Light Recommendation

I have a Niterider Minewt 150 lumens. It's great! 3 light levels, it's priced like $100 but you can go to wheelvillage.com for like 75 :] Free Shipping! =D

 

lumens is the key... i would never pay much over 100 bucks for one.

 

kinda depends on conditions like weather other lighting
i would get the biggest bang for the buck.
i have a cat eye uno led light... can't recall the lumens but it works great for my commute and is super small and light weight. runs on 2 AA batteries for about 15 hours.
treefort bikes has them for $27

they also have some larger brighter ones.

 

i have a cateye LED headlight i bought about 7 years ago for $80 and it's pretty bright. it takes 4 AA batterys. The first and only time I really used it though was on a hybrid bike I rode about 40 miles in the middle of the night in the rain with no other lights around. I had to tilt it up and shine it on the signs to see where I was and then back toward the ground to see where I was going and it was enough light for me.



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My light was expensive, but I'm very happy with it. On the "how much is necessary" topic, my light is marketed as their on-road light. Mine puts out 480 lumens on high and 240 on low. This year's model has upped that to 600 lumens. The low setting is dipped down too, so the idea is you switch to low and don't have to worry about blinding oncoming traffic. The beam pattern is also wider than their off-road offerings which I've found is nice for spotting suicidal rabbits in the wee hours. Basically, the amount of lumens you need/want will be somewhat dictated by your riding as well. Or to put it another way, the amount of light you have will dictate your riding on the road. When I was running a $40 CatEye, I was scared to do much over 20 mph because I was outrunning the beam. With the 480 lumens, I can bomb down hills at 40 plus and have plenty of illumination to feel comfortable. I've gotten to where I do about half of my training in the mornings before light. To me, it's more relaxing and the lack of traffic is a big plus.

 

I'm running the Exposure Strada. Little embarrassed because the 2011 model retails for $380. I got the 2010 model for $239. I'd say I would probably not have spent $380 on it, especially now knowing that 480 lumens as opposed to 600 is plenty for me. I wrote up a review of my light over here:

http://www.twospoke.com/forum/f87/exposure-lights-4812/index2.html#post34183

 

I need to get out and get some better photos showing how well it lights up the road, but here's a side shot of my lights before a morning ride.

 

I have two lights I like a lot. The one is a self contained rechargeable battery light made by Cygolite called the ExpiliOn 250 with 250 lumens. This is a very bright light if you don't want to be bothered with a seperate battery, and it puts out enough light to see at speeds up to around 20 to 25. The other light is a Cygolite MityCross 400 with-yup 400 lumens; this light is so bright I have yet to need to use it on high! the 400 has a seperate battery pack but it is very small and straps to the frame or handle bar-not taking up a water bottle cage, and combined with the small dual beam headlight weight is not an issue.

The ExpiliOn 250 is the lowest costing at around $120, while the Mitycross 400 is around $220; but internet search may turn up lower prices. I really don't see a need for anything brighter then the 400 unless your doing singletrack riding at night; and if your just commuting I don't see any reason for a light brighter then the 250...but that's just me.

 

I know some suggest getting the best / brightest you can afford. Hard to argue with that.

I think it's equally important to know your route. I do like to ride at night. It's generally quite with lower traffic. Riding routes I've ridden several times during daylight hours adds a level of assurance.

 

I want a good headlight but I don't have any handlebar space. I have a 44cm road bar and the inline brake levers on the top kinda take up the room where I'd put the headlight, unless I find a light that is raised a little bit to go over part of the brake lever and brake cable to not get in the way of it. I don't wanna spend more than $200 though. I really like the look of cygolite i think. Are there any lights that can go above the front tire or on the stem or something?

 

I need a light but I don't have any room on my handlebars cause my inline brakes on the top gets in the way where I would put the head light unless I can find one that will be raised a little bit so it goes over the end of the brake/cable part. maybe I can get a light that attaches to the stem or something else? I really don't want one of those ugly looking bar extenders either. maybe what would be nice is if I found something that has a narrow mount ring on both sides of my stem where it connects to the bar so it'll be right in the center and above the handlebars, that would be nice it think. help me find something but I don't wanna spend more than $200.

 

Well I have at least two lights on any bike I ride and usually a helmet light of some sort.

I went to amazon and got a holder where you can velcro a regular light weight flashlight, and velcro it to the handlebars. At full power the flashlight I have puts out 150 lumens. I got three of them for $20. It has the high power and a low power beam. The downside is battery. At high power, its an hour, but at low power its I think 4. I haven't tested it out to a great extent yet. I plan on just buying a set or two of rechargeable batteries and not worrying about it. I am seldom out for a very long time after dark anyway and will have another light on the bar as well.

 

yeah something like that would be nice I have some good surefire flashlights but the batteries do run out quick one of them is rechargeable but it would still have to be on the handle bar and there's really no room with my brake levers on there. I really like the cygolite headlights though. I would like it to last more than a hour so I like the battery packs I can put somewhere under my stem or whatever. I just want some alternative way to mount it but still have good illumination of the road.