It’s about this time of year that I start my annual quest to find the best that Asia has to offer.

So far it’s looking like the Nightfighter BT70 is the one to have

MTBR User review

Gearbest is selling the head unit only for £25 with free shipping
Link
I’ve ordered one and will post up some pics when it arrives.

Any other new ones out there worth looking at.

Was considering a solarstorm x2 for the helmet. My trusty MTB batteries jobby died after a good few years service.

^ if it’s just the battery that’s died get in touch with Smudge, he might be able to sort it out. I’ve had loads of batteries off him over the years and have had a few repaired due to a dead cell or something simples.

just commenting on this thread so i can find it again… been thinking about new lights too

I went through all this on Tuesday.
What I wanted was more flood than the Solarstorm X2, and then move the Solarstorm X2 to my helmet for more lumens up there.

Couldn’t really work out whether the BT70 with normal lens was floody enough, but took a punt anyway. It shipped yesterday.
I’ll have to get a better mount than rubber bands though as it’s a bit bigger/heavier than most.

I’m also not totally sure about the connector compatibility with battery packs I have, so I decided to order early and work it all out once the head unit arrives.

Apparently another good one (for £16) is the original YinDing with NEUTRAL LEDs:
http://www.gearbest.com/headlights/pp_133573.html

Use code “Yinding2015” to get it to £16 (head unit only)

It also seems that the nitefighter BT21 and BT40 are worth exploring too. Decent chargers and battery packs are one of the main factors, as there are so many cheap copies of others around now.

—
Edit: One thing that I picked up on from the MTBR forum about the BT70 is that it pulls more current than anything else. Some say that the springs in the Solarstorm battery case aren’t up to the job. I have the older battery case without springs, so I’ll see.

@stevied

I’ve also had some other stuff off him to keep my lumicycles going.

Did consider sending it off but the light is almost 5 years old and heavy (use it on the helmet) so am using this as an excuse to get a new light 😳

Too soon, we’ve not had summer yet!

Does anybody have a link to a decent charger for a magicshine type battery with a UK plug?

I got a Nightfighter BT40 (head unit only from gearbest) and its great for the money. Build quality seems good.

Nice and floody with the difuser lens fitted – I prefer it to the solarstorm x2 it replaces. Not had to use it on high (turbo?) yet as its so bright.

Its compatible with my existing magicshine typre connectors.

Took 8 weeks to arrive though – and I notice the price has gone up a lot since I ordered.

Not sure what to do this year, have the ubiquitous P7, and a smudge lumenator, but the only battery left is the original magicshine, and that’s down to ~60min.

That BT70 looks mental, good to see a brand that charges a sensible amount for batteries, gives some hope that they may actually work!

looking forward to seeing what Exposure have in their 2016 line up. Have had loads of chinese lights over the years, most have failed or chargers cooked, so I’ll be sticking with Exposure for now. Currently have a Mk 9 Joystick and a Mk6 MaxxD and they have been used this week and last on Wed night club rides – it’s getting dark 🙂

Are people mounting these on helmets or bars? I’ve found mounting a battery on the back of a helmet a bit annoying. Is there a better alternative? Running a cord to a pocket? Or do I need to pony up for an Exposure?

I’ll be on my 4th winter with the same lights this year.

The bar mount is 2000Lumens so still lovely and helmet 600 so still not outgunned by riders behind me.

Having seen the amount of faff and grief riders on bargain basement lights seem to go through (even with annual replacements) the much higher price I paid then seems to have been worth it.

If I had the money and was making a choice today I’d look at something from Exposure or one of the German brands.

^^^ Current Joystick can be had for a touch over £100. I think that’s good value for a reliable helmet light that will last for years, hassle free use, mounting and charging. I tend to buy new Exposures, use for 2 winters and sell on. I dont think it works out much more than a stream of chinese lights, battteries, chargers etc (I have tried both) and much less faff having a good self contained light, whether helmet or bar mounted

Yep I do like exposure lights, but they are quite an investment and I like all this research and getting the latest brightest lights and if they are no good or next years lights are even brighter/smaller then I can get rid and buy something else.

I bought a battery and charger off of torchy on ebay a while back and they are much better than the ones supplied with these lights. Now if possible I just buy the new head unit.

Are people mounting these on helmets or bars?

a light on the bars means that lumps and bumps cast shadows, which helps you ‘see’ the terrain a bit better.

see? that’s a 2D image which your brain immediately understands as a 3D environment, isn’t that really ****ing clever?

i use an additional, smaller light on my helmet, to fill in the gaps.

