[Closed] Ay up lights - views and experiences please

You told me last night you'd definitely decided!

i think they are releasing a revised version, new leds.

Just making sure there are no horror stories out there before I buy :0)

Emailed them and they said - 'no plans to upgrade the LEDs in the near future, but will be offering more lumens at the expense of run times by running them at 700 ma rather than the usual 500ma'.

The Helmet Light is really light and surprisingly small for something that kicks out 400 lumens.

It mounts easily and have had no probs with it coming loose. I like the big button on the battery pack which makes it easy to turn it on/off and low/high/flashing modes too. And you can adjsut the angle easliy of both twin beams.

Beam is narrow and focused (if you choose the narrow beam) so ideal for helmet mounting and in combo with a bar mount (I have a Maxx D). it also converts into a rear light with some optional read plastic things that go onto the front of the lights.

Happy with mine. Mind you the Joystick or Diablo are probably just as good.

Get them. I have had the set up you describe for two winters- they have been fantastic and very reliable. The Hope provides a spread in front, the Ay-Up's provide detail where needed. Burn times are longer than advertised, lightweight so no problem on helmet. Go for the Gekko mount though- worth the extra.

Mate has ay-ups, mrs julian has joystick. Not much in it tbh, the ay-ups sit slighly lower on your head and come in jazzy colours, but also have cables that joystick doesn't have, and as far as a remember the new ones still don't have any lower power settings (would be ace for longer rides if they did). Joystick is a bit easier to swap between helmets which is just as well when you compare the cost of spare mounts for joystick and ay-up.

Mine are a couple of years old but have been great, only use them on the road bike though and wish they had a bit more power so will likely upgrade at some point.

I've had mine for three or four years now. Initially I was very impressed with them, the burn time is awesome, they are light and very simple. Maybe its just me getting older but I'm now finding that they just aren't quite bright enough for me, I feel like I need just that extra little bit of light.
I've also suffered from corrosion in both the three hour battery connectors which means they are rather intermittent and need a bit of a wiggle to get the lights to work (and to charge).
I've also yet to get a response from their warranty department about this.

For road use they are more than adequate for me,its just on very dark off-road bits that I have problems.

I ran an Ayup as a single head light, with Hope 4 on the bars for 2 winters. In the Autumn I sold the Ayups and bought a Joystick 5, and have used it for past 3 months every week.

I definately prefer the Joystick - it has a better beam than the Ayups (mine were older LED's than present version) and no faff at all. To keep the Ayup head weight down I strapped the battery pack on my Camelbak strap, which meant that the weight of the lights was completely un-noticeable, but a bit of a nuisance attaching and detaching the wire. I alsoi had to regulalrly contact spray the battery connection to keep it working - probs as I was connecting and reconnecting a few times per ride, every week.

The Joystick is very simple, great beam, no faff, simple mounting, easy lanyard in case it gets knocked off by a branch etc, plus can also be used as a torch off the bike.

Each to their own though 😆

The current Ay-up run at 400 lumens and the current joystick is 300 lumens if I remember correctly. So the ay up should be brighter. I do like the idea of the adjustable twin beam on the light pod - but does it make a difference.

Discounted the diablo due to the low run times on high, and on medium it's the same as the joystick.

Def would be the Gekco mount I'd be having.

For the helmet - would people def go for the narrow optic rather than the intermediate??

I 've had the helmut mounted 6hr lights for 3-4yrs now.

Never had any problems with them. The battery is light enough to strap to back of helmut. And provides ample light for any riding ... never felt i needed extra light anyways.

yes, narrow optic

the new Ayup's are brighter on paper than the Joystick 5. having tested 2011 versions of both side by side on the trail there is negligible difference and IMO the Joystick has a better beam pattern/spread. Joystick on head is lighter than Ayup plus battery pack, although as I said earlier, if you put battery on Camelbak the light unit weights almost nothing ! Gecko mount is what I used and it was very secure, and yes, if you go for Ayup for head use only then narrow beam probs best, but it is narrower than teh current Joystick

I discounted Diablo for same reason as you.

