Traditional October "What front light?" thread...
Discussion
Righty-ho!
My Bontrager ION 700 light failed to come on last night on the way home from the MTB trails. Fortunately it wasn't completely dark, and I had a basic head-torch strapped to my helmet as a back-up.
Symptom of the failure? It simply won't come on when I press the button on top. No matter how hard, or how long I hold it down, I get nothing. Presuming it was a charging failure (perhaps I left it switched on overnight in the garage?), I plugged it into the USB outlet when I got home. Initially it flashed a red LED to say it was "charging", but within seconds it showed a solid green "fully charged" light. I'm at a loss as to why it should be so - it was working just fine when I used it last and I'm in the habit of switching it on after charging to check it works, so it was fine a few days,maybe a week ago. Not great, but it's been fitted to my road bike since I last rode it, and therefore stored in the garage.
I bought it on 11/03/2015, so 2 years and 7 months ago, and goodness knows how many charging cycles it's been through, but I do a fair bit of riding at night. I'm not massively happy that this has happened, and I don't think the warranty covers me. I couldn't find an official statement on the Trek/Bontrager website but a 'merchant reply' to a poor review on their UK site stated a 1 year warranty on lights.
So. What now?
Evans Cycles will sell me the "same again, sir?"...
https://www.evanscycles.com/bontrager-ion-700-usb-...
...for £54.99, but my confidence in the product has understandably been reduced now. I suppose I could open it up, and take a look inside if it's no longer under warranty, but the LED within the switch works when plugged in to power, and it gives an indication that it's fully charged so I'm guessing it's not a loose connection between battery and switch. Quite likely the failure will be within a non-serviceable part like the switch itself, or the circuit board/driver.
Other than "same again" does anyone have any recommendations for a front light that is...
* Bright enough to both see, and be seen.
* Effective enough to use on both the road, and on MTB trails.
* USB rechargeable.
* With a battery life of AT LEAST 3 hours with a decent output.
* Preferably self-contained, I'd rather not bugger about with battery packs and wires as it needs to swap swiftly between three bikes.
* Leading on from the above, it should have tool-free fitting of the bracket, preferably being able to swap the entire light/bracket package between bikes.
I know that there's another way, with those cheap, ultra-lumens ebay lights, but then there's the added faff of battery packs and worrying about turning your back on a charging battery for fear of burning the house down.
Oh, I should also mention that money is tight too. Somewhere between £50 and £100, depending on the quality, output,and reliability of the light would be my limit really, as I also need new gloves and handlebar grips for my MTB, and no doubt I'll need a cassette and chain for at least one of my bikes soon enough.
So sorry to start this year's "what light?" thread like this, and apologies for being 'Mr Picky' and wanting a Rolex for Casio money, but it's been ort of forced on me really.
And to think. If it had failed when the Aldi bike offers were in store last month, I could at least have had a bargain temporary replacement to get about while taking more time to research and consider my options...
back in April this year yellowjack said:
...I use a Bontrager ION 700.
Slim, 'cigar' shaped light that mounts well, is USB rechargeable, and has 5 modes.
Solid low (200LM-6.75hrs) - solid 'regular' (450LM-3hrs) - solid high (all 700 lumens-1.75hrs) - eye catching "tick, tick, tick, boom" on repeat (Irregular Strobe-40hrs) - solid with a high output 'pulse' mixed in (50LM+ Flash-22hrs)
It's great, genuinely lasts slightly longer than three hours on the middle beam (450 lumens) solid, and has been completely reliable in frequent use over two years. Although mine was damaged in a MTB crash, such that the slide which mounts to the bracket got cracked, I've cable-tied it to the bracket and the whole lot is mounted and refitted in seconds.
https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/Bontrager/Ion-70...
...and predictably his "completely reliable" claim has come right back and bitten him right on the arse!Slim, 'cigar' shaped light that mounts well, is USB rechargeable, and has 5 modes.
