I use an Eveready headlight that has a band so you can wear it on your head. It is an LED light and it VERY bright. Between $10 and $15.

That the one with two bright, two so-so and a red led? have something like that from WalMart and it has proved to have a good light & features:$$$ ratio. About $15.

Anyone have some good ideas about mounting a headlamp to the helmet? So slick that the straps will just slide off.

I am thinking of wide velcro and something dedicated to that job.

Bought a Coast LED Lenser flashlight for the bike and it seems to have more than sufficient light and throw. Velcroed to the mount for the Planet Bike headlight. Hose clamp would be better.

Now for something that lights where I am looking vs where the bike is pointing.

I use one of these with the headband around my handlebar bag.
Excellent for my early morning pre-dawn rides.
I have not tried it yet when it is too dark to see the road.
Mine was ~$20.

I like that idea. Have some rail trail tunnels coming up next month. I have been trying it on the helmet with some velcro cord wrap straps thru the vent holes to hold it on. The main light is a very bright Coast LED flashlight hose-clamped to the bracket for my Plant Bike light (too dim in tunnels).

I tried a true rural night ride this weekend. Overcast with no moonlight. With all four LEDs on, it lights a good patch of road. I was comfortable up to 15mph.

The problem was that I found it hard to aim properly. For "be seen" mode, I had it mounted inverted so the bumps don't overcome the hinge tension, which causes the light to point straight down. Inverted in darkness it casts light upward so it is in my face when I am on the drops.
I think the solution will be to mount it right side up, aim with a foam wedge and keep the hinge closed with a spot of hot glue.

does somebody have a pic of a flashlight mounted setup? Where can I buy a bike mount?

I use two fish lock blocks from the Fenix store for my Fenix lights and another mount for my P7 that I must have gotten from Deal Extreme, don't quite remember.

+1, lock blocks work really well. I got mine from sevens.

Livestrong style bracelets... never failed on me:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c31/subigo/hl.jpg

Planetbike Blaze 1 Watt and Tail Light works great... got it at $45 when it was on sale at REI.

Many of the older links do not seem to work anymore. Is this the RC-N3 Q5 that is recommended, or is there another model I should look at? http://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/t...CREE-Q5/Detail

That's the one. I've got one and it works great!

I have the Fenix L2DQ5 which has been fabulous. How does it compare to the RC-N3 Q5? Anyone compared them? The RC is quite a bit cheaper than the Fenix and both use AA batteries.

Thank you. I went ahead and ordered one.

The Live Strong bracelet idea above is clever, too. I tried it with a 1W LED flashlight I picked up from Menards the other day, and it worked really well.

I had the Fenix and do own the Romison. The Fenix was a better light for me, alas it was lost in a crash.
The Fenix was it seemed to be lighter, multi mode, I loved the strobe for commuting. Switching modes was quicker my guess is the switch type.

For the Romison side. More than HALF of the Fenix price, so you can get 2 and still be ahead of the game. Using the CR123 makes it a nice compact unit, but I use the AA's. They do rattle, but I fixed that with a thin business card to fill the gap. Crown is kinda nice incase you need to smack someone over the head. On the negative it has only one mode. There is a newer version option with a 2 mode switch, but I think the low is TOO weak. I haven't used it on my helmet but may yet do that this winter. Battery runs about 2 hours on the AA, perhaps longer but I turn it off when I don't need it.

Bottom line is if you need ONLY one mode the Romison is a winner.

check this out: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=202569

I have both and if I were to only get one, it would be the Fenix.

I use the other around the house.

Thanks. I have no battery rattle in the Fenix. Still, the Romison looks like a pretty good buy for the money.

How does the LD20 compare to the L2DQ5? Isn't that the Fenix replacement for the L2D?

This thread is so stuffed full of jargon I can't make much sense of the good information contained within.

Is there an idiot's guide that just says "Here is the light, recharger, batteries, mount, total price and where to order it all for under $50ish?"