Cheers

I've got the V4 Adventure Kit - I like em 😀 I bought it for £280 from the ay-up rep whilst he was in the UK.

Very interesting Ian, I was under the impression that a single Ay up would be brighter than the 2011 joystick. Maybe I need a rethink as I can get the joystick quite a bit cheaper.

Ah. Just when I'd made up my mind......

Tested a Joystick a month or so ago and against AY-UPs from a couple of years ago it didn't cut it as a helmet light. The Diablo was surprisingly good as a bar light though.

iainc - what have you been doing to the AY-UPs? Mine are bombproof and the light on the front, battery on the back was well balance and no more noticeable than the Joystick.

Get the intermediates and point the lights in slightly different directions if you want a longer beam patch.

Which didn't cut it?

The Joystick - just not good enough

I have a Joystick and a full set of Ayups and i'd pick the Ayups any day of the week.

The Joystick is a great little unit in principle but it's less powerful and has never given me the supposed 3 hr burntime. It's been back to Exposure twice now and it's only 4 years old and not been used or abused much. Before it went back in December it was switching down to a lower power setting after ony 45mins. Unimpressed to say the least.

The Ayups have always given me more than the 3/6 hr runtime promised (6hr on bars 3hr on helmet) and have been faultless. I'm even considering getting a new set for the helmet so i can increase from 320 lumens to 400 on the newer ones (and get the better new battery as well). Thought about getting my existing ones upgraded (40% brighter so 560 lumens) but was put off by the 40% drop in battery life.

Have you considered the Fireball from Spokeshirts? 1100 lumens for £140. Very light, and seems to be well made.

I have Ay Ups and use them in a bar/helmet combo. Narrow beam on my helmet using a 3 hour battery. Medium spread on the bars with a 6 hour battery. Got them last year and they do have a high and low power setting. For off road use they are just right, a nice combination giving all the illumination I need. I decided against going for a "light up the entire forest" option as I didn't want to replicate daytime riding. IMO too much light detracts a bit from night riding, riding in the dark should be subtly different to daytime stuff.

As mentioned before, battery times quoted are too short, mine tend to last beyond the quoted times but not by much....15 minutes or so usually.

I love them and prefer them to my HiD which still gets dragged out occasionally.

I decided to run my Ayup batteries flat and recharge them the other day. One of my three hour ones (which had been in the drawer for several months) gave out after just over four hours, the other one finally packed up after nearly six hours!! The six hour battery lasted nearly eight hours.

Rik - very mixed views as would be expected. Remember if you are comparing to look at the 2011 versions though as some of opinions above relate to older versions of both lights.

People are always going to have their preferences, and both are excellent lights. For me the new Joystick on head and Hope 4 on bars is a better setup than 3 yr old Ayups on head and Hope 4 on bars.

igm - weekly winter Scottish rides, messy, wet, muddy. the battery lead conenction to battery was never good, I got a replacemnst lead and it was the same - needed IPA spray every few rides to keep it from flickering, but as I said , that was most likley as the connection was on my camelbak strap.

Weight wise, a Joystick plus mount is around 130g I think, Ayups plus battery and mounts around 180g, which for me was a bit heavy

I've had mine for a couple of years and they're great. However, they dose to have shot up in price and don't seem to represent the vfm they once did.

Ayups are great. As mentioned they have low and high settings now and a flashing mode too.

The adventure set comes with everything you could possibly want (and more) including: the gecko mounts and a petzl style head strap, two sets of lights, two 3 hr and one 6hr battery and chargers (car and mains). They even have the saxon caps which converts them into a rear facing bright red light for on the road.

I've run mine for 5 months and they've been faultless. The cables have been no problem whatsoever. The only slight downside with the system is them being difficult to transfer from helmet to helmet as you need to apply velcro dots to attach to.

All for roughly the price of one Maxx D.