Solid low (200LM-6.75hrs) - solid 'regular' (450LM-3hrs) - solid high (all 700 lumens-1.75hrs) - eye catching "tick, tick, tick, boom" on repeat (Irregular Strobe-40hrs) - solid with a high output 'pulse' mixed in (50LM+ Flash-22hrs)
It's great, genuinely lasts slightly longer than three hours on the middle beam (450 lumens) solid, and has been completely reliable in frequent use over two years. Although mine was damaged in a MTB crash, such that the slide which mounts to the bracket got cracked, I've cable-tied it to the bracket and the whole lot is mounted and refitted in seconds.
https://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/Bontrager/Ion-70...
My Bontrager ION 700 light failed to come on last night on the way home from the MTB trails. Fortunately it wasn't completely dark, and I had a basic head-torch strapped to my helmet as a back-up.
Symptom of the failure? It simply won't come on when I press the button on top. No matter how hard, or how long I hold it down, I get nothing. Presuming it was a charging failure (perhaps I left it switched on overnight in the garage?), I plugged it into the USB outlet when I got home. Initially it flashed a red LED to say it was "charging", but within seconds it showed a solid green "fully charged" light. I'm at a loss as to why it should be so - it was working just fine when I used it last and I'm in the habit of switching it on after charging to check it works, so it was fine a few days,maybe a week ago. Not great, but it's been fitted to my road bike since I last rode it, and therefore stored in the garage.
I bought it on 11/03/2015, so 2 years and 7 months ago, and goodness knows how many charging cycles it's been through, but I do a fair bit of riding at night. I'm not massively happy that this has happened, and I don't think the warranty covers me. I couldn't find an official statement on the Trek/Bontrager website but a 'merchant reply' to a poor review on their UK site stated a 1 year warranty on lights.
So. What now?
Evans Cycles will sell me the "same again, sir?"...
https://www.evanscycles.com/bontrager-ion-700-usb-...
...for £54.99, but my confidence in the product has understandably been reduced now. I suppose I could open it up, and take a look inside if it's no longer under warranty, but the LED within the switch works when plugged in to power, and it gives an indication that it's fully charged so I'm guessing it's not a loose connection between battery and switch. Quite likely the failure will be within a non-serviceable part like the switch itself, or the circuit board/driver.
Other than "same again" does anyone have any recommendations for a front light that is...
* Bright enough to both see, and be seen.
* Effective enough to use on both the road, and on MTB trails.
* USB rechargeable.
* With a battery life of AT LEAST 3 hours with a decent output.
* Preferably self-contained, I'd rather not bugger about with battery packs and wires as it needs to swap swiftly between three bikes.
* Leading on from the above, it should have tool-free fitting of the bracket, preferably being able to swap the entire light/bracket package between bikes.
I know that there's another way, with those cheap, ultra-lumens ebay lights, but then there's the added faff of battery packs and worrying about turning your back on a charging battery for fear of burning the house down.
Oh, I should also mention that money is tight too. Somewhere between £50 and £100, depending on the quality, output,and reliability of the light would be my limit really, as I also need new gloves and handlebar grips for my MTB, and no doubt I'll need a cassette and chain for at least one of my bikes soon enough.
So sorry to start this year's "what light?" thread like this, and apologies for being 'Mr Picky' and wanting a Rolex for Casio money, but it's been ort of forced on me really.
And to think. If it had failed when the Aldi bike offers were in store last month, I could at least have had a bargain temporary replacement to get about while taking more time to research and consider my options...
Take your pick...
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/front-lights/?ea=429478969...
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/front-lights/?ea=429478969...
Edited by Wooderson on Thursday 12th October 11:16
I don't wish to sound ungrateful, especially as I wasn't aware of this one...
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-pavo-720-lumen-fr...
...but I can do the Googling bit by myself.
I was more looking for recommendations from people with real-world experience of particular lights that they might be happy to personally recommend based on that experience. And maybe to hear from someone who might have had a similar problem with the Bontrager light that has failed for me, with a fix or a good news warranty story.
Threads such as this are common features at this time of year, as commuters and MTBers (who may well be new to cycling since last year's similar thread) start to think about continuing to ride in the face of fewer hours of daylight and the clocks going back. Annoying as they are, these threads often spark up some decent debate on the relative merits of different lights and often can turn up a gem of a deal somewhere you might not have thought of looking by yourself...
