I'm almost 65 years of age and my vision has declined. Currently I use two 700 lumen front lamps, managing the power to conserve batteries. What would recommend to have a more consistent bright light so I can spot branches and other hazzards while commuting in the dark hours. Would a generator hub help?

I have only had one bike with dynamo hub lighting. I found it 2 be a bit underpowered compared 2 modern lithium ion battery powered lights. I currently use a 1300 lumen light from trek / bontraeger and a 900 lumen light from niterider. I rarely use them at full illumination but still brighter than the dynamo light on my old bike. Suspect that if i had a better (more expensive) dynamo and head light i might have had a better experience.

FWIW I use a 900-lumen Niterider on the bars and a 500 lumen light on my helmet which illuminates in whatever direction I am looking.

It may depend on where you ride. I've found a dyno light, 40-80 lux, sufficient for riding on suburban streets and slow MUPs (typically 12 mph or less, limited by awful pavement). I'll supplement it with a helmet light, flashing in heavier traffic, low beams to illuminate street signs (no my normal for commutes).

Are you riding forest roads that you need to worry about branches?

My route consists of two or more lane roads connecting Portland suburbs. As it has gotten darker and the rain begun, there is also a lot of tree debris in the bike lanes. Branches and cones from fir trees, acorns, apples all hidden under wet leaves. Sometimes it feels like all roads in PDX are forrest roads.

I think you would benefit from a good dynohub/generator light to have a well directed beam on the road and a good battery light to supplement the surrounding area (being mindful of how that might affect oncoming traffic)

When you get to the point that "how many layers of leaves?" is a legitimate question, I think it's time to look for a route with enough traffic, or street sweepers, to clear the road.

Unless you want a high powered laser light to burn the road clear. IIRC British Rail was looking at something like that a while back. Even with diesel-electric power supplies (locomotives), I think that didn't work too well for them. On a bike? Good luck!

A dynamo is a great option especially when paired with a good light. A lot of people think lighting should just be a ultra bright flashlight and truthfully I was in that silly camp years ago but now I know. A really good light should have a beam pattern that illuminates well and doesn't blind others but allows you to see easily. I find a lot of the STvZO compliant lights to do well for that and in terms of dynamo lights the M99 DY Pro has performed quite excellently for me. Nice and bright but the beam pattern really lights up the road so I can see hazards and such without much strain. I have used non-dynamo variants of the light on other bikes for a while and it has always impressed so when they did a dynamo version I was excited. Plus with a dynamo I don't have to charge my lights.

Busch and Müller also make some really excellent lights. I have the IQ-X and it is quite a nice light but the IQ-XL looks to be another winner and super bright with a high beam which I have found I use sometimes on my M99 (which activates around 10mph on my SON hub)

For a rear light the B+M Line Brake Plus is a great one but truth be told I have only used it with the IQ-X and not anything with more power so I don't know if the iQ-XL or M99 DY Pro are going to be too much power. But I do know that the M99 DY Pro can handle a rear light just fine but it is an integrated one on a Racktime rack so grain of salt time.

Currently my setup has three legacy MagicShine 800L lightheads. Two Gloworm 6800 mah battery packs, along with a 4400mah Gemini battery pack. I also have a newer Cygolite 1200L headlight that is helmet mounted. I also have a headlight mount that will allow any of the MagicShine lightheads to be worn as headlamps or on a helmet.

The pre-dawn work commute is 5 miles west and south, with my wife (blind) on a loaded (with her gear) tandem, and then, I either continue on two more miles to my work on the West Side, or turn back and work from home. I have Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration and function pretty much with just one eye that has 20/100 vision. I do not skimp on the light at night. Before every run, I aim all the lights so that they hit a 20' distant parked car at the hubcaps. If needed I can flick the helmet mounted light to pick up branches and other hazards that hover in mid-air, never at the cagers.

