Any reason not to buy one of these?

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I know it is old tech – but they are doing an extra 10% off lights at the moment, which makes this £90… which puts it in the same ball-park as the ‘posher’ Chinese fireworks.

It’ll be used for countrylanes/footpaths on the road-bike and for light XC/bridleways on the MTB.
I also have a Exposure Joystick to go on my lid.

Whats wrong with the £20 Chinese ones?

As above, a solarstorm would do a better job and you could replace the battery with one from smudge and still have change from your £100.

I’m sure there is nothing ‘wrong’ with the Chinese fireworks, however I had mixed results with a couple of ‘ultrafire’ torches a couple of years ago (shocking build quality) and have no way of knowing if the ‘Solarstorm’ i’m buying is a ‘real’ Solarstorm, or a cheaper/nastier version.

I also like the idea of a warranty from a UK distributor.

So in sort – not interested in ‘no name’ Chinese lights – want something with a bit of pedigree (yes, I know the bits inside are all the same)

I’ve got one.

Had it about 3 months or so and it’s really good. A mate had had one for over a year and it’s holding up well.
Only slight gripes (and they are not really an issue)
– the centre of the beam is very bright so it can overshadow the edges. But, then the whole thing kicks out so much light that this really is being picky
– to cycle from low back to high, you have to go through ‘flashing’ and ‘off’, which is a bit of a pain, although the switch responds very quickly so if you tap it a few times in sucession it doensn’t actually go off. Would be better if it was a long press to turn off.

I stuck some pics on the mammoth ‘what lights thread’. They’re on the first page, here:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/that-time-of-year-is-coming-again-whats-hot-in-the-lighting-world

Yeah, you can get a Chinese light for pennies, but this is really well made, comes in a decent case with bar, helmet mount and extension cord. The battery is rubberized (so attaches well to frame/stem with little movement and has so far proved waterproof and hasn’t exploded during charging.

I don’t get why with lights why the done thing on here is to default to suggesting the cheapest option.
There’s plenty of other bits of bike kit where the recommendations are at the more ‘luxurious’ end of the market when in reality a much cheaper option would do the job just as well.
Buy a Thomson seatpost and you are wise man making a stylish and sensible decision (even though they are somewhat heavy and expensive). But buy a decent light and you are a crazy man who is wasting money and instead should purchase the cheapest light possible, then go and source a separate battery and charger or charge it in a biscuit tin in case it erupts in flames….. 😀

Gary_M – Member
As above, a solarstorm would do a better job…

Interested to know if there is actually a comparison out there between the two? Or is that your opinion? Not saying the Solarstorm wouldn’t be brighter, but have seen no direct comparison between the two lights.

Stumpy – thanks very much for your reply.
Your reasons for buying the Moon light, as opposed to an exploding Chinese one are exactly the same as mine.
The whole ‘charge it in a fireproof tin, behind a pile of sandbags’ thing is a joke, and not something i’m willing to entertain.

Interested to know if there is actually a comparison out there between the two? Or is that your opinion? Not saying the Solarstorm wouldn’t be brighter, but have seen no direct comparison between the two lights.

I have a solarstorm with a smudge battery and a high end light. The solarstorm is just as bright as the expensive light but cost a quarter of the high end light and that’s including the cost of the smudge battery.

I use the solartsom as a helmet light and the other as a bar light.

I’m pretty sure the expensive light is a better light than the Moon and as the solarstorm is comparable in performance to the that expensive light then I’d suggest it’s better than the moon, with a smudge battery.

The solarstorm was faultless through last winter.

The whole ‘charge it in a fireproof tin, behind a pile of sandbags’ thing is a joke, and not something i’m willing to entertain.

As above I use a well proven smudge battery. But I guess if you want to spend more money for an inferior product that’s up to you. There’s a review of the moon here from 2011, seems a decent enough light but as you say its an old light for £100.

I’ve not read about any exploding batteries though.

I have had one for over a year , good light and been totally reliable !

i had one till it got nicked.

very good quality light. far superior quality wise to the Chinese ones which im now running. the amount of light is the same but the spread is better. Group members complained when i used it 🙂

the helmet mount is the best ive used and its going strong with a chinese light on it atm. The xps1500 is heavy for a helmet ligght though but it makes a bloody good one. im also using the charger still.

if i was in the market for a light and could get it for 90 quid its easily worth it imo.

Gary_M – Member
I have a solarstorm with a smudge battery and a high end light. The solarstorm is just as bright as the expensive light but cost a quarter of the high end light and that’s including the cost of the smudge battery.

I use the solartsom as a helmet light and the other as a bar light.

I’m pretty sure the expensive light is a better light than the Moon and as the solarstorm is comparable in performance to the that expensive light then I’d suggest it’s better than the moon, with a smudge battery.

Ooooh, I’m intrigued now what the expensive, high end light is. 😉
Although as you say, ‘expensive’ doesn’t necessarily mean better.

How much does the whole Solastorm/Smudge batteries/charger combo cost? I almost bought one of them when they first arrived on the scene but decided I didn’t really need one.
Looking on the mtbbatteries site, the batteries are £42 and the chargers are £19 (so, £61). Plus, the Solastorm lamp…..£10?? That’s over £70……so not exactly cheap.
Or can you get batteries and chargers a lot cheaper than that?

andybrad – Member

the helmet mount is the best ive used and its going strong with a chinese light on it atm. The xps1500 is heavy for a helmet ligght though but it makes a bloody good one. im also using the charger still.

Yeah. On the cusp of being too heavy for helmet mounting, I’d say….although the (long) extension lead means it’s easy to put in your jersey pocket or pack. Probably depends on how well you can position it on the helmet to get it well balanced.
I used it on the helmet at the 24/12 this year and my LED converted Lumi’s on the bars. Silly bright, really – way more than required.

Thanks again for the input guys – I’ve just taken the plunge.
Will report back how I get on with it.

Miles better than any cheapo Chinese light I’ve seen, the 1500 Lumen output is WAY stronger than any other light I’ve seen, including many (brand name) lights claiming to be over 2000 Lumens. My only gripes with the XPower 1500 are the mode selection going through flashing and off each time, and also the mount not being the most secure. The first would be more of an issue if the battery life was short, and/or the output not so great, but in reality the battery life is awesome and the light is still immensely bright on it’s medium and low settings! The 2nd gripe can be modified to work better, so again can be lived with. Certainly worth the money if you’re in the market, it’s just a shame for Moon in the UK that their brand name is being destroyed by Raleigh dumping all their old stock so cheaply to the online retailers!

Out of interest I was watching a brand new boxed set of these on eBay. Just sold for £140, some people just have no clue!!

OH and I have these along with exposure joysticks in the helmet.

I agree with others, bean is extremely bright. I run it mostly in the 1000 lumens settings which is still very bright. The mount is not great although it does hold well, it’s just a bit fiddly because it does not have a usable quick release so it has to be unscrewed when washing the bike.

The light itself is excellent and really good value for money. Was out in a group ride on Friday night and these were the brightest lights there by far (17 bikes out). I can do some trails just as quick with these as I can in daylight. That is how bright they are.

I would definitely recommend them and merlin are very quick with delivery.