Thinking of treating myself to some new lights for winter. Currently use 2 Chinese jobbies (one on the bars, one on my lid) but having had them a few years and having a spare bit of cash this month, I’m considering splashing out.

So is there anything else worth considering around £150, for both a bar and a helmet light.

You could think of investing in the batteries – Solarstorm/Pannovo battery packs for £15 and splash out on 4 panasonic 18650’s for £30.

C&B Seen do a 2x battery pack (excluding batteries) for helmet lights.

C&B Seen might be good to take a look at for their lights as some have wireless remotes but they are awaiting stock on a new run of lights.

I’ve got a Lumenator and I’m very happy with it. Don’t often have it on full.

I don’t wear a pack, so I’ve got an Exposure Joystick for the helmet, which I’m also very happy with. Great combo. and it does for a pretty good bar light on its own – I use it on low for commuting in town, and the occasional ride back from one stop early on the train. Roads are unlit and tree covered, so a little blinky doesn’t cut it! There are some good trails if I fancy less traffic and more climbing, and the exposure does well for them. Good little torch for when you need a torch, too.

New ones are £90 and there’s a 2nd hand one in the classifieds at the mo.

don’t know where fossy’s coming from with the batteries?

Nothing wrong with the batteries from mtb batteries!

Nothing wrong with the batteries from mtb batteries!

Mine died after a winter’s use. Happy to accept that it was probably bad luck as most people are happy with them and they’d just self discharged over the summer.

But for the money the solarstorm box, panasonic or samsung cells and a nitecore digital charger is the best VFM as you will only ever have to replace dead cells rather than whole packs in the future, if they ever die which is significantly less likely as they’ll always be balanced if you use a separate charger.

Only downside is the box is bigger by a few mm in all directions than the silicone cases, I did think of getting a second one and cannibalising it for the protection circuit and putting it in a silicone case with a cheap 2s2p holder (or just relying on the batteries protection).

You can get decent (i.e. not nasty cheap spotty solarstorm) beam patterns from chinese lights these days, you can even get the mtbbatteries ones.

I’ve got a genuine lumenator on my head and a nitefighter BT70 diffused on my bars. I actually prefer them both on low to medium on most trails even in groups as it doesn’t mess with my peripheral vision so much and it’s still plenty of light.

Not complaining about MTB Battery’s packs, just mentioning if he had issues could go that route.

OP says he has 2 cheap chinese lights, so has a choice of MTB Batteries packs or indeed sort out your own with the battery cases.

Cheers for the replies. Tempted by a joystick for my lid but also tempted to go for a Fluxient U2 mini from Tourchy, anyone have experience of these?

Got a fluxient U2 mini. Really like it. Use it as helmet light usually when off road. On road I use it on the bars as a main light.
Handy being able to swap batteries on the trail if you need to extend run time.

I bought the MTB Batteries combo a couple of winters ago. Cannot fault them at all. Battery life and light levels both as promised.