Replacing my L&M ARC
 

After 9 years of service, my Light & Motion ARC NiMH has died. I'm looking for recommendations to replace it. Ideally with something sub $200 but similar output - has LED tech moved forward enough to have something like that available? Any suggestions?

More from same company? On Bike - Light & Motion

Given its a HID light , what gave out?

HID Bulb and battery are replaceable aren't they? send it in .. repair rather than replace ..
I had to find out what you were going on about..
this is a specialty race light. http://www.amazon.com/Light-Motion-N.../dp/B000F3RVAY

Niterider also makes a serious 12v battery powered off road racing headlight.

https://www.niterider.com/product/pr...enduro-remote/

I still have a double halogen Niterider , its the Bottle battery pack that gave out .. only recharges so many times .

I havent fixed it because my cycling is not a style that requires it any More..

Plenty of good choices. What are you looking for in a light? I despise battery packs so Cygolite, Lezyne, Niterider, L&M, Serfas, etc lights are my preference. Unfortunately these all have proprietary, non-replaceable batteries and limited run time on high (1-2 hours). There are lots of "Magicshine" clone lights with battery packs and longer run times as well as much higher output (1500-2000 lumens). I recommend 700 lumens for night riding. Prices for 700 lumens are in the $100 range. I know nothing about riding in rain.

There are lots of threads about lights. There are some good threads in the Night Riding section on Mountain Bike Review ? The Best Mountain Bike Brands and Parts Online - Mtbr.com as well. Check out https://www.bikelightdatabase.com/ which has relatively up to date info on a large number of commercially available lights. The Best Commuter Bike Lights | The Sweethome has some good info too, but they recommend 350 lumens for night riding and I think that is not enough. The Amazon reviews for lights are often helpful.

It's a great time to be purchasing lights. There are FINALLY lots of offerings for bright lights and the competition has driven down the prices to be very reasonable. The database site might be a good place to start as they have a very nice table of data.

9 years? Send in a warranty claim, just for the laughs. :D

You will get a lot of light for less bucks these days, but cheaper ones won't last another 9 years.

--J

The L&M HID light I had was rated ~700 lumens as I remember. I got a Cygolite Expilion 700 to replace it ~4 years ago and thought the Cygolite seemed to put out significantly more light. There are many higher output LED lights commonly available now. Rather than get one super bright light my preference is to run two 700-800 lumen lights, which provides much more versatility than one 1400 lumen light.

Check out the MTBR Lights Shootout to get an overview of lights. They don't include all the available lights, but you can see how different lights have wider or narrower beams, their lumens, and run times.

I would just look for another light from Light And Motion if you were happy with your light up to this point. Light And Motion lights are expensive, but they put out some of the best color output of LED lights. If it's a wide beam mountain biking lights, look at the Seca.

I actually have the same light. Awesome light output. Not the greatest beam pattern though. It just throws light in an ever expanding cone shape, so the stray upward light just blinds oncoming people/cars. I made a light shield for mine though.

Check to make sure your battery was not part of the recall L&M had several years ago. If your battery is part of the recall batch, you could get a free replacement, or whatever they are offering for recalled batteries.

Fenix BT20 Bike Light - CREE XM-L T6 LED - 750 Lumen - Uses 4 x CR123 or 2 x 18650 I have had this one for two years. use it as a day time to be seen light, but I have been caught out in the dark and it does a great job. I like that I am not stuck with a sealed battery pack.