As it stands, I've had a look at the Cycling Weekly feature about bike lights, and clicked through to review and online retailer sites from their links. There are certainly plenty of options out there, but often the product descriptions (and peer reviews) can be quite vague about run times in real-world conditions.
Typically I'd use this light for off-road trails riding in the pitch black, fitted to the bars. I've never had a properly bright helmet-mounted light so don't miss having one just now. I'm not commuting, but I do regularly ride over 100 miles on the road, so I want a light that I can switch on when it starts to get dark, enough to see where I'm going (and be seen) on rural roads, but with up to 5 hours of battery life (perhaps on a medium or low setting) to be sure it lasts until I get home.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-pavo-720-lumen-fr...
...but I can do the Googling bit by myself.
I was more looking for recommendations from people with real-world experience of particular lights that they might be happy to personally recommend based on that experience. And maybe to hear from someone who might have had a similar problem with the Bontrager light that has failed for me, with a fix or a good news warranty story.
Threads such as this are common features at this time of year, as commuters and MTBers (who may well be new to cycling since last year's similar thread) start to think about continuing to ride in the face of fewer hours of daylight and the clocks going back. Annoying as they are, these threads often spark up some decent debate on the relative merits of different lights and often can turn up a gem of a deal somewhere you might not have thought of looking by yourself...
As it stands, I've had a look at the Cycling Weekly feature about bike lights, and clicked through to review and online retailer sites from their links. There are certainly plenty of options out there, but often the product descriptions (and peer reviews) can be quite vague about run times in real-world conditions.
Typically I'd use this light for off-road trails riding in the pitch black, fitted to the bars. I've never had a properly bright helmet-mounted light so don't miss having one just now. I'm not commuting, but I do regularly ride over 100 miles on the road, so I want a light that I can switch on when it starts to get dark, enough to see where I'm going (and be seen) on rural roads, but with up to 5 hours of battery life (perhaps on a medium or low setting) to be sure it lasts until I get home.
yellowjack said:
I don't wish to sound ungrateful, especially as I wasn't aware of this one...
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-pavo-720-lumen-fr...
...but I can do the Googling bit by myself.
I was more looking for recommendations from people with real-world experience of particular lights that they might be happy to personally recommend based on that experience. And maybe to hear from someone who might have had a similar problem with the Bontrager light that has failed for me, with a fix or a good news warranty story.
Threads such as this are common features at this time of year, as commuters and MTBers (who may well be new to cycling since last year's similar thread) start to think about continuing to ride in the face of fewer hours of daylight and the clocks going back. Annoying as they are, these threads often spark up some decent debate on the relative merits of different lights and often can turn up a gem of a deal somewhere you might not have thought of looking by yourself...
As it stands, I've had a look at the Cycling Weekly feature about bike lights, and clicked through to review and online retailer sites from their links. There are certainly plenty of options out there, but often the product descriptions (and peer reviews) can be quite vague about run times in real-world conditions.
Typically I'd use this light for off-road trails riding in the pitch black, fitted to the bars. I've never had a properly bright helmet-mounted light so don't miss having one just now. I'm not commuting, but I do regularly ride over 100 miles on the road, so I want a light that I can switch on when it starts to get dark, enough to see where I'm going (and be seen) on rural roads, but with up to 5 hours of battery life (perhaps on a medium or low setting) to be sure it lasts until I get home.
The Wiggle Lifeline range is quite new I gather, but given the range of different outputs and battery options, I thought it worth suggesting. http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-pavo-720-lumen-fr...
...but I can do the Googling bit by myself.
I was more looking for recommendations from people with real-world experience of particular lights that they might be happy to personally recommend based on that experience. And maybe to hear from someone who might have had a similar problem with the Bontrager light that has failed for me, with a fix or a good news warranty story.
