I have been putting off getting some decent lights for a while but decided to take the plunge and move away from chinese lights to something better made, brighter and will last a lot longer. Darkness is arriving earlier so now seems a good time.
Whats out there that people recommend. I do not need eye burning brightness (Or do I? ) will be for off road trails and XC style riding. Decent battery life and ideally no seperate battery pack.
Any good deals, and must recommends?
What should I be looking at lumen wise?
Obvs I could look through ALL the other forum posts made on the subject but be good to know if some are still the recommended e.g. magicshine. Or do I just go get the best exposure light I can afford? Are hope still rated?
I seem to have choice paralysis looking at all the options.
move away from chinese lights
I think you'll massively restrict your choice if you do.
I was meaning the ali express, ebay specials when I said chinese lights. the cheap ones with dodgy chargers and loose wiring 🙂
Such as these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233794569959
Exposure
+1
I've not bought a new light in 6 years and my oldest is 10+ years old, but that's cos they're blindingly brilliant.
For MTBing I've got a SixPack mk8 (Sep 2018) and Diablo mk7 (Aug 2015), and for off-road commuting a Toro mk8 (Mar 2019). So my oldest is ‘only’ just over 10 years old and been used as my helmet lamp for every year.
Not cheap, but excellent value for money.
+1 for Exposure lights.
Brilliant quality, excellent customer service. Good range of spares and accessories (like extra brackets for all manner of weird shaped bars / seatposts). The new range is all USB-C charge port now so much faster charging as well.
I've got a couple of Exposure lights that are getting on for 8 years old but still going perfectly, however I'm looking at a new Diablo now for winter commuting.
Exposure is the correct answer, but I'm looking at the Moon Rigel Power (note there are three similar models, the Enduro and Pro are below the Power) as a bit of a more budget friendly option at the moment
I'm sticking with my pair of 4fourth lights. Uk made and I like having a separate battery pack from the light unit
Exposure +1
expensive on the day you buy em, but they just keep on working, so end up being good value overall.
Another +1 for Exposure.
As others have said, they are expensive but last for yonks. Also Exposure's after-sales service is excellent.
What should I be looking at lumen wise?
IMO 1200/1300 lumens on the bars and a 1000 lumen light on the helmet is more than enough for normal night riding.
You can run the bar light at 600/800 lumens and have the head torch turned off when you're going uphill or pootling along, and then both on full for technical and downhill sections.
I use a 1300 lumen Moon Meteor Vortex pro on the bars (remote switch is included) and a Raveman LR 1000 on the helmet. Both were about £45. Good lights, well made, and both are going strong after a couple of years.
Others will run more (much more in some cases!) 😁
I've tried various lights from the old Chinese ones, Halfords specials and Exposure.
Exposure is my answer nowadays. As long a you know you'll use them. They are expensive but VFM if great. They seem to last an age.
Exposure - good, compact, quick turnaround when you send them for repairs. Of the 5 here, only 2 are still working properly, so don't expect them to last forever.
Four4th - simpler than exposure, well made, very bright, no issues. Holy Moses and Scorch is a good combo.
Mtb Batteries Luminator - these were much cheaper, less bright but no issues. I don't think they are available any more though, but something like this to avoid a big spend is good.
Hope, been years since I had a Hope and it was good, broke a couple of times, but Hope fixed it quickly every time.
I've just bought another light set from MTB batteries. I messaged him and he still had some but said he wasn't doing anymore as there wasn't the demand and it wasn't profitable. Shame as I really like them, robust and simple. So it might be worth giving him a bell. I have an Exposure Axis and it'll probably be relegated to back up duties. I've never really been impressed with it, I don't need loads of different settings and the TAP is turned off. The on off switch is a bit vague especially in the winter with warmer gloves on.
Another vote for Exposure- I’ve had two Maxx-Ds in the last 16 years and both have been great, with the superb aftersales others mentioned
ive also had a Gloworm X2, which has been equally brilliant. A few niggles with the v1 but they swapped it for a v2 and that’s been rock solid for 12 years. They often come up on eBay for a good price so it’s worth a look
Have a Four 4th Scorch for my helmet lamp and was going to be using my Gloworm XS on the bars but having picked up a Troutlight lamp and battery I'm going to run with that! Agree with RicB about Gloworms though - great lights and at some point I'll get around to selling my X1 and X2 which were bought as spare lights!
Another +1 for Exposure.
As others have said, they are expensive
Same, but there is an 18% discount code in the members section. I've just used it to buy a Sirius and am thinking of a Strada too.
Gloworm, hmm. I had a bad experience with an X2.
Within 12mths of buying the switch broke/cable split and the battery housing cracked. The shop I'd bought from had closed, and the importer/main dealer refused to warranty it and were very unhelpful.
Wouldn't buy again.
