OK, new to off road night riding and just hoping for some advice regarding lighting

things like

– which setup is best for the price, starting with the lowest budget to get decent lighting

– is one 900 lumen suitable or are two lights better

– if one 900 lumen is good, is 2 x 450 lumen just as good

– where do you buy good lights at reasonable prices, are the big branded lights best or are the ones on ebay from china OK ?

cheers

You can get something off deal extreme straight from taiwan or something, and it will be cheap and bright.

You can buy exposure lights, they’re pricey, but the quality is brilliant, they’re based in england and have good customer service, they have a good range of products, and you won’t regret spending the money.

I have the 2 set version of these they are great, a light on the bars and one on the helmet means less shadows and I find it gives a better depth of field, with just one there is always the is it a shadow is it a hole problem.
AyUp now have a UK distributor so there is no import or tax problems. Were some of the best value around

A pair of 400 lumen lights will work well and provide plenty of light. For an alternative search the forum for trout light.

Just make sure you get the brightest light you can for your helmet then the next best for your bars.
I agree that the Exposure range is great and more of an investment and a peace of mind purchase.
New range due out very soon so there will be loads of 2nd hand one’s on ebay soon. The next generation lights from all the top companies are lightyears ahead of last years.

Get one or two (one on the head with the extension lead) of these

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.44459

£50.53 delivered. Service is good by all accounts if you have a problem as well (I’ve not personally had to but others have reported good things).

Nothing can touch them for value – they come from China so you need to wait a bit for delivery (mine took 9 days from order date a couple of weeks ago). I’ve run a slightly older version for a year, rain/snow/cold, twice a week, 2-3 hour rides with no problems. As have a bunch of others I ride with.

To answer your original question, I’d get two 450lm lights if I had to choose, as I could stick one on my head. Obviously two 900lm lights are even better…

PS. There is a slightly different version available which has a different head unit – apparently people are experiencing delays in getting hold of those. The LED is the same, as is the battery so I’d just get this version (looks better in my opinion any way).

Ok, thanks for all the tips.

I am now thinking along these lines

I could buy a Magicshine P7 from DX and have 900 lumens and mount this on my bar. I dont like the idea of a helmet light with wires and reaching up to switch modes or switch off if necessary

Or alternatively for the same price I could get two torches, one 900 lumen and other either 290 or 320 lumen. Just wondering if this would be considered a better setup. Do I put the brightest on the helmet and lower lumen on the bars or vise versa. Downside of torches seems to be battery life. On uphills I could easily switch off the bar torch to save battery or have one with 3 or 5 modes, and switch to low or medium. I assume better to have helmet torch just with on/off setting ? And which torch is best for battery life for the helmet.

Would a SSC P7 torch on the bar gave a good spread of light. And what do you recommend for the helmet light as I assume it needs to be more focused spot light rather than spread light.

Thanks

ideas ? will need to buy very soon.

Hello
Magicshine bike lights rating are fake.
Go for Triple CREE Q5 Light its very good light and real value for money.
check beam shot of Triple CREE Q5 Bike Light and Magicshine light
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6538740&l=3c4c5ad47f&id=669536060

Thanks
Rahul

jalthar

i do not need emails to ebay links and other such spam please refrain from sending me any more emails

i have asked for advice not for links to your ebay sales

I got a spam email with the same text in it as jalthar posted above

I reckon he’s simply spamming & harvesting email addys

Uptheswa – I used to run the following combos:

P7 Torch on bars + 1 Q5 200 lm torch on the head.
P7 Torch on bars + P7 Torch on head
Magishine on bars + P7 on head

If you can be bothered to change the batteries in the Q5 torch every hour then that + magishine would be the perfect combo. I got annoyed by it, so I changed to the P7 on the head (run on low power for long runtime), but that was a little heavy, so I’ve brought another magishine for the head which will be a bit lighter, but not tried it as yet… that said I know a load of people who do run one on their head and they reckon it’s fine (hence i’m trying it).

