One of the guys I bike with had the 1600 lm one and I was impressed so got one, then seeing how people here were combining it with the 500lm one as a helmet light I got one of those too.
Charged them, then first ride tonight. All good for about 40mins then the helmet light cut out. Still showing loads of power and turned back on but kept turning off again.
Then 20mins later the bar light started doing the same thing, so I had two lights, both turning themselves off every 60seconds or so.
I had to make my way home by turning one on, waiting 30secs and turning the other one on, then ride back with then going off alternately.
I’m taking them back tomorrow, has anyone else had any problems?

I’ve got the 1000 lm version.

It’s been faultless other than the battery going flat if it’s left for two or three weeks without being used. No issues with turning itself off etc…

It’s weird that it was both of them too, only thought I had was the cold. But it was only probably about -4 at worst, if they cant cope with that then they shouldn’t sell them in Scotland.

Had my 1600lm over a year. Its been great. Havnt used it in sub zero temps tho. I have Moon and AyUp which i keep the battery in a top tube bag for when its properly cold.

Shouldn’t this be in that weird bit where all they can talk about is bikes?

Anyway, yep. Got a 1600 a year ago – bar light. Nice and bright but no longer holding charge which ain’t great.

I’ve had a 500 and it’s worked a threat for about a year. Used a lot over winter and used as a usb charger over summer. It works, I love it.

I’ve got the 1600 and 500 and they’ve been faultless, it’s very odd they’ve both act the same way!

Can’t recall any seriously sub zero conditions bout rode some really shitty cold nights last year.

Take them back, Halfords are pretty good on stuff like that.

Well I took them back and they refunded me without a fuss. I think cold must have been at least in part to blame as they worked fine for a while this morning indoors.
Don’t know what to try next, I like the look of those new ones from on 0ne, but they are a bit more expensive, and the 800lm one might be a bit big for my helmet. And I can’t just pop them back to the shop if they are no good.
Can’t justify exposure, that would be enough to fund my new drysuit.

Mine are good, only done about 5-6 rides tho.

I’d try Halfords again – any company is allowed the occasional dud. If the next set are rubbish then you know.

I would like to, they were really good for the first 40mins. But it was two separate lights, brought a week apart, both with exactly the same fault.
Has anyone used them in the cold?

I haven’t had much luck with Halfords lights.

Either the battery goes or the light unit.

had my 1600 for a year. the solder on the charge port went and the socket came away. Halfords replaced the light without any hassle at all.

Aside from the annoying having to cycle through each mode, it’s a great little light.

Has anyone used them in the cold?

4-5C the other day. No issues.

The charge port is pretty hard to get the plug in, and I’ve issues on other similar devices where you end up accidentally jamming the plug between the outside of the socket and the case, which bends things around and causes issues. So I am super careful when charging now. That’s a minor annoyance, hope it doesn’t turn into a major one.

Mine are recent though – they may have tweaked the design.

Mine are recent though – they may have tweaked the design.

nope, mine are under a month old, still a PITA getting the charge plug in.

the new ones don’t come with the gopro mount option either.

Oh – I mean yes it’s a PITA to get the plug in, but they might’ve made the internals more reliable.. maybe.. <cross fingers>

The new 1600 didn’t come with the out front mount (they used to?) but the 500 still did.

Neither of mine came with the garmin mount

Sorry, dont mean to harp on but is that plus 4-5 Molgrips I dont want to come across all ‘extreme’ but I don’t want to even have to think about it being an issue till about minus 10, and I dont want it to actually be an issue then.

Epicyclo, I know you are in a similar part of the country to me, how do yours cope with the cold, have they ever cut out? I have trouble believing that I got the only two that do it for whatever reason.

sweepy

Epicyclo, I know you are in a similar part of the country to me, how do yours cope with the cold, have they ever cut out?

Indeed they did. Mine were the cheap ones though. I was going through my lights last night for the ‘Puffer and one set has a burnt out LED and the other 2 have batteries that pretend to be charged but have very little capacity.

I’ll probably end up using my AyUps again.

Sorry, dont mean to harp on but is that plus 4-5 Molgrips I dont want to come across all ‘extreme’ but I don’t want to even have to think about it being an issue till about minus 10, and I dont want it to actually be an issue then.

No I know, that’s why I told you the temp rather than say yes to having been out in the cold.

I would not expect differences in batteries to make that much difference in cold performance between different lights, as they will all be affected. Did you try them again when you got back indoors?

i have a 1600 i havent been out when its properly baltic yet

on reading thsi i might keep my remote battery helmet light a bit longer… in my pocket the batteries dont get that cold…

I’d quite like a codless helmet light but i’m not forking out £100s on one

Yes, next morning I put them on and they were fine, only left them on for five mins tho
I don’t think its the batteries, they had plenty charge, they didn’t dim, they just cut out. You could turn them back on, at full brightness straight away, then about 60sec later they cut out again.

I’d quite like a codless helmet light but i’m not forking out £100s on one

No that’s why I got a bikehut one £25. It’s brilliant for washing my bike – camelbak off, get keys out to open gate, then I can wash the bike with full lights on

I have had my 1600 since last December and use it on my commuter bike. It is mounted to an out röntgen mount and has been on there since i got it. I use it for an hour each way since the clocks have changed and it will be like this till they change back at which point it will be just first thing for a while. Over the summer i only used it in poor weather and charge it occasionally. I don’t use it on full power but rather at the third back one as its bright enough fo the unlit roads but not so that it blinds others. I have used mine in below zero temps with no problems not sure of the actual but cold enough or ice to form in my bottle. The spread of light is great and i know mine will last at least 4 hours on that setting.

Low temperature does reduce the capacity of Li-Ion cells, but it also significantly reduces the voltage for a given state of charge, so if there’s circuitry to cut off the light at a specific voltage, it’ll cut out sooner.

For example, have a look at the second graph on this page:

https://www.richtek.com/Design%20Support/Technical%20Document/AN024

If you set a cut-off at 3.5V, you’d be well into the cliff of a cell at 23C, but less than half way through the discharge curve of a cell at -10C.

Once it’s properly freezing out, I do a run down test on all my batteries before the ‘Puffer.

Charge them up, leave them out in the cold overnight. That way they are in a similar condition to the way they will be in the race – cold.

Then I run each one down and time it. I write the time to dimness on the battery so I know what to expect.

And always run 2 lights at once. If an LED goes, it’s instant darkness.

(I suspect most LED problems are inadequate heat-sinking, or at least it was when I used to make my own.)

This will be my second year with the 1600lm version. I’ve swapped it once under warranty when the charge port dislodged after a week, but used the replacement once a week through last winter. It’s still going strong, including this Wednesday, which was so cold we only managed a single post-ride pint.