Is it too early for a what lights thread?

Looking to update my lights this year.  I’m currently running Ay-ups from over 10yrs ago, with one on the handlebar & one on my helmet.

Are newer lights now bright enough so that I don’t need a helmet light as well or is this still the best way to go?

I don’t want cheap poorly sealed Chinese lights as I have seen enough of these fail & ruin night rides. With that in mind what are the current go tos?

I use exposures.

Maxxd on the bars and diablo on the lid.

Would still recommend a bar and lid combo if you’re doing fast trails or in the woods.

Think the maxxd was bought in 2016 so had it a while

Standard reply – if they’re for riding off-road, you’ll want a helmet light regardless of how bright your bar lights are, for directional vision. I’d still recommend brightest/lightest Exposure that suits your budget/needs to go on your lid.

yep the answer is exposure, expensive upfront, but simply the best,

joystick or diablo on helmet, and a maxxD/sixpack if budget allows, otherwise, cheap bar light and a exposure light on lid

i dropped my 2016/7 maxx D from 2m height, reaching for some shoes with too much stuff in my hands,

light broke, sent it to exposure the next day, they turned it around back to me in 48 hours, £18 incl. postage , i’d damaged the circuit board,  my joystick was fixed for a similiar price, both long out of warranty..

Magicshine Monteer, I’ve got the 8000lm with remote and it’s like turning on daylight.

My 2000lm exposure head torch gets a bit lost, if I’m honest. Good for extra light when I’m on low power on the main light though.

Phew! I thought some was talking Xmas lights already! 🤣

Hook line and sinker 😂

Wuben C3 for helmet duty. Decent emergency light as well if you carry a spare in your rucksack/bag.

Not too early at all. Decide what you want now then grab it in the black friday sales.

Death before RRP.

For an alternative a mate has the Halfords advanced 1800 light and it’s excellent as well. Think that’s £60

Joystick or Axis on the lid.  Maxx D or Strada for the bars (MTB/Road)

The Diablo is too floody and too short on run time for me as a helmet light.

Depends on your budget here, but I now have an exposure Maxx D on the bars and an axis on the helmet. I’d say you need both – otherwise you can’t see round corners and can get weird shadows.

Maxx D is by far the best bar light I’ve had and would buy again. I wouldn’t buy the Axis again though – the run time is too short vs the power output.

Previously I’ve run a number Chinese lights, a Halfords / Bikehut 1600 / another similar 1600 lumen all in one / Battery Boy 1800 light. Out of those the Halfords one was the best – but the Maxx D is so much better in every way.

On the helmet I’d pickup something like a Moon Vortex 1300 if I had my time again. I’ve previously run the 1000 lumen one (I think) and the slightly lower powered version and they’ve been ace. Also curious on the Four4th Scorch.

https://www.jejamescycles.com/product/26647/moon-moon-meteor-storm-pro-front-light/option/

Exposure is the only answer.

If that scares your wallet, look second hand as I recently did.

Be reassured by the ability of exposure to repair issues at reasonable cost. Also my (new to me) 5 year old light still has huuuuge battery capacity.

I have a drawer full of cheap Chinese lights.

Since switching to Expisure 4 years ago the pile hasn’t gotten any bigger.

My Joystick is brighter than any of the million lumen eBay jobs.

I went from AyUp like yours to Exposure Toro/Joystick combo and it’s much better.
I had a brief Torchy bar light but the battery bag didn’t fit too well when I changed the bike, I’d stay with all in one units now.

Exposure for me.

5 year old Diablo on head.
15 year second had on bars.

No problems.

Plenty of run time.

Easy to charge.

Easy to get spares for.

I’m the previous years I had things break, stop working mid ride, run out of batteries so regularly I always had to carry 3 or 4 lights depending on how long I was out for.

The exposure have done all my rides from 2h week days to 2 day bike packing ( only one night) with no fuss.

I might buy a battery pack for the diablo. I could just run it on lower power.

My set up is brighter than most of the people I ride with, except those with newer exposure lights.

Would suck my teeth at the cost and buy them again when they break.

Anyone remember which website was selling discounted Exposure lights last year? There were cheaper than the Exposure clearance bin.

I can’t justify the cost of exposure lights. They are bloomin awesome though and their customer service is amazing according to everyone I know who has had to use them.

cheap Chinese lights scare me, so my compromise is MTBBatteries gear. Their lumenator is a proper 2000lm twin beam device, customer service is great, mounts are great, won’t burn your shed down.

If MTB Batteries are still in business they should really update the website. It looks like the whole thing was archived about 8 years ago.

