let there be light!

[JV911]

after some recommendations on bike lights.

days are starting to get shorter </sigh> and obviously its getting darker each time i ride of an evening.

currently have TREK single LED "GLO" headlight and "EMBER" tailight but after something brighter.

was thinking about something like these

both must be quick and easy to take off/put on the bike and rear should clip onto the under seat saddlebag.

would like to keep it to $50

[snedden9485]

Jeremy, i have some of these and they work pretty well. They light up the road enough to see and are cheap. Im sure there is lights that would light up the road very nicely, but these usually come at a price!

[JV911]

Im sure there is lights that would light up the road very nicely

thanks chris

not too worried about lighting up the road...just wanting to "be seen"

[snedden9485]

Yeah they are pretty good little lights IMO. They have a constant and a flashing mode. Flashing is good if you want to be seen. They are LED lights, so they shine a long way.

[sogood]

If you want bargains, then I'd say get one of those high power LED torch from DealExtreme.com ($20-30) and a 0.5W tail light from Velogear ($15).

[TomH]

I've got a similar one (probably even cheaper as it was from anaconda). The front one is very bright, so you won't have a problem being seen. Not so good for lighting up the road. I ride along the cooks river cycle path, which is not lit. In the dark it can be hazardous, and the small light does not provide enough light to see the path.

I'd also consider a helmet mounted small red light as well. I don't have one but it seems a good idea.

Cheers,

Tom

[Burt 'Pigeon Racer' Jones]

not too worried about lighting up the road...just wanting to "be seen"

Well that's good, because for $50 you will be seen, but you won't see sh*t!

[sogood]

How about this one for the front end?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18307

Or get one of those AA battery powered CREE LED torch. With free postage, it's good enough to just buy and try.

http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.942

[hartleymartin]

My headlights are ones I bought from Coles. There is one which has 3 modes Constant, Quick Flash, Slow Flash, and another type which has an identical casing, but is sold for $5 as a 9-LED torch. I attached the bicycle light to my handlebars and the little torch to my front rack, pointed forwards and down to light up the path in front of me so I can see potholes and bits of glass in enough time to do something about it. It lights up the path for about 8 metres or so. I plan to buy few more and attach them at different points on my bicycle to light up the road-way in front of me. If they don't work well enough, I can just take them off and use them as little torches again for when I go camping.

[Pushy]

How about this one for the front end?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18307

Or get one of those AA battery powered CREE LED torch. With free postage, it's good enough to just buy and try.

http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.942

This one is great as a bike light, even the tube is conveniently shaped to attach to the handlebars with a couple of lackys.
But I just ordered some of these to build up as bike lights.

Les

[msn]

Depending on your requirements, maybe stretch the budget a bit.

Planet Bike Super Flash for the rear ($33 from Cellbikes)

Have a think about 2 rear lights.... it's easily noticeable when your front light has flat batteries. Purchased another rear light after a passing rider pointed out that mine (single at the time) was very dim.

Mark.

[il padrone]

For a battery headlight I bought this one - love it's beam, just two modes, full blast or low. I have the CR123 batteries, (bought a bulk lot of lithiums for just over $1.20 each) and also some 18650 rechargables.

[edit] I think that bulk lot of 50 lithium CR123 batteries cost me $2.00 each.

[Kalgrm]

Go for the DealExtreme LED torches - they are easily bright enough to light up the road for 30 to 50m in front of you, depending on where you aim it. They will let you be seen, but alos let you see where you're going.

Ignore what Burt says on this topic - he obviously hasn't seen or used these LED torches.

Cheers,
Graeme

[JV911]

thanks chaps!

Ignore what Burt says on any topic

fixed it for ya

</joke>

[tallywhacker]

came across this site for comparisons between different lights

[Burt 'Pigeon Racer' Jones]

Go for the DealExtreme LED torches - they are easily bright enough to light up the road for 30 to 50m in front of you

LED's are good as a short range spot, but they have a poor spread of light, and are much like a man with a 2" wang, they don't offer much penetration.

I love this comment:

depending on where you aim it.

Ignore what Burt says on this topic - he obviously hasn't seen or used these LED torches.

Working in the industry I have the privelage of trying out lots of products, and so I've used some well known brands of lights in 1W, 3W, 5W, and HID configurations.

The one thing I've come to learn about lights is that it's a very much "you'll get what you pay for" scenario.

When riding after dark, the best lights are the HID systems, by far, but you'll be spending $100's of dollars.

$50 worth of lights will get you seen, but compared to a HID system....well, I'd never go back to anything else.

And remember, I'm talking $50AUD here.

