Decent off road lights

I am looking for a new off-road light for night-rides and occasional 24 hour events. I like the look of the self-contained Lezyne Mega Drive but it is pricey. I have also seen a lot of 3x Cree XLM LED type lights on e.g. Amazon for between £40 and £70. These look to be a good level of lumens but the handlebar mount is a rubber O ring. Anyone got any experience of either, and any issues with the 3xCree XML mount?

With bike lights, the more you pay, the better the quality normally. You can get some pretty high (claimed) output lights for well under £100 these days, but the quality of the beam pattern is often not as good as some of (not all) the more expensive lights, and you will almost certainly have a lower quality battery that is either unprotected cells, or just a lower capacity per cell.

Of course, I’m not advocating you spend £500 tomorrow… But I do know a few people have decided they wanted to take night riding seriously, bought cheap lights, and ended up buying more expensive lights pretty quickly so that they had something better and more reliable. I’ve had a Troutie lumen liberator for a little while (which I’m selling if you were interested, only to upgrade with something even more powerful!) and it’s incredible. The beam pattern is so smooth and broad, a proper wall of light, unlike some of the very spotty XML lights I’ve seen. For offroad, a broad beam pattern is almost always better, though for onroad riding, a single XML light can make sense.

Magicshine MJ-872s are popular for the, flood light everything for miles, sort of lighting. Decent up/down controls as well instead of the 1 button mode select like a lot of the XML ones.

Thanks Mboy and Toasty – I’m hovering but probably thinking I need to spend a bit more than the XMLs.

Mboy-How much are you selling your liberator for and which version is it?

Take a look at http://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/ – great value for money

AyUp well made, great warranty, friendly service, lighter than a light ting. Upgrades at sensible prices.

I’ve got two MJ-872s- there’s probably better now but they’re quality units, come with good chargers and batteries too normally. Stupendous value, and performance wise there’s nothing that really tempts me to change. If it said Lupine on the side people would happily pay hundreds for it. I’ve ridden with lights costing several times as much, some were a bit better, some were actually worse.

I think if I was buying a light today, it’d be a Smudge Lumenator.

But lots of good options out there really. People do still keep recommending overpriced/underperforming things like Ayup, Exposure Joysticks, smaller Hopes etc that really make no sense these days (tbf most of them were outclassed years ago)

Not had any issue with o ring mounts for smudges lumenator, or the single XML Chinese lights, in fact as a combo, XML on the bars and the lumenator on my lid, they are phenomenal!

I’ve got a MJ-872, great light very floody. Have a look at Glow-worm too

I have a Troutie Spider eyes at the moment that Troutie (Chris) has lent me…I am very impressed,plenty of light,plenty of throw and who would have thought a square pattern would be nice to ride with.

Check out Troutie lights..

I’m running Magicshine on the bars and lumenator on the helmet currently.

I could stand in for the flood lamps at the local football stadium in a powercut and no one would notice the difference.

I started with Chinese lanterns, you really can’t fault them for the money. I had one for the bars and one for the lid. I blew one up by connecting it to the others battery.

Having said that I have invested in an Exposure Six Pack & Diablo. Whether the 10x the cost is worth it to you is your perogative but the lack of cables, not having 15 flashing modes to switch through and sturdy mounts is for me. The beam patterns are also better as mentioned above. My T6 had a small spot and faint halo and the P7 has the breadth of beam but it doesn’t go too far.

It’s also worth saying that Chinese lumens are often grossly exaggerated. The triple Xmls you mentioned we’re reviewed on a link here. They seemed to be wired up so you just got each led running at a 1/3 of its power…so no brighter than a single!

Here’s a link to my for sale thread…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-troutielight-lumen-liberator-3

If you’re interested, let me know… It’s a superb light!

+1 for http://troutie.com/

love my Troute Liberator

I just brought 3x the Magicshines, and i run two (1 on bars, 1 on helmet) and the 3rd i keep as a spare. Yes, they aren’t as good as the much more expensive brands, but with 3 of them, i one breaks it doesn’t matter, and because i have 3 sets of batteries (and chargers) i always have a charged set around somewhere! I guess if i were seriously into 24hr racing i might buy a more expensive main light, but i’s still use my 3 cheepy ones as back up! I think i saw some that were down to under £25 delivered, so you could get 4 sets for £100 now!

People do still keep recommending overpriced/underperforming things like Ayup, Exposure Joysticks, smaller Hopes etc that really make no sense these days (tbf most of them were outclassed years ago)

TBH I’m really happy with my Ay-Up, performance is fine and closer to quoted than a lot of others.

Looking at the luminator at 120quid it seems fine, not sure about attachment methods or weight etc.

The Ay-Up kit that replaces mine is 227. for 2 Lamps, stacks of mounts, 2 3hr batteries, 1 6 hr battery charge that works in house & car and a headstrap.

On top of that the periodic lamp upgrade programme (this year I got 2 new lamps for 80 quid) I can’t fault them.

