Need Advice: Best Headlight for Illumination...
 

which does not require an external battery pack, handlebar-mounted, lasts for 1 hour and is rechargeable?

My co-worker is looking for the above to do fitness rides in the morning.

How about fitting a hub dynamo front hub, and an LED headlight?

Schmidt, hub Dynamo and dual headlights is just the thing for Paris- Brest- Paris.
where the ride is starting and finishing at night.

and no battery light can put out that level of light for that many hours.


go cheaper , Shimano or other hub dynamo and all sorts of wired headlights.

Planet Bike has a wired handlebar mounted light,
you can unplug it from the hub and remove it from the handle bar ..
you have no battery life concerns then, and as dynamo, laced in the wheel,
works in all weather..

P-B also has Battery LED lights , I have a 1W version, they make a 2w too.
they are multimode blinky aka superflash. , fairly spot beam.

Nice German made imports too, Busch and Muller, AXA Basta, Spanninga, etc,
they are not multimode as German law requires
lights to be steady on,like all other vehicles.

I use a fenix ld20, with a two fish flashlight holder, and a rechargeable batteries!

Has worked well for 2 years!

Both of these MiNewts are cordless:
http://www.niterider.com/rechargeabl...-cordless-new/
http://www.niterider.com/rechargeabl...-cordless-new/

a P7 flashlight works too

This company makes some very nice commuting lights. They are somewhat expensive, but they work well. I have the Vis-360 Mounted on my commuting helmet, and it puts out great light, fore, aft, and to both sides.

http://www.bikelights.com/commuter.html

I use one of these. A Romisen RC-N3. Works great on rechargeable batteries. Mounted on a two fish lockblock. I'm getting close to 4 hours on my 4 yr old light. And it won't cost you an arm and a leg. Good value.
http://www.shiningbeam.com/media/00/...8c836fcd_m.jpg

http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/t...II-CREE/Detail

P.S. I'm still using the same rechargeables I bought 4 years ago.

Busch & Müller IXON IQ. Can be purchased with rechargeable batteries; light plugs right into charger, so no need to remove batteries. It ain't cheap, but is sure is nice. Available through Peter White:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m.asp

I've just purchased a Fenix LD20, so far so good. Its light enough that later, if you want to change it's location from your handle bars to your helmet , you'll not notice its weight.

This just went on sale @ NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882021185

Reviews look promising and the price is definitely right.

As another poster somewhat mentioned, Niterider and Cygolite now make models like you're looking for. Browse through their site and they're listed.

I bought one of those cheap chinese things from dealtime. 900 lumens with C18650 battery. Works great, and puts out a lot of light. I can't complain, although there are better lights out there. Flashlight + charger + batteries was $50. It is almost as bright as a single car or motorcycle light.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/ultrafi...-1-18650-50319

I have been using an earlier 250 lumen version of the minewt lights listed above for the last year. Very happy with it and wouldn't hesitate to buy the 600 if I had to replace my current light.

Cygolite makes several self contained, but with replaceable batteries (most don't have that capability), rechargeable lights, from 150 lumens to 600 lumens and others in between, and all will burn for at least 2 hours on high. There are 3 ExpiliOn lights and a Trion, please see this site for details on each: http://www.cygolite.com/products/index.html

Your best prices on any of these lights can be found on Amazon. There is also a ExpiliOn 250 that is no longer made as of this year but their still found on Amazon.

Cygolite: http://www.amazon.com/CygoLite-Expil...4849777&sr=8-2

I bought the 250 model, but a 350 just came out for around the same price. After having to deal with the frustration of cheapo nonbike lights (P7, magicshine, etc), the build quality and intelligent design of the expilion is a welcomed change.

I also use the Cygolite Expilion 250. Works great, love it. Biking at night is a different beast, and this light is a real game changer.

I bought the MagicShine for Geoman and 2 months into owning it failed, I sent it back under the 90 day warranty provision, that was 14 months ago and a constant barrage of e-mails for about 6 months, and not one e-mail was ever answered, I gave up. UPS had tracked it as received so I know they got it. So I gave up and lesson learned, if it's too good to be true it's probably a bad product.

