It’s getting dark – time for a cheep Lights thread?

Alex222

Just found this
MTBbatteries lumenator[/url]

I did actually follow that link didn’t see it first time I looked. Not a bad price I reckon[/url] 😀

[edit]turns out the original link wasn’t that link… eggy face[/edit]

MartynS – Member

Massively impressed with my magic shine mj872 can be had for about £80

Aye… I had cheaper Magicshines before and at first thought, “3 times as expensive but I bet it’s not 3 times better”. Well, it is, easily. There’s other similiar units out there that do the same job obviously but something along these lines is where my money’d go.

The original Smudge light just wasn’t worth the money, which was a shame as he’s a top boy. But this new one looks more like it

Jim Bob and Alex. Thanks for that link. I think the page must have been updated today. Either that or I missed it too. Sounds like a very good deal, especially as it comes with it’s own UPS 🙂

Flapperon – those hope lights cost about as much as my bike is worth!

Just been out to test the new setup. The Chinese double lights above are very bright but the bar mount is far too small. It is also a spot which I found is not to good on the bars. My Troutie liberator does not have the power/throw of the other light but the light is a lot more useful on the bars as it has a much more spread throw of light so if you move your bars you don’t notice like on lights with a spot. The Chinese double light is going on the commuter. The cheap torch is really powerful and a really good complement to the Troutie as a helmet light. Might slow me down though as I will be able to see what the monsters are lurking in the bushes instead of legging it.

Would be interested to know if there are any lights that have the same kind of wide beam as the liberator as it is a really nice spread.

I would have thought smudges lights were also made in China but I may be wrong.

alex222 – Member
I did actually follow that link didn’t see it first time I looked. Not a bad price I reckon

Hold on a sec – 10 hours at 70% – thats 1400 lumens all night? Where do I pay?

I’ve been using a cheap DX Cree light for about 3 years now, it’s been great. I bought a spare, just in case last winter too.

I like the fact that it’s bright enough without being a portable sun, keeps you on your toes!

So i have an order in for this bad boy:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1800Lm-CREE-XM-L-T6-LED-Bicycle-Light-lamp-HeadLight-head-/180946755262?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Cycling_Bike_Lights&hash=item2a21445ebe

(its a 1800Lm CREE XM-L T6 for £23.50)

Will post up my thoughts once i have tried it out.

(its a 1800Lm CREE XM-L T6 for £23.50)

How on earth have they come up with a figure of 1800 lumens? Even in ideal conditions you’d be lucky to get half that from a T6 in a light.

How on earth have they come up with a figure of 1800 lumens? Even in ideal conditions you’d be lucky to get half that from a T6 in a light.

Welcome to the world of Chinese lights. Talk in the media about the TSI now starting to police the web hasn’t and probably can’t do anything about the wild output claims posted on the web by some people.

In my experience, most lights I’ve seen recently do not have sufficient cooling.

Kind of makes me wonder why people like me and Trout have gone to the extra expense and trouble of getting our lights independantly measured in a lab, to ascertain the real outputs, when the folk in China appear to just think-up a number.

It can be good to see some folk thinking about the UK economy and trying to buy British, etc. But if you’re riding a £200 bike, then its not difficuult to see why someone is only going to spend ~£30 to £90 on a light. Or, if its their first night riding season and they just want to see if its something they can really get into. Which if they do, they can sell on their first light and maybe obtain something towards the higher end of the market.

Pretty much agree with what neninja and Luminous have said, your light will not have 1800 Lm probably closer to 1000, however this will still be more than enough to give you a good idea whether you like night riding or not.

Be aware the light will get very hot if left on full with no airflow past it so it would be highly advisable to dim the light while stationary.

Have fun on the trails.

Luminous. Your point is very valid, I am generally adverse to buying cheap tat from overseas – I have never bought anything like this before on Ebay or anywhere else and don’t intend to make a habit of it. Having looked at the various adds on Ebay I would assume a fairly low level of accuracy on their claims and low level of quality on the goods – they all appear to be selling the same stuff with the same pictures but the claims and pricing are all over the place. My choice was as much down to the simple bar mount as it was the figures.

However as said, my annual expenditure on bike related stuff is low my bike is now probably worth £500 and this light will probably get no more than 10 outings over the winter as a guess. I can not justify spending more.

