[Closed] What's a sensible numbers of lumens for night riding?

All depends on who you ride with. If they are rocking daylight setups then you'll need to too unless you want to be looking at your own shadow all the time.

1000 on your bars, 200 on your helmet.

at least as much as the guy riding behind you ...

jam bo +1

i used to night ride solo on a pair of 2.4watt vistalights. which was fine. But as soon as you were riding with people with 20watts of Lumicycles it wasn't

Now i just solo night ride on a pair of ay ups, i suspect i might have issues if riding with people with stupid bright setups.

500 as a minimum

Quality of light makes a difference too.

My 7 year old arc hids have a lovely beam pattern with only 700 lumens but seem much more effective than some more powerful setups.

Thanks folks. Sounds like I need something like 900 on my bars, keep the 240 on my head if I can repair it but keep the 900 turned way down unless everyone around me is much brighter. The min 500 was what I suspected but wasn't really sure.

I started off riding off road with single ever ready clip in light, truly like riding by the light of a candle, however, you could still ride. I've slowly moved up through the light powers and I've now got a 900 exposure max and a 300 on the helmet. I can honestly say that I ride faster at night as I'm so happy with the lights, and I can't see gradients as well so don't slow down! I've no need for more, riding almost always on my own.

I've been riding with just a magicshine on my lid recently and this has been more than adequate.

Just a gloworm x2 on my noggin - ran on 900 for most of the time - would like one on my bars too when I have the cash - I like to be able to ride at daylight pace

jam bo - Member
All depends on who you ride with. If they are rocking daylight setups then you'll need to too unless you want to be looking at your own shadow all the time.

^this

Was fine with my Lumicycle Halide plus Joystick combination until the guy behind me put his 1500 lumen on full and was riding in shadow. Got my Lumenator last week so I've upped the stakes a little 😈

solo = 300/500 lumens - I prefer helmet mounting...

group = depends if you are in the front or the back... it can be a light war and if you dont match the guy behind then all you see is your shadow... one solution - out ride them !

paul

What the bloke behind you has + 100

It depends what you actually want to do. You can night right with very little light, but it'll definately be a night ride. I like to do that sometimes, but most of the time it's just that I want to go for a ride and it's night, so I want a gigalumen or two so that I can ride pretty normally.

I normally have a Maxx D on bars and Joystick on head, so 1285 + 300. Interestingly I borrowed a mates old Diablo the other week when my Maxx D was getting sorted and put it on the bars on medium, so 'dropped' to something like 480 on bars and 300 on lid. All of a sudden the helmet light was doing a lot more work and whilst seeing the line was slightly harder than usual, it wasn't unpleasant........until someone came behind me with 1000+, then I could see very little at all !

I would say it depends what those you ride with have.

My usual riding mates are escalating their luminosity all the time as Snakey seems to have some machiavellian pact with the LBS and is always sporting the newest powerfullest light to spoil it for the rest of us. I swear he's faster at night than in the day now because he doesn't have to put up with that pesky dappled sunlight in the woods.

So, I often bale (bail?) out of a night ride on the way back, and complete my journey with my lights off. It's not as if I've got a feeble setup, Lumi Led3 on the bars and a DX P7 on the helmet, but I just wait a few minutes, let the eyes adjust and ride back to the pub in the dark. It's slow, scary and ace. Full moon with a clear sky is fun, but pitch black is betterer.

thanks again folks. I'm from the generation that went out with dodgy everreadys but the pace has picked up somewhat since. Still sounds like I want 5-900 and stay at the back which is convenient as that's where I usually am 🙂

BigJohn - riding with no lights is ace indeed

Are we talking British or Chinese Lumens? I can't find the exchange rate at the moment but IIRC it varies between 1.5 and 3 X your British Lumens.

Having just bought a Maxx D, my old setup is up for sale if you're interested - Trailtech 10W or 12W HID (I guess it's 700 lumens or so) with reasonable Trailtech battery and Smudge lumicycle battery (haven't tested the batteries this year, but last time I used them they gave 2.5 hrs and 2 hrs runtime). Cosmetically the light is a bit rubbish (chrome is peeling, and the switch was opened and resealed to fix a broken wire), but it's cheapish - £70 posted?

Not sure it's all about the lumens. I run Ay-up lights with the brighter lamps installed. They're only just over 1000 L total but are more useable and versatile than lights claiming to be a lot brighter.

I'm about to get some lights for the wife. Torn between more Ay-up and a darkness dominator from troutie.

How many lumens? All of them.

thanks large418 but I'm probably going Sigma so I can share batteries and charger with what I have already, or at least that's my current thinking

I just run a DX "900" lumen on my lid, as do my mates, feels just right.

Depends on what you want but I like the feeling of night riding so any brighter and it would take the fun away IMO.

anywhere between 100 and 3000 depending on terrain and speed
but then my eyes are old and need all the help they can get.

Thats the great thing about led lights now the adjustability

Personal experience is that anything over around 1500 is probably not necessary, with the caveat that there seems to be a wide-ish range of eye sensitivity, etc.

I've tried to avoid the lumens race, designing lumen monsters. Instead I've just gone for longer runtimes or smaller power packs.

I'd also agree with the other posts here with regard to being able to select a lower output, with LED lights.
Its great for those who don't need the headline figure of maximum output, in order to enjoy their trails. The added bonus being that they get alonger runtime.

troutie - did you get my email re. the lamp unit?

