these: Ay Up Lighting Systems

To answer your selection criteria:

- Bright enough to ride on very dark suburban roads.
✔ High beam with wide lightset will easily illuminate the width of a suburban street and the road for about 5m. Signage illuminated for a good 20m. They also have intermediate and narrow beams which have longer reach. Intermediate is like a search light in my experience.

- Decent battery life - at least 2 hours on high or medium.
✔ 3 hours with half-size battery; 6 with full-size

- I'm ok with a separate battery with a strap or not
Separate battery, attaches with Velcro straps.

- USB charge would be nice if max battery life is less than 2 hours on high so I can charge at work
✘ Charger runs off 12V. It comes with a 110-240V AC mains power supply, there's a 12V cigarette/merit socket cable option for charging from a vehicle. It's a pretty standard DC barrel connector, so you'd be able to get a second power supply easy enough.

I've charged mine successfully off the 12V supply on the bike as well as from solar when on the move.

Someone good with electronics could probably make a 5V→12V step-up converter that would let you charge it off USB but I think it'd be pushing the limits of USB.

- Helmet mount and bar mount
✔ Both available, also a headband mount so you can use it as a regular headlight.

- At least 700 lumens
✔ "over 700 lumen" claimed. I haven't measured this, but my experience has been.

- Also has a blink mode
✔ When turned off; you hold the button down and it'll start blinking or just press it momentarily and it'll turn on solid.

- Reasonably waterproof
✔ These can apparently be submerged to a metre or so, haven't tested this.

A set I'd recommend steering clear of is this one: A headlight to avoid » Blogospheric Refraction

Do yourself a favour and a hub powered dynamo wheel for around $120 and a nice front light for $60 and be done with it :)

Sounds like a plan for a back-up but what powers the light when you stop? Last bike I had (rim-mounted) dynamo lights on you had to get about 20km/hr to see anything with them and lacked any sort of battery to keep them lit when you stopped.

You get full power somewhere around 10-15 km/hr and most lights in the USD60 price bracket come with a standlight feature that uses a built in capacitator. The standlight will not provide as much light, and will only burn for a limited period of time (several minutes).

--J

No, good lights have a 4-minute diode in them so that they stay illuminated. Also, nowhere near 20km/h is required. Available for much less than $60.

Or, you can go the battery route and blind people, which is asinine. (Note, that last comment isn't directed at you, in particular).

Wow, this is great info. I did do a forum search prior to posting, but didn't find much that was up to date (or maybe I use the right terms?) I will check all of these out. I have considered a dynamo, but don't know all that much about it. My commuter doubles as a cyclocross bike. Would this be a pain to deal with?

Check out the Fenix BTR20. I prefer it to Fenix's new BC30. Greatly prefer it to the Magic shines, which are too bright and very white/blue light with zero attempt to shape the beam

Buy a spare set of 3400AH 18650 Panasonic batteries. One set runs more than 5 hours on medium-hi and 8 hours on medium. I never use hi, so, not sure....certainly more than 2 hours.

One set of batteries is more than enough power to do a 600K Brevet; so, I suspect it would be ok for commuting.

Or, if you have the funds you could overspend on a dynamo that could not blind a mouse, flickers when climbing, and loses light when stopped for a bit, weighs more, creates 6-8 watts of drag, and you could attach it to a light with connector reliability issues allowing water to infiltrate or worse there are some that have an actual opening at the bottom to let water spray or insects inside but the effect is the same.....they leave you stranded unless you carry a battery powered backup.

Tongue in cheek, supposedly newer dyno lights are not as problematic :)

Yes.

Anyone who can't handle 6-8W of drag shouldn't be on a bike ;)

That's the equivalent of someone blowing through a non-bendable drinking straw into my face while riding.

:lol:

4 hours, maybe. But for 2 to 3 hours, battery systems work just fine. The batteries are light enough that you can carry a second one (18650 cells). Or you can purchase a battery pack with 28650 cells which have twice the capacity of the 18650 cells for 4 hours of light. 28650 battery packs can be had for $15 to $20 while 18650 battery packs can be had for about $10. A light, battery, charger and a larger capacity battery pack will cost around $50...cheap enough to have 3 (two for the bars and one for the helmet) for the price of the least expensive generator system with a single light. The battery system also has the advantage of being useable on multiple bikes if you have the need or desire.

The Cree lights on Amazon or Fleabay are also cheaper and just as good a quality than the lights dognamedbanjo is looking at.

A generator light is a more permanent installation. You can take them off but not as easily as you can take off a battery system.

I am weak and old. Need every advantage I can get with you youngsters.

It's not a race, it's a commute.

Sometimes, I even stop and eat next the river :D

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=442753

I have a Light & Motion Urban 800 and recommend it highly. It replaced a L&M Urban 500 that I used for several years. The 500 needed a new battery, but L&M sold me an Urban 800 at a discount rather than replacing the battery.

The Urban 800 checks all of your boxes. Light output 800 lumens on high (and L&M does not inflate their ratings), good battery run times, easy to mount and remove, very light weight, USB charging. If you shop around on the internet, you should be able to buy one for much less than retail price. I did not buy the fast charge model because I don't need it.

If they can't see you, they can't hit you!

I have the ION 700 by Bontrager and really like it. Here is the link.
Bontrager Ion 700 USB Headlight - Trek Bicycle Store

It's called multi-tasking and it's fun!

Excellent, if you're provincial.

Quite crappy to everyone else if you live in a cosmopolitan area.