I used a Minewt X2 for a few years, then added a Minewt 400 dual when it came out and used the X2 as a front blinky.
The X2 is inadequate for seeing debris and damage on unlit roads at downhill speeds.

That's good stuff to know. My charger for my Cygolite Rover II LED quit working about a month ago. I contacted them via email and they sent a new charger to me within a couple of weeks, and did not make me return the defective charger. I had to fax them my reciept. I told them I wished they make a dynohub powered headlight, as they make tough lights.

I am possibly getting a Sparks ST6-460NW for night riding. No battery pack, 300 lumens (test in a integrated sphere) and neutral white for better perception and color. It can also use 18650 cells so you can get more than 1 with you for looong trips.
Review here: http://www.light-reviews.com/spark_st6-460nw/
Another great light is Zebralights, check them out too. I know these are headlamps, but they are also great for riding at night.

if you don't need to see where you are going and only need a "to be seen light" then consider rechargeable AAs in something like a Planet Bike headlight

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...FYHc4Aod22lPyw

they also make a rear light which is also important that takes AAAs

I like generic style batteries like AA and AAA because they are easy to find and you can carry a spare set of non rechargeables in your bag just in case.

You should always have a light you can see by, thoseto be seen only lights are not even bright enough to even be seen! And for what? to save $40?

I have the dynamo version of the Planet Bike Blaze. It's just as nice as their battery powered versions, but shares the same flaw of a narrow focused beam. A good be seen light, more so on the flash mode, but not a terribly useful seeing light. I'd really recommend one of the newer Bush & Muller lights if you go the generator route. The lyt by B&M might be a good choice, but I've never seen decent photos or a video illustrating its beam pattern and intensity.

Erm...let's not kid ourselves, no, it's not. A single car headlight will destroy anything sold as a bike headlight, especially when you consider that the car headlight gives you 1700++ real lumens for under $20. All bike light makers hype their lumen figures, car headlight makers cannot. If you estimate that they (bike lights) are optimistic by 50%(!!) you will be on solid ground. With that paradigm a Magicshine is just under 500 real lumens. It uses four 4 18650's. Two for power and two for runtime. There is no single cell 18650 flashlight that can touch it for runtime. There is no 3 AAA that can touch it for intensity. There isn't. Even if I had the money to buy a Lupine Tesla or a Busch and Mueller anything, I think it sends the wrong message for cyclists to pay $350, $500... ... $800, for a single headlight when at most they are getting ~800 real lumens from it. And, most of the time, much less. Support the manufacturers that bring products to market with a reasonable performance to price ratio and help them do well. I love my Magicshine. Could it fail? Of course it could. So could an expensive light. I'm not sure it matters though. I cannot. I simply cannot afford what a quality headlight that delivers 500 real lumens costs. OTOH I will forever bear the scars from the accident that resulted from using a quality 110 real lumen headlight in the real world. So, since it's my hide on the line I will take the low road and buy the chinese knock off 500 real lumen light and call it good enough for now.

H

lol, I agree that none of the flashlights will match a car headlight, but they *do* make bike headlights as bright or brighter than a car headlight. Say, the Night Rider Pro 3000 which puts out 3,000 lumens (at least the last time I checked Niterider rated their lights accurately).

The thing that sucks about it is that it puts out a car headlight level of light, but doesn't have a shaped beam with a cutoff light a car headlight does.

Gee, now we're going into the stratosphere with light prices at around $600, yup, I going to get a one tomorrow...NOT!!!

Why would anyone need that much light to travel at no more then 32 mph? And I bet the average speed on this forum is probably 16 to 17 mph and for that you need a 3,000 lumen light? I have more then enough light with 480 lumens and most of the time I run it at around 300 unless on a very dark road then I bump it to 480. 3000 lumen light would be great to have if one could ride their bike at 80 mph!!

This is just purely absurd.