Hello,

I need a set of lights for my commute. I know there has been a lot of threads on the (I think) Solarstorm ones and they seem good value. Has anyone got any longer term feedback on these?

Also can I buy these from the UK as I do need some pretty quickly and which ones are the ones to get? I remember reading about poor battery performance on some of them!

Your advice is much appreciated.

I was going to say exposure but you said the word value so that rules them out.

What’s your budget? I’d say Exposure also but if you want cheap then they ain’t it.

Have a browse through:

http://road.cc/show/review-section/lights—front/10697

Loads of lights, different price ranges with good beam comparison shots.

My budget won’t strecth to exposure I know that!

£30-50 I reckon. These are not for off road night riding and I am sure I saw the Soalr Storm ones for about that price before.

Some good deals on Niterider lights at SportPursuit…

http://www.sportpursuit.com/sales/niterider-lights

just need to sign up to become a member

Half price:
Front

Rear

In true STW fashion I’ll ignore your budget and say, Evans have a flash/flare combo for £60, includes charger and rechargeable batteries. I can’t recommend these highly enough as a strictly commuting light. Batteries will go a week (~10 hours riding for me) on one charge.

The Solarstorm light is not a reliable option in my experience. The battery pack is so bad as to be unusable (I got one charge out of mine before it decided to die).

There are plenty of good quality Chinese torches out there that offer big power for small cash. Use good quality batteries with a protection circuit and you’re laughing.

go for c&b seen lights. 1200 lumens, 3 – 5 hours run time on the battery, a proper UK spec smart charger.
great backup from them as well. really well priced at around £50.
http://www.candb-seen.co.uk/bikehead-lights/cabs-02-series—cree-xml.html

For commuting I found a seperate battery pack got really annoying really quickly. YMMV

Joystick 7 for £75 at Rutland cycles. Add a redeye micro for a tenner. A bit over budget but worth it IMO. It’s a setup I now use

Magic shine for value/power by a country mile. Used the basic units for several years . dig on flea bay for bargains

http://www.7dayshop.com/7dayshop-bike-light-hyper-bright-t6-cree-led-bicycle-light-with-headlight-kit-rechargeable-genuine-cree-t6-xm-l-led?backUrl=L2hvbWUtb3V0ZG9vci1naWZ0cy1saWZlc3R5bGUvY3ljbGUtbGlnaHRzLWFjY2Vzc29yaWVz

I came across the above. It looks like it could work! Anyone used one of these? I looks like the C and B seen set up a bit.

For commuting I use a couple of
these They are bright enough for off road night riding (I’ve tried them). Make sure you use protected batteries for reliability.

rhid I have one of those, but it may be a little TOO bright on the road. The flashing mode is more of a fast strobe effect and not recommended.

http://www.7dayshop.com/7dayshop-bike-light-hyper-bright-t6-cree-led-bicycle-light-with-headlight-kit-rechargeable-genuine-cree-t6-xm-l-led?backUrl=L2hvbWUtb3V0ZG9vci1naWZ0cy1saWZlc3R5bGUvY3ljbGUtbGlnaHRzLWFjY2Vzc29yaWVz

I came across the above. It looks like it could work! Anyone used one of these? I looks like the C and B seen set up a bit.

I would be wary of the quality of the battery pack, same as with the Solarstorm. Better to buy single-cell torches so you can cheaply and easily add your own protected 18650 batteries.

Unprotected lithium ion batteries are unreliable as they are easily damaged through overdraining or overcharging.

As someone said above, these cheap battery packs are a pain in the arse.

Oh and RSP Astrum rear. Powerful, cheap and watertight.

Hebdencyclist –

Do they come with bike mounts as standard? They look pretty decent!

No but you can pick standard mounts up cheaply from Ebay, and probably other places too.

Moon Shield Set

Set of these work well. The front light has a narrow beam but its fine.

1200 lumens for a commuting light?! Are you mad? I trust you can dial it down?

Rhid…

I’ve been using a SolarStorm every day through the winter. It’s been flawless. I’ve cycled through rain, hail and snow and will zero issues. The X2 has been excellent.

My set up is X2 (from a UK ebay seller) and battery pack and charger from Torchy.

The X2 package I got came with the dangerous charger. No fuse, burny smells and lots of heat. The battery wasn’t particularly well waterproofed and they nylon bag lasted two rides. That said, all in it cost me £28. Even at that price for head unit only it’s great value for money.

I get a full week easily with the battery on mid power. My entire setup worked out at £28 (light and accessories) + £8 (Torchy Charger) + £20 (Torchy battery). All in, even at that, it’s *great* value for money. Outshines my mates dual Moon x500 setup.

1200 lumens for a commuting light?! Are you mad? I trust you can dial it down?

if this is aimed at the c&b seen light then yes it is too much for commuting but the 1200 lumens is what is claimed and to be honest its probably lower than that in real terms.
you do get a lower setting which runs it at around 30% brightness and this is more than enough for commuting. i used this setting throughout the dark winter nights with no problems.
the flash mode is insanely bright and fast…i wouldnt recommend this setting to be used on the road.
a diffuser lens is also available for an extra £5 as is a fixed handlebar clamp (£10) so you can do away with the rubber o rings.
for the price/performance i really cant fault them.

p8ddy where did you get the X2 battery from, link if possible please. Or just look on ebay?

For £50 i’d buy a cateye set – they last years and you can buy spare brackets.
The LD1100 is about £30 and for a front i’d get an EL200 (approx £23). You’ll probably find some brighter lights for the price, but these both use AA batteries and they last ages

The Solarstorm light is not a reliable option in my experience. The battery pack is so bad as to be unusable (I got one charge out of mine before it decided to die).

Conversely, mine has been excellent and for £50 you could buy two complete.

See.Sense lights from a Kickstarter project can be ordered. Pretty close to the project delivery date so commercial products should be out soon.

Get on Amazon & order some cree lights,You can get 2 front & a rear plus all the brackets etc for 30 quid ! Nice & bright for commuting & I personally think they do a good job

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lezyne-super-drive-xl-front-light-loaded-1/?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&utm_source=pla&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=uk&kpid=5360581223

Bargain, I have last years version with 500 instead of 575 lumens. Great pattern for road and this pack comes with a spare battery as well. A bit more but should last for ages and any old 18650 can be plugged in. You can get a pair of 3400mah panasonics from torchy for circa £15. The light will last best part of 2 hours on full with one of those. As for rear you can pick up a Smart 1 watt superflash for peanuts.

As for rear you can pick up a Smart 1 watt superflash for peanuts.

These lights don’t like the wet. After having two of them fail on me when riding home in the rain, I replaced them with RSP Astrums and have never looked back.