OK – so I'm moving down the valley next week and have a great fun trail back to my house – and now it's getting darker earlier I'm gonna need some sort of light to show me the trail home..

I've not been night riding for years and have lost touch with light technology.. what should I get?

Ideal spec:

Bright enough to ride in the pitch dark (i.e. at least equiv. to a 10w halogen)
Cheap-ish (100gbp max)
Ideally all in one unit – or at least super simple mounts (i.e. no tools!)
Small
Can last a few hours and maybe have a 'get me home' mode

Something like the Hope Vision 1?
Knog Gator 105 – brighter but has separate battery – but simple mounts.
NiteRider minewt USB

Any more?

http://www.troutie.com/mainpage.html

From Trout on here seem excellent.

Hope vision 1

http://www.troutie.com/mainpage.html

looks quite industrial 🙂 nice though!

Hope vision 1
one of the worst lights I've ever used.

looks quite industrial nice though!

Very but seems to get good results, I use Lumis myself had them for a few years with no probs.

As 'recommended' by Troutie:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/that-50-quid-dx-bike-light-dissed-disected-oh-sod-it-its-not-good-news

Those Hope 1 & 2's are a joke, the 4 is a great light but the joke being the price…

Cheeky sod bit industrial .
Never one to pass a chance to post pics of my stuff
there are changes on the horizon .

I can do you a cheapo 6oo lumen light like this one with just HI LOW setting but you would need a battery pack for it.

The latest incarnation is this one 1200 lumens
and it is ace

I have opened the bottom up to flood the front wheel area with light that does not normally get out of the housing

check these out the first pic is with the front blacked out so no beam

next is just beam with the bottom blanked out
and followed by one as it should be .

These shots are a bit bright and not meant to be beam shots they are meant to show the beam pattern close to the bike
This light is going to a guy in Ohio as soon as I have taken some proper beamshots of it

Airbike SL2 gets my vote.

Trout. How much for that cheapo one? The first pic. Just out of interest like.

Trout, how much for the second one? bearing in mind that due to my complete electrical incompetence (blew up light circuit board last time I tried to fix my light) I'd be after a built version.
Thanks (mail in profile if you don't want to print prices)

I'm interested to know prices too please trout, again email in profile if you don't want to discuss pricing (built versions only)

I_Ache
that paticular one is £75
but can rustle one up at about £50 but only have on/off no dimming

Would that work with a Hope 2 LED battery by any chance? The small one.

This is it.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=23530

75 quid you say…

or even 50 with no dimming..

how much for an all in with battery + charger + cables and built?

I am liking the look of that DX one though!

you need to contact 5mudge for a battery, great guy very helpful.

The other DX option is to buy a 'torch' and bodge it onto you r handlebars/helmet. Cheaper and more versitle… search them out using the "p7" tag.

I_Ache sorry no it needs a 12 volt pack though I can make one that will work with the 7.2 volt pack no problems.

Dont know battery prices as I dont supply batteries That is Smudges domain .

I cant and wont even try to get close to the Bastid light not worth the effort and hassle
I just do good quality very bright different lights

How much for the 1200 lumen one on your website trout?

i have one of trouties 6XPE lights and it is **** bright!!!

recommend

Sorry Neil i missed reading your post further up

I am out of stock of the housings and waiting for some more to be CNCed up that is why I am hand making the odd one to keep the odd customer happy.

the 1200lumen 6ers are £150 for the next 4 units then I will have run out of XPE leds

and the next lot will be the XPG leds

Trout.

The price of £150 for the 6XPE, does that include the battery and charger ?.

Solo.

Sorry Solo no that is an optional extra but highly recomended 😛

Yeah, just thought that I would clarify.

And believe me, although I make my own, (ahem, superior lights 🙂 ) I back what you are doing over that DX cr4p any old day.

Solo.

Liking the Trout projects, the beam shots always amaze me!

Would be interested in a 'cheapo' one, do you have any pics of it in action? Would it be suitable as my only light in pitch darkness?

Cheers!

Trout posted a review of the DX, now referred to as the "Bastid" light, on here a while ago.

It isn't just about how many lumens for your £, imo. Especially when you see the strip-down of the Bastid light.

I think that the lights produced by some of the Home-Brew light types are of a far better quality, the type of lights that will see you through many seasons of night riding.
Especially so when paired up with Batteries and chargers from Smudge.

If you ride a moderately priced to expensively priced bike, then perhaps fitting a Bastid light to it would seem a bit silly.

IMO

Solo.

Doing some beamshots tonight so will include the triple cheapo
though not recomended to only go out with one light should have a back up .

for sure 600 lumens is plenty

Cool! Look forward to seeing it!

Yeah, know what you mean about having a back up light, when I go out at night I normally have a little standard road light as a 'limp home' option.

Looks like I will be in the market troutie for one of your super dupers, i'll mail you.

OK I have been abstaining from the beer waiting for the darkness to arrive so here are the beamshots

first up the little 600 lumen light

Next the 6 XPE trout light for the bars with extra flood

and also a 6 xpe trout light for the helmet with a bit more long distance punch

I hope you like them

now sits back and waits for the complainers to say how much light do you need and you may as well ride in the day . 🙄

got anything a bit brighter and maybe in blue?

Trout.

What Battery to order from Smudge, to use with your XPE ?.

Also please, run-times.

The pics of the beam from the XPE, are they at "full Beam" and if so, does the light have a lower output option.

Furthermore, do the XPE lights have any low-batt warning facility on them ?.

Thanks in advance.

Solo.

Hi Guys,
Troutie, Looking mighty impressive with the bottom channelled out… how about the sides?

At the moment a 15V 2.6Ah £45 and charger £23 coming supplied ready to power a troutelight.
troutie can fill you in for how long it will last light time or I can also do a 5.2Ah for enduros (please ask for price as these are now built on request) .

And that includes the p&p

Any more question please as myself or troutie 8)

Solo
Smudge has answered the first one
runtime on the 2.6 AH would be 2.5 hours on full and 10 hours on low.

Yes they do have a low batt warning if needed it just needs 5 mins to configure the controller

The pics are max power and low but you can have a lower low if needed

Cheers Smudge I thought about the sides but it would be distracting for the rider and more complex to make thus adding cost

Smudge what battery for the little 600 lumen light? And how much.

Smudge, Trout.

I am grateful for your posts, most helpful.

One other Q though Trout. The Low Batt, what is the signal ?, does the main light just start to flash or something when the battery gets low ?.
What is the signal to the user of a low Batt ?. Seems like a detail, but I'm just curious.

Cheers.

😀

Solo

I_Ache
A 12 volt battery is good for the 600 lumen light I have a battery but no charger as I sold the charger with the last light .

Solo
the driver can be configured to flash the light at half charge
and again it will flash at low charge it will also cut off to protect the batteries if it gets too low .
these are all user configurable

Or you could use the 15V 2.6Ah Li-ion battery 😉

smuge
Your 15v batteries 2.6 and 5.2 what size are they or are they a bottle style

Trout.

Thanks for that.

To anyone thinking of getting a Trout, I'd seriously recommend a Batt from Smudge to go with it. I've had a few.

The quality is tip-top, the after sale service would put some brands in the shade, can't fault them, they're a very good buy.

🙂

Solo

FMTBG.

Good post. How long before we all start to think about night riding again.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the longer days we have now, but sadly, the long evenings aren't that far away :(.

So lets start considering what we'll use this coming winter, before the rush…

CC.