Headlight For Daytime Riding
 

I only cycle during the day. I am looking for a headlight with a strong strobe that would attract attention during the day. There are many offerings on Amazon. Some have fantastic claims of 9,000 lumens. Any advice would be appreciated.

Whatever you get mount it on your helmet so it can be seen above the hood of cars and through their windows. And when you turn your head it will be pointing at what ever car you are looking at.

I noticed a huge difference since putting my flashers (front and rear) up there.

I use a Lezyne 400XL which has a double flash mixer which is plenty bright. It's usb rechargeable and plugs tight in to a usb socket.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...baddba7988.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d8991c4fdb.jpg

I use a blinking white light forward during the day.

All the models I have from Cateye (available) and Cygolite (I’ve found durable) have been discontinued, but I expect current models would be suitable. Based on me seeing other cyclists during the day, lumens don’t need to be high. Moderate “be seen” models suffice.

I’ve been using the Cygolite Metro lights for years, front and back. Very bright, visible for a long distance.

If drivers are looking in my direction, they see me.

I think the o.p. is ________ (rhymes with rolling) for negative reaction to their thought of putting airport runway landing marker level illumination on their bike as they ride around town. 9,000L. As if. Amazon is just a vast options market where everything from good to bad to worse can be obtained. If you stick with known purveyors of lighting equipment you won't find any claiming 9,000L. My newest light is a 1200L Cygolite and I don't run it during daylight. There are plenty of more effective ways to be seen in daylight.

Why does it matter? Because it really does take a LOT of lumens to stand out in the daytime, even strobing, and battery packs only have so much capacity. My MagicShines are 800L and the battery packs weigh close to a 1/2 pound each. The status light is going from green to blue in 20 minutes at high power. It's solid red at 40 minutes on high power. An hour and something at medium power. The Cygolite 1200 is self contained. I doubt it would run longer than 20 min on high power. I never run it at full power. I'm usually at half power. That's more than enough time for daylight to take over.

I use the Cygolite Expilion 850. Great light:

https://cygolite.com/product/expilion-850-usb/

9000 lumens is a serious overkill. You're not flying an airplane, you're riding a bicycle.

If they are claiming 9000 lumens, I would think that I would be lucky to get 2,000.

Cateye with rechargeable AAA batteries...

For a light to put out 9000 lumens, the battery would need to be huge or it wouldn't be putting out 9000 lumens for very long.

It's possible, some lights have a function called " boost mode " which puts out massive amount of lumens for about 30 second at a time and then goes back to it's lesser mode.

absolutely love these guys

https://www.rei.com/product/152981/b...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

Like Terry, I have used a Cygolite Metro 650 as a front light, and I was quite confident that I was visible at a distance. On a shady or dappled street, I could see the flashing reflection of the light in traffic signs more than 100 yards away. It is a flashlight-form light with a focussed reflector.

I eventually moved to Dinotte lights front and rear. I prefer the form factor, which is not like a flashlight. And it's amber, not white, which may or *mayn't matter at all.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ced5d2af8.jpeg
Dinotte Quad Amber front light


Nah, probably not. Not everyone is a lighting junkie, I think the OP is just looking for info. Not a Larry. :lol:

We have those on my lovely bride's bicycle. She mostly rides on a rail-trail where cars are not a threat. These lights are not in the same league with the Cygolite line. Bright, but smaller batteries and shorter run time.

*I didn't know mayn't was a word, but SpellCheck seems to like it.

I been using the Bontrager Ion 800 for many years, very bright, has a bright flash and several other modes. Also used it when I was commuting into the office at 2 am. I recently picked up a second one that is 700 lumen.

Super Bright on Strobe.
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Red Color Head Bicycle lights/Headlight With Cree XML-T6 Emitter 1200 Lumen 3 Modes Bike light Kit (lightmalls.com)

I've been using tactical style headlamps that have a slow strobe. They weren't expensive and they came with handlebar clips. @200 lumens and use either AA or 3.7V 14650 style rechargeable batteries that last @2 hrs on a charge. I carry spares and throw them in the charger when I get home. I've had cars during the day tell me my lights are too bright. I use them for night riding on unlit roads on low and they last @5 hrs. I think I got a 3 pack for 10 bucks from AZ. My rear tail light is a 120 lumen Entity with 8 different functions. On slow flash/high it lasts more than 5 hours. I feel the rear light during the day is more important but really want people pulling out of side streets/driveways to see me coming too. I put the rear light on my helmet and have a steady beam light on the front for add'l light at night. Along with the camera on the helmet sometimes it feels a tad unwieldy so I only pop the headlamp on up there for night rides or when I head out later in the eve.

Bontrager Ion200 RT has not let me down yet. Small. Light. Casts a bright enough light. No complaints.

I'm another Dinotte fan. The Amber daytime running light is very distinctive and really stands out even in bright sunlight. The lights are expensive, but the build quality, reliability and support make them worth the money if you ride on the streets a lot.

I’ve had several Metro’s as well. The mode with the low steady light with intermittent triple flashes seems really good. Gets attention without disorienting drivers like some strobes do.

That "steady light with flicker" mode is good, and I've used that one for a long time. It does tend to run the battery down, though.

Now that it's quite sunny and bright, I've switched over to the strobe flasher. I think it's more visible, and the battery lasts much longer.

When I was stopped at a light the other day, a motorist commented on my lights. I thought he was going to say they were annoying, but instead he complimented me on how visible they made me.

to be seen it doesn't have to be the brightest
this one seems fine Planet Bike Blaze 150 SL Bike Headlight