[Closed] whats the current "in fashion" light then??

Deal Extreme P7 seems to get the best reviews, only problem is 1 hour battery life but the batteries are so cheap and rechargeable that you can just buy a few and should last for most night rides. Gonna invest in one soon.

Exposure for quality and no cables or external battery packs. Nice range, and most have at least 3 hour run time.

Those little clip on things you can barely see are pretty fashionable at the mo...

DX light, I love mine 🙂

Those little clip on things you can barely see are pretty fashionable at the mo...

ay ups?

if i was starting from scratch i'd go for those now.

If you have no cash: DX Magicshine/P7s

If you are quite flash: Trout light, Luminous's light, 4Fourth, AyUps etc

I like my Hope vision 4 - bright enough for me and double battery pack last ages 🙂

Lumicycle LED3 for me with the pro battery gives plenty of light and runtime.

Dunno, just ordered a DX with the new battery as TBH for £55 you could buy 4 before you could afford its nearest competitor and runtime shouldn't be too bad, as;
a)batteries are cheep so if it is a problem, I'll buy a second light for the bars and a spare battery.
b) 'low' should be brighter than 'low' on my curent setup (2x 240lumen Q5 LED's switching either 1 or both) so I can't see the 'high' setting being used for more than 'super-tech south-east gnar-core free-mince' sections.

Trialling a Luminous 601 (2000 lumens) - appears to work so far...;-)

Deal Extreme P7 seems to get the best reviews, only problem is 1 hour battery life

???

Mine is rated for 3 hrs?

I guess he's referring to the torch rather than the bike light poppa

The Six Pack 3h at 1800 lumens.

[img] [/img]

A bargin at £450!

At bargin at £450!

I'll have 5.

Light + £450 + bargain = impossible.

Trout and Luminous do 2000 lumen lights from under £300.

I'm surprised how few of the new light companies are doing all-in-one units. It's what everyone who buys Exposure raves about with theirs.

Light + £450 + bargain = impossible.

Sorry I wasn't being serious, but it is a very nice looking light (and I thought it hit the "in fashion" thread topic), but a bargain it is not!

Luminous is doing an all in one light

I dabbled last year but it never got finished but still have it on the back burner and it may yet materialise
still waiting for the odd exposure wanting to be upgraded so I get to operate on one.

[i]I'm surprised how few of the new light companies are doing all-in-one units. It's what everyone who buys Exposure raves about with theirs. [/i]

My thoughts exactly about a month ago.

Quickly proceeded by a light-bulb moment regarding design and construction of such a light.

And here we are.

[img] [/img]

By this time next week, the shineyness will be replaced by a [i]Stealth[/i] shade of black.

But, as always, some testing will be required there after...

It has the potential to be a very interesting project during the next few weeks.

Similar dimensions to a well known 4 LED light with internal battery, 1500 paper lumens, around 3 hours runtime on max.

DX MAGICSHINE. Bought 2; one helmet, one bars. Don't need anything else and all for £100.00. Had mine over a year now 2-3 hour run time and as i i don't tend to use both all the time, can last up to 4 hours!!!

USE Exposure, diablo, great as a bike light and has been fantastic as a flash light this summer when the baler has gone tits up at night and I needed a flash light to see to sort it out, and with the car charger just plugged it into the tractor power accessory to keep it charged up. stonking
USE Exposure will have their 2011 lights to show at this years Marin Dusk til Dawn on October 2/3rd at High Lodge forest centre Thetford.

Yeah - the Exposure lights do look impressive. Trying currently to convince myself that I don't need a Joystick (or equivalent NiteRider).
If Exposure are doing any deals at the D2D, my debit card might be screwed......

One of our mates has just got into riding and has bought a DX bike light thing from Magicshine (the single light one, not the Mickey Mouse one) and I have been very impressed so far.
Would be a cheap way of getting a powerful head torch.......

i know there are cheaper options out there , but i really like the look of the "tried and tested" exposure stuff.

Thinking that the latest version of the maxx d and the diablo, would be the perfect combo.

I mean no disrespect by my next remark, but the trout lights and luminous just dont do it for me in the looks department. (i am sure that they are very good lights though)

i know there are cheaper options out there , but i really like the look of the "tried and tested" exposure stuff.

Thinking that the latest version of the maxx d and the diablo, would be the perfect combo.

I mean no disrespect by my next remark, but the trout lights and luminous just dont do it for me in the looks department. (i am sure that they are very good lights though)

I don't spend anytime actually looking at my lights when I'm out riding at night so this really wouldn't be a problem for me.

but the trout lights and luminous just dont do it for me in the looks department.

Tart. You're supposed to use them when it is [i]dark[/i] outside, not spaff over them in some frenzied kit whore fantasy.

Woe betide it might get muddy or bent, eh?

lol @adh

[i]I don't spend anytime actually looking at my lights when I'm out riding at night so this really wouldn't be a problem for me.[/i]

Tart. You're supposed to use them when it is dark outside, not spaff over them in some frenzied kit whore fantasy.

Woe betide it might get muddy or bent, eh?

I bet you dont spend time looking at your bike when you ride it either, or looking at your car when you drive it, but i bet the design and style of both played a part in your buying decision.

Hypocrites !!

That looks nice Luminous. I didn't know that Trout souped up existing units either. There's a few people about with older exposures.
I think all-in-one designs will find you some new customers. I know that every time I show my bastid to exposure owners, they justify the extra cost by raving about the "no wires" design (and excellent warranty service it has to be said).

I bet you dont spend time looking at your bike when you ride it either, or looking at your car when you drive it, but i bet the design and style of both played a part in your buying decision.

Hypocrites !!

lol, calm down dear.

Granted, but only to a tiny tiny degree.

