Apologies in advance for not being able to fully exploit ‘STWSearchFoo’.

However, has anyone on here had both lights and would they care to comment upon how they compared.

The Bikehut is much cheaper, but curious about the relative quality, reliability, etc.

Thanks in advance.

My 1600 has been great. It’s a bit more floody than it needs to be tho.. you might get similar useful light from the 1000 I dunno.

Same as above – got the Bikehut and it’s done the job so far for the money. I’ve compared it to a Ryder Alumia 1600 (also imported by Halfords) and the Ryder probably had the edge in pure intensity of light in the middle, but it gets very hot and the battery life is awful in comparison. It therefore just sits in my spares box and the Bikehut has already had one outing a few weeks ago and have it charged to use tonight.

Edit – Raveman seem to get decent reviews on forums and I think they’re still good value (surprised they’re double the cost though) so worth a look too.

I’ve only got the Ravemen 1600.
I really like it, but have only really used it on the road and with the road beam only it kicks out 800 lumen. Each beam is 800 lumen.
The battery life with both beams isn’t that long; probably not as good as the Halfords one.

It all depends if you want a solely off road light or not.
Have you considered the equivalent Moon lights as well? The Storm Pro looks like a good option. They are well built lights and the ones I’ve had have lasted me well.

Road front light around £60?

After starting above thread I was convinced that a light with a road beam was the way to go. Got a 1600 for just under £100 and I’m well pleased with it. Out last night and no cars flashed me with just the road beam on which is plenty bright, down dark country lanes with both beams on and it’s really bright and with the wireless button you can toggle it without removing your hand from the bars. Just trying to find the sweet spot to reach it from hoods and drops without it getting in the way. Hit 67km/h with no problems with seeing detail. Battery life not amazing but good enough and run time can certainly be extended by using the lower power modes on longer rides.

Also used the power bank function on a camping trip to the Lakes when my other one was exhausted. Build quality seems great too so it’s a thorough recommendation from me

I have both. And also the older Ravemen (with the wired remote).

Both are good. Pluses and minuses to both.

The Ravemen on the road is better IMO. The hi / low beam button and the clean cutoff are the business. Get the one with the wireless remote if you can afford it.

I’ve run the older Ravemen (wired remote) for 2 years with no issues. Only got the latest one as it is wireless! Mounts are fine – battery level indicator is reliable. I’ve not got a negative really.

In terms of total blinding lumens – I think the bikehut would win. It is probably better off road as a result – but put some effor into upgrading the mount.

Never heard of a Raveman but he sounds fun.

Bikehut light is very good for the money. More than bright enough for proper off road night riding in conjunction with a head light.

Only complaint is that it comes with a floppy rubber band mount but that’s easily swapped for something rock solid. It also has way too many modes to flick through but the on/off button is separate so it remembers where you were anyway.

Didn’t read the OP properly – the Ravemen is close to the perfect road light IMO. For off road prob not so much but I have an Exposure 6 pack and Axis for that so I’m spoilt

Ravemen PR is a road/gravel light with dual function. The optics/pattern is designed as such with square, fairly even beam/spread, projecting light on the road surface far ahead, with sharp cutoff at the top. I have the PR900 and more than happy with it. Will upgrade to 1600 one day but to be honest it’s more than good enough for any road journey as is. I love the remote and fix it by my left thumb to change modes and also hold for a ‘high beam’ when required. PR1600 I believe can also be charged during operation so can piggyback with a powerbank if you want to extend runtime. These lights also function themselves as (USB out) powerbanks so you can top up your smartphone etc if caught short.

Build quality seems excellent, a little on the heavy side as it’s a tough alu case. It took a hit when my bike fell on tarmac, bars twisted and the (solid alu) lens-surround took the impact). The strike left just the tiniest dents chips out of the metal and the light continues to function as normal. The (plastic) mountplate didn’t fare so well (cracking on impact) but I sourced spares from the retailer and just screwed a new one on.

Only thing I would improve would be some side-visibility. As it is, I’d compare it to a motorcycle light with high/low beam.

The Bikehut one (according to reviews) just looks like an MTB/flood light, but I have no personal experience of it. I bought the Ravemen as a road/gravel light because was tired of being blinded by my own (MTB) lights on the road and having to angle them at the wheel.

Possibly (excepting raw lumens) to compare the two lights is somehwat fish vs fowl.

I now have the PR900 mounted at the fork crown on a bracket. This IMO makes a fantastic road light even better, picking out every tiny imperfection in the surface and giving a broad, evenly spread light. I tend to stick to medium/low mode for most country roads with the pulse for urban use. Offroad can require both beams and the runtime then dips to a few hours max. Med/low road mode will give me 7-8hrs. This would be ok on towpath-gravel also but I’d add in the second beam on rough sections or trees/tunnels overhead.

I initially had to learn to get used to a non-dazzling road light as was initially slightly underwhelmed (after using Solarstorms) by the brightness. After a few night rides acclimatised and was instead stoked by how much I could actually now see. The ‘tunnel of glare’ is no more. And no more faffing with angles/worrying about blinding other road-users. The Ravemen main emitter is also a slightly warm/rosey white which shows natural colours very well. Grass, trees, etc. I’ve always disliked cool/blue-white lights. This may not matter to most but for me it’s a big bonus helps cut through mist/fog/cloud better and just all-round adds to ‘easy on the eyes’ experience.