I used to buy cheap Chinese lights every year. Always brighter than before.
Then I bought into the Exposure hype with a joystick and a Diablo . I’ve never needed more ,did buy a battery extender though.
Love that the trout light is still going ❤️
I've had several Moon lights including the Rigel and whilst they are great lights when they work, I've had some reliability issues. I had a comet-x completely fail (~ 6 months old) and my Rigel (~ 2 years) is now "unreliable" as it will turn it-self off randomly. Because of this I wouldn't get any more and am looking at Exposure.
Magicshine monteer and a joystick
Exposure.
The initial outlay is more than offset by their peerless customer service if something goes wrong.
Whilst they are excellently made, there's a lot of electronics packed in to a small space that gets jolted around a lot. Issues can happen. When my Diablo went wrong, I sent it off with a note about the problem. I got it back within a week with a note stating what they'd done. Fixed FOC, I just had to use an old helmet light for on ride. Ironically the problem was caused by the accelerometers for 'tap mode' which i switch off. This would be my only slight grumble about Exposure - tap mode is an unnecessary faff - set it too sensitive and riding chatter can change the power output. But if you set it less sensitive, you have to hit it so hard you move the mount. I just switch it off, but the accelerometers are still there and doing their thing.
This issue was a year ago, though. No problems since.
I still run Hope lights, and as stated really good at fixing but they don't show on the website any more
Are Lumicycle still a thing?
I'm still running a lovely c.2009/10 LED lamp on my bars with a tiny bar / top tube mounted battery that lasts all night on med / high. I supplemented that with a helmet mounted Exposure Diablo last winter. It's a great light, even brighter than my Lumi, but only lasts a couple of hours on the trail.
Are Lumicycle still a thing?
I was just thinking the same - looks like they are still in business.
My Lumicycle HID still strikes up. It sits in a box in my shed and I turn it on every now and then to check! 🙂
https://lumicycle.com/mountain-bike-lights/
Exposure
Via their outlet
With the discount form stw membership
Exposure, for long term lighting, think of them more as an investment for the future, than this years latest toy to be replaced next year. TBH though, if you ride with a group something from Magicshine might also be a good choice. As Exposure don't chase the lumen output that MS do, and lots of ppl don't have an curtesy to not use the max setting when following you (overshadowing any lower output lights). I liked my Halford Advanced light too, mine is quite a few years old now but still working fine as a backup/loaner unit, surprisingly good for the money.
I believe a bar unit and head unit is the best setup, so you don't need one to be the most powerful, as the other will add to it's overall effect. IME don't buy a huge head lamp, you want something as low profile as possible, to avoid low hanging branches trying to rip your head off..
my boggo halfords special bar light (earlier version of the halfords-advanced-1800-lumen light) is the absolute best. £50 well spent. lots of teh group have exposure but i dont feel teh need to upgrade from this light. the light spread is excellent.
i prefer a more powerful helmet light to bar light so you dont get that horrible stobe effect from teh bar light in twisty trails.
i also prefer a more floody helmet lighht so you dont have that 'peering down a cone of light' feeling.
I`ve tried alot of light and i think i`m fairly unique/picky in my requirements!!.
I do actually have an exposure joystick, its mk7 so tops out at 400lm but for a headlight that will do for now.
What lumens should I be looking at for bar lights? Its been such a long time since I bought decent lights the lumen race has passed me by a bit.
Ironically my running headtorch is currently my brightest light.
If you are happy with 400 on your head, then nothing too bright - less than 2000 on the bars will be fine so you can actually see the head torch lighting things up.
I have lots of different lights and it depends on your riding as to what you need. 1200-1500 lumen bar light only is absolutely fine for general trails and we do use just that sometimes, although it does make some stuff more challenging but it’s fine really. For jumps, drops and faster tech stuff I need something brighter. I ended up with Magicshine Monteer 3500 and one of their helmet lights. I also have a joystick, but I prefer the Magicshine light (RN1500) on the helmet, it’s heavier but brighter and lasts longer. With my current set up, I’m happy to do decent drops, jumps and gaps, pretty much any of the stupid stuff I do in daylight. 🙂
My best non remote battery setup was a halfords 1600lm bar and a moon meteor helmet light. I much preferred the floody light on the bars to light up in front of me and to the sides, with a much more spotty light for seeing off where I wanted to be and round corners.
I have since moved back to stupid lights, a Monteer 8500S (on offer at the time) on the bars is all I need.
Exposure if you want an all in one (no separate battery)
If you are going to use it a lot (like once a week all winter, or more) then the price is a good example of Vimes Boots Theory.
Exposure if you don’t mind the initial expense.
if you need any after service their customer service is first class
Gloworm, hmm. I had a bad experience with an X2.