Threads such as this are common features at this time of year, as commuters and MTBers (who may well be new to cycling since last year's similar thread) start to think about continuing to ride in the face of fewer hours of daylight and the clocks going back. Annoying as they are, these threads often spark up some decent debate on the relative merits of different lights and often can turn up a gem of a deal somewhere you might not have thought of looking by yourself...
As it stands, I've had a look at the Cycling Weekly feature about bike lights, and clicked through to review and online retailer sites from their links. There are certainly plenty of options out there, but often the product descriptions (and peer reviews) can be quite vague about run times in real-world conditions.
Typically I'd use this light for off-road trails riding in the pitch black, fitted to the bars. I've never had a properly bright helmet-mounted light so don't miss having one just now. I'm not commuting, but I do regularly ride over 100 miles on the road, so I want a light that I can switch on when it starts to get dark, enough to see where I'm going (and be seen) on rural roads, but with up to 5 hours of battery life (perhaps on a medium or low setting) to be sure it lasts until I get home.
If you're a bit of a plodder off-road 700 lumens might be enough, but if you're in anyway serious about riding singletrack at night then I suggest you need to at least double your budget and accept that the faff of an external battery is necessary (£££ Exposure lights notwithstanding).
By way of personal experience of do-it-all lights on a budget, I've used a old £50 Magicshine MJ-808 for nearly 5 years and it's 900 lumen output and beam pattern is pretty reasonable as a stand alone light. However, I need a bit more oompf these days, so i'ts will now be used as a 'secondary' or helmet light coupled with a new MTB Batteries Lumenator 17 (when it arrives).
Wooderson said:
The Wiggle Lifeline range is quite new I gather, but given the range of different outputs and battery options, I thought it worth suggesting.
If you're a bit of a plodder off-road 700 lumens might be enough, but if you're in anyway serious about riding singletrack at night then I suggest you need to at least double your budget and accept that the faff of an external battery is necessary (£££ Exposure lights notwithstanding).
By way of personal experience of do-it-all lights on a budget, I've used a old £50 Magicshine MJ-808 for nearly 5 years and it's 900 lumen output and beam pattern is pretty reasonable as a stand alone light. However, I need a bit more oompf these days, so i'ts will now be used as a 'secondary' or helmet light coupled with a new MTB Batteries Lumenator 17 (when it arrives).
Thanks for bringing the Lifeline stuff to my attention. Like I said, I'd not heard of them before now. Where it falls down is the mounting bracket - as far as I can tell it's not really "tool-free".If you're a bit of a plodder off-road 700 lumens might be enough, but if you're in anyway serious about riding singletrack at night then I suggest you need to at least double your budget and accept that the faff of an external battery is necessary (£££ Exposure lights notwithstanding).
By way of personal experience of do-it-all lights on a budget, I've used a old £50 Magicshine MJ-808 for nearly 5 years and it's 900 lumen output and beam pattern is pretty reasonable as a stand alone light. However, I need a bit more oompf these days, so i'ts will now be used as a 'secondary' or helmet light coupled with a new MTB Batteries Lumenator 17 (when it arrives).
Plodder? Nope. But I cut my night riding teeth on a pair of cheap AA battery powered LED lights, so 700 lumens to me feels like an anti-aircraft searchlight. No issues catching up to group rides when I spot them on a night out, and I've never held up anyone behind me either (at least no more than i would have in daylight). Technique, and having "eyes like a s
thouse rat" help there, along with a bit of local knowledge.I'd love to double my budget, but money is tight and I have a son I'm supporting through University. There really is very little spare to be scraped together unless I persuade my wife (who's the earner in our household) to give up live music and nice days out entirely. Hell will freeze over before I become that selfish.
I appreciate your nod to the MagicShine. There's a couple of them available from Planet X/On-One as it happens. I now there is similar stuff available on ebay and Amazon for (probably) less money, but I'd feel happier with buying something for a little more to have peace of mind that it ought to be at least 'safe' to have connected to my wall sockets. I'm willing to consider a separate battery pack, despite the perceived faff-factor too. It's just that I'd prefer a self contained unit if possible.
That last light you mentioned looks interesting too. Despite it being "out of stock" at the moment, I'm going to park this link here...
https://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/mountain-bike-light...