Another vote for Magicshine MJ872. That said I have not tried others and like the look of what Mtbbatteries are doing (I am guessing importing and maybe having a hand in design and or quality control).

The MJ872 provides a great wide spread of light and pretty decent throw distance. if you were hacking downhill at 30mph you may want more throw distance. If that’s your plan IMHO you would do well to buy an additional helmet light that has more of a spot beam as there are very few lights that can manage both well. Even fewer that do both on a reasonable budget.

At an almost wife friendly price (£89 off ebay) I think the compromise between lumens, beam throw/spread, quality and £ is hard to beat. One caveat is that I am adding some silicon grease to the seals as I saw a tear down that recommended this to increase water proofing. I also purchased a hope bracket (requires slightly longer screw to fix to light) that makes this more secure and tidy on the bars.

Being new to this playing in the dark thing whats the best set up then bar light, helmet light or combo of both ?
Guessing its a good idea to have an emergency get you home back up as well ?
Maybe bar light with cheap Chinese torch on helmet as back up ?

@Muke – Back in the days of halogens, I used to run nothing but bar lights for off-road riding. I still use my halogens for the time being – rather turbocharged – but now run helmet-only off-road as it means I’ve pretty much always got light where I’m looking.

The slight downside is that you get less / virtually nothing in the way of shadows as depth cues as the light is closer to your eyes. Also, as the light is above your eyes the shadows fall differently from those you might be used to with bar lights or car lights.

You can of course run bar lights as well as a helmet light, but if only running one, my personal preference is for a helmet light. Also remember that a helmet light is dangerous (illegal?) to use on the road so you’ll need a small bar light for any road sections anyway.

Regarding those mtbbatteries lights they say 2000 lumen. However other lights have the generated lumens and the measured lumens. What is the distinction and is the 2000 lumens sighted the generated or the measured lumen?

As a general point I have noticed that info on the Hope R4 has this strange double figure for generated and measured.

Personally, I’d have thought that the only value which matters to the user is how many lumens are coming out the front of the thing. Which is why I send my lights to our very own STW tester, Chris W, who measures both the lumens, using an integrating Sphere, and lux, using calibrated lux meters in a purpose designed testing rig.

At a guess, the figure for generated might be some kind of theoretical maximum ?.

so the 2000 lumens cited by mtbbatteries is likely to be the measured lumen value?

bugcab – Member

The MJ872 provides a great wide spread of light and pretty decent throw distance. if you were hacking downhill at 30mph you may want more throw distance. If that’s your plan IMHO you would do well to buy an additional helmet light that has more of a spot beam as there are very few lights that can manage both well. Even fewer that do both on a reasonable budget.

You need a very powerful spot to out-throw the 872 by a meaningful amount… I tried it for a little while but without any real success (my XML light had a stupendous amount of narrow throw, but that wasn’t actually much use at all, the bright spot impacts on your night vision and you still end up playing chase-the-dot, whereas the wider beams allow you to just ride fairly normally).

The best option was still just the modern, powerful flood on the head… Still has more range than a spotlight had just a couple of years ago.

But, I reckon maybe this year’s lights will have some more competitive helmet options that’ll change that. The triple XMLs that Torchy is doing look like they might be the right balance, assuming they don’t melt and dribble onto the top of your head. Most of the twin XMLs seem pretty bulky but I’ve not seen ’em all.

so the 2000 lumens cited by mtbbatteries is likely to be the measured lumen value

NO its the on paper if driven at the maximum amps Cree stipulate .

more likely to be about 1600 ish Lupins

The Gloworm X2 we are doing is a much more usable beam than the reflector based single XML’s. Most of those have a small spot of light that throws for miles surrounded by a dim halo of light around it.

The Gloworm’s X2 standard spot/flood optics give a beam with a much larger hotspot that throws very well but without a dim halo around it.

Gloworm’s quoted 1200 lumens on high in trail mode is a genuine lumen output figure. Given it’s small size and weight (80g inc mount) a balance has to be struck between lumen output from the Cree XM-L U2 emitters and heat management.

It does get every confusing with some companies quoting theoretical max outputs from the emitters, others quoting measured lumens and some Chinese lights quoting total nonsense.

