Hi

I’m looking for a helmet light for trail riding. I used to have one of those cheap cree ones with the chunky plug in battery but I’ve just seen some on ebay with an integral AA size rechargeable with 3 hours of life on full beam which would do me if it’s powerful enough. One is 1000 and the other 300 lumens.

I think my old light was around 1000 lumens but I could get away with running it on medium power except on faster descents.

Any links to good products also welcome. Under £30.

Ta

Edit, just re-read the OP…

I would stick to cheap Chinese lights with separate batteries for your noggin, the extra weight of batteries on the lid can be quite noticeable IME…

would this be in addition to a bar light or by itself?
link up the one you’ve seen on ebay with the integral light if you can please, I’d be interested.

It depends, partly, on whether you ride in a group. If you do you’ll want something on par with the others in your group as brighter lights behind you will cast shadows in your beam.
If you ride solo you’d probably be fine with a lower output.

How many lumens do I need?

One in each hand?

1000 lumens with integral battery

I’m hoping to get my other one back and when I do it will go on the bars so the one on the helmet doesn’t need to be so powerful. Do you think 1000 lumens will do it, or even the 300 lumen version of the above (which will seemingly run on any AA battery not just the special one provided)?

The facetious answer is more than your riding buddies lights have got……

A more sensible answer is that It isn’t just about the lumens, the spread is important too. I prefer a narrow spot beam on the helmet and a more flood beam on the bars.
Gloworm X1 with both battery and light unit on the helmet and the ultra narrow spot optics works well for me. I have a Hope R4 on the bars

Oops just noticed the ££ limitation. Forget the X1 recommendation

If it’s a cheap Chinese, you need one that says 10 meeeeelion lumens.

Might then be about 1000 😉

I’d say 1000 to 2000, but you want that at its general use setting. If it’s only that figure when on highest then while bright it will drain the battery in no time. You want good lumens at a setting that will last a ride.

Also consider two lights. Bar and helmet. You don’t need crazy lumens on each then, but combined they put out enough and a helmet light points where you are looking which is critical for off road twisty trails. Ideally get one more of a spot focus for helmet if you use both bar and helmet.

Group rides, you need to compete with the others. Once you’ve gone forest burning power, the others will then up their game and go brighter than you.

I’m not sure it is facetious bring riding mates’ light rigs into it. If your wildly above or below their outputs it will be a pain in the arse.

I like big light on bar and little light on lid.

Solar storm x2 on bar and mk8 joystick up top for me.

Haha thanks folks 1,000,000 lumens it is then! To be honest most of my night riding is alone on local stuff I know really well so I don’t think it’s worth getting anything expensive or really powerful.

As your only light, I’d suggest a solarstorm x2 off a rated Amazon seller, though use you saving to get a spare battery 🙂
Otherwise this from Torchy looks a nice unit & he has a good rep for better quality chinese kit

Both of these lights have separate battery packs, as I agree that less weight on the helmet is a lot more comfortable

I’ve got a Nightgighter BT21 on the bars and use a Petzl Nao on my helmet.

Nao is 540 lumens, which is plenty as you only need it for looking round corners when going slowly. Best bit is it’s barely on when looking ahead as the sensor picks up the light from the bar light

Unless your buying from an established reputable company the lumens will be complete bs.
The real answer is a good beam pattern and good light.

I’ve just bought myself one of these from torchy the battery boy on ebay along with a new Fluxient 6600 mAh battery pack for my solar storm X3 handlebar light.

My old Exposure Joystick (mk7 400lumens) helmet light runs out of juice at little over an hr these days so i’m hoping for good results from the 850 lumen Geinea helmet light, 3.5 hrs on full beam sounds pretty decent to me and the handlebar/chest strap mount switch should be handy to avoid blinding folk.

As a lone rider i find my 3000+ lumen 3xXML-2 very good at lighting the trail up. (Home made machined and anodised)
Remember you don’t have to use a light on full power all the time.

As a lone rider i find my 3000+ lumen 3xXML-2 very good at lighting the trail up. (Home made machined and anodised)

Yes but how many actual real life lumen’s is the light? 😉

Yes but how many actual real life lumen’s is the light?

3 x XML driven @ 3a will be very close to 3000 lumens 🙂

That Xeccon Geinea 1 light from Torchy looks a cracker doesn’t it, spotted that a while ago, he does some really good value stuff. My first proper light was a Fluxient U2 mini and I was very happy with it

I think the best option at your price range is a Solarstorm X2. I told my mate to get one and he’s been chuffed with it, certainly well within budget. Just be careful how you charge it!

Very pleased with my off road lighting set up at the moment. Nitefighter BT21 on my bars with a good battery pack, I remove the cells to charge them. I usually run it on low. If you can stretch to one of these they’re highly recommended. Exposure Diablo on my head but that’s out of budget

That Xeccon Geinea 1 light from Torchy looks a cracker doesn’t it, spotted that a while ago, he does some really good value stuff.

Rode with ^ for the first time Monday night. It was to replace a solarstorm as my bar light with an old cree thing as helmet light. It does give a wider flood of light but its noticeably not as bright, the cree was producing more light. Its not a bad light just would need more id suggest for a bar light and as a head light needs a brighter ‘centre’ to pick out obstacles IMO.

GiantJaunt – Member

…an integral AA size rechargeable…

ok

…with 3 hours of life on full beam…

ok.

One is 1000 and the other 300 lumens.

they’ll be nowhere close.

best you’re going to get out of 2x AA batteries, is maybe 200 lumens, for maybe 2 hours.

(probably a bit less)

^ This. AA’s won’t cut it. Fine enough for a bike for the shops but that’s all. Lithium battery pack is what you need.

On price, consider that basic cost for decent lithium batteries to power good lights for a few hours, and batteries that aren’t knackered, old, broken or recycled laptop batteries, is roughly around £30/£40-ish for the battery pack alone. That’s hopefully with over and undercharge protection in it also.

Then consider a £20/£30 light & battery set on ebay… think about where the money is going there 😉

Anything like that, bin the battery and charger and buy something decent and UK sourced from someone reputable. Also get a lipo bag for charging. Even quality ones can catch fire, though far less likely than the cheap crap.