I know that would make it a whole lot easier, besides it appears you have all done tons of work figuring it all out, why should I do tons of work figuring out what you decided.

The fenix doesn't rattle, the Romison can because its cut to hold the slightly larger Cr123 battery.

I am not on the LD20 v L2DQ5, I believe it's the "new and improved" which means you just pay more.

In anycase keep it simple, if the Romison doesn't do it for you, someone will buy it here or keep it in the car.

Without a doubt. :thumb:

I have a Romison and the Fenix is kinda out of my price range but I'd like to grab another light that has a flashing mode. Is there a flashing/high-mode light like the Romison that is about the same price that is recommended?

After reading the comments, I did as suggested and went off to find a flashlight. I went to Lowes and bought the brightest Coast LED Lenser they had. Nice flashlight. Adjustable beam. Got to try it on the 1.6 mile St. Paul Tunnel (Route of the Hiawatha), twice. (Dark. Cold. Wet. Wear fenders. Wear fleece. Wear jacket.)

It worked just fine. Enough light to light up the whole tunnel. No vertigo issues. I scooted thru the tunnel. No issues. (While is nice, since there are two culverts to avoid). Adjust the beam to suit and ride on. It is hose-clamped to my Planet Bike LED headlight holder. That one was dim enough to give me vertigo in the Bizz Johnson tunnels.

Just in case, I had a headlight attached to the helmet with velcro straps thru the air vents. Plus spare batteries. Not needed.

Part of the problem is that people don't agree. And when you're arguing about why yours is better, the buzzwords tend to come out.

But my advice?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13060 Light, $34.16
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790 Batteries, 2 for $8.18
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8274 Mount, $1.54 (get one for each bike)
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251 Charger, $12.30
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18307 Backup light, $7.43

Total: $63.61 (no tax, shipping is free, but takes about a month), plus you'll need 4 AAA batteries for the backup light. Being that it's a backup, alkalines should be fine -- it shouldn't be used much.

This will give you a really bright light that will last 8 hours if you use in low mode, or about 90 minutes in high mode. However, this light is a bit fragile, so I also suggest getting the backup light. (I've had things vibrate loose inside, but it's never broken so badly that I couldn't fix it in a few minutes.) I'm serious about the brightness -- other cyclists will be amazed at how much light you've got, unless they 1) have about the same thing or 2) spent hundreds of dollars on something else.

Here's a cheaper charger --

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.22576 Charger, $4.39

But I've not tried this one. If you must be under $50, you can get there by getting the cheaper charger and skipping the backup light. But I'd suggest having the backup light.

The backup light is pretty impressive for what it is -- pretty well made for the price (unlike many of the DealExtreme lights), puts out a decent amount of light. The first light is still much brighter, but the backup light is adequate.

If you're on a smaller budget, get two of the backup lights (skip the other stuff) along with 8 - 16 rechargeable AAA batteries and a charger. Aim one light a bit ahead of your front tire, and the other light further ahead.

i.e. get this --

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18307 Light, $7.43, buy two of them.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.72 AAA batteries, $2.39, buy four packs.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29177 Charger, $5.99

... for a total of $30.41. You can save a few bucks by not buying the spare batteries, but it's nice to have a full set of spares, so you're never waiting for batteries to charge.

If you need a rear light, I'm pretty happy with this --

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3639 red tail light, $3.67

EDIT: updated because I was wrong about the batteries used by the backup light.

In addition, what one considers to be sufficient lighting is highly dependent on the time of year, location, amount of traffic, and other factors.

Doug, any issues with the combo above? I have the 13060 flashlight along with this 15642 mount. The mount doesn't fit the light perfectly.

I made it work by strapping a rubber band onto the flashlight. Another annoying issue with the mount is the fact that I have to unscrew the tailcap to get the light onto & off the mount.

That may not be a problem if you leave your light on the bike 24/7. I lock up my bike on a daily basis and need to remove the flashlight on a daily basis.....it gets tiring.