With the Gloworm, we’ve taken the decision to quote ‘real’ lumen outputs like Troutie and Luminous do for their lights. It might make the lights appear on paper to have a lower output than some lights quoted lumens but hopefully people will see past that when they read the feedback from customers on places like STW.

Numpty question – can you measure lumens or get close to a measurement with a light meter?

Neninja, out of curiosity on the X2, is the only control on the remote? Or is there a switch on the light?

Also, is there any prospect of a stripped-down package? All I’d really want is the light, the charger and the battery…

The remote is the only control for the light.

There is no switch in the light body. It means on the bars you can have switch at your finger tips and on the side of a helmet rather than trying to push a button on the back which might move the light.

When you say a stripped down package what parts wouldn’t you want?

Cheers for that, I didn’t like the idea of the remote til now but actually the way you describe it, it makes sense.

TBH all I’d want is the light and the battery, and maybe the charger though I think my existing one would be fine.

Thanks DoctorRad

My first light is on its way via a slow boat from China so I will see how it goes when it gets here.

Thanks for the information guys, I have been looking at one of these as a commuter light, My commute will be the back roads of Cornwall….

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261101057225?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

But from having a read I may go for the mtbbatteries ones.

http://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/mountain-bike-lights/

see what happens.

Cheers Steve

Quick review. First proper night ride last night using my new light.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1800Lm-CREE-XM-L-T6-LED-Bicycle-Light-lamp-HeadLight-head-/180946755262?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Cycling_Bike_Lights&hash=item2a21445ebe

The light unit seems well made although the battery and lead are clearly thrown together.

+, Easily powerful enough light for pitch black trails, I left my old front LED commuter light on and it was made completely redundant by the power of the new one, I remember thinking the old one was pretty bright. Light worked great for the full ride and did not run hot, it was on for just over an hour on full power.

-, The spot is very narrow which has been identified by other posters and the mounting options are limited, I wouldn’t trust it anywhere but on the frame/bars. Due to the shape of my bars it was just of straight, nothing severe but slightly annoying and would need some careful bodging to get the minor tweak to straighten it up. I have no idea how long it would have gone on for / and how much charge is left, I will need to run it down on the commute before charging it up ready for another off road ride. I also have no idea how long to charge the battery for other than just keeping an eye on the light while it charges (in a tin due to fire risk). There were no instructions in the box.

For £24 it is a different league of night riding to anything I have done and I quite enjoyed the experience, certainly scary enough. I recommend the strobe setting for maximum messing with your mind.

Further praise for Smudge: my V1 light was subjected to 7 hours of continuous rain on Friday night, and worked flawlessly.

About a year ago I was in a similar position to lots of folk here- needed to be out at night more due to necessity rather than choice- family, work etc..
Didn’t have much money, couldn’t afford the top end lights so was naturally tempted by some of the cheap dx type offerings and such. My budget was about £50 but after reading a few really informative threads on here I went for smudges original light. I couldn’t stretch to an mj808 or whatever they were at the the time but was wary of the cheaper dx units after someone pulled one apart and showed all its frailties- lack of thermal paste, poor wiring etc..
Smudge was able to show how he’d greatly improved the durability and quality of his version before putting it on sale and this was what swung it for me compared to other cheap dx/other units.
And I’m glad I did. Been out in all weathers, on and off road, and it’s been great- a bit spotty but I knew that when I bought it. I haven’t had any probs but anyone on here who has has always posted about how quickly smudge sorted it out. Coupled with the fact that he really is a sound bloke and that I’m buying something from a small UK business it’s all good as far as I’m concerned.
If I have enough cash I’ll prob be buying his new light at Christmas- although the glowOrm doesn’t look bad either, just a few quid more.

Magicshine MJ-872 (I think it is…). Awesome light – plenty of power. What it lacks in lens compared to the expensive ones it makes up for with sheer lumens. Clocked 36 MPH on Sat night coming down some rough landy track at a local trail on Sat night – only slightly sketchy, but due to lack of skill rather than the light. Ditch the silly o-ring bracket though. I bolted mine on to a hope bracket bought from CRC for about £6. Had to buy some spares for it last week (after a year of ownership and moving house through the summer I lost my charger), supplier was very good and had what I needed in stock. All in all, very impressive for £80…..Oli.