Recommended. Again 😎

Bikehut is definitely for off-road – wouldn’t use itnon road as it’s too bright and floody. I was happy with it off road until last night when I went night riding with someone who had a Maxx-D on their bars. I also had a Moon helmet light which is decent – but they had an exposure helmet light which was also better – think it was the next size up from a Joystick – maybe a Diablo?

But then my total light cost was £80 and their helmet light on its own was probably double that so hey ho!

Lack of light wasn’t actually my issue last night – lack of steep / wet / rooty riding skill was 🙈

@joebristol – That is an issue when riding in a group. If somebody turns up with a really bright light, you end up riding in your own shadow a lot and it makes your own light seem less effective.

We have a regular group who ride locally and most of us have always had solarstorms or the copies and that worked well. It was equal, nobody was blinded, it didn’t matter who was behind who and if there was a failure somebody in the group generally had spare battery or something to get us back to the start point.

This season there have been a few newer, brighter lights appearing and it has changed things, I can see us all having an upgrade over the next few months now.

The lower power bikehut lights are more spotty – basically, you get nearly the same brightness but less light output overall as it’s more focused. I use my 500 on road out of choice for this reason even though I have a 1600. But then, the battery is smaller. If the Raveman has the ability to modify the beam pattern at lower intensity by turning off more floody LEDs then that sounds pretty good for road.

Have had both.
Bikehut is very very bright but 50% of the light is going up in the air. And it blinds drivers coming the other way.
It also died on me on an unlit country road unexpectedly. No warning.
Got a refund.

Bought the ravemen.
Never looked back. Better in every way except the price.

battery level indicator is reliable.

Early days but mine tends to run down approx 20% faster than it displays. ie it displays 21 hrs on low beam (fully charged) yet if I ride for an hour on lowest setting (with a few ‘high beam’ bursts) it will then display 17 or 18hrs. I only tend to ride 4 hours max at night so it’s never been a problem, but I’m a bit OCD about stuff 😬

I just guessed that battery runtime monitors aren’t an exact science, or maybe they ‘learn’ after repeated charging cycles and become more accurate?

As an aside, I still find it difficult to comprehend that in 2020 we’re only just talking about road-specific lights for use on the road. Mostly on account of them being such a rare commodity in the UK? If you look at the RoadCC light-beam comparison pages for recent years then nearly of all the scores of ‘best’ lights they compare are not road-specific, and only a very few with a cutoff beam of any sort.

https://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/updated-front-lights-buyers-guide-beam-comparison-engine-212914

If you look at their beam-comparison of beam patterns of the PR1600 vs Exposure Sirius (latter described as ‘perfect urban commuter light’ then you can see the sharp difference.

(the PR1600 beam is shown there with both emitters activated, but you can still see the cutoff pattern ‘beneath’ the second LED.)

There’s a decent full review translated from French

But Google translate messes up the pics so here is the original at matosvelo

I just guessed that battery runtime monitors aren’t an exact science, or maybe they ‘learn’ after repeated charging cycles and become more accurate?

Well it’s not an exact science, no, but bear in mind that new Li-ion batteries take some time to ‘bed in’ so to speak – a few discharge/charge cycles before they reach their nominal capacity. So if yours is new this might be what’s happening.

Also temperature affects battery discharge. So if you went out on a chilly night you’ll see depleted runtimes which would cause the effect you’re seeing too – unless it’s intelligent enough to measure the temperature and adjust accordingly, which does not seem particularly likely!

Also re Bikehut – consider that I prefer the 500 for road, and it’s nearly 1/4 the price of the Ravemen.

^ IKR? A more ‘like for like’ comparison might be a Ravemen CR500. Yet still £15 the price of the Bikehut Advanced 500? The only main advantages to the CR500 I see are a ‘hybrid‘ road beam-pattern

DuaLens optical designed low beam, providing anti-glare broad light for commuting, no dazzle for oncoming riders and pedestrians

…and a remote button, while the Bikehut 500 has a flood-beam and no remote(?)

For me (since recently experimenting with MTB lights on the road both as a driver and rider) a good beam-pattern is considered essential so I just have to suck up the cost. But surely soon we’ll see proper road-specific optics on cheaper lights sold in the UK? How many more years will it be a ‘niche’ and spendy thing (in the UK) to not dazzle self and other road-users while also being able to evenly illuminate the road far ahead?

I bought the PR900 for about £55 in a sale so don’t feel that I shelled out so much. But that’s a 450 lumen road light with an additional 450 lumen flood/spot.

The CR500 https://road.cc/content/review/223254-ravemen-cr500-dualens-front-light-remote. is about £40 from that junglesite.

I spent a good deal of time looking over the channel at bikediscount.de ro see if they had any competitively priced StVZO battery lights. Sigma Aura 45 USB comes in around €28 and illuminates up to 45 Lux. As ever, I couldn’t find any useful reviews/videos. So…

Road specific lights- Exposure have had a two-lens Strada for years with a cut off beam that reduces dazzle for oncoming traffic and keeps much more of the beam on the road surface.

Exposure have had a two-lens Strada for years

And are at least twice the price of Ravemen. I know they have a decent reputation but it’s still a big outlay.
I’m happy with my Ravemen 1200 and will buy a 1600 if one comes up at a good price.