Compared to an ebay light with questionable back up, questionable CE marking etc I’d still buy the Ay-Up find me something that goes at 173g complete on the lid (batteries, mounts and light) and I’ll look at it but there are not many about.

Ayup are lovely little things, really well made, and the company’s good. But a standard 2-lamp unit produces less light than the £10 torch I bought about 3 years ago (that’s not based on lumen figures, which are mostly lies, but on using them).

I don’t know of any other lights that match them on weight, but it’s only the low power that makes that feasible- they use a very low capacity battery which a brighter light would drain in no time.

If all the other benefits outweigh the low output for you then they’re a good option, but the reality is a V4 costs £270 and is less effective than a £70 MJ-872 (which is also a good quality light), and weighs more to boot. Most folks won’t be happy with that these days.

Ay Up +1!

You get a lot of extras included with the V4 kit that cost extra with other lights if they are available at all. Things like extension leads, a head harness to use the light without a helmet, red caps to use as a tail light, and a charger that works either on AC current or DC from your car. The gecko helmet mount is fantastic!

And you don’t have to scroll through multiple modes like some lights!

Must be an awesome torch and a fairly old ay-up, my 6 year old ones held up well for 3-4 years unless you were being followed by somebody with a stupidly over powered daylight maker.

I upgraded to the current High Powers last year and they are perfect, good amount of light & direction. I rode the old ones hard in awful conditions and never struggled.

I confess I misread the price but at 270 i’d still be happy.

In 7 years mine have cost about £350 in total including a lamp upgrade, couple of crash replacement batteries and some extra mounts.

At £50/year I’m fairly happy the initial purchase price is only 1 factor in deciding for me. Lifetime cost is more important. YMMV

FWIW if the Oz $ was back where it used to be the kit would come in around £170. Oz$ vs pisspoor£ doesn’t help the price.

Xeccon Spiker 1210 set with 6600mAh battery

It’s been ace. Riding up and down the beach paths at night, more than enough illumination.

Have a look here…..

http://www.evomtb.co.uk/high-power-lights

I personally like the Cree lights! However the light and motion is an awesome light , I guess it all depends what you want to pay!

£17 XML lights off ebay here – never had an issue with them (I did waterproof the battery though).

mikewsmith – Ayups are the equivalent of buying Apple stuff, except the relative price is much higher. 😉

mtbbatteries Lumenator +1 here.

Personally cannot see any reason why I would ever need more light – plus they are only a smidgen over a ton.

mikewsmith – Ayups are the equivalent of buying Apple stuff, except the relative price is much higher.

Nicely slipped in there Grum, except they are upgradeable 🙂

mikewsmith – Member

Must be an awesome torch and a fairly old ay-up

Nah, current standard (ie not high-power) V2 and bog standard DX torch. The V2s had the better beam pattern but a bit less power. Don’t get me wrong, price aside between those 2 I’d choose the ayups, they’re just better executed. But between my MJ-872 and the V4, I’d still choose the MJ even if they were the same price.

The gecko mount is mint though. If they could do something as well as this but with a better LED they’d be onto a winner I reckon.

Good deal on lezyne lights including the mega here at my local independent.

I’ve got an exposure Maxxd for sale if you’re interested, it’s the 1000lumen version.

If you’re not, no worries but I strongly recommend having a look at their range anyway. All non cabled (built in batteries) and exceptional build quality. The joystick, Diablo and Maxxd are all cracking lights

Probably worth throwing into the debate the fact that Dynohubs have come a long way and will power your lights at full power all night long if that’s your thing. You could build a dynohub wheel for similar money to a spare Lumicycle battery.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/sp-dynamo-pd-8-disc-front-hub-32h-prod29695/%5B/url%5D

http://www.candb-seen.co.uk/bikehead-lights/cabs-02-series—cree-xml.html

I got some of the above, excellent value for the money. I’ve commuted all winter off road with these and have had no problems.

Ebay Chinese made cree LED here, a claimed 1800lumens, well over 2 hours on the standard battery and I have to say for just over £20 I can’t complain.
There again, I’m doing trail centre reds, not 24hr enduros. I’d recommend these to anyone as a first light, and looking at the quality of the finished product I can’t see where the other £200 or £300 for a “better quality” light comes from.

Currently, value for money and build quality, there is only one word that comes to mind……GLOWORM.

Im a convert having tried many different lights including super expensive ones and vyer cheap chinese ones.

http://www.crgmoto.co.uk

Personally I would go for the X2 and then if that isnt enough move the X2 to the bars and add an X1 to the lid. Perfect combo.

had both my ebay 40.00 squid 900 lummin lights for just over a year now ,splurging a shed load of dosh didnt even enter ny mind , they are also avail from U.K warhouse .

Or for less than ‘£23 here ……. And they come with a proper UK charger, not a dodgy Chinese one with an adapter like most!!

http://www.evomtb.co.uk/1800lumenbikelightsuperbright