Light recommendations please – money no object

“Here in the UK, however, we still seem to be stuck in a bit of an arms race, with manufacturers concentrating on increasing output, rather than tailoring lights for their intended use. “

This – I have an Exposure Strada and two German-spec lights. They all work well. I hate riding with off-road lights on the road. In my experience the only way to genuinely avoid dazzling oncoming drivers and other riders is to angle the light down so far that you can no longer see more than ten metres ahead of your front wheel. Spots like the Joystick are better, but floods are often dreadful.

It just seems like basic consideration for other road users to me and safer for other riders too – my nightmare is being taken out by a following car driver who’s being blinded by an oncoming bike on the other side of the road.

Sorry about that. You can go back to raving about lumens now.

I’m with BWD and a few others on this: Something from Exposure.
There’s more to it than ‘build quality’ etc (although Exposure are very good indeed)
There’s the practicality of it. 1200 lumens with a round beam is wasting half of it in the air for a start, and dazzling people. That’s where the Strada comes in. The beam is designed for the road and little of it is wasted. Also, don’t under estimate how much less faff it is to pop the light off the QR bracket and take it with you to charge! Faffing around with seperate batteries strapped to your stem? No thanks.
Also, easily user programmable! Choose how long you want it to last and wether to have high/low or high/medium/low beams. Plus a really useful flash mode.
The decent ones come with a mains charger and a USB cable so you can have the charger at home and the USB at work.
Like I said, there’s more to it than loads of money and loads of lumens, and what’s best off road might not suit road rinding! 🙂

BWD, what Geramn lights do you have?

You need 1200 lumens for an unlit road? May I suggest an eye test 😉

Two Exposure Stradas, or a one plus a Joystick. Both can be charged from a laptop if needed. I ride unlit roads with 800 carefully angled lumens without a problem.

Not sure you really need it for the road, but I have an Exposure 6 pack, and the thing is amazing, not just build quality but battery power, programming options etc, it really is awesome. Although the top light level is clearly OTT for road use, you can use it at a lower level and get amazing battery life out of it, up to 36 hours on the low setting.
Prior to that had a cheap chinese job, light amazing but battery lasted no time at all before conning out, and there are lots of stories of them setting on fire and the like..

theotherjonv – Member
Four4th, with green leds.

I’d normally recommend them also but…

This is a road thread people! 😉 . Don’t recommend MTB lights for road. Way too bright.

1200 is even too much I’d say. If you want bright to be able to see on unlit, please make sure it can be easily dimmed for oncoming traffic. If you have a bar light it should be the same as car lights, offset and down to the left. Helmet lights on road may be useful for you but dazzling for the driver if you look at him. At least look away. I’d also never run helmet light only. Turn your head and you can become invisible to drivers.

Bear in mind that bike lights are often more focused and dazzling for drivers even if not as bright as a car headlight.

1200 is even too much I’d say. If you want bright to be able to see on unlit, please make sure it can be easily dimmed for oncoming traffic. If you have a bar light it should be the same as car lights, offset and down to the left. Helmet lights on road may be useful for you but dazzling for the driver if you look at him. At least look away.

As has been said though the beam pattern is as important/more so than the headline brightness. Helmet mounted lights are useless on the road IMO, and wholly agree that they just dazzle. Don’t think anyone’s really recommended one though.

As you’re always as such desperate pains to point out you don’t ride on the road I’ve no idea what you can offer?

An appropriately angled and focused ‘MTB’ light will be fine for the road – obviously if you point it 100 yards up the road and/or at cars then you’re a ****, but y’know…

BWD, what Geramn lights do you have?

I’ve got a Philips Saferide 80 and a Supernova Airstream 2. The Philips has the better beam pattern, it’s wide, long reaching and has a very flat cut-off, puts a surprising amount of light on the road where you want it. It’s not perfect by any means: it’s heavy and has a relatively short burn time from four AA rechargeable batteries, though you can charge them in situ by USB.

It works really well with a Joystick alongside it set up as a high beam, but my plan is to mod it to run at 1000mA or whatever, rather than the stock 700 and run it from an external battery.

The Airstream has slightly odd, more conical beam but with a flat cut-off. Lacks outright punch, but works okay at low to medium speeds and has Joystick-like function and build quality. Works well as a supplementary light for mixed road/off-road if you’re doing longish road sections, but it’s expensive unless you can find one cheap on eBay.

