I’m currently running a Hope Vision 2LED lamp on my bars and an old Vistalite 5W halogen lamp on my helmet. The Vistalite battery died a long time ago but I’ve found another battery that does the job.

However, the curly cable going from battery to lamp has seen better days and for the sake of repairing it / finding a spare, I’m looking for something way brighter, that will mount on my lid, and is somewhat cheaper than an arm & a leg.

I’ve seen these “Cree” lights on the bay, are they any good?

There are lots of Cree torches that are good.
They take those Li-ion 18650 batteries and can last about an hour on each battery.

I’ve lost all the details of the specific torches, but I’ve posted them on here before so it might come up with a google search (longer than a year).

Basically you can get the torch, 2batteries and a charger for about £35. Then you can get a new torch later as the LEDs develop for about £12.

I just use elastic bands as my helmet is quite a torch-friendly shape, but some people use the Exposure Joystick mount – there will be posts about which torches fit precisely in it.

Other options:
Stump up for an Exposure

Buy a bar mounted XM-L bike light that comes with a head mount. You can store the battery pack in your backpack. This is probably the easiest way to get max power and runtime (£27 from ebay).

Some of the lads I ride with have got the 3 x Cree XML lights that are about £25

One on the bars, one on their helmets – the batteries have been a bit hit and miss (2 failures out of 6 but replaced by the ebay sellers)

The light output, for the money is insane – on a par with my Fluxient 4x that was >3 times the price

Unless you’re looking to do 12/14 hour races I think you’d be hard pressed to beat the ebay lot

I use one of these on my helmet, along with a magicshine on the bars. It fills in the gaps when turning corners a treat, is inexpensive and rechargeable. I also carry a spare pack of AAA batteries just in case, and it would be more han enough to get you home in the event of your mainlight failing.

We ride flat out singletrack all winter with this combo, works well.

Cheers, I’ll look into that Exposure lamp

I’ve just found the ones I’ve got.
They’re great, however these are 2+ years old now, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d been surpassed.
Small, light, cheap.
http://dx.com/p/trustfire-tr-801-cree-q5-wc-230-lumen-led-flashlight-1-18650-13095

Bigger, heavier and slightly more powerful.
http://dx.com/p/uniquefire-l2-cree-xpg-r5-320-lumen-led-flashlight-black-2-16340-1-18650-33550

I use a simple single-mode 18650-cell flashlight from dealextreme.
A bit like this:

[

Strap it to my helmet with the mount from a Zefal tyre-sealant can

Not the cheapest (when compared to China eBay ones) but I have one of these : mtb batteries V2 xml light. Build quality and spread of beam better than mates who have the eBay ones. Ebay ones can be a bit “spotlighty”, where as the V2 has an orange peel difuser which spreads the light out better.

Looking at some new comparisons, this looks pretty good for a slight price premium.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2013-model-Fluxient-U2-Mini-with-1100-Lumen-rated-Cree-XM-L-U2-led-/290958408722?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item43be78fc12
(comes with battery and charger)

Edit: although it might overpower your bar light, if it’s not also high powered.

As much as I did like the XML units, as they are very bright but tend to be very focused (spotty), but now that dual and triple XML unit are available, I’d be looking to them instead. I’ve ordered one and am awaiting delivery…

As for the Cree torches, there great, my two P7 torches are still working and I bought them 4/5 year ago (even the batteries). Tend to carry one as a backup unit nowadays. They tend to be a bit of a dead weight on your head, so I prefer a head unit with a separate battery in my pack.

I don’t think they are all-in-one units (so you have to stash the battery in a jersey/pack but the CandBseen lights are very good value and bright.

This one:

http://www.candb-seen.co.uk/bikehead-lights/cabs-02-series—cree-xml.html

Can everone stop talking about lights please..I am still in summer mode, and this is depressing me… 🙁

I think that the fact that easily half of last nights, night ride was in darkness (starting out at 7ish), is more depressing

Our weekly ride starts at 8pm on a Wednesday. Last night was the first time in months its been lights on from the outset. Oh well, summer was good. Aat least the trails are still dry…

It’s a shame one of these Chinese companies doesn’t put more effort into the helmet mounts (or even the bar mounts).

Also just got one of these John
Ebay torch
And it fits in a Exposure helmet mount making it a small neat option.

the c-and-b-seen lamp looks ideal

and that Fluxient thing looks useful too, cheers Rich