new front light idea's ? £100 budget

not had a good front light since i owned one of the 1st trout liberators.
been using the cree things for the last few years. they are ok for not much cash, but i fancy something a bit better.

ideas greatly appreciated.

I really rate my magicshine MJ-872. I’ve had it over 3 years and is still going strong. You can probably get it cheaper than in my link but this is from a uk supplier. (Edited as not in stock -but a fiver less at Amazon!)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magicshine-MJ-872-Lumen-Rechargeable-Front/dp/B005SF60CY

Nice one Ton…you’ve saved me the bother of starting a thread on this…will keep my eyes peeled for any good suggestions!

Beema AS-2000

I went for a lezyne super drive 1200xxl. I like it for its all in one approach, price was sub £100 and it’s pretty bright. I never use the overdrive setting on the brightness and rarely use the max 900lm setting for the riding I do which comprises of moors, singletrack, woods and roads. Beam is on the narrow side but it is manageable. Handlebar clamps are pretty good also.

I’m very tempted by the new gloworm CX based on how good my gloworm X1 is. No cables and USB charging are enough for me to swap.

I’ve just ordered an ITUO WIZ 20 to pair with my old Four4th Genesis helmet light.

http://singletrackworld.com/reviews/review-ituo-wiz20/

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

Gets great praise on here for backup and customer care.

I’ve been considering the Exposure strada 1200 but that’s 270. The gloworm and the hope ri both look great for around a £100.

in the same boat …. bookmarked

the Lumenator is looking favourite so far.

You can get the The Lumenator & Lumen800 Combo for £145 at the moment, bar and headlight.

Just got a Hope 1 but mainly for the ability to be able to run AA’s on an audax if needed

+1 for the MTB Batteries Lumenator.

Have had one for a few years now and it’s performed well and been reliable. Plenty of power and good battery capacity.

This very afternoon I bought a Bontrager Ion 700R.

Run times look ok, and the beam shape / colour looked pretty good in the back room of the shop (with the lights off).

I wanted something small and self-contained, for an hour or two’s pottering about when I’m on a bike that’s not got a dynamo (or not yet got a dynamo).

Still on charge, so I dunno what it’s like to ride with!

Check your mail.

The MJ862 mentioned up the page is an ancient light but it’s still better than the lumenator ime, and generally comes with a decent charger and battery. There’s got to be something better these days (mine are 3 years old I think) so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it but it’s still possible to spend a fair amount of money and get something worse.

Torchy seems a bit low on stock, still always worth looking at but he’s got less options than usual just now.

I did a lot of research looking for an all round light that would be good on the road, and I ended up with a Cateye Volt 1200 for exactly that budget, after doing a little shopping around.

I’ve been really pleased with it to be honest. Sturdily built. Good battery life. Never any need for full power on the road. Has pulse mode, which is constant interrupted by pulsing light. Brighter than my Cree torches, with a whiter light and better beam pattern.

A couple of negative comments about the light were that it goes into flashing mode when going from full power (it doesn’t – it only goes into flashing mode when pressing the button twice quickly. Scroll through the modes slowly and you never lose a constant light source). And some people said the mounts were weak, but I’ve not experienced this at all in a year of use.

Watching with interest as I’m also in the market.

Any user opinions on these Torchy lights?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Torchy-BK-7even-Race-7x-Cree-XM-L2-led-3300-lumen-bike-light-/302057257939

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Torchy-BK-Thr33-race-2000-lumen-front-light-3x-Cree-XM-L-U2-with-helmet-mount-/122108269125

mj 872 user here . There are brighter lights out there but you don’t need any more than what this provides.
You will need a helmet light as well of course!

mtb batteries user here. Seems pretty good but I don’t ride that often after dark and generally on easy trails. Hope setup looks great but 2-3 times the price

I have the Torchy 7even but haven’t been out with it yet. Great build quality and a nice guy to deal with (Jim). Went with the 6 cell battery pack. 4h @ 3300 lumens for £79???, be rude not to! Expect some hash of a write up and some pictures when I get it out on the fatty 😀
IMG_1670 by Paul Tarrant[/url], on Flickr

MTB Lumenator user for several years now – used several times a week in all weathers.

Treat yourself to a Hope universal bracket to clamp it to the bars (as for all the lamps here) –

^^^ have you used it as a helmet light at all? Just wondered what the weigh was like .

My mate uses one as a helmet light and just sticks the little battery in his Camelback.
That leaves just the head unit on his helmet which must only weigh a few grams.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the torchy ones on eBay. Interested to see what people think of them

I am looking at the Luminator for the bars and the V2 for helmet mount , as I’ve already got my go pro mount on the helmet does anyone know if you can get adaptors to utilise the go pro mount for lights.

+1 for the Lumenator mounted on the bars with a Hope universal handlebar mount: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/hope-universal-handlebar-mount/rp-prod23533

The screw that comes with the Hope mount is too big for the Lumenator, so I replaced it with an M4 x 10mm screw.

FWIW I’ve mounted the Lumenator battery inside a Topeak Aero Wedge extra small size saddle pack, running the light’s cables along the underside of the top tube, with the brake and gear cables. Can also fit a spare tube in the saddle pack with the battery.

oink1, be very interested to hear your views when you’ve had chance to try out the 7even. Particularly interested in the what the low level is like for the flat/climbs, I’m assuming the full power mode should be more than enough for the descents. Though if it is genuinely 4hrs on full that would more than do my evening rides. The one drawback I’m seeing for this light is the lack of lighting levels to manage output/power, but I guess the flip side is less levels to cycle through.

Those torchy lights are pretty interesting, they’re obviously not driving the XMLs at full power- you wouldn’t get that much battery life from a 6600 pack if it was, and besides, it’d probably go on fire. But maybe 7 XMLs run soft is more efficient than 3 or 4 run hard?

The 6ix looks to have a lovely beam pattern, for a cheap XML light. Most cheaper lights still seem to go for a mega-powered tight light, it makes no sense to me. We’re way, way past the point where tight beams make any sense, broader throw is so much nicer to ride with and with the amount of power on tap you still get excellent range.

Struggling to think of a reason not to get the Lumenator…worth getting the 800 to go with it even though I have Solarstorms? Seems a good deal to get 2 lights for £145…finger poised on BUY button!

But maybe 7 XMLs run soft is more efficient than 3 or 4 run hard?

No maybe about it. Way more efficient in terms of lumens output per watt consumed to use lots of LED’s driven lightly than a few driven hard.

Northwind – Member
Those torchy lights are pretty interesting, they’re obviously not driving the XMLs at full power- you wouldn’t get that much battery life from a 6600 pack if it was, and besides, it’d probably go on fire. But maybe 7 XMLs run soft is more efficient than 3 or 4 run hard?

My 6 cell pack is 7200mAh

An output picture from Torchys website –