Im going to replace my venerable cateye stadium in the next week or so and im looking for altrenatives…but thats not the question. Im wondering if its worth getting a higher output bar mounted light or a less bright helmet mounted light.

any help/advice would be appreciated from the STW font of knowledge…

cheers
Jim.

I've tried both. Helmet mount was definitely better but a bit more hassle so I've generally stuck with bar mount.

For twisty singletrack, the helmet mounted ones are better, but generally the bar mounted ones are brighter.

If I had to get one, I would go for bar mounted, but ideally you wanna get a bar mounted with a helmet mounted torch of some description.

Not much help if you have to choose but I run both. Larger 'flood' type on the bars, 'spot' on my helmet. If I HAD to go for one over the other I'd also choose bar mounted…

I've tried both

yeh, that's the best option – both

I just use one on the bars at the moment. It's fun when you ride twisty bits with no lighting.

Bar mount for me – I just don't like having the light on my head and also tend to find that it hits trees/etc but that'll be less of a problem if you're not as tall as me…

I use both, flood on bars and spot on helmet although the whiplash factor is increased with a helmet light snagging through the trees!

Where do you ride, and do you ride solo or with others?

If you ride in wooded terrain then a helmet mounted lamp is good,as you can point the light wherever you need i.e. around that tight, twisty rooty section of trail that is currently at a right-angle to your travel.
If however (as i do) you ride on open moorland you won't need a helmet mounted lamp anywhere near as much, a bar mounted lamp is more than suitable.
Also, helmet lamps – especially the HID designs like mine because i can't keep turning it on/off – are a pain when trying to talk to people without blinding them/ruining there vision.

Horses for courses. i've tried both and find the bar mount to be the easier option, if i lived near the trees though i might have different needs…

Two LED torches from dealextreme.com plus two of the velcro torch mounts one for the bars and one for your hat. If your used to an old cateye you will probably be blown away at how bright the torches are. Cheap as well set me back about $50 for the lot.

I prefer a minimalist spot on the helmet, light is always shining where you want it, not where the bars are pointing. Having night ridden for 10yrs with a 15w Niterider helmet mount (really narrow beam pattern) I'm not a fan of the car headlight-like overkill of many systems (including the venerable Stadium) which to me kills some of the fun and atmosphere of night riding. Many disagree and dont see night riding as any different to day riding (they want to see as much as possible) but there's an eery, peaceful extra dimension to it that you dont get with eleventy million lumens scorching the trails in front of you across your whole feel of vision.

The main problem with riding just a helmet mount is the near parallel light paths mean you have no shadows so depth perception is compromised.

Spot on helmet and flood on bar would be the best set-up- guaranteed light where youre looking plus shadows and broader field of vision if you want/need the security of that.

I use both, but I have found that in rubbish weather a helmet mount seems to make visability worse. I.e. fogg/rain light kinda whites out/distracts my vision.

If i was going for one only it would be bar mounted. Don't most lights come with both mount types?

I use one of each, ideal combo.

Agree with what others have written. ime, bar is better IF you can only run/afford one light. However, its better to run both a bar mounted and a helemt mounted light, imo, if your budget can stretch to it, etc.

🙂

Solo.

bar mounted lights are pointless IMO.

But I prefer to see where I'm going rather than go where I can't see yet

mmmm, STW in conflicting opinions shocker..
I think it depends how good your lights are. If running 1 light I prefer it on my head but as suggested its a bit more agro, if you got something really powerful on the bars then it makes the headlight less necessary, but a nice addition, downside is double the faff/cost.

Spot on the helmet, legal minimum on the bars (cateye LED thingy), another white cateye on the backpack straps to iluminate the bars.

Would quite like a realy big >120deg flood on the bars, like 2000lumen+ or something daft for road riding.

with just a head mounted lamp you can get odd shadows going on sometimes – easy to miss dips in the ground due to the light coming from around the same place as your eyes.

The best ones in our club are bar and helmet mount. 'Better lookin' at 'em than for them' as I always say.

Some of our lads have ay-ups which are really very good – unless they start talking to you directly!

I have a Maxx D bar mount which I love – no wires, no faff, no battery packs. But TBH I really want to supplement it with a helmet light too. Something like a Joystick or something

I'm with Munqe-Chick. Less is more to a certain extent (vistalight 330 and Petzl Zoom for 10 years here), until you ride with someone who has a lighthouse stuck on their bars and they're behind you.

I use both (floody bar and spotty helmet) and it's a great set up, however be prepared in Misty/snowy weather to be blinded by a helmet light.

Interestingly, I've found LED lights to be better than halogen in poor weather.

Helmet-mount lights are a pain if you ride in a group – people invariably forget to turn them off when you've stopped and then blind you when they turn to talk to you.

Both. But, a bright helmet light can be a bit of a pain if it rains or (especially) snows, you get a lot of bounce back. People say "flood on bars, spot on head" but I disagree, powerful floods on each- no point in going for a low powered spot when a better flood will give the same effective reach with better fill.

cheers for the words guys, I think i may go for the lighthouse on the bars and in the near future supplement with a lid light, best of both! At the moment if friends are behind all i see is my shadow!

One on the bars and one on the helmet as you should really have a backup for if one dies .

also a helmet light is usefull for trailside repairs . midnight BBQs

You may well be right there Northwind, but I have found that unless you're dealing with stupidly high outputs, you have a choice between flood/no distance or spot/distance lighting. Particulalry where LEDs are concerned.

There's a lot of talk about output lumens, but how they're focussed is at least as important to me. My bars lights have a 12 degree lens and my helmet lights a 3 degree lens, which translates to a nice broad pool of light to about 30 foot away, with a bright spot wherever I'm looking up to about 40 yards away.

I do miss the days of 6 watts of light output and requirement to 'feel' your way down a descent (and the avoidance of any kind of dazzlement lest it muck up your night vision!). Well, I say I do, but you won't find me trying to repeat the experience anytime soon……

Ben

Well i have a Light & Motion HID on the bars when riding in a group, sometimes put it on the hat when solo.
Great light for the money now, seen 'em for £145 with a Nimh battery.

For twisty singletrack, the helmet mounted ones are better, but generally the bar mounted ones are brighter.

bizarre. Brightness surely depends on the light itself rather than where it's mounted….

FWIW – head every time here – L&M Arc. I back up with a bar-mounted HID light on the road where there's greater need for high visibility.

I have tried bar, helmet and both, and would have to say both is the way to go. The helmet mount lets you direct light for twists and turns, but can leave the trail appearing a little flat. Adding in the bar light reveals the "texture" in the trail. I would also say that you want to match the bar and helmet lamps in terms of colour temperature. My less powerful but whiter helmet light (led) swamps my halogen bar lamp. Lastly it's worth considering what your mates ride with, if they have much brighter lights, yours again seem swamped.