I’ve had a few lights over the years, but I’m currently using a Philips LED light with cut-off beam. It does the job, but battery life is lacking, so I have to use it on low power, and even on high power I can’t always see what’s happening, possibly due to colour temperature and a diffused quality to the light.

I’m interested to hear of people’s experiences with really high powered lights such as the Lupine Betty. Do you find you have to angle them down to avoid blinding other road users, and if so, does it make the road too bright?

Sticking with the mainstream manufacturers, I’m coming up with the following list:

Lupine Betty
Niterider Pro 1800/3600
Light & Motion Seca 2000
Exposure Maxx-D
Lumicycle
Dinotte XML-3/4

I’ve got Dinotte tail lights and headlights, so already have batteries, chargers and general accessories. I also have a Lumicycle-compatible battery and charger.

I’m just not sure how usable these lights would be for road riding. Also, none of them have a combination of features which make one stand out. For example, I like the Exposure package and mount, but they tend to have limited run-time, and extra-long charge times. The wireless remote of the Betty would be an almost essential feature for me (the light would be mounted where I can’t reach it while riding), but Lupine are the most expensive (and from what I’ve picked up over the years, potentially unreliable, and with poor UK support?), and I suspect the beam pattern might be totally bonkers.

I could keep the Philips as my main light, and just use the high-powered light as a ‘high beam’. However, I’d need a remote switch to be able to switch the light on/off or between brightness settings.

Real world experiences would be much appreciated!

A B&M Ixon Premium has the same “proper” beam as the Phillips, but with much longer battery life (more than 5 hours on full beam). It also takes AA batteries so you can change them for a full over-nighter. I did the Exmouth Exodus in the pouring rain and found it plenty bright enough, and it seemed completely waterproof.

MaxxD is designed for off road, huge beam of light, dazzles oncoming drivers even on low. Check out Exposures Strada for a more road friendly beam pattern

My Exposure Strada is excellent, wide beam combined with a spot beam, the remote switch is used constantly to switch between modes without moving your hands.

The B&M/Schmidt lights I’ve seen have had much narrower beams than the Philips. Have you been able to compare the Ixon Premium directly to the Philips?

You’ve got me wondering about the B&M Big Bang HID again! I think it’s discontinued, but there may be some knocking around.

The B&M/Schmidt lights I’ve seen have had much narrower beams than the Philips. Have you been able to compare the Ixon Premium directly to the Philips?

Really? The beam on mine is much, much wider than my offroad lights.

Edit: some googling suggests the “premium” version has a much wider beam than the standard light. It also has twice the output.

If the MaxxD dazzles on low, then I suppose all the lights I mentioned will be the same. So, I’ll probably have to stick with a ‘proper’ road light.

Have you checked the manuals for any of those? I ask as I ordered a Cateye volt 1200 and it wasn’t until IRTFM that I noticed a “not for highway use” warning (which wasn’t stated on the supplier’s website).
I trust myself to use it responsibly but I wonder what’d happen in the case of a non fault accident and the insurance co. discover the same wording…

I haven’t seen the newer B&M lights. The ones I have seen had a defined edge cut-off. The worst were my SON E6 halogen lights which were so narrow I couldn’t see on fairly gentle corners. The B&M ones always seemed to have a similar beam shape, although they did get brighter. The Philips has much more spread in comparison.

Haven’t used any of those but did use a Solarstorm x2 all last winter, which is obviously bright for use on road.

I kept it on low and pointed downwards, didn’t get any flashes or grumbles from drivers and could see well enough even through the unlit section of my then commute.

Out of interest, which light is it that you use currently? I’m thinking of ordering the SafeRide 40 but would be a bit worried if output/battery life is lacking.

I think mine is the SafeRide 80. I’ve had it a few years, and always thought it had a firmware bug due to the poor battery life. I think it runs for just over an hour on high with high capacity batteries (it’s claimed to run for around 2.5 hours). I was tempted to buy another one to see if the problem has been fixed.

The beam pattern is really good, but a lot depends on the road, weather, and speed.

I’ve never liked the LED lights I’ve used, but there aren’t many alternatives these days. The LEDs I’ve used give a wash of white light, and at times I find it difficult to determine the verge or pick out obstacles.

The LEDs I’ve used give a wash of white light

Wonder if you can still get those bottles of yellow paint on the Dover-Calais ferry?

I use a Maxx-D on the road, have done for years now right through the winter. Have it angled down to prevent dazzling oncoming traffic, never had a problem with it.

A few people have modded the Saferide to use an external battery and also upped the output, might be worth a google – someone posted about it on here a while back. I like the Exposure Strada, angled slightly down and just a little to the left, works well and doesn’t seem to blind oncoming traffic and, as above, the remote switch is brilliant.

