Favorite small lights
 

There have a few threads about lights lately, perhaps because daylight savings time is coming to an end soon. My question is what are everyone's favorite smaller lights? Lights primarily to be seen and not to illuminate the road. Also interested in lights that you can attach to your helmet.

The Blackburn Click Lights seem interesting. The Knog lights look very cool, but seem pricey.

I just went through this and found the array of options mind-numbing. In the end, I went with a pair of Lezyne zecto LEDs because they are rechargeable, nicely made, small, and go on-off easily. Happy with the choice. I found a pair on eBay for about $40.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=347253

Knog Road for me; unbeatable combination of small scale, fantastic brightness, super styling, and sano mounting.

Not the cheapest, but for riders who prize light, discreet, easy on/off/transferable lighting, they're the best. Headlight run-time isn't great under always on settings, but flashing 'be seen' modes are in the continuous 5hr range.

I have Snugg, front and rear. I think they're like 10 bucks for the pair, and haven't had to change any battery since I got them 8 months ago. I don't use them that often, but they do last a long time. I use the blinking mode intead of always-on.

Very happy with my Blackburn Flea f/r combo.

It would help if you guys told us what conditions you use your lights in. For me, I would be on a mixture of lighted neighborhoods and pitch black country roads. So I need something that is usb rechargable, has more than a 2 hour runtime, and is bright enough to light up the pavement well enough to see cracks in the road when I'm doing 20mph on a dark backroad. I've narrowed it down to the Knog Road 2 (or 3) and the Cygolite Metro 500. Any I'm missing that will fit the bill?

My Niterider Lumina 650 (recently replaced by the Lumina 700) has a similar form factor to the Cygolite Metro 500. I use it as a handlebar light. Conditions are a pre-dawn (starts before 6 am) commute on unlit streets (plus a few sparsy lit sections) to get to an unlit MUP (and eventually a fairly lit main street). I found that at speed, the bar light alone wasn't enough, especially to see small potholes (that always ended up in my line) while at speed (20+ mph - usually while downhill and cornering). I ended up adding a Dinotte XML-3 as a helmet light. Not the cheapest, smallest, or the lightest (if you factor in the battery pack), but it certainly lights up whatever section of road I'm looking at.

THanks! That's kind of disappointing to hear 650 lumens wasn't enough to light up the MUP. I would have guessed it would have been plenty..

No. You misunderstand me. The Lumina lights up the MUP plenty good. It's just that a handlebar-mounted light, any handlebar-mounted light, only lights up where the handlebar is pointing. In some cases, e.g., a turn in the middle of a downhill, I want/need to be able to see in a direction the handlebar isn't currently pointing. In those cases the helmet light is invaluable. Also situations where I'm rummaging through my trunk bag looking for something, or a couple of weeks ago when I had to fix a flat in the dark - helmet light proves very useful. One last application - on the MUP, there is a lot of wildlife (deer, coyote, turkeys, etc.) that don't necessarily stay off the trail. It's nice to be able to see what's making that noise off in the bushes. Oh, and when I do get on to the street, the helmet light is useful for "checking" the cars coming up the side streets so they don't pull too far into my path.

Ohhh.. thanks for clarifying! Would you say that the Lumina on medium is enough because I need more than the 1.5 hour runtime when it's on high.

my riding partner just bought a MagicShine 2000 for his morning commute, says it lights up everything in ways that he no longer needed a helmet mounted light. but its not small or light, ~ a pound or so and about $150. he loves it this time of year though, lights up the deer/coons/possum on the MUP he rides in on.

I'm using a Portland Design Works "Red Planet" rear light. It "beams" red light out to the sides. Pretty cool.
I'm using a discontinued Cateye on the front.
I ride in my neighborhood at night, which has streetlights. Some need a bulb change, but other than that, I do o.k.

S

Depends on what you mean by "enough". The Lumina on medium will light up the path in front of me well enough that I don't over-ride it (I think - it's been a while since I tried the Lumina alone). If there were no sharp turns on the MUP or the unlit streets I ride in on (or if I were riding slower), it would be "enough" . . . for me. However, as I said in my previous post, there are other reasons why the Lumina alone, mounted on the handlebars, isn't "enough" for me (note: it might have been "enough" by itself if I mounted it on my helmet - tried it once after I got the Dinotte, but the weight was very uncomfortable).

Side Note: Two of my co-workers have Cygolite 400s (or 450s or whatever it is). Anyway, they got them for the after-work rides I lead (to get them ready for an upcoming 75k ride). Their Cygolite is bright enough on the unlit MUP for them, though the beam appears narrower than my Lumina, such that when I ride alongside or behind them, it's a noticeable improvement even without the Dinotte switched on (we ride pretty slowly so over-riding the beam isn't a concern); once I turn on the Dinotte, there's no comparison.

Knog Blinder 4V hands down! Anything else, well, is sub par!

For what conditions? Pitch black roads?

Again, thanks, great info.

You can find all the lights I listed here:
http://www.mec.ca/shop/cycling-cycli...?h=50002+50037

MEC QUATTRO USB WHITE LED FRONT LIGHT
Early morning rides before sunrise.

MEC PLASMA USB WHITE LED FRONT LIGHT
When I'm riding just before sunset.

MEC PLASMA USB RED LED REAR LIGHT
On my bar ends.

PLANET BIKE SUPERFLASH TURBO LED REAR LIGHT
On the back of my saddle bag.

I have a bunch of other lights I use on my helmets,& backpack when I commute to work. Its Fogtober for us so I try to be as visible as possible.

It is a taillight and yes if you choose to ride in the dark then by all means go for it. This will definitely make you visible. I however ride during the day and save my vampire hours for other hobbies!:)

For the rear, I'm using a Planetbike Superflash Turbo. For the front, I'm
using a generic XML flashlight that goes for $20 without the 18650 battery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFxCXb7Ju38

I use the exact same setup but in reverse, Dinotte XML 3 on the handlebars and the Lumina 650 on my helmet. Prefer to have the heavier Dinotte lithium battery pack be strapped to my frame rather than in my rear jersey pocket. I don't find the weight of my Lumina on my helmet to be uncomfortable (I believe it only weighs ~ 180 grams). I run the Lumina on medium to provide me with ample run time (the XML 3 on high is not a limiting factor for me in terms of run time) and find it works well when cornering or looking somewhere other than where my handlebars are pointed. Either way the two combined at nearly 2000 lumens (Lumina on medium Dinotte on high) will light up pretty much any possible riding condition you could possibly encounter.

I use a tactical flashlight that's 400 Lumens mounted in my helmet when it gets really dark/wet/foggy/etc. Its a bit overkill for the city but it gets the job done for me.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I would like to stay on topic regarding only small lights, like the ones I mentioned. I should have specified that I was primarily interested in headlights because taillights are already small, but I must admit, that Knog Blinder 4V looks pretty damn cool.

My current plan is to perhaps get some cheapos from Ebay.

All the lights I mentioned are small, & charge by UBS.
The cheapest is around $9.50CAD, & the brighter/bigger ones are about $18.50CAD.
You can probably find them cheaper in the US.

Your suggestions were spot on. In fact, I wanted to ask you about how did you attach the taillight to your bar ends? That would be an interesting addition to my setup.

Small lights "just to be seen" are dangerous for anything other than daytime use.

If you don't agree with me I can PM you some photos of the results of using them only "to be seen" in lighted areas.