Buyers Guide to the Best Mountain Bike Lights

These are the best mountain bike lights that will extend your riding season into the winter months and beyond!

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By barney

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Buyers Guide to the Best Mountain Bike Lights

If you mostly ride rocky moorland, then keep it on the bars, if you ride in Thetford, you’ll want a bar light. If you have both, then run both!

One of those is probably supposed to be different……

The Magicshine self-contained lights are excellent as well. RN 3000 on the bars, Ray2600 on the helmet.

8000lm must look like someone is wearing a bloody lighthouse while riding through the woods

Its a little disapointing that UK manufacturer 4forth never appear to get a mention.

There range is UK designed and manufactured as well as in my view incredible value for money.

And before anyone asks I dont work for them, I only buy their kit.

Their Rameses at £295.00 delivers 5200 lm

I’d just like to say, as I’m often one that whinges about such things, that’s it’s nice to see a good spread of price-points on this.

Solar Storm 2 with a good aftermarket battery?

Its a little disapointing that UK manufacturer 4forth never appear to get a mention.

Can’t say I’ve ever heard of them.

Was expecting to see lumicycle in there (assuming they’re still going).

Their Rameses at £295.00 delivers 5200 lm

Just googled it and they are mighty ugly lights!

The magicshine RN lights are lovely, though I find the RN3000 too spotty for MTB. Nice for commuting and road though. RN1500 makes a great cross between helmet, road, commuter and shortride MTB on-bar use as it has a lovely even beam pattern (much more even than the 3000 which is weird given the 3000 has two LEDs to the 1500’s one).

I actually prefer the Monteer 6500 to the Monteer 8000 as it’s very useably bright but has longer run times than the 8000. Cheaper too.

The pavo 2000 doesn’t exist any more as it’s been replaced with the 2500 (and 3500). No reviews yet for this one.

And also re. the Exposure – the all in one design isn’t a USP – there are loads of lights with self contained batteries. Exposure’s USP seems to be to make incredibly expensive lights with expensive (and poor IME) brackets and proprietary charging.

Not the most impressive article IMO.

‘it knows’ how fast you’re going and adjusts the beam to suit – more light for faster trails, less for the slower ones where you can save some juice

Am I missing something here or is this thing going to turn itself down just as you arrive at a tight technical section that you’d rreeeaaallllyyy like full beam for?

Am I missing something here or is this thing going to turn itself down just as you arrive at a tight technical section that you’d rreeeaaallllyyy like full beam for?

It doesn’t know how fast you’re going at all. It has accelerometers in it so it can detect angle (i.e. if you’re going downhill), how bumpy it is and whether you are moving your bars around. If it detects movement on those then brightness goes up. It it detects no movement it really dims down. It *might* have intermediate brightness if e.g. you’re going down but it’s smooth and you’re not moving the bars but I don’t know this.

I’ve only used Four4th lights for the past 10 years and still run their original Exodus model on my helmet. Also have a 4600 lumen Holy Moses bar light for the MTB and an all-in-one Gabriel on the gravel bike.

I find the RN3000 too spotty for MTB. Nice for commuting and road though.

If that 3000 refers to lumens output, I can assure you it’s not nice for anyone coming in the opposite direction, unless it’s pretty much pointing at the floor.

Sometimes I think these guides need to step away from pure performance and ask what the lights are like to live with.

Exposure can suck it with their propritery charging and Light & Motion use micro USB with is just way too fragile for an outdoor product. Lights in 2022 without USB C charging can get in the sea as far as I am concerned.

I’ve got a gloworm set and it’s not bad (the full fat version on the endurance model) but even they make it hard to charge without their stupid fragile adapter.

You know what I like about Exposure… they will fix and upgrade old units. my Six Pack must be around 10 years old, and has been repaired an upgraded (I cracked the rear display)… brilliant bit of kit. Not cheap… but in the long run. Hell I even have their first big light, about 1100 lumin… what were they called? I might be 15 years old now? Well… that is still going as my dog walk light. Its still doing better than my memory is at 15 ish years.

Yeah another shout for exposure. Although I can see the point of starting out with something cheap & cheerful, if you get the bug and are going to be night riding regularly, do yourself a favour and get exposure lights.

I’ve had mine many years, while some of my riding buddies have faffed about with ‘better value’ or on paper more powerful lights. Pretty much all of them have failed, usually dodgy cables or batteries.

Everyone on exposure just keeps on trucking.
And if they do ever fail then I can get them repaired as above.

Well worth the money in the long run. Excellent kit.

On the other hand, I have 4 ‘proper’ Exposure front lights of various types bought over the years. Yes I have sent some of them back for fixing, but I’ve gone elsewhere recently as I just get better lights for the money 🙁

The Joystick with headband that I got from Evans for £57 is a thing of wonder. It just keeps going on and one. It IS amazing, but the Equinox, Axis and other Joystick… meh.

I had to get Smudge to build me a four cell support to get any sort of run time out of it.

The Moon Adj 800 I got was great

The Moon Arctus I got last year is better than anything Exposure did for the price.

Everyone on exposure just keeps on trucking. Sometimes by moving to a different brand of lights

I have Four4th lights and so does my lad (he rides for them) and my wife. They are made in the UK with great after sales service and my original Holy Moses is 10 years old and still going strong. You can see them at most of the Nationals or Have a look at the web site.

+1 Exposure

Expensive, but long term they’re not and TBH I’m worth it 🙂

2009 Joystick – retired to the kitchen drawer and used daily for dog walking etc
2010 Toro – retired last year, but still works and keeps a big enough charge for a 3 hour ride
2021 MaxxD – how bright!
2022 Diablo – arrived this week after yet another cheap helmet light/battery give up on the ride last week, like the TAP