IMO o.p. needs at least one light that is helmet mounted, and one that is not. If they lived on the East Side they would see a variety of different ways to mount the bike mounted light: front rack, front fork, fork crown, bars, etc. What you don't see much of are dynamo lights. They originated and are common in Europe, because the lighting infrastructure there is exemplary. In the U.S., not so much. In some neighborhoods in Portland, trees obscure a lot of the ambient streetlighting. Some blocks have just one light fixture for the entire 200'. Carry sufficient light for the worst conditions you may encounter. I also have 'be seen' lights but they aren't the main attraction.

Light... it is not that simple...

1000 lumens spread over 1 square metre = 1000 lux
1000 lumens spread over 10 square metres = 100 lux

I've had good results with Busch & Muller dynamo LED lights.
For example, their 80 lux model (not the strongest one):

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They used to make more powerful models that provide even better visibility (i.e. to see, not just to be seen) - not sure if that is still the case, would need to double check.
Light beam is cut low to not make the oncoming traffic "blind," but not too low to not let you see what's ahed (if you set the angle right).

I highly prefer this to any battery lights - your preference (and other members' recommendations) may differ.

Edit:
A more powerful model that works quite well on my friends' bikes:
https://www.bike-discount.de/en/busc...eadlight-black

The light I use and am happy with:
Busch + Müller Lumotec IQ Cyo Premium T senso plus (Amazon affiliate link)


Relja

I have a pretty bright light I ordered direct from Hong Kong a few years ago. Seller was called Kaidomain

I don't know your terrain, and I don't have your vision. But if that amount of light is insufficient, maybe you should try a shaped beam to see if the problem isn't light output but beam quality. I've never used anything near 700 lumens. I'm 63, and I get by with a dynamo front light, but my conditions are mild, living in a well-lit city and little wilderness on my routes.

I've done the bars-floodlight and helmet-spotlight thing for MTB and it was effective but I don't see how it makes any sense for commuting. It's also kind of hard to match the color of the lights, if that sort of thing bothers you

It's pretty much de rigueur for Portland commuters to use that light setup. I mis-spoke earlier. I gave the impression I have a 2400L light array on my handlebars! Actually, yes, I have three 800L lights that are for the bars, but the most that are ever in play at once is two. The 1200L headlamp is very handy for throwing light around corners, and illuminating street signs and addresses in the dark. Also for finding things you may have dropped. It is rarely ever on full power. With this setup I fit right in on the morning commute on the main East/West bicycle arterial. Very little of what I do with regard to equipment is completely original.

I usually bike day so carry in my trunk bag in case I get caught out at night, a small NightRider 500 lumen headlight and taillight because they go on and off fast with rubber strap mounts.

But for really bad lighting conditions, like blacktop asphalt in a steady rain so poor reflectivity and no road reflective boundary lines or dots, and multi-hour trip, I put on the brand-x flamethrower light I got cheap off amazon about 5 years ago for less than $25; twin LED beams, I forget the power but I think 1500 lumens+ easy with both on at max, and a cigarette-box-sized Li-Ion battery much larger than the NightRider, and it rocks. Good weatherproofing on all the hardware. Just takes longer to put on and off than the NR, a screw clamp for the lights and velcro straps for the battery. The NR taillight is still adequate then, seeing a lit light is way easier than the light illuminating a dark wet roadway. Powerful LED lights used to cost a fortune, but not for years now. Check reviews before buying.

I finally upgraded my light with a Magicshine EVO 1300 for night riding. The difference is this light has a cutoff line which seems to focus the light better to what matters: what's in front of you. it's got 4 settings: low, medium, high and flood. High is 650 lumens and it is plenty bright and good for 4 hours of continuous use(per manufacturer) and flood is 1300 lumens for 2 hours. While riding, my light at High is actually brighter compared to some cars passing me.

I looked it up. It looks so much better than older lights. Still, it has a hot spot very near the light, but I guess it's not too distracting.

Car lights have regulated limits, bike lights don't. Car limits used to be for USA, IIRC, 55W low and 65W highbeams, I think both sealed beam and halogen bulb, but that's power and not light, and the same power in LED lights should be WAY brighter, and I don't know how they are currently spec-limited.

