You guys are probably talking about higher end lights but I swear by my dual set of Cateye EL-320's. Both are mounted under my bars and I keep one on a steady beam to see with and the other flashing to be seen with. When the traffic dies down closer to south philly i put them both on a steady beam for the not so well lit parts. I think having people see 2 lights in their rear view helps as well rather than just one.

Now I get that you're conditions are far different than my commute but on training rides of 40+ miles or more I do the exact same thing and have never had a problem. The lights give off a great light and I feel very confident when I'm riding through the busy sections. Just my 2 cents.

Caveman, perhaps you missed this is roadie and if keeping up speeds in the dark massive light output is essential. Sometimes I run out of light range with my L&M ARC in the winter. It doesn't take much of a dowhill and I have to slow down. I'll keep running it til it dies and then consider options.

Yeah, the Cateyes are very much not up to the task that the OP is talking about. I wouldn't go more than 10 MPH at most with both of those lights on steady, if they were all the light I had to ride by. We're talking about riding in areas where your light is the only light there is; no street lights, no houses, no traffic. Pitch dark.

I've tried riding with little piddly things like the EL-320; pass.

what about these lights on sale at jensenusa? Night rider mini newt, usb recharge, 110 lumens and 3 hours run time?

https://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...+Usb+2010.aspx

No friggin' way.

Seriously folks, you gotta stop looking at these bike-specific lights and actually read the flashlight reviews on this forum.

FENIX or Terralux AAs for 220 lumens x 1 hr, run on medium for 2-3 hrs. $5 lockblock. 110 lumen is barely enough for me to RUN with at 9-10mph, let alone bike. At 10mph on a pitch black road with no car traffic washing your vision out, ok, 110 lumens is enough. But with any competing headlights, it's woefully inadequate.

You can definitely commute on paved roads that aren't a mess at 15-20mph with 2 of these LED lights, and likely even one of them although you'll definitely want MagicShine power at 15+mph.

Remember that these LED flashlights have perhaps the most energy efficient LEDs you can get now. If a bikelight says it'll run for 3 hrs, it's either gotta have a big battery pack to match, or it's going to be a lot dimmer than these flashlights. You will NOT find a bike light that will light like the Fenix/Terralux for 3 hrs on 2 x AAs at 200 lumens.

Actually that's not a bad light, IMO, though I'd absolutely spring another $20 for the Magicshine and get about 3 times more light. I run a P7 flashlight as a backup and have it on the bars at all times, but I use a MagicShine as my primary light. I would run the P7 happily if it were the only choice, but IMO the MagicShine wins out on a couple of points. One, it shares a single battery with the MagicShine taillight so I only have to worry about charging one battery; before this I had a Dinotte taillight and I had to take the damned battery off every 2 days and charge the AA cells.

Second, I have an aftermarket 8 cell pack that has 6 hours of runtime, about 5.5 with the taillight, which means that I can run all week on a charge, running the lights 45 minutes in the morning and the taillight only 45 minutes in the afternoon.

If I had to worry about theft and had to take the light off every time I parked, I would absolutely go with a flashlight up front and probably a Dinotte self-contained (the new one) taillight or more probably just a RADBOT on the back. But since I don't have to worry about that, I just permanently mount the two. For about $110, I don't think you can possibly beat the MS head/tail light combo.

Do you need the charger they show on their site for the batteries? Or can you use any charger for AA size you already have? Budget is tight.
Does Geoman provide a warranty or support better than dealextreme? I see folks complaining of breakage after 6-8 months and for the price I think that's unacceptable. I'd expect 2 years minimum for $100 lights

I'm interested in the Magicshine front and rear combo but also like the ability to have a USB charger like seen on the mini-newt.