I’d also recommend the Supernova Airstream 2 as a compact – think Joystick-sized – road light with a defined cut-off, but mine lasted two months before going electrically mental. I need to send it back to be fixed, I guess this would be a good time, but it works well enough when functional and can be charged via a dedicated USB lead while in use.

But the Strada is much brighter. Team with an additional Joystick for use where there’s no oncoming traffic.

How long is the Strada remote lead, and is a wireless remote available?

It looks like there’s a later version of the Philips, and they’ve fixed the runtime problem and used slightly warmer LEDs. I might be tempted to give that a shot.

Strada remote is long enough to reach to the hoods when the light is mounted centrally – about 20cm. Mine broke after a year (wires came out of the housing) and I have not seen fit to replace it, the button on the back of the light is easy enough to press in the dark. Excellent light, I have the 480 lumen Mk 2 and these are on offer at the moment for £75 (including the £30 cable). Mine has performed flawlessly for three years.

I use a Maxx-D on the road, have done for years now right through the winter. Have it angled down to prevent dazzling oncoming traffic, never had a problem with it.

Likewise, usually on the lowest power setting, but occasionally up it to the mid setting on unlit roads. Battery life is phenomenal this way too!

I use one of these, perfect for road riding,

Lumen800

Also got the lumenator, combined they’re amazing on the mtb, on road the little 800 is ideal. Amazing battery life too.

TiRed – Member

I have the 480 lumen Mk 2 and these are on offer at the moment for £75 (including the £30 cable).

Am assuming this is the offer for factory seconds on the Exposure website?

Yes it is. Mine is in it’s fourth winter, and the battery life suffers a little, but the light is still fine. I use it daily and also have a Joystick 5 to alternate (same power, tighter beam).

They aren’t seconds, just old stock. When I bough mine it was discounted from $240 to £150 after a year I guess they didn’t sell them all. Two with 960 lumens for £150 would still be good value.

Thanks for the extra info.

I’ve ordered another Philips light – presumably the 2nd Generation model. I’m curious to see if it really has been improved.

As for a brighter light, I’m not totally convinced by the various offerings, in that I can’t find one light which has all the features I would find useful.

I’m going to repair my old super-bright halogen kit, and will test that on the bike before making a decision.

Interestingly, I’ve just seen on the Lumicycle website that if you select ‘more info’ for the various lights there’s a rollover pic comparing light output with that of a Ferrari! To my eyes the Ferrari’s lights seem much better than the Lumicycles…

I reckon the Philips teamed with something like a Joystick as a ‘high beam’ would work pretty well. As usual people reckon just angling off-road lights downwards is okay, my experience is that it’s fine for short road sections on the mountain bike, but for regular night-time road riding, you have to angle most lights so far down that it’s not particularly useful.

Using a light with a cut-off like the Philips or the Airstream really does make night riding a more pleasant experience if you have any empathy with other road users and was a real game changer for me. I could just get on with riding instead of worrying about blinding oncoming drivers in the way that I’m constantly dazzled by powerful LEDs when I’m driving myself.

The Strada, in my experience, is a nice medium solution – not as sharply cut-off as the German lights, but with a beam pattern that, if you angle it carefully, is pretty decent, particularly if you’re prepared to use the remote to ‘dip’ the lights for oncoming traffic.

I thought angled-down lights were okay until I sat mine at the side of the road then tried walking towards it as if I were an oncoming vehicle, I was amazed at how much dazzling spill there was from the light. Obviously the tighter spots like the Joystick are less prone to this, but it’s worth trying.

The lesson I took from the Lumi-Ferrari comparison was that there’s more money than I thought in selling bike lights… 😉

Exposure Maxx-D here too,lowest setting lasts many rides on just one charge. 🙂

Thanks for that. The Philips definitely has a beam which is traffic-friendly (never been flashed, yet cars always dip their lights), and it’s pretty good for riding with much of the time, I’m hoping the 2nd version will have better battery management to let me run it on high during training rides, and that the warmer colour temperature will make it easier to see things. I ride a lot on single track roads, so it’s important I don’t blind oncoming road users.

I’m hopeful that a halogen spot will give me a usable ‘high beam’. I’ll be using a Philips Masterline ES MR16 bulb with a 15V battery. I’ve seen a place selling all bulb variations including the 20W 8-degree one, so I’m hopeful I can get a light which will give me decent throw with acceptable battery life. I’ve found the Vistalite remote switches I bought a few years ago, so I’ll be able to wire in a remote using standard Lumicycle cable/connectors.

If that combination doesn’t work then I’ll try to demo something like an Exposure from a local shop.

I’ve seen that Specialized have just launched a “Flux Expert” front light which seems to have a cut-off beam. It also has a (short)wired remote for a high beam. It’s £200, but I haven’t been able to find much further info.