I know we have just passed the longest day but I’m looking at lights on DX for off road advntures.

Not sure what rating I should be looking for.

This looks good

http://www.dx.com/p/t6-xml-t6-3-mode-1200-lumen-white-led-bike-light-with-battery-pack-set-94182#.VYiArYhwZpV

But do I need this? It’s more!!!

http://www.dx.com/p/cree-xm-l-t6-4800lm-3-mode-white-bicycle-headlamp-black-grey-6-x-18650-199920#.VYmhxohwZpX

I live Dorset / Hampshire now der so the trails are not gnarr.

Bump for the day time people. Don’t really know what I’m looking for when it comes t off road lights.

The lower power one looks like the one I have, always seems plenty powerful and it’s nicer to have a smaller battery pack. One tip, if you’re using it off road it might be worth pairing it with a helmet torch – your handlebar mounted one will just point where the bars point rather than where you’re looking.

The light single unit is very bright but limited by it’s tight beam, though that said as a helmet light, it’s fine.
Personally I prefer the Solarstorm x2 which can be had for the same or not a lot more money. The beam is much better (far from perfect) and can be setup low on your helmet, if like me you ride is wooded area’s (not using the original mounts)
The 2nd unit you list, is the way that lights went last year, instead of brighter LED’s they just shoved more LED’s into the head unit.. lots of light but a bulk unwieldy unit I wouldn’t want to put on my helmet (check out the Solarstorm xt40 too).. fine on the bars though

Nothing wrong with these lights, as long as you don’t have hugely high expectation of build quality or a long life expectancy (though my x2 is 2 years old and still fine) & they rely on lots of power over a more quality reflector that you’ll see on more expensive “branded” lights. Also be-aware that the batteries (poor life) and chargers (set fire!*) do not have the greatest reputation’s but alternatives can be sourced.. the issue is that with this extra expense, your enter in the realm’s of the cheap(ish) but decent suppliers with a reputation for standing by their products (www.mtbbatteries.co.uk or Big_F_D_D on ebay)

*this has happened, but considering the amount sold, a couple of cases have been given a lot of ‘press’.

TBh it’s quite tricky now, because there’s so much choice, quite a lot of variation in quality too (identical looking lights can be pretty different) but the performance you can get out of a cheap light is really fantastic.

The single-XML lights are imo too spotlighty to be ideal, you end up basically chasing a dot with very little peripheral (because your night vision adjusts to the bright spot). But it’s more than enough to night ride.

I don’t know what the best options are today though. Solarstorm are popular but also seem plagued with issues of copying, really bad batteries and chargers etc… I had one briefly but never used the charger, didn’t trust it. But upgrading batteries and chargers is fairly uneconomic. So it’s easy to get trapped in a loop. I spent a bit more for what at the time was a “cheapest quality” option, the magischine mj872 but it’s not really fallen in price so is probably uncompetitive now.

Main thing is, get 2. Most people will prefer the bar-and-helmet combo but also, a spare’s really essential.

I have one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00T4B4DNQ

Have recommended to a few others and they’re happy with them too.
They have a better beam than the single-LED one in your first link.
Second one looks overkill, but would certainly do the job!

Thanks. I’ll check out mtbbatteries, solarstorm and BIF_F_D_D too.

I was planning on goign for one bike one bar. So the standard seems to be have somethign more spot light on your head, and wider spread beam on the bars? Is that a correct understanding?

TBh it’s quite tricky now, because there’s so much choice, quite a lot of variation in quality too (identical looking lights can be pretty different) but the performance you can get out of a cheap light is really fantastic.

+1

I ordered a 7 LED mega-lumens ultra-catching-fandy-magic-fire light with an 8×18650 battery from DX. It was rubbish, about as much light as a reputable brands 1200 lumen offering, but with less runtime than even a 5yr old 4×18650 battery could manage. I actually binned it and got a refund from Paypal it was that bad.

I would try and find something like a solar storm XT40 from a reputable seller. One that someone off here who’s bought one can recommend. And buy the exact one they did, even on DX there’s 4 or 5 XT40 copies. Either that or magicshine seem to still make decent lights but they’re proper money (which would hopefully mean still acceptable, if not the absolute best quality).

If I was buying cheaper I’d build my own battery from box, cells and a separate charger. Because the older magicshine P7’s came with useable batteries for and cheap chargers for £50. Batteries haven’t gotten any cheaper so when you’re getting 4x more light for <£30 the batteries are now just junk. Even buying separate battery packs wasn’t any better.

I was planning on goign for one bike one bar. So the standard seems to be have somethign more spot light on your head, and wider spread beam on the bars? Is that a correct understanding?

Yup. Although with the small nuclear furnaces that pass for lights now it’s not so necessary to have a spot IMO. A big floody light will still be brighter than a spot from 5 years ago.

Four4th are worth a look too if you can afford them, 3800lumen helmet lights are bright enough to make sunglasses a realistic option!

thisisnotaspoon – Member

Yup. Although with the small nuclear furnaces that pass for lights now it’s not so necessary to have a spot IMO. A big floody light will still be brighter than a spot from 5 years ago.

Totally agree with this- both of my lights are floods, they don’t have the sheer punch of a modern spotlight but that’s OK, I don’t need to burn my name on the moon with it. We’re way past the point where you need a spot. A wide beam’s easier to ride in, feels more normal etc. But then, it depends what you want- I want to go for a ride, sometimes it’s dark, I don’t especially want to go for a Night Ride. Other folks want the different experience.

I think one of the best sources of Chinese lights is gearbest. The guys from the MTBR light and night riding forum have been working closely with them to source the “quality” versions as many lights are cloned. If you go over to the MTBR lights and night riding forum you can read some of the threads.

Some of the lights getting good reviews on MTBR forum from Gearbest are the following:

Yinding
Nitefighter BT40
Nitefighter BT21

You can also get the good quality Solarstorm XT40 and Solarstorm X3

If you get two lights from gearbest make sure they are same tint (either cool white or neutral white). Folk seem to moving to Neutral white as it is less harsh and has better colour rendering than cool white!