Sorry another lights thread.

I’m looking for a handlebar mounted, self contained, rechargeable light that will work for training rides on unlit country roads and gravel/fire roads. I don’t plan to night ride off-road.

I like the simplicity of the Joystick, but it seems just about all references to them are by people using them as a backup/helmet mounted light.

Does anyone use one as their sole handlebar mounted light?

too much of a spot for a non head mounted light tbh

diablo or something with a spread beam would be better imho. #

off road i ride solo with mine on my head just

Yes – good on your head, particularly as you can direct the beam towards drivers at side roads or on roundabouts to make sure that they see you. I don’t think it throws a lot of light out to the side…

I commute and ride lanes at night with one of those dealextreme (18650 battery/q5 emitter i think) torches, supposedly 240 lumens (not far off mrs j’s mark 3 joystick anyway) and absolutely fine if not rooty or technical. I have ridden a lot worse than that on a single one of those. Obviously you need a bar mount, charger and batteries, but all in it was about £30, plus you get a spare battery (sold in pairs) so six hours out the house instead of three.

Yeah, I ride with one on the bars on its own. It’s fine. And the newer one, I think, is about 20% brighter.

On the road it’s perfectly adequate on full beam, though if you have potholed roads that you normally fly down at 30-40mph then you’ll be outrunning the light and having to scrub a bit of speed.

Off-road you can get by – fire roads ought to be fine but again you’ll only be able to go so fast before you start getting some surprises.

Two things to point out: Firstly the zip-tie mounting is impossible to fit tight enough to hold the light steady at a decent speed on rough roads, so I’d recommend the bolt-on metal clamp (which costs extra). And secondly if you go out riding with other people then IME there’s a good chance they’ll have lights that render yours pretty useless.

If you’re in the market for one of these as a bar light then it’s worth waiting to see what the new Lezyne lights bring – they look like they’ll take the fight to the Joystick… cheaper, brighter, USB charging, no word on run time yet.

I have a joystick and use it on the helmet to fill in around the front wheel. I’m going to get one of the $20 DX torches that are the same size and much brighter for the gf though, just no point in paying that much for less.

Interesting comments, thanks guys.

Off to the Lezyne site now, not much help needed in buying their stuff as it’s generally excellent,

Used one as my only light (off road) for a few years. More than enough for me.

Just bought a diablo from crc and i must say it’s very well built. I would be happy to run it on the bars, although i rin it on my head.

I can understand why people go for the deal extreme lights, good value for money. I dont really get the joystick though. ~300 lumens for £130 when you can buy a 900 lumen diablo 2 for £160. Seems like a big jump up for £30. They seem to wiegh pretty much the same.

I run a diablo one on the bars, it is great, plenty of light for me. quite a wide spead of light as well. I find I do need the piggyback battery for longer rides through

Interesting, will look at the Diablo.

How do Hope lights stack up?

I tried a Hope 2 on my head but sold it after two weeks as I found the weight with the battery too off-putting. I then bought a Diablo and this is an amazing head light. I still run something with a wider spread on the bars though.

The hope batteries are tiny? Plus you can always run the extended cable to a back pack/pocket

the cordless niterider lights are pretty good, I’m running two 250s and they seem to give enough for decent paced night riding. They give actual measured outputs, and check each individual light is giving at least that. Unlike all but 1? other company’s theoretical maximum they like to quote.