...so that I can find their website again more easily, and for the benefit of other readers.
Thanks for the responses so far!
I got a couple of bright lights from mtb batteries and they are awesome. It's kinda like daylight! I think 2200 and 1000 lumens iirc.
The battery packs are separate which may or may not bother you and the run times seem to be the same a couple of years later.
Not used them a huge amount but the batteries do seem to stay charged when they are left.
The battery packs are separate which may or may not bother you and the run times seem to be the same a couple of years later.
Not used them a huge amount but the batteries do seem to stay charged when they are left.
I can give you real world experiences, although it goes against your requirement of it being an all enclosed unit
My commute involves 2 miles of old railway, all gravel, middle of nowhere, no light at all. I then go through a couple of villages with streetlights, before 8 miles of completely unlit back roads with a couple of miles of unlit B roads, or streets lit town roads.
Many years ago I couldn't have commuted in winter as lights weren't cost effective , I really need to see where i'm going
Anyway I just use 2 x basic cree lights like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-XM-L-T6-LED-Front-B...
I then have a splitter cable and run them off one battery that I bought separately for £18 that is larger capacity . I place the battery in an old waterbottle and then velcro the cables down, all in all cost be about £45
Works great for me, on full beam on both lights the lights are brighter than my car headlights, which is handy for the gravel track, once I get on B roads I turn the lights down and in urban places I turn them down to the lowest setting. On full brightness I can ride as fast as I want and not be limited by visibility
I get about 4- 8 hours from the battery , I never run it flat so dont know
Every year I think "ill buy a propper light this year" and every year I get no issues so carry on with what I have
Best bit is everything is modular, I can replace the batteries (and carry a spare) I can also replace the lights should they fail, which one has , as it isnt one unit there isnt one failure point. If bits do fail then they are max about £15 each to replace. I speak to many riders that bought all in one lights like Exposures only for them to fail after a couple of years and everything including the battery is one part
Downsides are they are a but fiddly and messy looking and its a faff turning the settings down on two lights
Another downside is they are very bright, but there is a "Hidden(ish)" setting that I turn them down to when I get to streetlit areas
My commute involves 2 miles of old railway, all gravel, middle of nowhere, no light at all. I then go through a couple of villages with streetlights, before 8 miles of completely unlit back roads with a couple of miles of unlit B roads, or streets lit town roads.
Many years ago I couldn't have commuted in winter as lights weren't cost effective , I really need to see where i'm going
Anyway I just use 2 x basic cree lights like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-XM-L-T6-LED-Front-B...
I then have a splitter cable and run them off one battery that I bought separately for £18 that is larger capacity . I place the battery in an old waterbottle and then velcro the cables down, all in all cost be about £45
Works great for me, on full beam on both lights the lights are brighter than my car headlights, which is handy for the gravel track, once I get on B roads I turn the lights down and in urban places I turn them down to the lowest setting. On full brightness I can ride as fast as I want and not be limited by visibility
I get about 4- 8 hours from the battery , I never run it flat so dont know
Every year I think "ill buy a propper light this year" and every year I get no issues so carry on with what I have
Best bit is everything is modular, I can replace the batteries (and carry a spare) I can also replace the lights should they fail, which one has , as it isnt one unit there isnt one failure point. If bits do fail then they are max about £15 each to replace. I speak to many riders that bought all in one lights like Exposures only for them to fail after a couple of years and everything including the battery is one part
Downsides are they are a but fiddly and messy looking and its a faff turning the settings down on two lights
Another downside is they are very bright, but there is a "Hidden(ish)" setting that I turn them down to when I get to streetlit areas
Edited by TwistingMyMelon on Thursday 12th October 14:18
Well it seems that, toward the 'budget' end of the market at least, the separate battery pack is king.
As I said, all-in-one units were my preference, but the last couple of posters, TwistingMyMelon especially, have made pretty convincing arguments for these lights.
I suppose I'm fortunate in so far as I'm not commuting with lights,so I'm not forced to rush off to the nearest local bike shop and simply buy whatever they have in stock.
