Sorry for yet another thread about lights. I have a 3 mile commute, along quiet, mostly unlit roads, so I’m looking for a cheap, rechargeable front light, with the emphasis being on allowing me to see rather than me being seen.

Any help much appreciated! 🙂

I think you may have to define ‘cheap’, or the list could cover a lot of unnecessary economic ground!

Budget? For £40, the Cateye EL620 is well made, robust, usb rechargeable and provides a reasonable light to see by. MIne has been under a car and survived. It is not demonstrably worse than either my Mk2 Exposure Strada or Mk7 Joystick.

i use a lezyne macro drive which would probably fit your bill. it’s small, but nice and bright (300 lumens allegedly), lights up plenty of the unlit tree-lined south manchester side streets and is USB rechargeable. and can be had for around 40-50 quid if you shop around.

Cheap – Tick
bright enough to see by – Tick
Rechargeable – tick

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cycling-Bicycle-HeadLamp-HeadLight-Waterproof/dp/B007WAAO70/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385477080&sr=8-1&keywords=xml+bike+light

http://www.stonehengecycles.com/product/9319/moon_xp500_shield_rear_light_set

Cheap (ish!)
Bright as you like! I use mine on a largely unlit, fastish downhill section of my commute and it’s more than good enough for that.
Recharge by USB, with two cables (One at home, one at work)
And, as a bonus, perhaps the best rear light on the market included as well

+1 for the Lezyne. I just got the smaller Micro Drive (and cheaper at a touch over £30 in the wiggle sale) and it’s more than adequate for a mostly unlit 7 mile commute.

WIGGLE!!

I picked up a fluxient u2 mini from torchy boy on ebay. Depending on what kit you already have (18650 batteries or charger) then the price changes

I paid about £50 but I got the charger (wanted a spare for work) and 2 good quality 18650 batteries

The light is perfect for commuting, and very quick to remove when I park up at work

try this one from c&b seen…less than £40 for a 100 lumen light set, with diffuser lens.
http://www.candb-seen.co.uk/bikehead-lights/cabs-01—cree-xml-t6-led.html
i’ve had the 1200 lumen version for over a year now and cant fault it.

Quite a few to choose from really ranging from £75 to just over the £100 mark. Lots of the 500-700 lumen ones around and so just keep your eyes open for one on a deal. I have a Lezyne Super Drive that I got for £40ish on some sale from wiggle about 6 months ago and just picked up a Niterider Lumina 700 off of ebay for £52.50 for my dad for xmas. The latter is a great little light with a cracking pattern.

If it’s only going on the handlebars then without doubt get an Electron Terra 3 which can be had for around the £50 mark and it don’t get much better than that for 800lumens and a 3 hour burn time. Only issue with the Terra is that it doesn’t appear to be quick release ie. it doesn’t slide off it’s mount. It looks permanently attached.

Other lights would be Cateye’s nano shot plus and light and motion’s urban500. Usually one is on an offer and they are all pretty good performers these days. Moon xpower500 and Cygolite have a similar 500ish lumen unit as well.

John

I would go with the c&b seen stuff if only for the after sales. They were great with sme when I had a problem with my battery pack.

try this one from c&b seen…less than £40 for a 100 lumen light set, with diffuser lens.

sorry…that should say 1000 lumens

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-XM-L-XML-T6-LED-1800-Lm-Bicycle-bike-Head-Light-Headlamp-Rechargeable-Head-/251288567677?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item3a81f73f7d

Why anyone would want to pay more is beyond me.

i think the issues some users have had with these cheap cree lights is that they are from china and come with batteries/chargers that like to explode or shoot across the room when being charged….or at least that’s what i had read on another light thread on STW..

i think the issues some users have had with these cheap cree lights is that they are from china and come with batteries/chargers that like to explode or shoot across the room when being charged….or at least that’s what i had read on another light thread on STW..
at least the c&b seen ones come with a proper uk spec charger and their after sales service is top notch!

I picked up a fluxient u2 mini from torchy boy on ebay

I was running one of those (the previous version) when I got knocked off the bike last !

The cheap dx lights do give great bang for buck but they are no where near the output they claim. I have had a few of them and they are hit and miss. One of mine still works after a year and one doesn’t. My chargers have been ok but many peoples haven’t. I had both p7s and XML t6 versions. For commuting a self contained lights is loads easier to work with and the my lezyne super drive is just as bright as the single dx lights and my lumina 700 is quite a bit brighter again both have a vastly superior beam pattern and both are a lot better built.

So dx light for £20 is good value but the lumina I got on sale for £52 is brighter, better built, self contained and has a much better beam pattern. I think that makes it better value myself.

Sports Persuit were recently doing Mk2 Exposure Sirus for £69. I’ve had a Joystick Maxx for years and it’s just given up so I’ve ordered one. That’s a good reliable light in my book. 🙂

I also got a nice light and helpful service from C&B Seen.

I’m sick of the outboard battery pack on my old light and motion.
The lamp is fine for the job but the battery pack and cable is just one of those little things that become annoying on a day in day out basis especially when self contained lights are so cheap now.
I’m sorely tempted by a MacroDrive as I love my MicroDrive rear.
As others have posted, you can pick one up around £45 with proper uk warranty and they just work. 350 lumen (max output from choice including 200 and flash modes) is plenty for anything except full speed offroad use.
USB plug is built in and they’re rated suitably weatherproof.
My view is that you don’t need to spend more unless you want to enter the offroad lumens arms race by which point you’re into polarised Chinese Cree vs £100+ monster lights…
I’ve seen some pretty good deals on Exposure Flash/Flash and Flare rechargeable kits presumably due to the Trace but you’re back to seperate chargers and there’s always been comments over the thread – seems to work for some but not others.