Within 12mths of buying the switch broke/cable split and the battery housing cracked. The shop I'd bought from had closed, and the importer/main dealer refused to warranty it and were very unhelpful.
Wouldn't buy again.
I remember this- around 2014/15? The UK sales guy was a member on here called neninja and posted a lot. He was really committed to the brand….and then just vanished. A few shops were in limbo with outstanding orders and the warranty support dried up for a bit.
mtb batteries then stepped in as warranty support and were great.
not sure Gloworm have a uk distributor anymore though?
my boggo halfords special bar light (earlier version of the halfords-advanced-1800-lumen light) is the absolute best. £50 well spent. lots of teh group have exposure but i dont feel teh need to upgrade from this light. the light spread is excellent.
That light is so good. I like shiny new things but I don't need to spend hundreds of quid to replace the Halfords light yet because it's perfect.
My Lumicycle HID still strikes up. It sits in a box in my shed and I turn it on every now and then to check! 🙂
Ha- I never had a lumi HID but I did have the twin halogen setup with 12w spot snd 20w flood. That was brilliant and the yellow light was much nicer on the eyes compared with the harsh white glare of leds
I have had several self-contained lights over the past 7-8 years. Evolva X8 (1800 claimed lumens) was good - 1 on the bar, one on the helmet - and were about £50 each at the time. They used tripod thread mounts so were fairly secure, and I think these are now SoonFire lights on Amazon.
Replaced these with Magicshine RN3000 on the bar and Ray2600 on the helmet. These were better lights than the above, but they were twice the price. Also better mounts as they used Garmin 1/4 turn. Lots of scrolling through the modes as you can have either LED or both on, low, mid, high, highest, flashing. That got dull fast.
Now on Exposure Maxx-D Mk13 and Zenith Mk1. They were relatively pricey, but I got them from their outlet store and 18% STW member discount, so all in, cheaper than the Maxx-D would have been from a shop. Way better than the previous lights like you'd hope. For a start, they don't have millions of modes to cycle through like the MS.
The Exposures are awesome, and I'd buy again. But then I do a lot of night riding so it's worth it for me.
I'm on my 2nd winter with Magicshine - would love an Exposure light, but they are just too spendy for me
There's been some decent deals on Cateye AMPP front lights recently, including the 900 for £40 at Halfords/Amazon.
@RicB I've still got my 12w Spot, 20w flood Lumicycle halogen lamps and because of Lumi's backwards compatibility they are still usable, although you barely get 90 mins runtime out of them on a modern battery built for LEDs. I popped them on my old Orange P7 a couple of years ago for a bit of nostalgia before I passed the bike on to someone else and it was hilarious. I think I hit every tree, rock and root on my local trail. Couldn't see a bloody thing. How did I survive with those lights? Yet I still remember being awestruck with their power when I upgraded from my previous lead acid powered 5w / 10w Cateye combo!
Progress, eh? Doesn't have take the fun out of life. 🙄 😉
I bought a Bontrager Ion Pro RT a year or so back, based on recommendations on here. I haven’t ridden at night since though, so it’s brand new and surplus if anyone wants it ? Feel free to mail me with sensible offers, for pics etc. iain dot clow at gmail dot com
Yet I still remember being awestruck with their power when I upgraded from my previous lead acid powered 5w / 10w Cateye combo!
Oh I remember them - that battery was the old school equivalent of unsprung mass...
No such thing as helmet lights in those days.
I've had several Moon lights including the Rigel and whilst they are great lights when they work, I've had some reliability issues. I had a comet-x completely fail (~ 6 months old) and my Rigel (~ 2 years) is now "unreliable" as it will turn it-self off randomly. Because of this I wouldn't get any more and am looking at Exposure
Absolutely spot on. I used to argue with IHN and the Disley crew that Moon lights were the way forward. My Moon 1200 Blah Blah was vastly superior in every way to any of my 4 Exposure front lights.... It had better battery life, much better beam pattern with the dual head, lighter, and much better switches. It was brilliant..... until it stopped working and Moon CGAF.
I think Ive had some of my Exposures for 20 years or so and they still work mostly. When they stop working I send them back to USE and they (mostly) fix them.
The beam pattern is still wrong* the battery life on the head mounted ones is woeful, and the switches are a nightmare to work, but they generally do work.
So I bought a quad support cell from Smudge and use the Exposures. In the unlikely event I ever get fit again I'll buy some more Exposure.
* I know I'm in the minority here but still can't believe that none of the manufacturers apart from Moon realised that a decent beam spread on a headlight means fore and aft not side to side..
Edit to say that not all Exposures are created equal. The two Joysticks I have are excellent but the Axis and Equinox are not great. The Axis has rubbish beam pattern, the switch has never worked well and the tap function is a PITFA. THe Equinox is ok with a quad support cell but far too powerful for its battery size .