I run a mix of 4fourth and gloworm.
Bar and helmet, although I don’t run anywhere near the number of lumens as some on here. No need when it has a good beam pattern

I picked up a Lifeline Pavo last year for a decent price. Wiggle or CRC probably. Metal body and it automagically adjusts the brightness when moving. Mines 1800lm 2 LED but they do larger ones.

Had a Halfords one before it, didn’t rate it. Poor brackets and the rubber dust covers all got lost in very short order.

I was out last night and I could really have done with a light on the last decent as it’s starting to getting a bit murky in the trees beyond 8pm, especially if it’s overcast so not too early for a lights thread I reckon.

I’ve run Four4th lights for the past 10 years and really rate them. Still running an original Exodus helmet light from 10 years ago (the battery finally had to be replaced last winter) and I have a Rameses bar light on the MTB and a Gabriel on the gravel bike. Before the Rameses I was running a Holy Moses for 4 years which had green tinged LED’s, which was a feature I really liked. Like Exposure they aren’t the cheapest but I’ve found them to be very reliable with a good balance between burn times and light output.

Lifeline Pavo Motion 3600 has been excellent so far and seems a good value alternative to a MaxxD type thing. No bar light is going to be sufficient on its own if you ride anything techy or twisty. I picked up a Diablo for £160 odd last year (Mk13).

Up until now I had been on lights with separate batteries. The sheer convenience of an integrated unit is quite liberating – especially the helmet light.

Like many I’ve a big stack of cheap lights & batteries, but run a Diablo on the helmet & MaxxD on the bars.

The Diablo hasn’t the greatest run time, so I just switch it off for all but descents.

The MaxxD is beyond bright plus big run times.

I recently bought a second handle diablo for my helmet, and have an old torchy light for the bars. I was running the torchy on my helmet but it has a big, heavy, separate battery which was a bit of a pain for attaching to helmets (and felt a bit like it was slowly pushing my head into my body). I’ve not needed to use the torchy just yet this year but certainly using the diablo toward the end of evening rides (and after the pub).

Regardless of what you get for helmet I’d definitely say go for an all-in-one unit.

The Diablo hasn’t the greatest run time, so I just switch it off for all but descents.

I forgot to mention that bit. It is still a price worth paying to be free of the separate lead and battery IMO.

Might already be mentioned, but Exposure…

Don’t regret mine despite the cost. Discussing on our ride this week, we need lights 9-10 months of the year on our twice-weekly evening MTB rides. Exposure are worth it given how much I use them. Both mine are a few years old: Sixpack on the bars and (I think) a Diablo on my helmet. Barely ride any slower in the dark vs daylight with those on descents.

In answer to @sharkattacks question…SDJ Sports?

That’s the one! Spent all night trying to remember that.

Anyway, still lots of Exposure lights here…sdjsports.com/collections/exposure-lights

I’m not really up to date on how much they’re supposed to cost so not sure how exciting the discounts are.

Exposure is the only answer.

I don’t feel like that’s true at all. Yes they’re very well made and it feels like a quality item, but there’s any number of self contained units like the Diablo that do exactly the same thing – about an hour and half run time, self contained, about 1600 lumens, 4 hour charge time, for a fraction of the cost; from Halfords, Bontrager, Lezyne, Gloworm, Lupine… The list is practically endless.

I think there’s a split in night riding community that want either 1. As much light as possible, or 2 enough light so that I can see where I’m going, but I want it to be a different experience. I’m firmly in the latter camp, I’ve only ever used bar mounted lights, Helmet mounted always seems over-kill to me, and frankly make it all very confusing. And lights like the MaxxD while impressive seem like they’re solving a problem I don’t have, and fundamentally (and I rarely say this) paying over £400 for a torch just feels a bit like being frisked, plus they always seem to come with functions that I don’t need as a way to justify the cost of them,..An app, (for instance) press this button four times wait for it to flash nine times, do a dance, then you can change how bright it is by 20 lumen increments…wow.

Also Diablo on your helmet, how exactly do you see when the little LED starts to turn red that it’s running out of charge…

Also Diablo, that touch to change the brightness that also ‘works’ on chunky bits of the trail…mega useful.

Look no further;

http://www.outboundlighting.com/collections/bike-lights/products/evo-downhill-package-best-bike-light

I do a lot of night rides.  Running a Magicshine RN3000 on the bars, and switch between an Evolva X8 or Magicshine Ray2600 on the helmet.  All are really good, self-contained units.

