I'm planning on doing some single track woodland/trail riding this winter so what is everyone using?
I've had a shock at the prices on rechargable proper lights so if i'm to invest whats good and whats not good.
I'm also looking at bar mount stuff but quite a lot are head mount, again whats best.

Thanks.

 

I ordered some from Hong Kong last year and they are flipping awesome.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25149

Took a while to get here, but just incredible. You can't believe something so small can make so much light.

I could cycle down the darkest roads and drivers will dip their lights, and may even flash you if badly adjusted!

 

Myself and pretty much all my mates with bikes have bought lights from deal extreme, 900 lumens, rechargeable, last for a good few hours on the main setting and cost £50 delivered, mate also has hope 4's and I can't see a huge amount of difference

 

Oh and tick the 1p delivery option and they usually get here in a week and marked as gifts. Didn't do this the first time and they took a month to turn up

 

I was cycling up a single track country lane with the light on and cars were pulled up in the little passing points waiting for me to go past, when I eventually made it up the hill don't think they were expecting to see some bloke struggling to get up a hill on a mountain bike

 

Wow, that a huge cost saving on some of the stuff I've been looking at. Are they well made etc?

 

Just taken mine apart, good quality but I'd grease up the thread if your going to use in rain from what I've heard, my battery went after a while but a replacement was about £16

 

Last winter I had a Minewt ( http://www.niterider.com/prod_minewt.shtml ) on my bars and a Petzl head torch. I'm considering getting another Minewt but not sure where to put it!

Lights on the bars are good but as you can imagine, they only point where your bars do and for the singletrack we do that's not always best! We do the same routes in the dark as we do in daylight

 

The lights from deal extreme you can get with a helmet mount as well, been using just on the bars but been thinking about getting another to mount on my helmet

 

I bought a Hope Vision 2 a couple of years back, its been really good, probably not as bright as those mentioned but so robust, might go brighter this winter.

 

I'm also thinking I need bar and head mount to cover all the options. Yes we will be doing trails we are familiar with also as riding the unknown in the dark could be a bit hairy

Great stuff, I'm off to Evans cycles tomorrow to have a look at a few but with these lamps from deal extreme I could buy a bar and head mount and still save about 50% on uk priced units.
Great to know to have been able to buy spare batteries as well.

 

Hope vision 4 is another i've looked at but again a big investment. Hope kit is great quality I've a pair of Hope Ti hubs on the bike I've had for near 20 years and still going strong.

 

I am no help here at all apart from the fact some people at work go on about this endlessly and show me all sorts of lights......they seem to rave at a set with a wolf's head (or some sort of animal) as a logo...

Shaun

 

I'm not suprised they show um off with what they cost, dig a little deeper for us

 

Lupine ?

 

Lupine - uber expensive

 

This one on DealExtreme looks pretty manic and would definitely tempt me if I were doing some night riding. Flood and spot beams

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.36018

 

For price the dx magicshine, for sheer output a troutlight, i have the blue one you see on his site, as it was the very first.

Very bright on low, on high well it's plain silly.

http://troutie.com/?page_id=633

Colin is very conservative with his lumen rating btw.

 

Been and had a look at quite a few today and also found a uk distributor for the magicshine (shame as deal extreme) these come with a uk charger and from a uk supplier. Costs are a little more around £20 more but I feel its worth the extra to have the correct charger plug and a bit less hassle if I get a problem.
I looked at a Lupine Tesla and from what I can tell its exactly the same unit as the deal extreme unit but 2 thirds cheaper, got to say fantastic performance

The only thing is to decide which one, the single or tripple.

Another brand I was impressed with is Exposure lighting very high quality and I might even get a head mounted as well so I've all options covered.

Looking forward to some night single track riding, looks huge fun

Thanks for all the input guys

 

At 2000 lumens that must be bloody bright, pretty bloody dear too though

 

I have the Hope 4's on mine , just dug them out last night as the nights are drawing in now , these are a great light , just like a headlight on a car !
They have a good wide beam so you can see pretty much anywhere your going , did a few night runs in Afan last winter and they were fantastic , there were a couple of switchbacks where I could have done with a helmet setup , but apart from that they were spot on , not cheap though
Cheers Ian

 

That's quite something http://troutie.com/?page_id=472

 

I've got two Troutlights - a 3 up and a 6 up

The 3 up goes on the bars, 6 on the helmet. I used them for Sleepless in the Saddle last year and coming back into the tented area with them both on full, a guy went "ooo, bright lights"

 

Is it this place?

http://www.magicshineuk.co.uk/index....FZFe4wodLRGbIw

Tempted to invest in a set for my off road commute to the station. The Fenix Torch I've got is fine but only 200 Lumens. A bit of extra 'punch' would be handy.

I see the battery pack is mounted with velcro which gets a tick as I obviously want to quickly attach and detach when leaving bike - but my question is does the light itself attach to the handlebar using velcro as well? It's hard to tell from the pictures I've seen.

Cheers

 

Light attaches with rubber o ring.

 

Thanks Davey. I discovered that shortly after posting. Comes with two O rings for standard or oversize bars. I've gone ahead and ordered one. Should be fun - it might even encourage me to try some proper off road night rides

Is the battery really good for 180 mins on full boost as claimed?

Cheers

 

Nice one, going to order 2 for bar and head mount, that should throw some light on the subject .
I understand that the batterys do last but temps come into play so when it's freezing you might not quite get the full 3 hrs.
I can't wait to get out in the dark and fire down some single track

 

Thay look very good lights indeed.

 

Yep looking forward to this

Two of them - both set to strobe for road riding should make you visible enough

 

They do a killer 60 lumen rear light as well.... tempting...