The nights are drawing in and we were caught out last night, luckily I had my lights with me. I’ve got a helmet mount light which is plenty bright enough – however I notice that when I have this on the trail features disappear.

I think this is because there are minimal shadows due to where the light is mounted. I’m assuming I’m not alone in this so wondering how to create some shadows to give the trail features some depth.

Any ideas? Is it just having a second bar mounted light or mounting the lights I have on the bars?

Get a bar light as well. You’ll appreciate it more in twisty stuff – being able to see where you are and where you are going is great.

yeah, I think the general opinion is floody on bars, spotty on bonce for maximum seeability

Cheers – don’t suppose anyone has any suggestions on a good (aka cost effective) bar light?

wasn’t there one in Halfords that folks were raving about?

Edit – here you go

https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-lights/bike-lights/bikehut-1600-lumen-front-bike-light

Cheers Nettles. 😉

http://www.outboundlighting.com

…end of. Pricey but worth it….sets a new standard in bike lights.

Halfords were doing these Moon lights last winter at a good price.I got a set as a back up for commuting. They are all right but I still like the beam from my Luminator for of road stuff.

I use a Starry Light XR02 on the bars and it hasn’t let me down.

Got on of the Chinese side by side jobs on my helmet. Lamps are great but the battery got upgraded.

A vote for Smudges jobs, i have a set and been great.

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

I have the Luminator for the helmet – awesome portable sun!

Last year I splashed for the gemini titan and duo after a couple of years on the cheap ebay stuff.

Really happy with them in general, but the biggest game changer is the wireless remote and only 3 modes. It controls the helmet and bar lights together, so push button on the bars as you drop in = no faffing with 15 modes on each light. Keeps the ride flowing at night when its cold and wet and grim.

I’ve been making up ‘Trailscorcher’ mainly to sell at local clubs. 3500 genuine lumens from a Cree XHP70.2, 4 off 21700 5Ahr cells run it for about 4 hours flat out. I make up the battery packs myself. £150.

You should make them up for use in Lighthouses too.

First ride last night with a cheap bikehut 1000 which I primarily bought for winter commuting, went out and did some singletrack: the rubber handlebar mount isn’t great, light stays put but vibrates around a fair bit. Multi modes that go through flash is annoying, why the **** the folk that design these things can’t put a couple extra lines of code in the software to separate flash modes into a different loop I’ll never know

Planet X/OnOne Jobsworth Bobby Dazzler 3000. £40
Mine’s been delivered so I might well be trying it out tonight to replace an Evolva X8 I dropped (doesn’t hold charge more than a week.

Teethgrinder – let us know how you get on

Funny you should ask.
Lovely looking unit, lighter than my Evolva X8’s but nowhere near as bright.

You mean like these : https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075H5Z567/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_4XaFDb51TE7DH

I have an MTB batteries light for sale in the classifieds.

That’s them

– don’t suppose anyone has any suggestions on a good (aka cost effective) bar light?

Depends on your interpretation of cost effective, personally I wouldn’t bother with anything other than exposure for lights, brilliant bits of kit with after service to match. Plus they’re assembled in Britain, if that floats your boat.

I’m with Steve on this.

I tried a few cheap options for lighting all with various success but then bought a Diablo for the helmet and a second hand MaxxD for the bars.

There is just no comparison with the cheap ones. No leads to mess around with, dodgy connectors, frame rub plus loads of brightness options and don’t worry about rain or mud.

I felt slightly sick at the cost but they make night riding a genuine pleasure. Thinking of getting a Six Pack to upgrade the MaxxD but I know it’s a stupid decision,I just don’t need it. But…😆

OP said cost effective, not cheap. I have three Exposure lights and the one thing I can say is that although expensive they are certainly cost effective. They don’t break, they work exactly as described and don’t seem to degrade with age.
There are very few products these days that you can even say work as described, so to me that’s a huge win.

I’m selling a mint condition Maxx D Mk9 for £165….

[recommendwhatyouhave]

Hope R8+. Mega bright and a great, floody, beam pattern.

[/recommendwhatyouhave]

I’m not so sure about the Exposure “love-in” 🙂 having had some.

I’d also be interested in peoples opinions on genuinely floody bar lights. I have a 4x XPG setup that cost me little but it is is few years old now and while it is still going strong – things must have moved on from then? From what I understand – especially in terms of efficiency.

@daveatextremistsdotcouk : how floody is that set up then?

Whilst I have had faulty Exposure lights, they’ve all been repaired (in an out of warranty) for little to no cost. As I hate throwing things away, this is a major plus to me. I’ve probably had 30 different Exposure lights over the years and never once have they let me down. From 1 hour blasts, to 10 hours of darkness – utterly phenomenal.

@daveatextremistsdotcouk : how floody is that set up then?

Floody but with a decent spot I’d say.

Whilst I’d love to go out and buy a decent exposure light or something like a Titan Gemini I just can’t justify it for the amount I use the lights.

I’ve currently got a bikehut 1600 lumen all in one bar light and a Moon Meteor Vortex Pro on the helmet. At most I’m riding a couple of hours in the dark on trails local to me in Bristol. Some are pretty steep and technical but not fast.

I think the Moon is a great unitnon the helmet – fits nice and securely using their GoPro mount. It lasts ages and has various power settings and you don’t have to click through loads of flashing modes as they’re on a 2nd loop just for flashing. Think I’ve had it 2 years or so and still in perfect condition. I have the plain Meteor Vortex which I use for commuting and a Meteor auto pro also for commuting. All been used in pouring rain / snow / freezing conditions and holding up nicely.

The bikehut bar light isn’t without its faults but for £35 it’s a bargain. As above it has too many modes to click through which is a bit annoying but liveable. The standard bar mount isn’t great – it also comes with a garmin style under bar GoPro mount but I can’t remember why I didn’t use this. I bought an alloy out front go pro style mount from eBay for a fiver which I use. Does the job for me – although someone I ride with said they did the same and through it vibrated too much.

The mtb batteries luminator is popular amongst our group of riders and it certainly seems to have good output – but I fancied an all in one unit and didn’t want to spend so much.

A mate has the setup form MTB batteries that Sui recommended above and they are top notch. I’ve got some Chinese things off Ebay which are fine and have stood the test of time but will probably press the button on the MTB battery setup for this winter and use the Chinese specials as spares or dedicated commuter bike lights…even though I don’t commute in winter.