(1000ish lumens on the bars, 200ish on my head, perfect)

Where’s your sense of adventure Wwaswas? 😀
We all love a faff…..

One on the bars and one on the lid for me. Where I ride just a bar mounted light is no good as it’s so tight and twisty.

Where’s your sense of adventure Wwaswas?

I’ve followed darkcyan down too many trails whilst his lamp either failed to work at all or strobed enough to give me a headache 🙂

Why doesn’t it surprise me that his light doesn’t work?

Have always kept an eye on exposure lights. I really need to weigh my current helmet set up (helmet light and battery in the back pack). I like the idea of no cables but would want it to be lighter.

For balance wwaswas, my cheap Chinese jobby has done five years, finally the battery died last winter. All for £20 or so.

Why doesn’t it surprise me that his light doesn’t work?

“Darkcyan – living life on the shonky side.”

It’s not just him though, most of the issues on Thursday nights are with the cheaper lights. Buy two so you have a spare in your fanny pack?

You might be right for you wwaswas, but all my Chinese lights still work as well as they did the day I bought them.

I have the original Bastid (around £40), a cheap X-ML (£17), an early Solarstorm X2 head unit (£12), a Solarstorm battery pack with 4x 18650 batts and charger (£30) and a XP-G torch for the helmet + 1 spare batt. (£16)

Never had a moment’s trouble out of any of them over 6 years. As I’ve upgraded, I’ve passed down the previous ones to my son.

ymmv

One on the bars and one on the lid for me. Where I ride just a bar mounted light is no good as it’s so tight and twisty.

Same for me. I currently use the better on on my helmet so I can see what’s coming but the battery annoys me. I’ll give Exposure a try. The Diablo looks like the one, although I’m sure the Joystick would probably suffice.

Are people mounting these on helmets or bars?

both

battery pack not too noticeable on enduro style lids. Not fond of trailing wires

I’m going to put the battery pack in my Camelbak. The wire is long enough on my Solarstorm X2 to reach. Not as neat as an Exposure, but I already have the Solarstorm.
I’ve tried it – it’s fine.

Are people mounting these on helmets or bars? I’ve found mounting a battery on the back of a helmet a bit annoying. Is there a better alternative? Running a cord to a pocket? Or do I need to pony up for an Exposure?

I run either a smudge lumeator or MJ-808 on my helmet and a battery pack in my jersey pocket (in a camelback causes faffage when you need to take the bag off). Might need to lengthen the cable in which case some 3A wire from B&Q is about right, just be sure to splice it well (split the strands out and twist both ends together, don’t just hook one through the other, it’ll get too hot) and shrink wrap the individual wires as well as the outer.

Also ditch the mounts, just zip tie it directly to the top of your helmet (somewhere quite near the back works well), the closer it is to your head the less pendulum effect it has.

Leave the MAN pack out of this.

I’ve had a couple of crap batteries supplied with the lights, so now always use the same pack that I bought separately. A SS X2 I had kept dimming if left on high for more than a couple of minutes and not going fast enough to keep it cool (I have tried riding quicker, but just results in tree hugging). As yet nothing has completely failed me (which guarantees a total light failure this evening)

EDIT: always run the head light battery pack into the camelbak.

Can’t tell my Gloworm X1 is on the hemet – its stupidly light even with the battery pack.
The X2 on the bars and it’s like a scene out of Mad Max coming towards you….

Ticking the box to find later too…

I have a Lupine Piko helmet mount and find that lamp at the front/battery at the rear is fairly balanced and avoids having a big lump on top of the helmet to catch in the branches on singletrack.

I have tried various pack mounted cable options and they’ve been a pain in the bum. You either have the cable short enough it’s not flapping around and then can’t get the back on on and off with the helmet straps done up or so much loose cable it’s catching on stuff the whole time.

And if you get a mechanical you end up tethered to your pack whilst you try and fix it so you can see what you’re doing.

New from Solarstorm

The X5

Reading that it looks like its one or the other on – not both?

I think from one of the MTBR threads that both are always on and they are independently adjustable with the long or short presses

Checks in

That x5 looks promising, what are the batteries like on them?

Apparently the initial feeling is one of disappointment.

X5 1st thoughts

This one looks good

KD 2

Did my annual charge-up then run down of my old std 4-cell Chinese laptop battery pack that came with my X2. On the std inflammable charger. Gave up waiting after 14hours on medium, still on 2 bars!

So this year again it’ll be that on the bars and the Lezyne Macro Duo on the lid, got that free with a mag subscription last year, that also works well alone on the road bike bars.

I’m sticking with my Solarstorm X2’s and Pannovo battery packs for the third winter.