Harbor Freight 36 LED motion-activated solar security light works only at night and when your bike is moving. 36 LED Solar Security Light

First time I have seen these priced this low with battery and charger
CREE XM L 2XU2 LED Bicycle Bike Headlight Lamp Light Set Charger Battery Pack | eBay

Couple of points. There is no way you're getting 5000 lumens for 11 bucks.
Ask yourself why any manufacturer would want to conceal their identity.

Attention Please
1. Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer's responsibility.
2. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying.

Standard eBay disclaimer, a lot of Chinese vendors use the same or similar wording. They almost always ship to the US as a gift item so I have never heard of any US delivery hit with Shipping/Brokerage Fees. Also Economy shipping from China usually means ChinaPost/USPS. When was the last time the USPS opened up a small package from anywhere.
I am assuming it is a clone of a clone. Probably with a shoddy battery. MTBR has said over and over that this light will not output 5000 lumens, neither did I say that. It is about 2000 lumens based on power consumption from all the threads I have seen. Still 2000 lumens is not shabby provided the light doesn't burn out after its first use on High Intensity.

Here is that light on it's "medium" setting the other night on my Fuji. It does the work. I paid $25 from a USA based shipper on Amazon. Can't beat the price. Battery life is great as well.
I don't care if it's not 5000 lumens - that's an insane claim anyway. All I'll say is it's plenty bright, plenty cheap, has a good enough mount, and the battery lasts a long time. What's not to like for the price? I could care less what name is on it.

Just ordered a Cygolite Metro 400 from Amazon, $49. (Also ordered a Metro 550 @$63 to see the difference in person.)

Looks like a reliable, excellent light.

Have you had a chance to try them yet?

They are both very nice lights, but the 550 is noticeably brighter (duh) , so we're keeping the 550s and returning the 400. Had we seen just the 400 we could have been perfectly happy with it. You know how it is once you start comparing things it's hard not to keep climbing up. But the brightness level and the coverage of the 550 was just undeniably better with a wider swath of the road covered and farther ahead as well.

Still debating what to do for my headlight situation.

I ride in the dark a minimum of 5x a week.

Currently using a Fenix PD22 with disposable CR123's.

Not sure if I should get rechargable batteries for my Fenix or an under 50$ dedicated bike headlight.

Leaning towards the dedicated headlight for two reasons.

One, I'd rather charge via USB through my USB hub where I charge my other bikes electronics than having to use an outlet just for my headlight batteries. I'd also rather not deal with swapping batteries in and out.

Two, I tried buying rechargeable CR123's in the past and they didn't work when I got them, plus most budget cells have spotty reviews so I'm nervous trying that route again.

However any bike headlight I see under 50$ seems to be a big step down in brightness, battery life and water resistance compared to my Fenix PD22.

None of my options are really jumping out at me. Might just have to increase my budget a bit. Leaning towards the Cygolight Dash 320.

You could increase your budget or decrease your lumens requirement or both. My headlight is probably dimmer than most lights discussed here, but it's good enough for me. I can go 15 mph comfortably, and sometimes I can go 20 mph, depending on the terrain. I don't feel the need for being limitless.

Disposable batteries would definitely bum me out.

I want a minimum of 100 lumens, and would feel more comfortable having access to the 150-200 range. A large section of my nightly commute is dark rural style roads. I usually run my Fenix on the 3rd brightest setting there, and the 2nd highest (100 lumens) in neighborhoods. When I'm going fast 100 lumens borders on too little.

EDIT: Might go check out the axiom lights at my Performance Bike. I remember they had some decent looking ones in the 30-50$ range, and the tail light I bought from that brand works nicely.

When component manufacturers sell parts in bulk to bike manufacturers that will use them to assemble new bikes they often are packed in generic white boxes because they are not intended for retail sale and this also reduces costs.

I've seen way too many eBay sellers to believe that's their source. "Not intended for retail sale". Then how did they end up on eBay? Doesn't sound like a legitimate source of stock.

I am making on statement as to the authenticity of the parts, only stating that these sometimes CAN indeed be legitimate parts packaged in generic boxes and for a reason. I have no idea if that is the case with these parts... Legitimate (not counterfeit) parts can get out to ebay sellers by a variety of means such as excess inventory being sold, bankruptcy sales of inventory, etc. Usually these are not eligible for warranty coverage however.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/384262...7651076813781/



There are a lot of new bicycle lamps available now with Cree's latest Neutral White XM-L2 and XP-G2 LED.

You'll notice from the pics these lights don't bathe everything in blue the way the older Cool White lights did.

I'd advise buying purchasing solitary lamp heads and throwing together your own 8.4V Li-ion battery packs with off the shelf parts. You should get over to to three hours run time on high, about twelve on Low, with this kind of set up. There's a lot more info over at mtbr.com/Lights and Night Riding. Also on Amazon, an incredible deal, Amazon.com : Mudder® CREE XM-L L2 2-LED 1200LM 3-Mode Flashing 10-Level Brightness Adjustable Rechargeable Headlamp with Battery Pack & Charger Set for Outdoor Cycling, Hiking, Camping : Sports & Outdoors Haven't picked one up myself so can't attest to its quality (am assuming the batteries are not great) and this one AFAIK is just Bright White (Cool but not extemely blue.) The same package is available at Kaidomain.com in Neutral White, but their free shipping takes several weeks. But if you can wait that long, I'd say go to GearBest and pick up their Neutral White Yinding or SolarStorm X3 or XT-40 lamps, along with their SolarStorm battery case. (Coupon codes available in the mtbr threads.) Then pick up a couple pairs Samsung 18650 protected cells from FastTech.com, the 2600mAh are the best bang for the buck. If you don't already own a 8.4V charger you should probably pick up a good balancing one like the VC2 from XTAR. Alternatively, if you're starting from scratch, MagicShine's tail light, battery pack and charger is not a bad deal on Amazon for under $55; just purchase a Y cable from GearBest or Kaidomain along with your choice of 8.4V lamp head, and you'll have a complete system, front and rear, for about $85.