Ideally I'd like something from Four4TH Lights if I had the budget, but they start at £195 so currently out of the question. Same issue with Exposure too.
I'll get there with the decision eventually, but no great rush right now. I have some crappy cheap lights powered by normal AA batteries that will do for getting home from a late afternoon trail ride if I need them, but they're no use for a proper unlit road or trail no matter how much I wish that they were. I can keep mostly to traffic free routes and quieter roads too, for now at least.
As I said, all-in-one units were my preference, but the last couple of posters, TwistingMyMelon especially, have made pretty convincing arguments for these lights.
I suppose I'm fortunate in so far as I'm not commuting with lights,so I'm not forced to rush off to the nearest local bike shop and simply buy whatever they have in stock.
Ideally I'd like something from Four4TH Lights if I had the budget, but they start at £195 so currently out of the question. Same issue with Exposure too.
I'll get there with the decision eventually, but no great rush right now. I have some crappy cheap lights powered by normal AA batteries that will do for getting home from a late afternoon trail ride if I need them, but they're no use for a proper unlit road or trail no matter how much I wish that they were. I can keep mostly to traffic free routes and quieter roads too, for now at least.
yellowjack said:
Well it seems that, toward the 'budget' end of the market at least, the separate battery pack is king.
As I said, all-in-one units were my preference, but the last couple of posters, TwistingMyMelon especially, have made pretty convincing arguments for these lights.
I suppose I'm fortunate in so far as I'm not commuting with lights,so I'm not forced to rush off to the nearest local bike shop and simply buy whatever they have in stock.
Ideally I'd like something from Four4TH Lights if I had the budget, but they start at £195 so currently out of the question. Same issue with Exposure too.
I'll get there with the decision eventually, but no great rush right now. I have some crappy cheap lights powered by normal AA batteries that will do for getting home from a late afternoon trail ride if I need them, but they're no use for a proper unlit road or trail no matter how much I wish that they were. I can keep mostly to traffic free routes and quieter roads too, for now at least.
If you are not convinced with the crees, you can buy a cheap one for £15 with battery on ebay, worse case scenario keep it as a spare or a loft light as I use my old ones fore!As I said, all-in-one units were my preference, but the last couple of posters, TwistingMyMelon especially, have made pretty convincing arguments for these lights.
I suppose I'm fortunate in so far as I'm not commuting with lights,so I'm not forced to rush off to the nearest local bike shop and simply buy whatever they have in stock.
Ideally I'd like something from Four4TH Lights if I had the budget, but they start at £195 so currently out of the question. Same issue with Exposure too.
I'll get there with the decision eventually, but no great rush right now. I have some crappy cheap lights powered by normal AA batteries that will do for getting home from a late afternoon trail ride if I need them, but they're no use for a proper unlit road or trail no matter how much I wish that they were. I can keep mostly to traffic free routes and quieter roads too, for now at least.
Eddh said:
I have a volt 800, its good.
This one? https://www.probikekit.co.uk/cycling-accessories/c...I'd seen that via the reviews site I looked at. I've had some issues with CatEye lights in the past, most specifically the TL-LD610 I bought for my son. Rubbish mounting brackets, and a light that completely ceased to function, bought from a retailer who had ceased trading when I tried to take it back.
I shall have another look at this one though...
OK, so this is a more, 'to be seen', rather than a, 'to see' type of light.
But I've just picked this up from my local Halfords (via click/collect - next day) http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-lights/bike-l... - already on discount with them over standard RRP, and even better that when you buy at the moment, you get a further £5 off.
Making this a very bright, £31 - 500 lumens (day flash or constant) LED. Tried it for the first time last night, made my old 15 year old Cateye flasher! look like an old burnt out candle..!
jj
But I've just picked this up from my local Halfords (via click/collect - next day) http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-lights/bike-l... - already on discount with them over standard RRP, and even better that when you buy at the moment, you get a further £5 off.