Bought some in the autumn last year and am delighted. I use them as a helmet light, very powerful (compared to my old halogens) and light and easy to use battery and switch etc. Now thinking of getting another to stick on the bar, but probably a little too extravagant!

I bought my Ay-Ups in Australia in 2007, upgraded to the new lights when they came out and then upgraded the batteries. I have been chuffed with mine and they get constant use daily commuting and off road at night. They are more than bright enough and the wee batteries mean that you can carry a spare easily. I am a TCL and I always carry a set in my leader kit just in case. I have had a few battery issues over the years but only with the old style without the switch. I had one replaced well outside the warranty period which was great service. The new ones have been excellent. I had one light unit drop off the bars when communting [b]due to my incompetance and the car behind ran it over. It is a bit bruised and dented but still works fine. Quality build.

Dogsby

I've ridden with the last version a few times... They're lovely, brilliant mounts, well made, even look good. They just aren't very good at producing light. The new ones seem to have closed the gap but they're still not all that bright. Personally I would like to like them, but they tick all the boxes but the most important one.

Iainc - sounds like you got a bad set. Weekly rides in Yorkshire, wet, muddy, salt spray on the road sections and they seem to work OK three years later. No problems with the connectors or anything else. No cleaning necessary.

Narrow on the helmet and intermediates for the bar here in case I gave the wrong impression earlier.

btw the 2011 Joystick is a different beast from previous. It's actually really good as a helmet light now imho. Ay-ups look to be a great value setup. Couple of guys in our group have some & they seem fine on brightness.

igm - possibly, but I bought them from Oz initially, with the non button battery, and over the time I had them changed to an orange button battery and a new lead, and still had same problem. That said it never put me off the lights and I really liked them. Just that I prefer the new Joystick as a helmet light 😛

Very happy with my Ayup (narrow beam, helmet mounted).
When you order it's well worth getting a few spare bike and helmet mounts to keep your options open in the future. eg I keep a bike mount on my road bike for summer evening rides.

I've got the older (340lumen I think) ones, currently going through their 3rd winter. Get used at least once a week for MTBing with one unit doing daily duties on my commuter, so they've seen a good amount of use. Medium beam is bar-mounted with 6hr battery on the stem; narrow-beam helmet-mounted using a Gecko mount with 3hr battery strapped to back of helmet. Don't notice the weight as my helmet's not light anyway (MET Parachute semi-thingy).

I find it great having the 3 batteries (although I now have 5...) as I leave one 3hr for commuting and the other 3hr and the 6hr for MTBing.

Seriously impressed with them. Just enough light to ride the same stuff as I would in daylight, without destroying the darkness. No reliability issues apart from two batteries replaced under warranty after the cables split where they exit the battery pack. My old batteries still work perfectly after I reinforced the connection with electrical tape, and I've taped up the new ones to avoid it happening again. Battery life as others say is superb. Also, I like the simple on/off with no other modes to cycle through.

Good point about the extra mounts - I did that and have a bar mount on 4 different bikes. They're inobtrusive so I just leave them there all year round.

pleased with my older ones (bar and helmet)... reliable and good burn times.

But the increased brightness of some of the lights out there means that I really would prefer a more powerful Bar light now when riding with mates who use troutie's products or their own homebrew jobs, as I find myself riding in a shadow when ahead of them. 😥

Have you considered the Fireball from Spokeshirts? 1100 lumens for £140. Very light, and seems to be well made.

I just bought one of these from www.lightandgo.com (although they are now showing as out of stock) - £80 instead of £140 from Spokeshirt - no brainer. £80 for a 3 XPG light had to be worth a punt.

According to tracking it was shipped on Monday and handed to air carrier at Incheon airport in Korea on Tuesday so hopefully be here in the next couple of weeks.

