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I mean something you can see to ride with, and with a couple of hours of runtime. But super small and light.
I reckon 150lm with a quite focused beam, or more if it's a flood. Any ideas?
These look quite good as an emergency light: Lezyne Zecto Drive - claimed 250lm and less than 50g?
I’m really happy with my Joystick mind, it hardly weighs anything, is pretty compact and lasts for hours on the lower setting - but if you specifically want small - the above is probably more suitable - certainly cheaper!
Niterider Lightning Bug 120 USB
I can ride and see well enough with my Alpkit headtorch.
It’s always in my riding bag for emergencies.
Yes, small is a priority. No headtorches though, I hate riding with a headtorch only.
What's the beam pattern like on the Zecto drive? My Lezyne macro drive is annoyingly too floody.
Zecto drive is quite floody too - and it looks like the 250lm is only in strobe mode. Think the problem you have with all these sort of physically smaller lights is that they are really designed to be seen by road users rather than project a strong beam. The Exposure Trace is another strong contender for an emergency light (110 lumens) that does project a bit and is incredibly small and light (£33 Halfords on line) - but off road, on its own you might struggle. After that I think you start looking at things like the Cateye Volt 400 for a stronger beam at a reasonable price - but heavier and bulkier - that’s the compromise.
How small is small? I’ve got a 400lm Moon meteor x auto (I think that’s the name) that’s ok. Cost about £20 and I’d pretty small. Plenty of light for commuting - and maybe slow off road easy stuff.
Actually it’s £25 now and it’s the meteor auto x pro.
There is an auto x for £20 but it’s only 320 peak beam.
Exposure TraceR, small and very bright (no problem idea what lumens)
This is for road and just getting around. Not hardcore MTBing.
TraceR would probably be ok then
Another vote for Trace/R then, good enough to be a solo backup light.
Definitely converted to having one just because, as well as main front lamp off-road.
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIMSMJ900/magicshine-mj900-1200-lumen-led-bicycle-light for £34 is pretty small, lightweight and bright, had one for a few years and rarely need to use the brightest modes.
The newer version is the same price, you can configure brightness modes via app and Bluetooth https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LIMSMJ900B/magicshine-mj900b-1000-lumen-led-bicycle-light
I like the look of this one:
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nite-rider-swift-300-front-light-aw18/rp-prod175917
This one might also be good - for commuter bike duties a fixed clamp rather than the rubber band might actually be better.
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/lifeline-atria-300l-front-light/rp-prod161242
That PX one looks good but it's a separate battery, which isn't really convenient.