Bike Lights
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Bike Lights
Postby Agent009 » Thu Jul 26, 2018 7:53 pm
For me, it must be USB rechargeable and have an internal battery. Must be bright as well.
Looked at Orfos Flare Pro but they need a battery pack and were ridiculously over-priced.
If there's no stand out I'll just go cheapies from ebay....
Cheers
- CoffsGal
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby CoffsGal » Thu Jul 26, 2018 9:18 pm
(Not internal battery and not usb rechargeable but my main road bike has AyUps since 2009, and still using original battery strapped to the stem. An excellent product.)
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby human909 » Thu Jul 26, 2018 9:34 pm
That is my experience. Good value too. I own the Zecto which I wouldn't call bright as in light up an unlit path bright, but they suit my needs. There are other brighter ones available too.CoffsGal wrote:I am sure there are many very good lights on the market, but I have found the usb rechargeable Lezyne brand (both front and rear) to be quite bright and of good quality.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby Scintilla » Thu Jul 26, 2018 10:29 pm
SON28 with B&M LED Luxos U or IQ-X headlight with road-focused optics. B&M Toplite Plus or Hermans H-Track for the tail-light.
Excellent lights that one can easily run night and day, with no messing about recharging batteries.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby familyguy » Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:05 pm
Jim
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby Agent009 » Fri Jul 27, 2018 6:56 am
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby fat and old » Fri Jul 27, 2018 7:43 am
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby Cyclophiliac » Fri Jul 27, 2018 7:52 am
I found reliability a major problem with dynamo hubs + lights. After having numerous dynamo hub problems, and problems with lights such as the Supernova series, and the B&M brands, I gave up and switched to battery lights.Scintilla wrote:Dynohub system.
SON28 with B&M LED Luxos U or IQ-X headlight with road-focused optics. B&M Toplite Plus or Hermans H-Track for the tail-light.
Excellent lights that one can easily run night and day, with no messing about recharging batteries.
Ayups are an excellent brand: reliable, reasonably bright, and with long battery life.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby Neddysmith » Fri Jul 27, 2018 9:17 am
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby familyguy » Fri Jul 27, 2018 9:20 am
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby g-boaf » Fri Jul 27, 2018 9:33 am
Except that isn't USB rechargeable and doesn't have internal battery.Scintilla wrote:Dynohub system.
SON28 with B&M LED Luxos U or IQ-X headlight with road-focused optics. B&M Toplite Plus or Hermans H-Track for the tail-light.
Excellent lights that one can easily run night and day, with no messing about recharging batteries.
Lezyne are pretty decent front lights - as said before. But I didn't like the way the strap held the rear light. It kept on coming loose and falling off. One time it fell off and landed on a driveway near my home. I found it. Next time not so lucky, it probably got squashed by a car.
Ay-Up lights are also superb, but they have an external battery. On the flip side, it is easy to mount them to nearly any type of handlebars.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby Scintilla » Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:03 am
OP asked an opinion "What do people recommend?" I gave my opinion.g-boaf wrote:Except that isn't USB rechargeable and doesn't have internal battery.Scintilla wrote:Dynohub system.
SON28 with B&M LED Luxos U or IQ-X headlight with road-focused optics. B&M Toplite Plus or Hermans H-Track for the tail-light.
Excellent lights that one can easily run night and day, with no messing about recharging batteries.
B&M Luxos U does actually have an internal battery BTW...... a small one that powers the 4-5 minutes stand-light for when stationary, and the tail-lights have similar from a capacitor
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby Scintilla » Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:09 am
I have not found any such reliability problems. The lights just keep running and running for me. The B&M Luxos U has been run in full-time use (night & day) for about 26,000 kms. Before that I ran a Supernova which was moved to another bike.Cyclophiliac wrote:I have found reliability a major problem with dynamo hubs + lights. After having numerous dynamo hub problems, and problems with lights such as the Supernova series, and the B&M brands, I gave up and switched to battery lights.