I use the Fenix LD20 and it is probably the best light you can get for $60. It uses 2xAA batteries and they can be either Li-Ion, Ni-Mh or Alkaline; also accepts rechargeable batteries of these types. The fact that you can use three types of common AA batteries is what really sold me on this light. You can purchase quite a few accessories for it as well. I have the older LD20 that outputs 180 lumens max; the newer LD20 outputs 205 which isn't really a noticeable difference. The only complaint I've heard from the new LD20(R4) is that the throw and beam isn't quite as good as the older model. I use a velcro strap to mount my LD20 to my helmet. You may also consider buying a TwoFish Bike Block or Lock Block to mount the LD20 or any other flashlight to your helmet or handlebars. TwoFish Lock Blocks and Bike Blocks can be purchased on Amazon or other online stores. One of my favourite accessories for the LD20 is the white diffuser tip which can be attached to the light to create an aura of visibility around your biking area. It's a pretty cool effect. More info about the Fenix LD20 and it's accessories can be found here: https://www.fenixtactical.com/fenix-ld20.html

I used to ride with a 200 lumen light. It may be enough for many people but it wasn't enough for me and my route. A P7 flashlight on medium is about 200 to 250 I'd guess, and I do use that on some parts of my ride, but on others I kick it up to high which is probably 400 or so.

These days I just ride with my Magicshine on high all the time, then I don't have to worry about it. I tip it down a bit when I get to areas where there is much oncoming traffic, but in rural areas where I'm on gravel and have to see a long way ahead to avoid massive herds of potholes but still want to do 20+ MPH, I aim it fairly far out.

With a 200 lumen light, I had to slow down. My ride is already long enough.

No one seems to be addressing how these cheap lights get expensive by having to buy new AA batteries all the time. Based off of how much I ride I would be going through 2 batteries a day, five days a week. That is 10 batteries a week for ~6 months. 260 batteries = roughly $130. That ain't so cheap any more. My Niterider 350 lumen light gives me more lumens, greater run time and ends up being cheaper than the flashlight in the long run.

That's because none of us are using non-rechargables in them. OK, maybe some people are, but I haven't even BOUGHT an alkaline battery in about 10 years. NiMH are cheaper AND they last longer unless you're going nuts and buying lithium primary cells.

I use rechargables not only because of the expense, but because of the environmental disaster of non-rechargables. The recycling place in our town has four 55 gallon steel drums for people to dump recycled batteries in. They fill them to overflowing every week. They weigh a hell of a lot when full, something like 400 pounds. So about 1600 pounds a week. I'm guessing that MAYBE, at BEST, 2% of households recycle batteries, the vast majority just dumps them in the trash. So I'm guessing that for one smallish town (50,000 population) 1600*50=80,000 pounds, or 40 tons of household batteries hit the landfill. For ONE smallish city.

That's a lot of guesswork, but I bet whatever the real number is, it's a shipload.

And they're not all alkalines either, there are nicad and lithium and lead-acid cells in there too.

If you're gonna talk price alone, my Magicshine gives even MORE lumens and is cheaper at EVERY point from purchase to end of life, even if it lasts half as long and I have to buy twice as many of them, and I honestly don't think that's the case.

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased this light from DinoDirect.

https://www.lightake.com/detail.do/sk...x18650)_-32582

I paid $34. Now it's gone down to $24.99. Gosh, at 900 lumen, this flashlight is made to see and be seen. Plus it has 5 modes: Hi > Mid > Low > Strobe > SOS which is highly recommended for bicycle riding. I bought 2 rechargeable batteries (it only requires one) and a charger. Each battery is supposed last about 70 mins at high steady, but I haven't tried it, yet. Just get a flashlight holder and you should be all set. A plus is that I like its design and silver alloy material.

Glad to hear the most people are using rechargeables. I remember them from 20 years ago and they were terrible. You would get maybe three or four charges out of them and the memory issues were terrible. They were never as powerful as the disposables. I haven't bought a AA/AAA rechargeable battery since.

Also, don't believe the lumens rating for the Magicshines.

Those were NiCad. Yes, they're bad. I don't think anyone's using them anymore except in specific situations or really, really cheap rechargable equipment. Everyone uses NiMH now. NiMH cells in general have slightly less power in them than alkalines, but the way that they deliver power is more suitable to many devices. Alkalines can't deliver high instantaneous current, which makes them horrible for things like digital cameras. NiMH can deliver a bunch of power fast. As a result, in many devices an alkaline battery will stop being able to power the device when it's only slightly discharged, so you wind up having to put in new cells when the old ones are only maybe 1/3 discharged. The NiMH will deliver heavy current demands right up until it's almost totally depleted.

