Best AA or AAA powered headlight (I know, I know)
 

I know there are 2873 threads about this, but is there any consensus on what the best AA/AAA powered headlight is?

I have a Serfas SL-200, which is good enough for being seen, & for reflecting off of street signs, but not so much for anything else.

Everyone seems to agree that Planet Bike SuperFlashes are the best taillight (and I have TWO of them), but is there a headlight that is equally agreeable?

consensus? good luck with that.

I suspect part of the problem in reaching a consensus is that different people want different things. Some people want lightweight. Others want high visibility. Others want good illumination. Others want long battery life. Still others want something cheap. Of course, we all want all of these but in reality you have to choose.

I've got a Cateye EL-530 (not to be confused with the EL-510, which is quite different). It's very bright for a AA powered light. I like this because it helps me see in those areas between streetlights. I sometimes use it as a flashlight in my garage. It's got pretty decent battery life (I can usually go about 6 hours before swapping out the rechargeable batteries [not included]). However, it's fairly bulky and takes 4 AA's so it's relatively heavy. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't have a flash mode. I've thought about pairing it with a PB Superflash Stealth to fix that problem.

Second the Cateye HL-EL530. But I run it in conjunction with a helmet light.

I use a Fenix L2d as posted above.

Ixon

Dinotte 200L?

Fenix L2D or Dinotte 200L for the front. Dinotte 140L for the rear. Minimum 2 front and 2 rear lights.

+1

+1 on the Fenix, the L2D makes the cateyes look really dim. It is very light and small, only 2 AA,s but powerfull.
I also got my wife a L1d, same light but only uses one AA, as she only has a short commute.

I'm happy with mine. Will add an additional 200L (wide) when Winter rolls around.

Today was the first time I needed to use a light this year in the morning. I slapped on my wife's Target Schwinn little itty bitty halogen light. Worked great. Saw crap, some of the other early morning folks saw me, that's all I needed..

I have that schwinn one (3 led) on my giant, and a cateye (5led) on the trek. They are just about the same as far as way you can see.

Cateye 320. Bright enough to be useful on trails,really good batt life,and a blinky function. I picked up extra mounts to swap it between bikes.

Why waste your money and risk your life on a dinky low power AAA/AA powered light?

Even with all the tech advances today in lighting it takes amps,volts & watts to provide really safe
lighting for road use. A DIY 12V battery light is far better investment. :thumb:

+1 on the Fenix. A great light. I use a pair, one on steady facing slightly downward and the other facing more upward and flashing for visibility's sake. It gets me home at night just fine.

Dinotte AA

How about as a backup? I use a Niterider light as my primary and it is plenty bright, but I also have an old generator and a "C" cell light as backups... Getting a good AA LED backup vice the old "C" cell light would really be a nice thing for me.

Here's another vote for Fenix.

+1 on the EL-320. Very bright for a AA powered light. I turn it on blink during the day and on steady at night. I run it with a EL-170 blinker (white version of the LD-170) in front.

I once left it on to see how long the battery life was and the thing lasted 10 hours at a decent brightness and 20 over hours before it went off.

Does anyone have any suggestions on bike specific lights in the neighborhood of $50?

Fenix L2D Q5. $58 with coupon code.

A Fenix L2D has 180 lumens on turbo. Do you consider that low power?