I have to say, I mostly end up using the Strada. It’s angled just slightly left and a little down, but the flattish, oval beam is a reasonable compromise, loads of light, remote switch is a real plus on the road etc.

njee20 – Member
As you’re always as such desperate pains to point out you don’t ride on the road I’ve no idea what you can offer?

Wasn’t trying to have a dig. Just purely making it clear that the OP is looking for something for commuting on unlit roads, as several posts already recommending MTB lights which are clearly not suitable to the OP. Trying to be helpful that’s all.

Helmet mounted lights are useless on the road IMO, and wholly agree that they just dazzle. Don’t think anyone’s really recommended one though.

OMG has been recommended here, which is intended more as a helmet light. 4200 lumens helmet light! 😯 😀 . Amazing light, but if someone asked me for a road light, it wouldn’t be that, not even on the bars.

An appropriately angled and focused ‘MTB’ light will be fine for the road

Can be used on the road, and I do so myself for stretches where I hit the road, but a 4000+ lumen blazing MTB light for 4 to 5 hours worth of commuting is not the light you want. Doubt the battery would last for a start!

I use the exposure toro and am really happy with it.
Switching between the different brightness levels and the pulse for on road use it very easy and its 1 unit with no battery which is really helpful commuting.

Have used it on some of the roads round epsom down you are talking about and it will be fine.

The display telling you how much battery life left is really handy as well.

Solid mount and you can buy more mounts so it is easily movable between bikes.

Pricey but I would stick with exposure.

Wasn’t trying to have a dig. Just purely making it clear that the OP is looking for something for commuting on unlit roads, as several posts already recommending MTB lights which are clearly not suitable to the OP. Trying to be helpful that’s all.

But plenty are. Like I say, I’ve just bought a new Maxx D, to replace an old Maxx D, which will be primarily used for commuting on a road bike, on very similar roads to the OP. It’s not the case that if it says “MTB” on it, it’s unsuitable.

BWD – I’ve got a Philips Saferide 80 […] my plan is to mod it to run at 1000mA or whatever, rather than the stock 700 and run it from an external battery.

Please put up a thread if you do successfully mod it; I have both Mk1 and Mk2 and would like to have an external powerpack rather than have both on the ‘bars.

Please put up a thread if you do successfully mod it; I have both Mk1 and Mk2 and would like to have an external powerpack rather than have both on the ‘bars.

If you google, it’s been done by someone on here already, but I’ll try to post something when I get round to it. A bit more light and unlimited burn time would do very nicely 🙂

But plenty are. Like I say, I’ve just bought a new Maxx D, to replace an old Maxx D, which will be primarily used for commuting on a road bike, on very similar roads to the OP. It’s not the case that if it says “MTB” on it, it’s unsuitable.

I guess you can address the problem two ways. Either go road specific and put what light you have where you need it, or take the Clarkson approach and just chuck more lumens up the road.

And how do we judge suitability? There don’t seem to be any regs here like the Germans have. Just seems to be “I think this is what I need so I deem it suitable. Notice Exposure themselves don’t rate the MaxxD as suitable for commuting.

Airstream has slightly odd,

Shame about that, looked a good candidate. Is that the 2nd rev? The German or the International?

So just back with an Exposure Toro from the LBS (well local-ish; best price was Evans and that’s 15 minutes drive). Unit was turning on in the store but apparently that was because they aren’t shipped charged.

Back home, plug it in, says it’s fully charged. Instructions say to tap the ‘on/off’ button but there’s no indication of where that actually is as it’s not marked.

OK so it’s that silver dot thing on the back. Tapping repeatedly does nothing. Holding it down with enough pressure to turn my thumb white eventually gets it on.

Trying to change programme settings doesn’t work.

I’ve given up. I’ve just ordered the Lumicycle Apex Extender and will now have to schlep back to Evans to return the Exposure.

And I still haven’t got out on the bloody bike!

Probably for the best. The Apex sounds like a better road choice than the Toro.

They are shipped fully charged, poor form on their part. Very little pressure needed on the switch.