hi ewan

that is exactly the sort of advice i was looking for

i had thought that on the bar you would put a higher lumen light with a bigger spread, and on the head could do with a lower lumen but with more of a spot light

i was thinking of a SSC P7 torch 900lm on the bars and either an ultrafire 501 torch on the head or an ultrafire A10B 250lm as it is even smaller and lighter

how do you find with both head and bars running a P7 ?

also, if I am off-road will I be able to run for two hours on high, or should I get a 5 mode torch so that it can run on medium for running time, or is running on low OK except for tricky bits when you could switch to high ?

i assume on the head torch you dont want to be flicking between high and medium and low so probably leave on one setting where the battery will last depending on length of ride ?

i assume on road low would be OK as some road rides will be 3 hours+

sorry for the stupid questions, but i am new to off-road riding and new to lights

many thanks

Hotheads – sorry to be cheeky but it sounds like you’ve been doing a fair bit of research on these products etc. Where have you found the best deals on the P7 and Ultrafire? If you don’t mind sharing that is.

i had thought that on the bar you would put a higher lumen light with a bigger spread, and on the head could do with a lower lumen but with more of a spot light

Yep – that’s pretty spot on in my experience. That said if you shove a P7 on your head it’s so bright it doesn’t really matter if you get a load of spill. But with a Q5 or something you want a tad more spotty.

i was thinking of a SSC P7 torch 900lm on the bars and either an ultrafire 501 torch on the head or an ultrafire A10B 250lm as it is even smaller and lighter

On the bars i’d get the Magishine (older style + new battery) seems to have no order delays at the moment. There’s no benefit to running a torch in my opinion. On the head the

The Ultrafire 501 seems to be a 1 x 18650 or a 2 x CR123 battery torch. If this is the case (not entirely sure if it’s the same one on google) then i’d get a smaller battery (one that takes a single cr123) as i’ve found the P7 torch on my head to be too heavy (that takes a single 18650).

how do you find with both head and bars running a P7 ?

Lightwise it’s great, but it’s a bit too heavy for the head, and the bar one you need to change the battery every hour or so if it’s on high.

also, if I am off-road will I be able to run for two hours on high, or should I get a 5 mode torch so that it can run on medium for running time, or is running on low OK except for tricky bits when you could switch to high ?

You won’t get two hours out of a torch on high. I generally got about an hour and a half assuming I turned it down to medium for the odd fire road bit. You’d get two hours if you ran it on medium the whole time, but I prefer to have as much like as I can (i’m only riding in the dark as I can’t ride in the daytime!). If you get the magishine for the bars then you can run it for 3 hours minimum on full (the longest i’ve run it for is 3.5 hours before I swapped the battery, purely because we’d stopped and I had a spare to hand).

i assume on the head torch you dont want to be flicking between high and medium and low so probably leave on one setting where the battery will last depending on length of ride ?

Well i turned to switch it off when not in singletrack – it’s the looking round corner thing that is handy.

i assume on road low would be OK as some road rides will be 3 hours+

Never done it but it’ll last ages on low.

sorry for the stupid questions, but i am new to off-road riding and new to lights

No problems – happy to offer some advice. I guess my bottom line advice would be to definitely get the magishine for the bars – once you’ve added a charger and a few batteries there is no cost differenec between it and the P7 torch. As far as the head torch goes, don’t get a 18650 or 2 x CR123 torch, it’ll be too heavy (I don’t think i have a particularly lady like neck!)… I’m going to try a magishine on the head as but haven’t actually tried it yet so can’t comment…

hi ewan

thanks again

i need lights this week so i think I will order a P7 torch here in the UK there are some for around £27 and I could have for tuesdays ride, it will always be useful, that gaves me light for a couple of week, i’ll have to carry spare batteries

i will look at the magicshine from DX and for something cheaper for the head, is there anything in particular you recommend for the head, there are so many lights / torches on DX

Most of the P7s take 18650 batteries rather than AAs (different size + different voltage) so make sure you get some of those as well (plus a charger). Apologies if that’s stating the obvious!

Best bit about the P7 torch is that if you ever get into a ‘torch off’… you’ll scare the crap out of people with a maglite…