EBay lists lights like the Solarstorm, but I’m a bit paranoid as I’ve heard reports of the battery exploding during charging & of people charging them in boxes to limit explosion damage (no acceptable).

Seen Gearbest mentioned on here as a reliable source of light, battery & charger, but they look exactly the same as the eBay ones, am I missing something?

Looking for a bar mount & possibly helmet too.

Any advice or recommendations?

I’d rather buy safe but not at the cost of Exposure etc.

Ta

How cheap? You can pick up the newer version of my lights, the MJ-856, for £70. Decent battery, quality charger, good reliable head unit- not massive power (*) but excellent beam pattern and usability. Really nice lights.

(* the lumen claims are exaggerated but more honest than most)

The worst offenders are the cheapest ones. Decent batteries (the cells alone) are £40-£50, so use that as a guide, if it’s cheaper than that then the cells were probably recycled for dead laptops. Been there, done that, waste of time and money and stress wondering if/when it’ll turn into a 1000C fireball in the kitchen/jersey pocket.

There’s also an issue with fakes, even fakes of Chinese lights like the solarstorms.

I bought a BT70 from Gearbest, it’s good, but they were rubbish (took ages, lied in e-mails about stock, shipping dates, where it was shipped from etc etc). They seem to be selling genuine chinese made stuff rather than crap though, hence most of their lights costing £40+. They’re probably fine if stuff is in stock.

IMO there’s 5 options,
1) Buy the real thing for £300+
2) Buy Chinese and be sensible, only charge whilst your in the room, use charger bags (tins won’t really help), buy from reputable shops for sensible prices.
3) Buy a battery box (the solarstorm one is good and about £8), cells (samsung or panasonic off amamzon-UK for £35-£50), and a charger (nitecore, again off amazon-uk to avoid fakes). Slightly more faff, but batteries will last longer when charged individually (more controlled charging and better balancing), and the risk of explosions is as low as it can possibly be. Then buy a decent light unit from china, mostly they’re safe but it’s still worth buying from a known seller that people have used rather than the cheapest or as previously mentioned there are fakes of even the cheapest solarstorms.
4) Buy imported chinese stuff form a reputable retailer (Charlie The bike monger, MTB-batteries, etc), you can get good lights for £50-£100 this way, and TBH it’s barely worth the stress/hastle of importing from China yourself at that price.
5) Buy cheap crap. 50/50 it’ll either work or explode (or work then explode).

I guess what I need to know, in a world of online buying, is what differentiates two identical looking sets? Am I looking for a certain spec or grade? How do I know they are “decent”?

Edit: tinas Ta

The light units are generally ok.
I’d never charge them in the house though.
Always in a vented tin, outside well away from the house.

This was on Facebook the other day…
Left plugged in overnight in his kitchen, loud bang at 1am…
VERY VERY lucky.

I noticed mtbbatteries are based not a mile from where I live so will be buying a new set from them after Xmas.

I guess what I need to know, in a world of online buying, is what differentiates two identical looking sets? Am I looking for a certain spec or grade? How do I know they are “decent”?

Pretty much just price and reputation. Avoid anything with a battery less than £40, or spend £20 on a light (again, don’t go too cheap and try and find one that other people have had and rated) and £65 on batteries/case/charger from UK sources. The MTBR forum is great for this as it’s better organised (an actual internet forum, rather than the ‘discussion in a pub’ style of STW) so you can search for specific lights and find 20 page threads on them, sellers people have bought from, reviews, etc.

I’ve done, and have both (a nitefighter BT 70 on the bars, and an older MTB-batteries light and nitecore charger, samsung 18650 cells and solarstorm box helmet light). I would probably buy another nitefighter from gearbest (if it was in stock), it’s a good point on the cost/reliability scale IMO (as are the magishines Northwind mentioned), but I expect the DIY battery will still last longer as it’ll be better charged/ballanced than the more expensive panasonic cells in the nitefighter.

Buy your lights and batteries from Smudge @ MTB Batteries good price and superb products and customer service.
Also you’re supporting a professional UK business

Or get one of the C&B seen lights.

I’ve had one for 2 years and no complaints so far. Decent light, decent battery life.

Made in China but shipped from the UK so fast delivery and easy to return if they go wrong

I think the new multiple emitter C and B seen lights look very good. I posted the link to these lights yesterday on the longer light thread which you could scroll back and find.

I have a couple of nitefighter lights. Better quality than the usual cheap chinese lights. According to the MTBR forum there are problems with the supplies of some of their lights so its worth looking on the MTBR forum before ordering from Gearbest if you choose to go this route as you could be waiting a long time for something which you might not get.