Ignore what Burt says on any topic

fixed it for ya

</joke>

[clack3rz]

How about this one for the front end?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18307

Or get one of those AA battery powered CREE LED torch. With free postage, it's good enough to just buy and try.

http://www.dealextreme.com/products.dx/category.942

I bought my lights from Deal Extreme and would purchase again from them.
Great lights for a great price.
The postage takes sometime - but then you getting a product cheap.

There's soooo many lights to choose from on this site.....

[Mulger bill]

+1 for the superflash rear. A white blinky on the front of yer lid looks goose but gets attention. Easiest light ever to aim. The superceded red blinky hangs off the back of me commute lid, dunno how effective it is tho'

Shaun

[Kalgrm]

Working in the industry I have the privelage of trying out lots of products, and so I've used some well known brands of lights in 1W, 3W, 5W, and HID configurations.

Ah, but I'm not talking about lights put out by those in the bike industry. I'm talking about extremely bright LED torches. If you haven't seen or used these torches, you won't have a grasp of what they do. It's not something you buy in a bike shop, so the price isn't inflated by being specific to any one past-time. That means you get what you pay for, but the money goes much further.

I've got a HID light, but I no longer use it: my $25 LED torch is brighter, lighter and doesn't get hot. If I include the charger, mount and 4 batteries (12 hours of light), the total cost was $50.

Seriously Burt - you need to see these before you disregard them.

(I said "depending on where you aim them" because if you aim it to see 50m ahead, you end up blinding on-coming traffic. I tend to point mine down out of consideration for others, unless I'm in total darkness and need it to see where I'm going.)

Cheers,
Graeme

[Chaderotti]

Working in the industry I have the privelage of trying out lots of products, and so I've used some well known brands of lights in 1W, 3W, 5W, and HID configurations.

Ah, but I'm not talking about lights put out by those in the bike industry. I'm talking about extremely bright LED torches. If you haven't seen or used these torches, you won't have a grasp of what they do. It's not something you buy in a bike shop, so the price isn't inflated by being specific to any one past-time. That means you get what you pay for, but the money goes much further.

I've got a HID light, but I no longer use it: my $25 LED torch is brighter, lighter and doesn't get hot. If I include the charger, mount and 4 batteries (12 hours of light), the total cost was $50.

Seriously Burt - you need to see these before you disregard them.

(I said "depending on where you aim them" because if you aim it to see 50m ahead, you end up blinding on-coming traffic. I tend to point mine down out of consideration for others, unless I'm in total darkness and need it to see where I'm going.)

Cheers,
Graeme

$50?
I'm interested!
I've been in and out of the 'buying a new light' phase. Couple of people have asked the question but people have just flooded them with hundreds of different lights.
A flashlight with a little doo-hicky in the bar to hold it in place would work fine. Better than one of those bike specific lights which do crap all.
Got a light which is a good blinky, but need something which can flood the ground with light.

[Kalgrm]

Torch US$20

Batteries (x2) US$10

Charger US$9

Mount US$2

Delivery = Free.

On today's exchange rate, that's AUD$63. Sorry, but the dollar has fallen. Still better value than anything else with this much light output by a factor of at least 4:1

Cheers,
Graeme

[Chaderotti]

Great, I'll get one of those when the time comes.
Edit: Reading some of the reviews on the handlebar mount, it seems to not fit oversized bars. And, oversized bars seem to be the 'in' thing with roadies.

Cons: The switch must be positively pressed. No simple tap to turn it on, this thing almost has to be held in both hands. It's harder to turn on than that girl you used to date in high school that just wanted to make out and talk but then later screwed the guy that used to pick on you for your lisp.
The switch kind of has to be pushed a little off-kilter, rather than straight in.

That made my day.

[Pushy]

This has to be my current favourite, for size, beam pattern, brightness, throws effectively out to 70-80m. Build quality is also quite good.

If you are worried about os bars you could try this mount tends to be a little wobbly but works well enough.

Sounds like time for a show and tell night ride in Perth

Edit: added info on mounts

[Kalgrm]

This has to be my current favourite, for size, beam pattern, brightness, throws effectively out to 70-80m. Build quality is also quite good.

Sounds like time for a show and tell night ride in Perth

Ooh - now that looks nice! I might just get myself one of those and give my old one to the kids for their Scouts camps. Upgrade for $25!

Night ride sounds good. Ride from Perth to Freo and have dinner there. Let's wait until daylight savings finishes though.

Cheers,
Graeme

[Pushy]

Ooh - now that looks nice! I might just get myself one of those and give my old one to the kids for their Scouts camps. Upgrade for $25!

Night ride sounds good. Ride from Perth to Freo and have dinner there. Let's wait until daylight savings finishes though.

Cheers,
Graeme

Think this might just fit in the above for the times when you want more light at the expense of runtime