Airbike lights – Best £/ per Lumen setup

Got some cash burning a hole in my pocket in the xmas aftermath and i’m after some new lights.

Firstly, I’m not interested in the fenix or P7 torches. I’ve got a modded Tesco torch setup at the moment which is good but I need something with a higher spec and longer battery life as I need to get training seriously for the 10 under the ben next year. I’m not interested in swopping batteries, building external battery packs etc so I’m only looking at ready made lights.

The Hope Vision 2 puts out 300 lumens and costs the same

The Lupine’s are just silly money

A few HID/ Halogen sets in the same price range but I don’t think they can compete against the LED sets.

Reviews are positive and it’s more floody than spotty which is what I’m after.

Anything else to consider before I hit the checkout button???

Browsing all the usual suspects and it does appear that the Airbike lights offer the best bang per buck. There doesn’t appear be be anything below £200 that will give the same output with decent burn times (670 – 700 lumens for 3 hours on max with the Airbike SL1/ SL2)

Bought an Airbike SL2 from Planet X for £125 about 10 days ago. Can’t say it’s quite as bright as a Hope Vision 4, or a Lupine Wilma on full blast, but it’s not far off. It also only cost £125!

It’s got a good flood to it, but it’s not ridiculous. Smooth spread on the beam pattern too, no real noticable “rings” or “spots” to it, just a bright centre that fades gradually to the edge of a pretty decent beam pattern.

Really impressed with it, and for less than half the price of a Hope Vision 4, I could get another to go on my head as well, and have a total of 1400 Lumens for £250!

The only thing is the handlebar bracket isn’t as good/convenient as a Lumicycle/Hope/Lupine mount. It’s still less of a faff than zipties though!

I appreciate that 10 under the ben is mainly in daylight, but are spare batteries available for the airbike lights? 3h won’t cut it for most enduro events which involve overnight activity. Battery swaps will be required at some point!

Anything that runs on AA’s / 18650’s or other easily available types will surely be preferable for enduro events?

It’s more the ability to get out for decent training rides at night during the winter rather than using it in the actual race itself.

dmjb4

Believe the Airbike battery is 3 18650’s wired parallel inside a case. Would be plenty easy enough to buy/make another battery.

That said, an email to Planet X would also probably result in an answer!

Used my SL1 for the last hour-and-a-half of a big ride in the Dales yesterday and it was brilliant, even better than on previous rides round the woods.

Seems to have just the right penetration and spread to ride most things as I would in the day. Though I haven’t used any other lights to contrast with.

The only real gripe is the clamp, which can move about a bit and is a faff. But that was changed for the SL2 I believe.

If On-One are still doing the £125 deal, I think you’d be very pleased with it.

theyre great value. i ordered a q/r mount from lumicycle which is perfect as i can switch with ease now.

Just bear in mind that battery packs with the 18650 for LEDs usually have a small circuit board to regulate the current.

Nothing to stop these being recycled from a dud set though.

I got an Airbike SL1. And whilst it was very cheap and is bright, it really lacks penetration.
When travelling fast you soon run out of light.
Don’t get me wrong it’s great bar mounted flood light but I still use a helmet mounted halogen with it for fast or techy sections.
Burn times are good too.

I find the Airbike SL1 beam is too spread for off road so I just use it on my road bike. I find it is an excellent road light the wide beam means car drivers can see you even on an angle. Running it on medium setting for about an hour a day the battery lasts all week.

Simon – try the Sl1 on your lid and bin the halogen.
Can’t see many people being able to go fast enough off road to run out of light when it’s on your head.
barmounted lights are just pointless for anything other than road riding IMO

GW – I might try that, although the cable would probably need extending so that I could put the battery in may Camelbak.