Bike lights have come a fair way since the Lupine Wilma was new, I’m currently doing my 14 mile potholed, tree lined, hilly, country lane commute with two L&M Urban 800’s (800 lumen on full power) and a helmet mounted Vis 360+ (250 lumens), it means I don’t have all my eggs in one basket.
I rarely need to run them on full power but the option is there if I need it.
The USB charging means that I can charge them on a PC at work so they cost me nothing to run.

They are shipped fully charged, poor form on their part. Very little pressure needed on the switch.

Just back.

So when I presented it to the guy who just sold it to me, his colleague, who had even commented on the light as I was buying it, pipes up ‘oh that must be the one that some other guy returned as faulty and hasn’t been sent for warranty yet’.

You really couldn’t make it up could you.

If money is no object, go dynamo.

I run a SON hub powering a Supernova E3 Triple 2.

The hub has no noticeable drag, provides great power even at low speed and isn’t any heavier than a standard hub plus a battery pack.

The light is amazingly bright and perfect off road.

No worries about battery life, run time, charging etc. Dynamos have moved on so much these days.

I run them on my singlespeed rigid MTB and my wet weather road bike. Can’t recommend them strongly enough.

Solarider how about a few picks of the stable, just for old times sakes and since we’re in the bottom part of the day. Go on.

No worries about battery life, run time, charging etc. Dynamos have moved on so much these days.

Just out of interest how much light does it put out if you stop for a puncture or at a road junction? ❓

See my earlier post about “stand time” basically the light dims slightly then stays on for about four minutes – long enough for lights/junctions but not for a puncture hence why I suggested a secondary light for such occasions. Doesn’t need to be all singing, all dancing.

As above. Stand time is just over 4 minutes.

Plenty of time if you are standing at lights. I have front and rear dynamo on the MTB and both actually last significantly longer than that.

If you are mending a puncture, I suggest getting yourself off the road somewhere safer! I wouldn’t stand in the road even in broad daylight to mend one!

Even a battery light will be not much use if your bike is at a strange angle with 1 wheel removed. At least with a dynamo a simple spin of the front wheel will get your light going again. With a dead battery, you have no option except a back up light.

The E3 Triple has 3 LEDs. To extend stand time, only 1 stays on when the wheel is not spinning. The rear stay on full power. This is a ‘be seen rather than see’ option, but in reality in the situation described, only the rear light really matters.

As with any decision, there are pros and cons, but on balance I prefer dynamo. You also have a less obtrusive form of power than a battery pack dangling precariously somewhere off the bike. The lights themselves are tiny, and the wires can be very neatly routed and fitted with quick release connectors so that you can take them off easily to prevent theft but still leave the main wire in place.

In other breaking news we are moving back home to the UK! Yey! Might sound a strange thing to say given the year round heat and sun here in Singapore, but I am really looking forward to riding in a bit of inclement weather and needing to use the lights! Just ordered a new Cielo 29er, so watch this space for those stable piccies in about 3 months when it arrives. Just fallen back in love with mountain biking and really looking forward to that!

If you are mending a puncture, I suggest getting yourself off the road somewhere safer! I wouldn’t stand in the road even in broad daylight to mend one!

More that I tend to use the light if I’m fixing a puncture, rather than standing in the road to do it…

Something like the Cree handtorches as sold by CandBSeen among others or maybe a small headtorch such as those sold by Alpkit will be good enough to fix a puncture by.

Another minus point for dynamos 😳 – people have a habit of turning off your light after you’ve fastened the bike up: “to stop your battery running out”! Interesting when you move from street lights in to an unlit area.

There’s roads and there’s roads.

My commute is 80% on singletrack lanes. Gravel, potholes, large stretches of almost unmade surface etc. It’s bad enough I use my 29er. I see about 10cars.

I use a MaxxD on the 3,6 and 12 setting plus a joystick on flash on my helmet. The light is angled reasonably low and I put it on the 12 for oncoming cars which almost always pull over to let me past.

I am doing this at Z2 and for 16 miles. 60miles and Z4 I can understand the need for something pretty special. FWIW the MaxxD is great so the next one up is probably what you want.

I am doing this at Z2 and for 16 miles. 60miles and Z4 I can understand the need for something pretty special. FWIW the MaxxD is great so the next one up is probably what you want.

The Six Pack? The 3200 lumen portable off road sun? Sounds ideal for the road 😉

The Six Pack? The 3200 lumen portable off road sun? Sounds ideal for the road

I meant the new MaxxD with intelligent gubbins