I looked back over the past couple of days but couldn’t find a thread on this so I’ve started a new one.

I’m looking for a new helmet light/torch mostly for commuting so I can be seen above the cars. About 7 years ago I bought one of those Tesco LED torches (3w, I think) and fitted it to the helmet with an old Exposure Joystick mount. I’ve also got a DealExtreme bar mounted light (about 900 claimed lumens) but a quick look on eBay suggests that things have moved on quite a lot since I got mine 5 years ago. Because the bar lights have come on a long way I thought maybe the helmet lights might have come one a long way too. If the torch fits into a Joystick mount that would be great. What’s the current helmet light of choice on STW these days. Also, the cheaper the better really.

2 hours and not a single reply to a light thread? What’s happened to stw? Or is everyone fed up with threads like this one so just stay clear of them nowadays?

What’s your budget? Joysticks seem to be around £125 (based on a quick Google), I have a Diablo which seems to be around £180. Depends on how much light you need/want and how many £ you want to spend.

The Tesco torches mentioned above were £5 a pop, if I recall, so I guess that probably hints at intended spend 🙂

Indeed but then it’s a bit pointless asking about helmet lights if the budget is for a cheap supermarket torch?

Is the low setting on a Joy Stick low enough for road use?

SolarStorm X2 on the helmet, X3 on the bars?

For commuting I personaly would not want a bright light on my head through concern of blinding drivers and instead would have some thing that would just get me seen. Clicky

But if you must have something more powerful on your canister I would go for a macro duo.

I run the macro duo on my bars when commuting as the flashing red light on the back lights my already bright jacket up like a Christmas tree.Clicky

I have a w something 501b, it was about $9 from China, plus the cost of a 18650 battery from touchy, about £15 for two. It fits in a joystick helmet mount and easily get a 2 hour off road ride on a single battery on full power. I Carry the other as a spare.

@chip I used to think about blinding drivers too. Until I recently drove past a group of bikers myself and the lights weren’t any brighter than a cars headlights.

chip – Member

For commuting I personaly would not want a bright light on my head through concern of blinding drivers and instead would have some thing that would just get me seen.

I have a pretty focused XML torch, which with a wee bit of tape packing fits nicely into a joystick mount. Not good for offroad, it’s too tight beamed and the weight’s too high so it flops your helmet round, but on the road it’s fine. I aim it below my eyeline, because mostly I don’t want to glare drivers- but when you see some ringpiece is setting up to pull out of a junction on you, being able to laserbeam them is an asset, they stop dead every time.

My uncharitable suspicion is drivers see the bright light and think you’re a motorbike- everyone knows it’s fine to pull out in front of cyclists but a motorbike’ll mess up your car, and have an insurance company behind it. Either that, or they think you’re a UFO.

chip – Member
For commuting I personaly would not want a bright light on my head through concern of blinding drivers and instead would have some thing that would just get me seen.

At least I’d have been seen and hopefully not ignored as a result.

Similar to this is what I still use on my head with bar lights also – low/medium for roads/climbing, full for blasting

Single Cree 7dayshop