Depends how old & crap your eyesight is.

This is a bit like that adage about car drivers buying horsepower and driving torque- people buy on lumens and are most impressed by lux. Sadly lux are very rarely quoted as it's a bit more complicated to describe. How the lumens are distributed, therefore what the intensity(lux) of light is in various key places in your field of vision is as important as the overall lumen value (if you actually believe the figures quoted, esp by some of the cheaper brands).

[i]Sadly lux are very rarely quoted as it's a bit more complicated to describe[/i]

It can be described in tabular format, I'll post below, results from a prototype I had lab tested and you can see the light distribution.

Lux @ 1m - 0 degrees:
Light at Maximum output - 5990 Lux

Lux @ 1m - 2.8 degrees
Light at Maximum output - 5530 Lux

Lux @ 1m - 5.7 degrees
Light at Maximum output - 4130 Lux

2.8 degrees is equivalent to 0.5m out to the side at a distance directly ahead of 10m - Total beam width of 1.0m

5.7 degrees is the equivalent of 1.0m out to the side at a distance directly ahead of 10m - Total beam width of 2m

So, as you can see, it is possible to indicate beam pattern using lux figures, IF they are recorded correctly.

Thanks to Chris W, for the figures.
🙂

Depends how old & crap your eyesight is.

Very and very. Went for 900 in the end as although 1600 was possible I also don't like lighting up the forest too much.

i was out last night and the leaves were down so having my troutie dominator on 2nd highest setting helped see the hidden trails. i use it on medium usually

So, as you can see, it is possible to indicate beam pattern using lux figures, IF they are recorded correctly.

Oh, it's absolutely possible to describe a beam pattern, it's just with your account above you have ably demonstrated that to your average innumerate punter who just about gets "big number - good, bigger number, better", it will probably go over their head! 😀

Jedi.

So you're riding mostly on 1000 lumens, less than half the Dominator's maximum.

As many as you can get...

[i]Lots of the folks I ride with are using mj808s which are 900 lumens but most use them on the next setting down so not at 900.

[/i]

This is usually due to them not lasting long enough at full power. I'd +1 for Exposure.

Convert.

I see what you mean, but theres a lot to be said for using a good and experienced lab. Chris W did / does a diligent job. Good testing technique and correct equipment. Top work by him, if you ask me.

Given what some folk have done to the lumen count in their advertisements, I guess it wouldn't be difficult for them to [i]conjure[/i] up a nice lux table....

wouldnt have a clue. it has levels up to leaf burner!

[i]wouldnt have a clue. it has levels up to leaf burner! [/i]

Haven't you looked at the website ?.
🙂
[url] http://troutie.com/Products/Detail/Darkness-Dominator [/url]

My 700 lumen (Mk1) Exposure Toro lights the trail better than the 900 lumen Magichine I have.

nope 🙂

[i]My 700 lumen (Mk1) Exposure Toro lights the trail better than the 900 lumen Magichine I have.[/i]

Nobby, I think you demonstrate Convert's point there.

EDIT:
Not to mention that the Exposure is probably more likely to be 700 lumens. It has since come to light that the original magicshine, while claiming to be 900 lumens, actually came out nearer 550 lumens.

[i]nope[/i]

Well ^^^ theres the link, and it looks to me like you're riding on 1000 lumens, which answers the OP's question quite nicely.
😀

I use a DX light on my lid and that's more than adequate for night racing. An extra one on the bars is good if you can especially if a flood

"jedi - Member
i was out last night and the leaves were down so having my troutie dominator on 2nd highest setting helped see the hidden trails. i use it on medium usually"

Thats so other people can see you right? because you'd be using the force. Just thought i'd clear that up 😀

yeah sometimes i d have to 🙂

depends on a mixture of what others youre riding with are using, and your approach to nightriding (the experience of night riding, or just riding at night). I started night riding 15yrs ago with a 10W halogen Niterider helmet mount powered by a nicad, spent more time turned off than on to eek out battery life. I now ride with a cheapo "250 lumen" ebay torch on my helmet, and more recently with a little 150 lumen NR minewt on the bar too. Most of my riding buddies have 900+lumen jobbies, and I actually spend most of my time with my lights turned off chasing the guys in front and looking into their pool of light. I always found night riding improved my technique as you cant/dont fixate on the little stuff on the trail, so you relax and roll over it, and using the rider in front's light pool means lifting and extending your vision.

Many years ago (in the days of halogen) I learnt that there is a lot more to lights than lumens. After a few experiences with cheaper lights I moved to some Lumicycle ones. While the quoted output was lower they were so much better. Maybe some of these new Chinese made LEDs are better, but ever since then I've stuck with the bigger brands. The headline number may be lower, but if the heat sinking and optics are better it will still be a better light out on the trail.

Cheers,

Andy

Is there any reason not to have the brighter light on your helmet? I have a 300!(old) and a 1000 (new) but no helmet mount for the 300 (an older model Minewt mini) which I can get but is £30 or so

mattjevans - Member

Is there any reason not to have the brighter light on your helmet?

No. In fact, depending on your setup, it might well make more sense to do it this way round.

Only downside is if it's cloudy or misty, as a bright helmet light will glare you. (or snowing!)

But for me, these days a good light on the noggin is all you need, it'll give you the range and the breadth of vision that you used to need 2 for. I still have a bar light as a spare but it's the helmet light that does all the work.