Battery lights on the other hand...... I just do not have the patience with the faffing about of charging and problems with batteries. I like light systems that are just going to be ready for action, whether I last used the bike last night or 3 months ago.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby MattyK » Fri Jul 27, 2018 11:42 am
Would love to hear more.familyguy wrote:Currently testing a Ravemen PR1200 and CR900. The 900 has struck me as a good little unit for road, shaped beam, several levels plus two strobe types, USB rechargable and quite compact. Worth a look.
Jim
I'm liking the look of the Lezyne StVZO Pro 80:
http://www.lezyne.com/product-led-perf- ... 0stvzo.php
Seems like a next-gen Philips Saferide.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby Agent009 » Fri Jul 27, 2018 11:47 am
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby duncanm » Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:12 pm
Completely waterproof, no sockets to attract grime, internal battery, simple and effective mounting systems, simple and almost indestructible USB interface for charging.
I had an old knog rear light that I recently lost (in the middle of the South Pacific ocean, but that's another story). It broke its original silicon loop-strap after about 5 years of constant use and I had been using a bit of velcro in the last year or so.
I bought its successor, and was very pleased to see that they have kept all the good features; modified the strap system to make it replaceable, with spare loops supplied. The switch is also easier to use and they updated the LED technology, so its brighter.
ie: good, solid, well-thought out design.. and they obviously listen to market feedback.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby kb » Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:21 pm
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby Howzat » Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:44 pm
Rear: Moon Nebula is big and visible. Also check out SeeSense Icon/Ace, Bontrager Flare R, Light & Motion Vibe, and the champion's choice, the NiteFlux RedZone.
It's not a bad idea to run two lights for redundancy, especially on the rear, where you might not notice if one is out.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby kb » Fri Jul 27, 2018 4:11 pm
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby lewie15 » Fri Jul 27, 2018 4:48 pm
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby singlespeedscott » Sat Jul 28, 2018 11:29 am
I never had much luck with generator lights, just another thing to go wrong on the commuter.
The early halogen battery lights where ok but the batteries where separate mount, slow to charge and only had a short life.
When Ay Up came out with there LED lights It was a whole new world. Unfortunately due to there separate battery system I cant count the number of problems I had with dodgy cables and connections. I still use them for 24hr races but no longer for commuting.
These days I prefer Cateye's range of USB internal battery lights. I have found the Volt range of headlights very reliable and the Cateye mounts are far superior to most other brands rubber band mounts. Their prices are also very reasonable.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby VeloGiro » Sun Jul 29, 2018 12:45 am
Agree with the reliability and overall effectiveness of hub dyno driven lighting... I have incrementally accumulated hubs and lights over the past few years. (I have even learned how to to build front wheels from scratch in the process). As such i now have all manner of different combos of dynohubs and lights that i can use on all the bikes in the fleet.Scintilla wrote:I have not found any such reliability problems. The lights just keep running and running for me. The B&M Luxos U has been run in full-time use (night & day) for about 26,000 kms. Before that I ran a Supernova which was moved to another bike.Cyclophiliac wrote:I have found reliability a major problem with dynamo hubs + lights. After having numerous dynamo hub problems, and problems with lights such as the Supernova series, and the B&M brands, I gave up and switched to battery lights.
Battery lights on the other hand...... I just do not have the patience with the faffing about of charging and problems with batteries. I like light systems that are just going to be ready for action, whether I last used the bike last night or 3 months ago.
I have not had to think about battery charging to drive bike lights (front and rear) for some time now...Completely understand that dynos are not for everyone, and they have their limitations, and that they are a bit x'ie... but I (clearly) do like them! For me i reckon its a bit like solar panels..its kinda cool to be 'of the grid'
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby tez001 » Sun Jul 29, 2018 4:14 pm
Front, the commuter has the previous model Lifeline branded light which has a claimed output of 700 lumens and is plenty bright for my commute. It was around $60 when I got it, however the new version goes for $100 odd. On another bike, I use a older Cygolite front light which I got together with the hotshot. That one has a rating of 280 lumens and I find it's *just* enough for my early morning rides.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby MattyK » Mon Jul 30, 2018 11:45 am
700 is excessive. Usually wasted on blinding other people, or aimed so low that it inhibits your own view.
Insert my annual winter rant about bad optics here.
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Re: Bike Lights
Postby tez001 » Mon Jul 30, 2018 7:19 pm
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