Its a no brainer. As already mentioned: Smudge at MTB Batteries will sort you out. Proper batteries and chargers, not shonky, potentially explodey stuff

I’m gobsmacked at the amount of apparently intelligent people who are prepared to risk burning their own house down during the night for the sake of saving a few quid on some lights. When you can get decent set for under a hundred quid off a British supplier. Madness!

Under no circumstances should you cheap out on lithium ion batteries. They genuinely are very dangerous if not handled properly. As has been said above, buy authentic Sanyo or Panasonic cells from a reputable company. Preferably you should buy protected cells (built in safety circuit to prevent over/discharging); at the very least buy a good charger (Nitecore, Xtar) with proper voltage regulation and auto shut down. Good cells should cost you about a tenner each for 3400ma cells, and a 4 cell charger between £17-25.

In total expect to spend around £60 on batteries and chargers. They will last a long time though.

I’ve just bought an ammo box and shall charge outdoors,overnight from now on. £13 well spent I feel.

binners – Member

I’m gobsmacked at the amount of apparently intelligent people who are prepared to risk burning their own house down during the night for the sake of saving a few quid on some lights. When you can get decent set for under a hundred quid off a British supplier. Madness!

The problem is, the light’s not very good. Not smudge’s fault, it’s just too small a budget to deliver UK support and a first class battery, light and charger. His 2200’s a much better proposition but also much more expensive- the extra budget gives him the room to maneouvre.

That doesn’t mean you have to accept explodey lights etc though. That Magicshine I mentioned gives you a decent quality charger and battery. Not as good as Smudge’s, but safe and reliable. And a much better light. Don’t dismiss all far eastern lights on the grounds of the landfill lights.

i use the chinese lights from ebay but with the usb connector, the idea was to use a powerbank , but the usb connector is a bit hit and miss powebank in pocket so i have bought a aa battery holder which takes 4 nimh batteries and usb lead and have cut the usb connectors off and fitted the connector that comes with the normal lights get about 2 hours or so from the 2900mah batteries plus you can carry spare batteries, and i have a decent nimh charger which should be a bit safer then the chinese jobbies, brightness wise i cant see any difference from the other lights that take the normal battery packs

I bought a Nitefighter BT40s recently from gearbest. Head only as I’ve got good cells and battery box already. Turned up in less than 2 weeks

Another option over a box is a LiPo bag. It’s a bag designed for charging cells in, although the charger itself doesn’t go inside.

I used my Nitecore charger last time I charged the batteries, it put more charge in them than the direct mains charger battery pack. It is more faff though

Magicshine MJ-858, £60, job done.

I have had the mtb batteries’ luminator and lumen800 for a few years – Kitchen worktop not scorched yet. 🙂

mtbbatteries for sure, top service & a genuinely nice guy

he problem is, the light’s not very good. Not smudge’s fault, it’s just too small a budget to deliver UK support and a first class battery, light and charger.

Surely everything is relative. MTB lights are perfectly adequate, and brilliant for the money. I’ve been using them for years. Jesus! When I think of the pre-LED lights we used. Without complaint. You don’t actually need to be able to floodlight a football stadium!

If you want better, spend more. If you want more but also want spend less, what do you expect?

Probably not to die in your sleep of smoke inhalation, but you take my point 😉

MTBBatteries FTW. Few quid for a lot less hassle/fireballs

binners – Member

You don’t actually need to be able to floodlight a football stadium!

Agree with that but, beam pattern does make a big difference imo. And the wider the beam, the more power you need to fill it in. We got past the point where brighter is better ages back I reckon

Which is why

binners – Member

If you want better, spend more.

I spent the same and got better, that’s kind of my point.

binners – Member
..Surely everything is relative. MTB lights are perfectly adequate, and brilliant for the money. I’ve been using them for years. Jesus! When I think of the pre-LED lights we used. Without complaint. You don’t actually need to be able to floodlight a football stadium!

Yes, but when someone is behind me with the new super duper forest scorching lights, the feeble 300 lumens of my lights are like riding behind a cone of darkness projector. 🙂

What are the batteries and chargers like from the Ebay seller Torchy the battery boy?

I’ve seen his name mentioned a few times, his prices seem to be a bit higher than some others on Ebay but still reasonably cheap. Does this mean his batteries and chargers better quality or would you replace these with better quality ones too?

