Paid the bucks for a NiteRider a few years ago. Probs shortly thereafter, they replaced it under warranty (that's a good thing).

Now it will no longer recharge, and is therefore no longer usable. Also, the mounting bracket has deteriorated to the point that I need to use duct tape in order to prevent it from falling off when hitting bumps. NiteRider says they'll fix it (and I am confident they will), plus throw in a new mounting bracket, for 20 bucks. But based on the track record, I'm a bit leery of hanging with them/it as opposed to just moving on...

Options:
1. Pay the $20 and press on.
2. Stay "high quality" but switch brands (all suggestions on high quality brands and models welcome!)
3. Spend less than $20 on a brand new low quality light that uses AAA batteries, and be willing to replace the batteries (and/or the light) as needed

What do you folks think?

All batteries go bad after "a few years". I'm happy with my 2 year old Niterider Lumina Flare
and it's helmet strap. If it was me; I'd go with option #1 .

NY-NJ Pathtrain by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

I bought a £17 Cree light off ebay .... I use it in pitch dark cycle paths every night and I only use it on the low setting (it has 3 settings) .... I use the headband and I don't want to 'faff' around with a rubber band every time want to take it off the handlebars

on low, it's superbright like a Volvo bus headlights on bright.... This has been one of my best buys this year

Cygolite makes good battery lights here in the USA. Good customer service, too.

If you're thinking of replacing your light, give a good thought to dynamo powered lights. I have too many bikes and am in the process of installing them on most of my bikes. That's how much I like them. Once installed, I don't have to do anything to them for years.

Germans make the best bicycle lights. presumably due to the combination of laws requiring bicycle lights, laws requiring intelligent optics design on them, and precision German engineering.

Order a Busch & Müller Ixon Iq Premium from bike-discount.de in Germany. $47 + $10 for a charger + $24 flat rate shipping + $4 plug adapter from amazon + $17 for 4 2550 maH NiMH AA Panasonic Eneloop batteries from Amazon = $102. The glare shield is included so you don't need to order a separate one.

lamp
charger
adapter
2550maH / 500 cycle batteries or 2000maH / 2100 cycle batteries

It's fairly bright, casts a uniform light field so you can see better, has a cut-off so you won't dazzle drivers, gets 5+ hours on high, has no separate battery pack with a cable that goes bad, and takes AA batteries if you need to swap for a long ride or they wear out. You can also power it with an external 7.2V battery pack using pairs of 18650s or whatever.



Shipping from Germany takes 1-2 weeks, although most people will prefer that to spending about $60 (125%) more to get the same light from a US source.

Bingo. All rechargeables go belly up, depending on use may take a bit of time or more...but they all eventually go belly up.

I like NiteRiders, because you can get adapters to mount them to a GoPro mount and get handlebar space back. Especially since most bike lights interfere with computers like Edge 1000. Very few if any other bike headlights have GoPro adapters 1st or 3rd party available.

NiteRider Light - Album on Imgur

I'm leaning toward ordering a B+M Ixon IQ or IQ Premium because:

• Prices have recently dropped, and the B+Ms are priced competitively with anything else readily available in the US;
• I occasionally need more than 1-2 hours run-time on bright. That narrows it down to lights with replaceable AA or AAA batteries.

I like the convenience and light weight of my USB rechargeable lights, but I've run out of juice a few times before getting home at night the past few months. Sure, I could extend the charge life using flashers, but some group rides object, and a flashing main headlight may help cars see me but doesn't help me see the road.

I'm also considering the Light & Motion USB rechargeables, but I need to see a few beam pattern demos first. Most bright headlights I've looked at are basically just flashlights casting non-patterned pools of light.

After using a modestly bright Vivo Bike Illuminati for a few months I've come to appreciate the shaped beam pattern - the design is similar to the B+M with a top mounted LED and mirror casting a fairly definite beam pattern that controls spill. It's nowhere near as bright as a B+M, but it's a great little lightweight helmet light.

I have owned nearly every upper level brand of rechargeable light on the market, and will say for sure the batteries poop out far too quickly for the money paid. Never received more than two years from one. Only run AA battery operated lights now. Serfas (lifetime warranty) and Blackburn (lifetime warranty) have lower cost AA lights that put out a fair beam and last a good time when using flashing mode, and significantly less time on steady high. Stick will replaceable battery type lights, and let those with deeper pockets go for the gold standard lights.

+1 I bought the older 2 lamp version of this light for super cheap 2-3 years ago. At the price I figured I couldn't go far wrong, and could replace it a number of times if it didn't hold up. Still using it, and if/when it dies, I'll be very happy to buy another.

I have a Fenix BT-20 and like the idea of using rechargeable 18650 batteries in it.

I just purchased both a L&M Urban 800 and a Vis 360 Plus helmet mount. Jenson USA price matched the lowest price I could find. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Not sure what kind of pattern you are looking for but the beam on the Urban is very smooth from center to edge, no hot spots at all. I was skeptical of the side lights on the Urban but they are much more visible than I though they would be. The Vis 360 Plus has a noticeable hot spot in the center and is used to augment the bar mounted light - to flash a motorist approaching from a side street, look into a turn, etc.