My three cents.

1600Lm CREE XML T6 LED Bicycle Bike Head Lamp 8 4V 6400mAh Solar Tail Light Pack | eBay

The bike rental shop used those and I loved them. Weird how I can't seem to find them on amazon

My SolarStorm X2 has a really aggravating characteristic: from full charge it runs for 1:40 on high setting with three green indicator LEDS displayed, two minutes more with 2 LEDs displayed, then abruptly shuts off. I discovered this the hard way, of course (i.e. on the bike, dark, r e a l l y dark road, but fortunately very close to home at end of ride). My guess is that I have badly mismatched cells in the battery pack.

Other than that, it's an excellent light.

Buy cheap... buy often....

Update: I pulled the shrinkwrap off the battery pack to investigate. There is a circuit board with leads to all three contacts on this 2S/2P battery pack, which has to be a good thing. It looks like it it simple 2S overcharge/undercharge protection. After four hours on charge with battery "full", no balancing occurs. One pair of cells was at 4.18V, the other at 4.04. It took 515 mAH from my RC LiPo charger to being the low pair up to 4.18V.

Endurance test in progress now....

End of test data: 3 lights => 2 @ 2:11.

2 lights => 1 @ 2:15

Sudden stop (no flashing) @ 2:18.



End of test voltage 3.34, 3.54 V

Lots of solarstorm links on this thread....

Well under $50, includes everything and not cheap crap china batteries;

Nitefighter BT40S Cree XP - G2 1600lm LED Bike Light Mini Neutral White Mountain Bicycle Headlamp-48.99 and Free Shipping| GearBest.com

I have this a couple bt21s (did review on bt21), bang for buck is awesome compared to anything I own (and I have a few lol)

You're only out $9, so give it a shot. I'd be concerned about the brightness and the battery life. The seller isn't spouting off about how many million lumens it produces, or how long the batteries last, so I wouldn't have high expectations of it's performance. It seems underpowered to me.

I know this will come off odd, but do you know if there's any (easy) way to modify this $40 light from Amazon to run off a 12v (car/motorcycle) system?

I started riding my motorcycles more and more and have the same issues as most of us. They don't see us....especially at night. The good news is: modulating headlights are permitted in the state of NJ for motorcycles. I need to stop by the precinct to ask if blinking LED lights (that we cyclists use on our handlebar) are permitted on motorcycles.

Same goes for the Planet Bike's Superfast rear blinking taillight. I currently attach it to my backpack and haven't been pulled over yet. But I want to permanently attach it to the fender of the bike.

If you guys ride both bicycles and motorcycles, let me know if you use blinkers (front & rear) on your motorcycle. And if you do, what are your state laws for motorcycles regarding blinkers?

That light is shipped with a 2s battery -- so it maxes out at 8.4 volts. In general, those lights will work fine on a 3s battery (though this is not 100% certain), so 12.6 volts, and a car system can go up to 13.8 volts. (Motorcycles too, right? No 6v business any more?)

If so ... then there may not be any modification needed at all. That said, you'll probably need to talk to the manufacturer to be sure, or just try it. (If you do try it, run it on high for an hour or two, outside in case things don't work well. Have a fan blowing on it to simulate riding -- they tend to get excessively hot with no airflow.)

Talking to the manufacturer may be difficult, and the seller probably doesn't know ...

If you do need to modify it, the easiest thing to do will be to use a DC to DC converter that accepts 11-13.8 volts and outputs 8 or 9 volts. Just make sure it's rated at say two or more amps output.

Also note that there's a bunch of different variations of that light, all approximately the same. You can get an almost identical light for around $15, though you won't get the free taillight at that price.

Hi guys, I've been a member of these forums for a long time and I've recently introduced a new light on Amazon. I've gotten a lot of great info and community here over the years and that's part of the reason i am enthusiastic about utility cycling. Anyway, i want to offer a discount to members here. I hope this isn't a problem, or too spammy. Let me know if it is.

This is a good little light, it's not the very brightest or very cheapest but i think it's a nice mix of brightness, well-shaped light pattern, quality, convenience and value. It straps to your handlebars so you don't have to switch a mount from one bike to another, and the strap is attached so you can't lose it. It's USB rechargeable using a regular phone charger. It has an 800mAH Lithium battery and is rated 300 lumens.

For chuckles i'm calling it the Illuminati

For $5.00 off enter the promo code "SeeLight" at checkout on amazon. I'd also love productive feedback from anyone who buys and uses the light. It includes a red blinky for the back.

Link to Amazon

You can see more info on amazon or at my website Vivo-Bike.com

Pushing two years using the Terralux lightstar 300 from Amazon for $29. Works great in sub freezing temperatures and pouring rain. No issues at all. Mount it with a two fish lock block. Comparable to a Fenix or Romisen at half the price. And its made in the USA.