Torchy’s stuff is generally considered reputable and good

I’ve had a Torchy’s Fluxient Cree X6 or T6 or whatever it was from a few years ago – it’s not blown me up or burned my house down. The wiring on it was a little dodgy/craply located, so the outer and inner sleeves split after a while of misuse, causing the unit to short out on itself, but I got it working again with the cunning application of lots of insulation tape all over the place.

Still working great 🙂

Does get very hot (uncomfortable to hold/touch) if left static on full power (i.e. not being cooled by air if you’re not riding with it)… Other than that it’s fine.

I got a Lezyne macro drive thing for Christmas about 4 years ago and it’s great. USB charge, lasts a good 5 hours on the lowest setting which is still more than enough for your average night rider, decent spread of light (claims 180° in the blurb). They’re around £50-60 depending on where you look.

MTB Batteries Lumenator has the best beam pattern I’ve used, and awesome battery life.

Dunno what the cheaper ones are like, but it’s an utter bargain for £120ish.

Under no circumstances should you cheap out on lithium ion batteries. They genuinely are very dangerous if not handled properly.

+1

The trouble is, it’s not black and white: Even high quality cells aren’t proof against fire and explosions – they still have the potential to develop a fault and eject jets of burning material.

Decent, branded cells will reduce the risk of problems, but can’t eliminate it. Protected cells reduce the risk of external influences ‘setting them off’ (over charge, over discharge, over current), but can’t protect against mechanical damage or an internal fault.

So charging in a fireproof area / LiPo bag is still an extremely good idea.

TME have a good range of branded cells (scroll down when the page has finished loading).

The Solarstorm battery boxes (I have one) are a bit naughty in that they can’t properly protect the cells. There is no connection to the mid point of the series cells, allowing one cell to be over charged or over discharged if/when the cells become mismatched with age. The ubiquitous shrink-wrapped packs can be better in this respect. If the box is used with protected cells, it doesn’t matter too much, but relying on the built-in protection with unprotected cells is an accident waiting to happen IMHO.

Decent cells cost money, but price alone isn’t an indicator of quality. There’s a real risk that you end up with exactly the same thing whether you pay £10 or £40 to some dude on ebay, amazon marketplace, or wherever.

I don’t know how much the Boeing 787 lithium batteries cost, but they still went on fire:

If you want to be totally safe with 18650 cells, then you need to go to these sort of lengths (note that the approach assumes that the risk of thermal runaway / fire cannot be eliminated, but the consequences can be managed):

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20150014486.pdf

Cheap chargers are a different matter – there’s no excuse for not being able to design/make electronics that doesn’t burst into flames.

Depends what sort of riding.

For commute, something like Macro drives are hard to beat. They’re not up to use anywhere other than a helmet for serious night mtb use though, where you’ll want a system with a separate battery for main light unless you spend several hundred quid on a really nice integrated light.

I’m happy with my Fasttech sourced SolarStorm X2. I’m using a better battery and charger though. Budget £50 odd for replacement battery and charger and buy cheap £20 Chinese light, disposing of oe battery and charger is the safe and cheap way to big lumens.

Mapdec sell very decent lights from UK stock

I only buy my batteries and chargers from smudge or torchy. I have a lumicycle lamp which cost £170 and a couple of DX torches that cost about a fiver. Seems a good mix

Hi Martin

I’ve seen all too many cheap chinese lights fail, either out on the road/trails, or by the battery melting as it charges. Put it this way, I wouldn’t trust them…

I’m a massive fan of Exposure, but there are other lights out there that work brilliantly for a lot less money. In particular I’d recommend Gloworm. I’ve used both a Gloworm X1 and an X2 over the last couple of years to good effect, and been very happy with them. I’ve recently upgraded to a brand new Exposure Maxx-D, so have both a Gloworm X1 and X2 up for sale for a good price right now if you were interested (email is in my profile)… Let me know.

P.S. Might be going back to the FoD this Sunday to do some more secret singletrack if you fancied it. I’m also looking at taking Wednesday 9th Dec off and heading up that way too…

C&B Seen seconded/thirded.

Very happy and way way better than my very old Hope Visions/fairly old AyUps, all of which cost many times more.

Pretty scary pictures at the top.

I recently went for these from Tweeks:
http://www.tweekscycles.com/bike-accessories/front-lights/maia-mx2200-li-ion-front-light-system

Not had them long enough to assess fully but seem pretty good and good value – was hoping for uk quality at near china prices. We’ll see…

In anycase, I think I’ll be charging them in the garage and won’t leave them overnight !