Bike Light Database has beam shots. I'll see if I can take some pics tonight and post as well.

Here are a few pics.

Because of the shape of my helmet, he mount for both front and rear lights on the VIS 360 interfered with fit when mounted lower. I had to mount a bit higher as a result. All helmet mount lights are a compromise in terms of mounting and I now have a small strip of velcro securing the coiled cord so that it is a bit more discreet. The front light has a second mounting option that I haven't used yet and I'm starting to think that this might be better - still playing with it.








Swivel for potential stem mount. It also comes with helmet and gopro mounts.

I looked at the website. Not sure I care for the mount but this looks nice otherwise.

Any idea what 80 Lux would be in lumens? Is this a 200 lumen light, 500 lumen light, etc.?

You want the IQ Premium. It's twice as bright, has a wider beam, gets more battery life due to better mirror design, and doesn't cost appreciably more after factoring in shipping + batteries.

You might find this helpful. There are also Lux to Lumens calculators on line

Mathematically you're not going to make a meaningful conversion because lux is light per unit area, lumens is the total light, and you can't factor in beam shape - the light ending up on trees and in the air doesn't count for illuminating the road.

Subjectively it looks as bright as a Magicshine MJ808 on medium which is a claimed 900-1000 lumen light that really measures 550-650 on high and is probably 275-325 on medium with twice the run time, but you can see better with the B&M because it doesn't have a significant hotspot interfering with your night vision.

You can't tell absolute brightness from images due to cameras seeing differently than people with varying exposure times, just what the beam is shaped like. To borrow @PaulRivers picture from his 2014 bikeforums.net thread https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/942351-ixon-iq-premium-bike-light-may-best-bike-light-i-ve-ever-seen-lumotec-cyo-google-page-ranking.html



Magicshine MJ-808 P7 10W LED lamp (for MTB use) compares an Edelux dynamo light measuring 180 lumen @ 30km/H to the Magicshine, although the Ixon IQ Premium shares the Edelux II optics which are 30% brighter than the original

Get the fork crown mount. I have one on nearly all of my bikes now. For those of you going the AA route, I recommend paring with one of the B&M AA tail lights, eneloop batteries and a smart charger like the LaCrosse BC-700. I have experimented with a lot of battery powered lighting systems over the years and this one is the best.

Nite Riders service after the sale is , as I have found, Excellent .

Rechargeable batteries dont have infinite charge cycles .. the chemistry/physics loophole of infinity does not exist.


A Hub Dynamo Lighting system of course does not require recharging the batteries .

Common is to have a Capacitor in thje lights now so the light stays on at stop-signs and Lights.

MagicShine is nothing more than a generic Chinese light you can get on either E-bay or Amazon all day long for $45 to $65 that was "branded" with a decal. Save the $150 or so of the cost of a MagicShine and get the generic versions for a lot less money.

The generic lights, like MagicShine, only put out roughly 50% of the rated lumens that the Chinese manufacture claimed, but even so if you buy a 2000 lumen generic light and only get 1000 lumens for $45 or so, that's still a good deal, however some of the shortfalls that plagued earlier models were batteries getting so hot either they caught fire or whatever it was in contact with caught fire, but I think the newer generic lights have fixed that issue but don't quote me on that.

thats what I done .... see my previous post on this thread .... with shipping, I paid £17 and it is blindingly bright. I only use it on the low setting. If the battery pack stopps working, I will buy another complete light with the battery pack for another £17

I use this in conjuction with my cygolite hotshot back light and a high viz jacket for night time riding

If you get a super bright light, please take care not to shine it into people's eyes. It is painful and dangerous.

thats the good thing about wearing it on a headband .... when a cyclist approaches, you tilt your head in the opposite direction so as to not blind him or her... another good thing with wearing a headband, is that when you are on a very dark section, you can merely adjust the headlight a bit higher, and you can then see a lot further ahead

but when you are riding in heavy traffic, and a car at a roundabout or traffic intersection seems to ignore you, stare at them head on and the first reaction that they do is slam on brakes

it is much better and much safer (as a cyclist) than mounting your light on the handlebars

"but when you are riding in heavy traffic, and a car at a roundabout or traffic intersection seems to ignore you, stare at them head on and the first reaction that they do is slam on brakes "

That is Why I use a Super Bright light on my Helmet

Different strokes for different folks, of course. My "stroke" is to use dynamo-powered lighting. The headlight is mounted on the fork crown. I can get people's attentions by wiggling my handlebars. It's a huge plus for me that I never worry about how much run time is left on my lights. Another huge plus is how smart the optics are: the light isn't super bright, but it is evenly painted on the surface, which makes it effectively more than it otherwise would be. Hot spots in lights tend to blind me, especially since I can't seem to help the fact that I focus on them. One downside is that it's not bright enough to go fast in extreme darkness. No big deal for me. I slow down a bit.

Bar and helmet mount together is the best of both worlds.

Yup, it's cheaper to buy a new generic light with a battery pack than a new non generic battery for lights that have replaceable batteries.