Right now at High Quality LED Bike Lights from Gemini, Gloworm and Magicshine ? Action-LED-Lights they have the latest generation magicshine 808 for about 50 something after 20% off, even less for just the lamp, magicshine is discontinuing that model. Very reputable site and good price. I may get one. Otherwise it seems you have to order from one of the chinese vendors sites to get a clone with a genuine cree. I have so far had good luck with amazon lights though.

I've got this one, and I plug it into my battery bank for days of light between charges. You can also get extra battery packs to swap in and out if you want.

Cygolite Expilion 850 USB Light with Helmet Mount: $89.95

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Those look sweet. I love the replaceable batteries and the fact cygolites are made in USA. Am I wrong in thinking that helmet mount pictured looks like its probably compatible with a gopro mount?

So far I'm super happy with it, and the ability to run it directly from my battery bank for a ridiculous amount of hours for days on end makes it amazing. Once I get my dynamo installed, I'll have endless light with no need to ever plug into an outlet anywhere.

I'd like to know how this works out. A dynamo nominally puts out 3W, and your light might use more than that, so unless you have far more daylight hours charging than night hours discharging, it seems you could run a deficit. But what do I know.

+1 on the clones.

I have an older authentic model and it works great but my friends clone is damn good for a fraction of the price.

Good point, and definitely something to consider. I suppose it will have to do with what the output of whatever dynamo I end up with puts out in conjunction with my solar panel, and how long I'm actually using the light (not during daylight), and on what setting. Once I get my dynamo I'll likely go for dynamo specific lighting at some point, it just makes more sense, and then use this Cygolite as an assessor to them as needed, and perhaps as a helmet attached light.

Many a light has an internal recharging system. In the old days we had plugs and wall mounts and a bag full of stuff to carry with us.

Get with the times man, this is the 90s.

I like my niterider 1800. 1800 is so bright it hurts my eyes, medium is plenty of light. I use it in town, but do not take it with me when I go some place.

I suggest 2 or 3 small lights instead of one big one. Fenix is a leader on the lumens per dollar chart. Internal recharge is the way to go.

1800 hurts your eyes? Man, 100 will hurt your eyes. Don't look into any modern bike headlight. It's really dangerous.

+1

Yes even the small ones are very intense if looked at directly alot of the time.

Dont drink beer and post stupid thoughts.

1800 lumens is to much light to ride with, the medium setting is plenty of light. All the sober people understood what I was saying. Only the beer guy got confused and posted a confused thought

27,000 posts? do you ride a bicycle or just post about bikes? The bad part of the internet is suffering through a beer guy without a life. Turn your computer off. Go outside. No phone, no computer, no electric anything. Go outside without electricty of any kind each and every day.

Was that supposed to be a joke, or are you really that incompetent?

I'm not so much into beer, as weed is my favorite indulgence, but yeah, I get your point.

I've got the Cygolite 680 and that's a great medium range light... wow the price drop on the 800 sounds good. The mount is not very good though.

I used a fairly thick piece of rubber wrapped around the bar, and then installed the mount around that. I've had no issues with this setup thus far.

well ... that certainly escalated quickly!

can i assume 400 lumens for the front and 200 for the tailight are a good range? i want lights to be seen in dusk/ shadow conditions more than night riding. and are tire generators a thing of the past? i saw a small, currently produced, bottle generator online a while back. not sure if they're reliable, and am not ready to commit to a hub generator until the next (new/ not refurbished) bike in a couple of years.

That Ituo looks like a great light! I have been using a $30 XinTD C8 and I am happy with it. Except the runtime is about 1.5 hours. I can't stand external battery packs as there is no room on smaller frames. The two batteries and 1000 lumens will probably give better runtime.

I have a Cygolite Metro 550 to use for daylight flashing for visibility while commuting. I'm happy with how bright it is.

I haven't had the opportunity to use it much yet, but from the little test runs around the neighborhood, having my light at the highest setting, which is supposedly 850 lumens, is adequate, but I think I may need more in other conditions. I won't know until I'm able to get it out on the road a lot more.

Tire generators are not common in the US but they are in other countries. Peter White says they're better than they used to be. I haven't tried a new one. I have an old one on one of my bikes. It works, but it makes a lot of noise and drag. I also put an under-BB dynamo on my wife's bike. She may never ride it at night, but it's there if she ever needs it. The sidewall type is reliable, however. It needs virtually no maintenance.

I use a hub generator on the bike I ride the most. I can't feel the drag, and the time and expense have paid off in a big way, since I know my headlight will always work, no matter what.

In my view 400 front and 200 rear are far more than most people need. Most people who use bike lights have lights that put out less, and some people don't even use lights at all.

The Light and Motion Taz 1200 might come closest to the original goal of a bright trail light at around $150. I see it advertised for $177 with free shipping on Amazon right now.

I tried the Taz at REI this week and it's very good, the nearest I've seen to a motorcycle quality light for a bicycle -- broad beam pattern, evenly distributed, very bright.

Unfortunately like most such lights -- USB rechargeables -- the limited run time per charge makes it less useful for commuting or longer nighttime rides. But it's probably well suited to trail rides since you probably won't be riding for more than an hour to three hours (unless you have a lot more energy than I do). Reportedly the Taz can't be charged continuously while running, which limits its usefulness. Even my cheaper low power USB lights can be charged while running from an external USB battery pack, although it's awkward to use that way and not suited to wet weather.

I just got the L&M Urban 500. It's a good value. But the limited run time per charge on high means I won't be able to use it on full power for the longer group rides I join a couple of times a month. The group rides along often run two hours, and it's another two hour round trip from and back to my home.

So I'll still carry my Serfas SL-255, which runs on a pair of AA batteries. It's not as bright and the beam pattern is a bit narrow. But it runs for several hours on full power, and much longer on lower power. Drop off varies depending on whether I'm using NiMH rechargeables (these tend to run at nearly full brightness and suddenly extinguish) or alkalines (long gradual drop off in brightness).

I love my serfas.

The Taz is my favorite battery light that you can buy right now. It's a tradeoff - it doesn't go as far down the road, but it's really good at having an wide, even beam pattern that isn't horrible for oncoming traffic (the neutral-white led is helps to).

Problem with most of the brand name lights nowadays is the crappy runtimes. 1.5 hours on high? I mean, they're not even trying. I'm thinking of buying 2 lights so I can run both on medium and get good lighting with respectable runtimes. Maybe that was their crappy plan all along?

Mount a bunch of those cheap 'tactical flashlights'? as seen on TV..

Not sure the price, but I've been using a pair of Light & Motion Urbans for a couple of years now. A 550 and 800 model in tandem.

Very light, small, recharges fast and provides more than enough light for me.

If I were buying today, I'd get a pair of the highest powered Urbans on the market.

Fenix BT-20. It uses two 18650 batteries so you can carry spares.