I don't, for example, worry endlessly about what the inside of my frame tubes look like, or spend time filling in bits of missed anodising on my wheel rim gutters. When I was painting my study, I was shockingly and unrepentantly unconcerned about keeping the bit immediatly under the desktop flush, as the boxing just screws over it anyway. You should see the state of the underside of my patio, gee wizz, your piss would surely boil.

Looking for something light and waterproof? Liteoption Ray3a as reviewed in STW this month?
[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

I think Troutie and Luminous' lights actually look better than Exposure's efforts.

The design of my bike played a part in my buying decision - I decided a penny farthing style design would be a bit harsh on fast singletrack.

Same with the car - a milk float just wasn't good enough for securing bikes.

Hey, I just purposefully buy the ugliest option, in everything.

Luminous - that all in one looks very interesting, how long until it could be available? I'm looking around for a new light at the moment and that could be just the job so not too long I hope. Or if you need someone to test it out......... 🙂

I bought my exposure ("only" a race maxx) and hope (1 led) specifically because there are no wires or extra faff involved.

Use the maxx on the bars for a general flood and commuting and the hope on the helmet (it's supposed to be too heavy but I don't notice it). The only downside to the exposure is that the charging port can collect mud.

If it's not quick to swop over or out of the way and light I can't be arsed - mind you my last set of lights was a set of ABS25's which weighed a ton and had 6 miles of helicoil cabling attached.

and had 6 miles of helicoil cabling attached.

That cabling had a purpose. These days, when you need to lash logs together to make a rudimentry raft, you're the poorer for all this 'progress'.

Yeti Guy.

No offence taken here. With such a wide range of choice, its a buyers market. I hope you get to physically see an LL or a 601 sometime, then you might feel differently.
🙂

Will my light be perceived to be as [i]pretty[/i] as a Maxx D or the 6 pack ?, we can only decide for ourselves.
😉

Paulio.
Its still early stages for that light, its only been ~4 weeks from concept to manufacture of a very small batch.

Supremely well finished by the chap who makes the bodies, they are now at the anodizer.

Once they are back in my hands I will build one and post stuff, so for now, just keep checking out the STW forum.

As for testing, eventually, I may lend it out for independant assessment, but only after I'm happy with it.

I'm just enjoying this light as a technical challenge, its unlike any light I've designed before, and I'm just going to see where it goes.
😉

I think we might have reached a point where all the current light sets are good.
A couple of years back that wasn't so, and a club night ride would be halted now and again for a lights comparison test. It would also be a subject of debate whilst riding.
Now no one talks about lights because everyone is happy with what they have.
I use L&M Seca Race, and always in the race mode i.e low or high at a touch, and low is ample for club night rides.

[i]I think we might have reached a point where all the current light sets are good[/i]

HHmmm, Possibly, but I think theres still a varied range of performance.

The LnM seca's seem to please their owners.

However, I've encountered people who have bought at the cheaper end of the market and then the results can vary alot.

For example, the Basitd lovers put up with faulty units and returning stuff, cos they got a light that cost £50. Which, when it works, provides sufficient light to ride with, at a moderate pace, imo.
Thats not my scene, but if thats what some are prepared to do, then fine with me.
😉

Then theres the stuff like the LUU light. Mate of mine got one about 18 months ago, a few months before I started offering lights, IIRC, and after all the claimed hype about 900 lumens, he felt disappointed with the result that light gave.

So just there, you have examples of lights that perhaps aren't all that reliable, and those lights that just aren't that bright.

But as I posted earlier, its a buyers market and now at least, there is something for all riders, and all budgets.

So from that perspective, it would seem that things have improved. Mostly at the budget end of the scale. But as someone recently said to me.
There is no such thing as "[i]cheap, quality[/i]"
🙂

There is no such thing as "cheap, quality"

Well exactly. My lights I think are the most expensive thing on my bike including the frame. So it's a hard pill to swallow - how do you look at it? 'this is how much light and performance I want and pay the price' or 'this is how much I'm going to spend, what have you got'
In the earlier days there was an awful amount of turd polishing going on regards lights.
IMO though however expensive lights are, they add a whole new dimension to your riding by making winter and night easier places to ride and therefore worth it.

my troutlight is by far the best light i have ever used........
far better than hopes and exposures i have used in the past.

and trout is a very nice bloke too..

[i]they add a whole new dimension to your riding by making winter and night easier places to ride and therefore worth it.[/i]

Well put.

I think ahWiles hit the nail on the head when they pointed out recently that decent lights allow us to use our bikes more often, and so we can reep the benefits and the fun of doing so.

Which goes double if you've spent a fair bit on your bike.

Instead of riding for half the year, get your money's worth, get a good light set, and get more miles out of your bike.
🙂

[i]my troutlight is by far the best light i have ever used........
far better than hopes and exposures i have used in the past.[/i]

Yeap, and more people are realising this. That the LL and the 601 are real and effective alternatives to the mainstream.

I'm going to order one of the new DX lights but will also try one of these -

[img] [/img]
or
[img] [/img]

Uses a Cree MC-E led so should be marginally more efficient than the P7 based lights.

No wild claims about lumen output - they claim 540 lumens for the larger head and 480 for the smaller one which sounds conservative.

4 hours life on full power. 2 base settings - 100% and 50% but can also set at any output in between on a sliding range plus blink modes.

The larger one is more of a thrower and the smaller one more flood - undecided yet as to which one is best yet.

Large head unit 280g plus battery
Smaller head unit 98g plus battery

The best bit is the European supplier of them offers a 3 year warranty and they'll be under £100!

Group buy anyone?

That the LL and the 601 are real and effective alternatives to the mainstream.

Better IMO

neninja - could be interested in the smaller unit. Let me know a price. Email in profile 😉