The dark evenings will soon be upon us…
Best bang for the buck with 2.5 – 3.5 hrs run time.
Singletrack /bridleways etc..

What’s your feelings on chinese units? Do you want the cheapest available or want something more reputable, or really need a main stream brand?

Im not a brand snob and have had a chinese light before. I also gave my Aldi light( probably Chinese) to my son at the beginning of the year hence needin one now.. preferably before Tuesday lol. No presure.

What’s your budget? Helmet or bar mount? Run time? All in one or separate battery?

Pref. Under £100. Bar mount ( possibly a second for the lid )
Battery…bar mount seperate
Lid…integrated

I’ve a lot of time for MTBbatteries but looking to towards something cheaper, but still reliable Torchy might be an option. You’ll find lights very similar to both of there cheaper on ebay, but as per MTBbatteries warning, the sellers tend to disappear if you want warranty anything…

At c £100 it is hard to look past the mtb batteries luminator. Fwiw at the very wet pivot 24:12, the luminator and exposure lights in our lot were spot on. The solarstorm head unit filled up with water though.

I’m not a brand snob either and have some Chinese £5 torches for the pub bike and on the helmet.
But I don’t want my lights to go dark when they get jolted. I’ve had Lumicycle and MTB Batteries lights and batteries which have been fantastically reliable and this summer they both upgraded and fixed them (broke as a result of my clumsiness) for next to nowt.
I’ve had a light and batteries from Torchy too and no complaints.
I’d stick with the above.

My mtb batteries luminator is starting it’s third full year of “gravel” commuting. Stays on the bars year round, used most days – faultless. The Aldi one I got in the sale last year was half the price, looks very similar but has already cut out twice ?overheating. Tried Chinese in the past – hit and miss qc.

I brought an Alpkit Boson in the sale a few months ago but not used it in anger as yet. For £30 it seems well built but only time will tell.

Another vote for Torchy 🙂

I have a Torchy BK9, haven’t used it in anger yet as just after I got it my wife bought me an exposure Maxx-D. The torchy light seems well made though but a little glarey.

I have had a number of Chinese cheap ones

They are great when they work

However if you go out in all weathers they tend to stop working with water ingress (they are tagged at the ends of the cells with very thin metal that disintegrates at the sight of moisture)

I too have a Maxx d (second hand off here) and only use the Chinese ones as a secondary light on the lid for the faster sections.

Not had a single problem with the exposure over its first winter.

Best flood I’ve bought was the bikeray 3.

Some of the cheaper (sub £20) ones were a bit ‘spotty’

Some of the more expensive magicshine ones with the bar-mounted controls seem like great vfm.

Got a Torchy light with seperate battery pack. It’s a 6ix which was £40. Still selling them on eBay – think you can get either a normal battery or endurance one.

Bought it for its off-road spread of light – but there are others that may last longer (less leds) but have a more focused beam for the road.

Halfords Headtorch I got one of these today, haven’t used it yet but seems ok for a tenner.

Mtbbatteries lumenator bought 3 years ago and still working without fault.

Try the Exposure Sirius, for either bar or helmet, also sells as a kit with arguably the best rear light on the market at the moment!

the joystick and diabolo are worth a look too. great for commuting, ideal for towpaths and bridleways, Made in Sussex, great customer service track record! 2 year warranty with continued support for life

Id go with mtb batteries or the torchy ones for yourself

Ive got the exposure diablo myself and toro. While they are 100% better both have been back for work in their first year. Its quite an investment.

If i was looking to spend over 50 quid id save up for the exposure. If not id go for the chinese ones off ebay and treat them as a consumable.

I have a torchy BK3 which i bought earlier in the year after my solarstorm was stolen. Battery is great but disapointed with head unit for off road use. So I got one of the sparkies at work to pimp it up a bit. (swapped sense resistor on drive PCB and changed the reflector to a quality lens unit) It’s better now but it get’s warm very quickly on high.

Anyway, go for the 6 or better for off road not the 3.

A friend has a lumenator and that’s great.

Nitefighter bt70 from a year or two ago on the bars.

Lumenator (MTBBatteries) on the helmet.

The BT70 claims 2800lumens, I think it might be first/only chinese light to undersell itself, the amount of light it kicks out on high is frankly indecent. It’s a lot more than ~50% brighter than the Lumenator, with the plain (spot) lense in it actually hurts to look at the trail! The diffuser gives it a beam patter that pretty much fills your field of vision except on tight switchbacks.

Still got my original Magicshine-P7 and magicshine rear light for commuting.

Current batteries are the Nitefighter (panasonic cells and heavy gauge wiring), and a solarstorm type waterproof case with Samsung cells charged via a nitecore charger.