Now that so many car headlights are LED, I assume the regulation has changed. Putting 55w into an LED would make it too bright.

The best white light LEDs put out around 200 lumen/Watt (and most of the bike lights I've seen are more like 150). So 15W powering an LED light should get you 2000+ lumens - which is more than enough for most on-road bike lighting scenarios.

I'm of an age like you, where my nighttime vision has begun to drop off. (Always has been my weakest area, particularly if misty or drizzly.)

My speed is too slow to allow a generator hub to really shine. Underpowered, as some others have suggested.

I use a CygoLite Metro 1100, though it's fairly underpowered as compared to some of the newer units on the market. Mulling whether to do an 1800-2000 lumens (such as their Ranger 2000). When needed, a second light can be helmet mounted, allowing you to place the light exactly where you need it to be. For me, that produces enough light. Eventually, I can see me doing a ~2000 lumen unit on the bars and a ~1100-1500 lumen unit on the helmet. I don't go fast enough that I'd need much more than that, and I don't do windy, forested single-track routes where I'd need huge amounts of illumination.

One nice thing about lights like, say, the Busch & Mueller IXON/IQ headlights, is that the beam pattern is so very nice. One of those plus a helmet-mounted light would be hard to beat, I think. At least for a non-offroad route (like commuting). Get one of those that's bright enough, along with a helmet-mounted light of sufficient lumens (and candela/throw), then you ought to have plenty of light. With the correct beam patterns selected and good mounting point on the helmet, there's no need for it to blind oncoming drivers either.

If I had to, I'd use a helmet mounted light, but I prefer not to as it might compromise crashworthiness of the helmet via a more concentrated load area, and the increased size and ruggedness of the higher powered and larger batteried lights now. Outdoor and climbing lights that are small (3X AAA cells) or have larger batteries (4X AA or similar size lithium battery) in a flat pack on the back of the helmet and only the small light projector on the front, I think would be safer in a crash.

Former F1 driver Michael Schumacher sustained devastating head injuries while skiing and hitting a rock, and with helmet. (11 years later he still cannot walk and struggles with communication.) There have been statements that he had a camera on the helmet and suspicians that this worsened the injury. Typical helmet cam mounts are designed to easily break away in crashes (thus are often tethered to prevent inadvertant loss), but a direct hit to the top of the cam would still drive it into the helmet.

Yes, I think about mounting stuff to the helmet. I'm careful to wear plastic-framed eyeglasses. I once fell off the bike while wearing plastic-framed glasses, and it did give me a cut on my eyebrow. It didn't hurt much, but it looked horrible to onlookers. If I had been wearing metal, I think of the possibilities.

As a spry 67 year old I feel your pain regarding vision and other assorted ailments.
I've been using a couple of SON generator hubs for over 20 years (well, one is that old).
I hooked up with the Supernova brand headlight when they came out 16 years ago or so.
This one is the 1st gen w/German approved lens, the light is focused on the road, not the entire horizon including the space station .
Still running strong and lights up the road.
And never runs out of juice. Highly recommended.

Reporting from Bangkok

Well at 67 I too have been thinking about lights. I feel that a higher output is starting to be needed, but I don’t want to blind oncoming people. I like the idea of STvZO but lean more toward the pseudo-STvZO. These are lights that have a cut off, but are not STvZO certified. Perhaps too much light bleed to get the certification. I like a bit of light spill over so I can see things out of view of the light source, such as dogs from the side or a branch hanging down that wasn’t there yesterday.

I am interested in the Raveman light maybe the PR2000. This has a road beam with a cutoff, and a tap of a button switches to mountain mode that has more lumens but no cutoff. So I can ride with a lot of light and switch when oncoming traffic occurs. My current choice maybe the Outbound Detour. Has 1200 lumens on high but with a cutoff so I don’t blind people. The only downside to the Outbound for me is the cost at $185.

For me the days where 200 lumens without a cutoff has long passed.