Yes, it's well known that the Magicshine "900 lumen" model puts out about 450 to 500 lumens. It's still a good deal even at 450 lumens, and it's a great level of output. It would be nice if they didn't like in their marketing, but they'd be almost the first ones in the lighting industry to do so if they did. Truthful marketing is very close to an oxymoron.

my best bang for the buck head lights are two small $5 LED flashlight gaffers taped to the handle bar. One angle slightly downward for the road ahead, one straight on for salmon deterring. I commute 12.5 miles daily on urban street(with street lights) so my main objective for a head light is to be seen by motorist and salmon deterrant.

I saw this same setup last night when I was driving home and I can tell you that those little tiny lights get lost in the wash of the streetlights from the point of view of a driver - and this from one who looks out for cyclists in a cycling town. I could see his silhouette easier than I could spot those teeny lights. Best bang for the buck to be seen is reflective clothing and stickers. Otherwise use a killer light setup. Or both.

what the heck? i rode at 20mph with a 13 watt light with no probs, and you're scared running over 10 with 320 lumens???? geez back in the day before halogens i rode over 10mph with a standard bulb using 2 c batts! give me a break.

I have yet to purchase new batteries for my LD20. I've been using the same old 2+ year old NiMh energizer batteries I've had lying around my house. The great thing about Fenix lights and other flashlights that aren't 'bike specific' lights are the accessories you can get for them as I mentioned. I can easily remove my LD20 from my helmet and hold it in my hand or attach the diffuser tip and lay it on the ground if I need to do emergency repairs on my bike at night and need two hands for whatever it is I'm doing. I did a ton of research before I finally settled on the LD20 as the best choice for a bike light rather than getting a light that costs 150$+ that puts out the same power. Another thing I took into consideration when buying a light was if I bought a bike light that required it's own battery pack and for some freak reason the battery stopped working, I'd need either an extra pack on me or have the charger handy. With the LD20 I can pretty easily find AA's at a 24 hour gas station/convenience store or at a friends house if I'm nearby. Don't get me wrong, the LD20 is definitely not bright enough to take down trails at night if you're going to be riding fast. I have done it and it'd be best to have at least two of them (at that point you might as well buy an actual bike light); but for commuting on roads it's a perfect choice in my opinion. It's even great just as an every day carry light.

Thanks for all the info, got the Terralux 220 from Amazon for $32 shipped and a holder from Deal Xtreme for $2 shipped. Will let you know how it performs on my short commute home.

https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8274

https://www.amazon.com/TerraLUX-TLF-3.../dp/B001IMCU66

I had a MagicShine for 5 months from GeoMan before it broke. I was able to fix the light but then it would flicker on high, which I never used anyway because it was way too bright for anything but single track. Then a month later the charger failed, couldn't locate the problem. During those two months I was constantly e-mailing GeoMan knowing that with a 3 month warranty on the light I was screwed, but I never got a response after about 30 attempts. I used it about 2 times a week. I heard, but not for sure, that during the time I had my problem the original owner of GeoMan died so maybe that's why I never got a response. A 3 month warranty should have warned me that thing was junk and the company that made them knew it would probably safely make it past 3 months but not much longer.

Any advice on converting a regular headlight into a tailight? I'm thinking of pointing my Cateye rearward when i get a good front light, putting red on the lens and using it as a nice bright solid rear light to go with my superflash. Better than letting it sit around unused and cheaper than buying a magicshine rear light.
Anyone do this? Mounting difficulties?

Converting a white light to a red light isn't too hard to do, I'd just get some taillight repair tape at the store, probably cost you $5.

That said, it's very inefficient; you're throwing away 80% of the light that is being generated, so you're going to have about 1/5 or less the runtime as if you had a similarly bright actual red taillight which only makes red light in the first place.

exactly on the accessories part. you can buy a red filter for the Fenixes and have yourself a really bright taillight.

Blackburn FLEA.. Enough said =)

I LOVE my Fleas.