I know there is a light thread on here but it’s a pain to go through all the pages.

I have just started MTb again after a year off, and was out last night. Had my mk7 joystick, a c and b seen and an MTb batteries light.

But the spread on the c and b seen just seems to spotty, but the joystick not enough to run just that and the mtb batteries one. Don’t want to spend loads in fact as little as poss but don’t want something that’s gonna burn my house down!

What sort of lumens do I need? And what lights give a good spread?

I don’t think it comes down to just lumens (although you need a few)

My bar light is 1200 and that makes for daylight

My mate runs a 200 and that is ample – go figure

I have a 2000 lumen light. I often run it on the lowest setting (20% IIRC) and that’s plently bright.

Now if I were wishing to light up say, the moon, I’d give it full beans….

Depends how fast your riding but that sounds enough.
1400 flood on bars and 1200 spot on helmet for me – Chinese optimistic lumens

I think anymore than 1K and you’re into issues – riders in front with lesser lights will not be able to see.

Car drivers will be totally blinded at will hate you and karmically hate all the rest of MTBers

How long are you riding in the dark, & do you cycle the lights into a lower power setting on non-technical parts of the ride?

I don’t cycle the lights, that’s too much to remember, just seemed the last couple of nights it the ‘big’ lights were too spotty. The joystick is great for the handlebar.

Two lights are much better than one. Depth perception improves and no matter where you look or are heading stays visible.

Bars and helmet.

I was thinking of getting a niterider lumina 750 as the whole battery pack thing annoys me!

Yeah I run a helmet light as well.

C&B Seen do a diffuser attachment which would make your light less spotty.

Dial it up until you are setting fire to the foliage and blinding kittens then back it off a bit.

If on your own then 750 is fine unless belting through techy stuff at speed. If you are in a group then slightly more than the guy behind 😆 I use a MaxxD on bars and Joystick on lid, which when all on full is 2300 lumens. More than enough if I am solo or front of group but too much if a bit further back when I turn them down.

I used to use a Lumicycle halogen set with the 12w spot & 20w flood. It wasn’t a massive amount of Lumens; perhaps 750.
But, the combo of wide and spot was just right.
They were great for riding with, until you got into some really tight singletrack…as both lights were on the bars.

It was only when the LED lumen race began that they started to feel a bit weedy.

My ideal light combo is a wide flood on the bars with a tighter spot light on the helmet. 1500 lumens split between helmet & bars should be more than enough.

I used to only have a bar mounted exposure enduro with 700 lumens. This was plenty until I started riding with a mate who had a Chinese light with a million chinese lumens that flickered like crazy. My eyes would get used to his light behind but it seemed like pitch black when he turned his head until my eyes re adjusted. I ended up getting a gloworm x2 that is pretty much like riding in daylight and definitely takes some of the fun out of night riding.
I reckon around 1000 is all you really need.

I find 200 ok 500 is more than enough used with a 120 helmet mount

I’ve got 3000 lumens on my bars and 1200 lumens on my head, both fluxient off of eBay. It’s probably more than I need on all but the darkest, tightest singletrack, but I like the fact I can set them to 50% output and get double the battery life. Nice to have the option!

I may be going a bit over the top but I have nearly 10k on full power with my helmet and bar light.
TBH it’s only because I make my own and can have that many. The important thing is beam pattern really. A nice flood on the bars and a good spot on the helmet is the best combo IMO

900

Just make sure you remember the difference between Lumens and Internet Lumens, it’s like weight and age on dating sites but the other way round 😉

I may be going a bit over the top but I have nearly 10k on full power with my helmet and bar light.

Yes. You are going completely OTT.

More than the guy behind you!

Although if the rider behind you is faster than you and has a brighter light you’ll end up going faster than you dreamed possible on the downhill sections

I’ve got 3000 lumens on my bars and 1200 lumens on my head, both fluxient off of eBay

The fluxient my mate was using was 1600 apparently, but it was less bright/useful than my 1200 glowworm X2. I also have one of their T6 minis which is supposed to be near 1000, but my mk7 joystick is a better light. I think they are a bit overrated.

Used to be 10 Watts halogen for basic off road. Thats about 150 Lumens!!

Lumens isn’t a great measure as it really depends on who made up the number.

As above you can get away with less on your own but if someone behind you looks like a prop from close encounters then you will be in a shadow.

I’ve got a glow worm x2 on the bars and that throws out more than enough light even in groups. One thing it doesn’t do is light round corners so I’ve got a torchy torch on my head so I can see where I look on technical stuff.

An X2/X1 combo would be a good bet if you have a few hundred to spend. If you have less then look try torchy

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/big_f_d_d/m.html?item=301344356481&hash=item462985f881&pt=UK_ConsumerElectronics_Batteries_SM&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

or some of the others like mtbbaatteries.

You might be able to get a new reflector for the c and b light that makes it better.

I’ve got a C&B Seen on my bars and Solarstorm X2 on my helmet.

On my own with both on low its still feels like cheating.

I guess that would be around 500 lumens on the bars and 400 on my helmet.

On tighter singletrack you do need two lights but they don’t need to be particulary bright. Brighter lights just bounce more light back off the trees at you.

On more open trails brighter lights will let you see further so if this is what you intend to ride at night then more lumens might be worth the effort

mikewsmith – Member
Just make sure you remember the difference between Lumens and Internet Lumens

also Chinese Lumens.

Take the number, e.g. some bonkers claim of 9000 Lumens, and knock a zero off it 😉

But largely ignore it and check out test and user reviews to see if it’s the kind of brightness you want.

What you need depends on what you are doing though and whether you ride on your own or in a group, and if in a group what lights the rest of the group has.

You don’t need so much power in a helmet light if you combine it with a good flood bar light, but you want a good ‘spot’ focus in the helmet light. These are things to check beyond just lumens. The lenses in the lights vary.

If you have a group competing for brightest lights, you don’t want to be using dim lights if you’re in front of brighter ones as you’ll be in a shade.

Then again, with a group, everyone can run on medium or even low power and there’s sufficient light amongst you. On your own you might want more power to provide enough light.

More lumens = more power drain, so you want to check the battery is capable of running long enough for the length of ride you may be doing.

And lumens claimed are usually at the highest setting. You generally won’t run it at highest as it will drain the battery fast and get hot. Typically cycle between bright for tricky singletrack, medium or low for fireroads etc.

Old gloworm x2 on the helmet. I rarely run it on full power, usually mid-power for descending, low or power save mode for climbing. Can get 2 hrs+ from the 2 cell battery like this and nice and light. I tend to night ride solo though so no worries about shadows cast from brighter lights behind me.

Strava confirms no slower than during daylight either, in fact bagged a KoM the other night.

It basically depends, do you want to go for a ride at night, or do you want to go for a Night Ride. I used to be happy with hardly any light at all, for the fun and novelty of riding in the dark. Now I tend to just be going for a ride and it happens to be dark, and generally on more tech trails, so I want tons of light, so I can ride fast and fairly normally. Both valid though.