It's important not to get too wrapped up in the Lumens number of a light. It's a w@nky techy smoke screen to get people to buy the highest number. Which won't neccessarily be brighter either. Kind of in the same vein as mega pixels on cameras and 10000's of watts on an amp. Just numbers that the bloke down on the trail can pip you on when you say you've just forked out for 900 lumens. This is 'just the power of the bulb itself' and not the actual power that is viewed by the rider.
If it all possible when looking to spend your hard earned cash (I say that loosley, as I'm sat here at work typing) look for the 'Lux' output which is the recorded amount of light that spills out the device itself. Some 400 lumen lights, produce more lux than 900 lumen lights, due to lens apeture, lens quality and reflector positioning within the housing.
A great explanantion can be found here

http://www.imbikemag.com/issue9

Lux as it's usually measured in this sort of test is pretty meaningless too though- a really bright spotlight with poor beam width shining on the meter will give a great result whereas a floodlight giving a lot more usable light will give a poor result- the tests won't really give a true lux reading, only what shows up on the meter, unless they take measurements from all round the beam areas.

Or, if you want to stick with IMB's explanation of kitchens and warehouses- a bright tight beam can light up a square foot of your warehouse wall brightly and as long as that's where you put the meter, you'll get a good result. If you move the meter 2 foot to the right you'll get a bad result.

indeed, that's why I said

the new Ayup's are brighter on paper than the Joystick 5. having tested 2011 versions of both side by side on the trail there is negligible difference

I've got a 2009 set of AyUps and my husband has a Joystick and a Hope Vision 4. The Ayups seemed brighter/better to me than the Joystick having ridden with both at Mountain Mayhem. Particularly if we pair a head mounted set of AyUps/Joystick with the vision 4 - the Joystick adds very little useful light, but the Ayups seem to pair better with the Vision 4 on the bars.

I've been very pleased with my Ayups - they've worked faultlessly even in terrible weather conditions, and as others have said the battery life is consistently better than the 3/6 hours advertised.

I've got a 2009 set of AyUps and my husband has a Joystick and a Hope Vision 4

Love my Ayups, good aftercare and now they have a UK shipping department its faster too. Cant go wrong with them IMO

love the ay ups had them for 3 years now, my gf got some and they account for around 30% of our night riding group.

Use the 2 light setup but with a hope 4 on the bars you should be spot on. How many batteries do you get with the ay up single? this time of year worth keeping a battery and light in pack just for late finishes

My ayups are >2 years old,I use them twice a week and travel on my local trails at normal speed. All my issue with the old ones have been sorted with the new design my mates have.
I've asked the guys in UK ayup a couple of questions via email this last year and they have responded fast with good news. Eg. 30% off new batteries to replace the old ones, not that I need to yet.

Another vote for ay-ups, had mine 3 years, narrow on helmet and wide on bars and they have survived the Bonty 24-12, CLIC24 and Set2Rise along with the weekly night ride and winter commuting. So had some hammer including me landing on them at least twice with no problems.

Mine are now 2 years old. Bought them in Oz from the shop.

Prior to that I have spent a fortune on lights, basically getting a new set each year.

The great thing about the AyUps is that they are a system, and it works really well.

Mine are now 2 years old. Bought them in Oz from the shop.

Prior to that I have spent a fortune on lights, basically getting a new set each year.

The great thing about the AyUps is that they are a system, and it works really well

OK, cut and paste quote, but exactly the same applies here. I'm really pleased with mine.

Getting a bit repetitious but:

'Older' AyUps for three winters, used fairly frequently for MTB and daily for commuting. I prefer the helmet mounting over the Joystick as I can mount the laps well forward (just above the visor), the batteries on the back and the overall height of the helmet is the same. I run the cable between inside the helmet, and hence no snagging risk.

I'm about to get the light units upgraded with XPG emitters and revised optics; you can get this done by AyUp but requires return to Oz (they reckon 10day turnaround).

I do find they don't produce the overall levels of light that say Trouties offerings do, however I don't have 'shadowing' problems from mates lights as I'm always too far off the back of the group...

Overall, v. happy.