Hi all

I’m going to be starting a touch of night riding mtb’ing and want to get the right light for the job. I’ll be mainly riding at Cannock using this and only want a handlebar mounted light if this will suffice – experienced thoughts on this?

I’m going for quality so the choice is a straight decision between the Hope R4 and R8. Will the R4 be enough or am I better off stumping up the extra £40 or so for the R8?

Cheers,

Lee

If the R8 is only £40 cheaper, then get that. It probably comes with a higher capacity battery than the R4 (you need to check though) which means for a given brightness, it should last longer. The extra weight will be negligible unless you want to fit it as a helmet lamp.

Are you fixed with Hope for a light ?

Have you considered Exposure lights too ?

R8 is massive and the bar mount is shite. Brighter than the sun though.

Reviewed lights generally and Hope are well regarded plus all of their stuff in the main is quality gear – I’ll have a look at ‘Exposure’, any recommendations?

Cheers

I have loads of Hope parts on my bikes but I think Exposure make better lights – Maxx-D on the bars and Diablo on the head is a great pairing.

I love Hope stuff, but didn’t go for one of their lights as I’ve had bad experiences with power cables and poor connections with plugs (not with Hope, but other makes – though Hope lights weren’t immune to poor electrical connections in the past).

I have the latest 6-pack, which is rather bulky when on the bars, but really like the fact there are no cables to worry about, no faffing with battery straps when it’s charging time (and when locking bike at work when using it for commuting) and it makes an amazing torch. It’s very powerful with an amazing 15Ah battery…but they do also make smaller models which are still great (as above comment).

Exposure are also made in the UK, so that’s worth considering too.

Lumicycle Explorer and ive had Hope / Exposure & Trout.

Thanks for the advice – that SixPack does look the dogs but I’m not sure I can justify £290. I was thinking the Hope R8 was at the top of my budget at £240 less 5% Quidco cash back.

I also didn’t really want a head light as well as a bar mounted light if I could get away with it.

Bar lights alone are fine until you look to the side to set up for a corner…..

My experience is that a head-light in addition to a bar light really helps.

With a bar-light only things can get quite 2-D – it’s hard to tell the difference between shadow behind a rock and a hole….

By all means give it a whirl with a bar light only (I did), but I’d suggest budgeting / preparing to add a helmet light to it – something like an exposure joystick – it can be fairly focussed hence does not need to many lumens as the bar light.

Johnny storm – bloody good point!

If you had a budget of £250 would it be possible to get both helmet and bar mounted lights? Anyone have any recommendations on any Ebay ‘Specials’?

Haven’t ridden anywhere near as much as I’d like since I had my little lad 2.5 years and the wife has basically given me a pass every Saturday providing I’m back by 8am so I’ll be out for 4, riding for 2 hours at Cannock by half 4, quarter to 5. Home in plenty of time – I’m not bothered what she says before anyone says 🙂 just feel guilty missing out on valuable time with little man!

Just got an R8 for the bar and R2 for helmet. These are my observations.

OMFG it’s (R8) bright! But wait, that’s not full power! ZOMG, it’s mega bright! Still not full power?! KABOOM! Now we’re talking!

To be honest, the first of the 3 ‘proper’ modes is bright enough for the speed I ride at, so the battery will last forever, but 3000 measured lumens is, as they said in the singletrack review, addictive, and you only get an hours fix from the (massive, heavy) battery, which doesn’t mount very securely with the supplied strap. Helpfully I have an old district one that’s much more solid, so I use that. You could get around that by putting the battery in a pocket an use the supplied extension cable. My only gripe about the mount is that it is 31.8, and my new bike will have 35mm bars, so I’ll have to get another one. It’s way better than the rubber oring round the bar type affairs and I like that it mounts the light centrally.

The R2 is a great complement to it as a helmet light, though the mount isn’t great and difficult to get really tight and secure, but that might just be my helmet making things difficult, as it has small vents so not my room for the Velcro. I’ve also used it as a bar light, and it’s fine, but the R8 has spoiled me. I got the bigger 4 cell battery too so battery life is brilliant on that.

Obviously they are both beautifully made, and look great too.

The reason I went for them over exposure is I like the idea of having a few spare batteries ready during races, or to have them charging on rotation. I also like having the weight of the battery in a back pocket, or within the frame, rather than on the bars or on a helmet. Horses for courses though I guess.

Definitely go for a helmet light too, even if you go for the R8, it’s nice to see what’s directly in front of you at slower speeds, and to look round corners before you get to them

I’d go for two lights. I’d also go for “all in one” lights i.e. no additional battery pack. Something else I’d do is pick a torch style (18650 cell) light for your helmet. If you take a few spare “cells” with you, you don’t need to worry about running out of light (happened to me a few times in the past).

Cheers everyone – I feel enlightened 🙂

candbseen
I got one of these for the bars at Christmas. Very impressed for the price. I use an AyUp light on my helmet which isn’t the brightest but won’t die and is very low profile and light.

Worth a look at mtbbatteries, they do good lights at good prices and great customer service. Suspect they might do something bespoke even if you asked.

Cheers deepreddave – just had a look at the website link, read some reviews and the fact they are doing a combo for bar and head mounted lights at £145 delivered, means I’ve just pulled the trigger and taken a punt! Looks too good to be true but the reviews all appear positive so night riding (well early morning) here I come.
Cheers all!
Lee

I’d go for something smaller on the bars plus a helmet light. I have an Exposure Strada plus plus Joystick. The Diablo is even brighter, but is use them both on the road. The Strada is a road light p, supposedly but gives a nice wide spread to set the scene, with the helmet light to give detail. It’s not just about brightness.

Hope R4 on the bars, Exposure joystick (mk7) on top of my lid.
I bought the hope lights having had concerns about charging Chinese lights – then having the Chinese lights flake out on me – never trusted them. (Solarstorm thingies).

Chose Hope because of their customer service – proven when the dog chewed a power lead off the back of the lamp. Sent the lights back to Hope on a Friday, came back repaired, gratis, on Wednesday. Recommended…

Lots of people have had good experiences with Chinese lights – I didn’t

I also didn’t really want a head light as well as a bar mounted light if I could get away with it. [/I]

I night ride a couple of times a week, and IME a helmet light is more useful than a bar light, but you still need both.

I’ve an Exposure Toro on the bars and an ebay light on my helmet.

tbh If you just want to start out, buy a pair of these – run the helmet battery in your bag/pocket etc.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5000LM-CREE-XML-U2-LED-MTB-Mountain-Bike-Bicycle-Light-HeadLamp-Rechargeable-Red-/331964744908?hash=item4d4aa404cc:g:4wcAAOSwKtlWpudI

just noticed that Evans are doing the 6-pack for an amazing price…..

https://www.evanscycles.com/exposure-six-pack-mk7-EV278961

Torchy

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Ilove-Torchythebatteryboy

Really happy with mine I have the BK33 endurance

I use a Ultrafire WF-501B as my helmet light with a battery and charger from torchy

you don’t need to spend loads

I’d get a couple of the cheeapo ebay / dealextrreme led lights at around £40 each Plenty goo enough for night riding

Got one of these on the helmet. Love it. Getting another for the bars next week. Excellent value at £40.

@Lee – I suspect you’ll be happy but do come back with an update :). For the money they’re great imo, safe and repairable without great cost/hassle.

Magicshine f3000 eagle has great burn time and is not far off r8 in the light it gives out but 120 to 140 quid.

Battery is bigger so a bit heavier but nice spread of light with no hot or cold spots.