Making this a very bright, £31 - 500 lumens (day flash or constant) LED. Tried it for the first time last night, made my old 15 year old Cateye flasher! look like an old burnt out candle..!
jj
jj. said:
OK, so this is a more, 'to be seen', rather than a, 'to see' type of light.
But I've just picked this up from my local Halfords (via click/collect - next day) http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-lights/bike-l... - already on discount with them over standard RRP, and even better that when you buy at the moment, you get a further £5 off.
Making this a very bright, £31 - 500 lumens (day flash or constant) LED. Tried it for the first time last night, made my old 15 year old Cateye flasher! look like an old burnt out candle..!
jj
Ok, looks pretty good. Perhaps for my son more than for me, but one question. The pictures don't show the back of the light, so how do you charge it? My boy bought the Aldi front light recently but you have to pull a rubber cap off the back and plug the whole light into the USB outlet, which looks to me like it's putting a lot of strain on the inbuilt plug on the light simply to save shipping it with a charging cable. This one looks suspiciously similar, and knowing Aldi's love of clones/knock-offs, I thought I'd ask...But I've just picked this up from my local Halfords (via click/collect - next day) http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-lights/bike-l... - already on discount with them over standard RRP, and even better that when you buy at the moment, you get a further £5 off.
Making this a very bright, £31 - 500 lumens (day flash or constant) LED. Tried it for the first time last night, made my old 15 year old Cateye flasher! look like an old burnt out candle..!
jj
Yup, sounds about right.
As you say, pull the rubber plug off and there is a static USB connection on the back. Only charged it the once, and managed to use the plug from my iphone.
All details show it being charged from a laptop USB port, not so good if you don't own a laptop. Suppose it's been designed for a trendy laptop/office bod.!
jj
As you say, pull the rubber plug off and there is a static USB connection on the back. Only charged it the once, and managed to use the plug from my iphone.
All details show it being charged from a laptop USB port, not so good if you don't own a laptop. Suppose it's been designed for a trendy laptop/office bod.!
jj
Thread deviation but related, I just backed for £23, in case anyone’s interested for early deals.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1670187625/se...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1670187625/se...
This is my set up. I chose the Blackburn 700 has they offer a lifetime warranty and it was only £27 after discount from Tredz. GoPro mount is a godsend too. It comes with bar mount too.
The helmet one is more of a gamble, it's a Ribble 300 from...Ribble ! £20
This gives me 2 hours and a bit at a total of 700 lumens and can peak at 1000 obviously. It's perfect for woodland single tracks.
The helmet one is more of a gamble, it's a Ribble 300 from...Ribble ! £20
This gives me 2 hours and a bit at a total of 700 lumens and can peak at 1000 obviously. It's perfect for woodland single tracks.
Edited by nickfrog on Thursday 12th October 20:21
When you absolutely, positively, got to kill blind every motherfker in the room forest; accept no substitutes.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282435287801
32,000 Chinese Lumens for £30, delivered, from a UK seller.
(Chinese Lumen : Regular Lumen ratio may not be a 1:1 relationship.)
ker in the www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282435287801
32,000 Chinese Lumens for £30, delivered, from a UK seller.
(Chinese Lumen : Regular Lumen ratio may not be a 1:1 relationship.)
I use one of these with an attachment as a headlamp for fishing. Really bright!!
Take the battery life claims with a pinch of salt but its good enough.
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIMSMJ858/magicshine...
Take the battery life claims with a pinch of salt but its good enough.
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIMSMJ858/magicshine...
louiebaby said:
When you absolutely, positively, got to kill blind every motherfker in the room forest; accept no substitutes.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282435287801
32,000 Chinese Lumens for £30, delivered, from a UK seller.
(Chinese Lumen : Regular Lumen ratio may not be a 1:1 relationship.)
I tend to find these type of lights cast *too much* light. In fog they reflect everything back making you blind, and going through boulder fields / over rocks they hide shadows which are vital (!).ker in the www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282435287801
32,000 Chinese Lumens for £30, delivered, from a UK seller.
(Chinese Lumen : Regular Lumen ratio may not be a 1:1 relationship.)
Anyone putting these on a road bike using on full whack needs a good talking too.
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