As opposed to commuting.

Before I buy one of the Halfords 1600 lumens jobbies, is there anything better out there for a similar price for an hour or so pissing about in the woods every week or so plus occasional commutes?

Almost tempted to go for the 500 lumen one at half the price as I’m not sure I need nuclear light power…

Loads of lights on eBay or Amazon that claim 1000000000000000000000 lumens for around thirty quid. What you need to be careful of is the battery and charging as some of the less reputable manufacturers’s ones tend to explode/burn.

I’ve tried a few lights over the years and the Halfords 1600 one really is good value for money. Don’t forget you probably won’t be using it on full burn the whole time anyway. Not sure 500 is going to be good enough to really enjoy night riding in the woods….

I’ve used the Halfords nuclear option mentioned above, absolutely go for that.

I think I used it at 800 lumens (3rd option) and that was plenty for gravel and some forest singletrack. Great light, just use a solid mount like the Hope QR as the rubber one spins and will fry your retinas at the worst moment (off road, fine on the road).

I’d want a headlight as well as a bar light.

I’ve looked at (and tried) the Chinese ebay specials. To be fair the ones I had were great (batteries are dead now after about ten years) but I was always a bit paranoid about charging them, plus the ease of having a single unit is appealing. Plus backup if it does go wrong.

I have a helmet light, it’s not super bright but it’s enough for my mincing.

Looks like the Halfords jobbie it is.

+1 for the halfords jobbie, get the hope QR clamp too and you’re sorted.

Better to run a 1600lm light at 800lm than an 800lm at full power, battery life being the main benefit.

You’ll get at least an hour and a half out the 1600 Halfords light at full power I’d have thought. My night rides are 2 hours tops and I tend to switch between full power for tech and the next one down for the rest (I have a moon vortex pro on the helmet which is running at the highest power bar the boost mode) and it’s still always showed one or two hours battery left when I’ve finished.

This winter I ditched my eBay airfields and went for the Halfords 1600 for the bars and the 800 for my helmet. Top combination for the money. I had a GoPro bar mount kicking around so I just grabbed one of the Halfords helmet mount kits to get the right bracket to attach the 1600 to that.

An old Hope Vision jobbie here.
Hope replaced all the leads FOC, & I openly told them I had bought it s/h.
On that basis I’d buy them again.

I prefer my lights to run on 18650 batteries so I can carry spares.

I’ve always bought cheap lights but expensive batteries and charges. I always use torchy boy on ebay for batteries and charges.

Ebay:  seller:big_f_d_d

Technology in lights moves on quickly. My friend still uses his ayups because they were so expensive. I remember when he first used them, they were amazing. Now they look really dim compared to my £5 head torch.

If the output is anywhere near 1600 lumens, it looks like a good buy.

I’ve just got an MTB batteries lumen 800 for 55 pounds post free. Reduced price. Haven’t used it yet but it looks good after a quick test in the dark. Comes with helmet mounts and a rubber bands for mounting ( one for thin bars and one for big bars)

airfields

Only just spotted this. Bloody autocorrect. Should read ‘specials’.

I’ve been really happy with my lumen 800 from https://www.mtbbatteries.co.uk/ (also known as Smudge on this very forum).
Products are great & customer service is second to none.

I seem to recall (might be tired or at fault) that Polaris were flogging off lights in the sales, no idea what they’re like but recall thinking they were cheap / looked good for the money – if that gives you another option.

I’ve always found a good shuffle between a web hunt and user based reviews the best way 🙂

James

Update: got one of the Halfords lights. It was grand, really bright right up until it cut out after about five minutes. Then again after another two.

Off for a chat with the nice folk at Halfords before next week’s night ride!

There is a thread on stw about that halfords 1600, a couple of people did report problems, but iirc they all got replaced with minimal hassle.
Edit: https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bikehut-1600-light/

I liked both mine till they did that

just get the mtb batteries one. Much better quality and bright enough. lasts 2.5 hours at full power. has 4 different light settings.

Well my Gloworm after giving years of sterling service went a bit wonky the other night.
Started changing light levels on it’s own before going off altogether.

Excuse for some new light goodness.

I cannot see past the Lumenator + Lumen800 combo on MTBbatteries.
Seems like a brilliant combo for £155.