However, I’ve literally just pulled the trigger on an Exposure Zenith from their outlet store for £160. Seemed a decent price for a good light

I’ve used a Hope R4+ for years.. It’s that good they still make it and I’ve no reason to change it. 2000lm (1500lm measured). Separate battery, but it mounts neatly under the top tube and has a nice little coiled cable.

Very zoomed in pic, so not the best quality

Joystick on the head

Have to agree with nick, Exposure really isn’t the only answer. My cheap and badly sealed Chinese light is 8-10 years old and works fine. My helmet light is a cheap Fluxient from Torchy which is at least 5 years old.Both can have their batteries replaced by off the shelf units not like many where the battery can’t be removed and all you can do when the battery fails is throw the whole thing away.

Another Exposure Maxx D / Diablo combo here.

Had the Toro / Diablo combo before that which MrsReady now uses with no complaints either.

As above I’m a huge fan of Four4th.

I have a Scorch QR with a spare battery which goes on my helmet or on the bars which I have been using flawlessly for a couple of years now.

To repalce my old venerable “troutie” Lumin Liberator (RIP Toutie) I’m going to buy this week a Four4th Rameses to stay on the bars and keep the Scorch on the helmet.

Thats a combined 7200 lm.

The scorch also goes on the gravel bike on its own for a bit of road hacking out.

There are some great suggestions so happy hunting.

I agree that there are lower cost options for bar lights but I haven’t seen many good helmet light options where it needs a decent battery and output but remains light enough. Weight isn’t an issue for a bar light so there is more choice. Fortunately the Exposure Joystick is much cheaper than any of their bar lights and can just about be called reasonably priced.

I’m not a fan of Exposure lights – expensive proprietary mount which can get unreliable with age, proprietary charger, not brilliant button operation.

I do like Magicshine RN1500 on the lid and RN3000 on the bars.  Can be had for about 35 and 60 respectively on Aliexpress.  Much more expensive from Magicshine.  Anyway, Garmin 1/4 turn mount, USB-C PD charging so quick charging and they can be used as power banks to charge other stuff.  great light spread and they use the more modern high capacity 21700 cells rather than 18650 so the light body is smaller for a given battery capacity.  They are alu bodied and a really solid construction, makes exposure look old fashioned and silly silly expensive.

I’m not a fan of integrated battery lights.  Lots of weight where I don’t want it and fixed run time.

I have a selection of Magicshine batteries – 2, 4 and 6 cell – so I can mix and match, swap over or carry a spare.  Summer rides, I pop the 2 cell in my pocket to get me home, or big mid winter rides I take the 6 for bars, 4 for lid and sometimes 2 as an emergency spare since it’s tiny.

For lamps I’m currently on the MTB Batteries – one on bars, one on lid.  Enough to be pretty much riding at daylight pace.

I have a GoPro interface for both helmet and bars.  This lets me swap a light over if I need to and two lights essential both for seeing and having backup – customer service may be good but not at 10pm in the Peak District.

With this setup I have a flexible arrangement for weight, runtime and backup in case of battery or actual light failure, which I’ve suffered from with Gloworm (extensively), Exposure, Magicshine and MTB Batteries.  Luckily MTB Batteries was a simple home fix with a soldering iron.

I’ve had loads of different ones over the years.

Most reliable have been Gemini Duos (i HAD 2) but light output now superceded. I sold one and kept the other as a spare. Still works well.

Had a Hope R4+. OK but not twice as bright as the Duo despite twice the LEDs and weight. Also no end of cable issues. One cable replaced under warranty and I have now replaced it again myself. Something weird happened to the battery after the warranty repair as it would run flat in a couple of days if headlight was left plugged in. Also, sometimes the battery lasts for ages, other times it switches to standby after 15 minutes. Weird!

Got a Magishine Monteer 6500. Great output but also needed repair after less than a year. Got new headset and cables. Now, less than 8 months later it is doing the same thing and randomly shutting down which needs the battery to be plugged into a USB source to reset. Pain in the arse when out on the trail in the dark!

Not had an Exposure but brother and 3 riding buddies have them. All have had to send them off for repair for one thing or the other and at least 2 have broken the bar mount.

Currently I am trialing a Fenix lamp for a head torch. Quality seems great and I like the mounting system for bars (on gravel bike and helmet (a few quid extra). Also like that I can carry spare batteries, including being able to use my stash of 16850s in an adapter.
https://www.myfenix.co.uk/product/fenix-bc26r-bike-light-1780

And I have had cheap chinese lights. Do yourself a favour and save the money for something half decent.