Recommend me a front light for around £300 please

Open to any tried and tested input for general xc night riding (preferably bar mounted).

Currently looking at the exposure range (maXx-D mainly)

I have a Hope Vision 4 that I have used twice and is in as new condition. Yours for £150 inc delivery if you're interested?

If you are spending that sort of money speak to Trout.

Sorry for the hack , salad dodger can i get some pics please!!!!!!!!!!!

troutlight and smudge battery no brainer . My three year old three LED trout is brghter than a hope 4 [last years troutis twce as bright as this!] and runs for longer and loks like you could run it over with at truck

6 bastids of course and change for a tesco back up…might just be here fr

might just be here fr…

Oh the suspense!

I cant even help out this **** touh pad jut cuts bits out ad dmps them somewhere Sorry… the vowel keys are cr@p as well 😉

Ayup v4 adventurer kit I found mine awesome comes with both head and bar lights which you can select the beam pattern on when ordering, 2 3 hour batteries and one 6 hour battery all mounts hard case to transport and store in.

Any body used a maXx-D ?

I've got a max-d and really rate it. Had it since they first came out, and it seems to be really well build and easy to use. It's had a lot of use in all weathers and been pretty much submerged in mud with no problems. I've used a lot of lights with separate batteries, but couldn't see myself going back – too much fiddling and frame scratching. All that said, I've also been very impressed by my almost as powerful £37 dealextreme headtorch. You can get a hell of a lot of them for £300.

is the consensus that the best is to have a helmet and a bar light, should i split my budget (£500) to get two lights or spend all the mullah on one light?

yeti guy – Member
is the consensus that the best is to have a helmet and a bar light, should i split my budget (£500) to get two lights or spend all the mullah on one light?

Yes bar and helmet best, if i could only have one it would be helmet mounted.

for 300 notes or so, Trout Lumen liberator or Lumonous 601.
both put out more than enough light have a good beam pattern.
Having seen both, but not used the LL yet, I'd say that the build quality and waterproofing are better than any of the big named offerings.
Smudge batteries seem to be the bees nees too.

6 of these?:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12325

Reviewed here:

http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/mountain_bike_lights_review_led.html

Or 6 DX Magicshine lights at 900 lumens each

5400 lumens!

Get in!!!

I really rate the Exposure Toro used with a decent torch on my helmet – the new 2011 one is 900 lumens.

Well built, light, easy to use & great customer service from the UK.

I very much doubt the DX magic shine are 900 Lumen each. That's the theoretical max output, and I can say for sure that they are not reaching that – seeing how mine is built and how hot it gets. More like 500-600 I'd guess.

A Troutelight – Lumen Liberator all the way for me. Its compact and looks radically different to anything else on the market. Because you are dealing directly with the designer and manufacturer all in one the customer service and knowledge is second to none. Plus if you fancied upgrading the output, just send it back and get it modded. Theres a new Liberator with a higher output coming out at the end of this month 🙂
http://www.troutie.com

Smudge builds all the batteries too.
You could also look at Luminous's lights which are also way more powerful than most things on the market.

Yeah, for about the budget posted by the OP, this would bring you within reach of a Model 601 or a Lumen Liberator.
Nice Kit.

And I'll be introducing new stuff during the coming month.
The WS will be revised like any day now, so more information will be there, I should finish up the authoring tonight…

Depending how soon you need something Surf_Mat is about to try out both these lights. Although Surf_Mat may not be an expert light test specialist, his comparison of the 601 and LL, may be a useful real-world user experience.
Assuming of course he posts anything here, during the next few days.
I think there may be a few on here looking for Surf_Mat's comments.
😉

Yeti Guy.
If you wanted to spend £500, then of course Trout and I could help you out with some really nice stuff, but also check out the Busch Muller Big-Bang too.
Jerry of JT cycles Ely uses one, I've seen it, its got some poke, but imo, its an acquired taste and a bit of a faff.
🙂

Currently on my desk – a Troutie Lumen Liberator and a Luminous 601…

Beware Cornish countryside for I SHALL be setting fire to you with these lights at around 8pm…

I am gonna buck the trend and no i am not on commission.

http://www.four4th.co.uk make some very good lights. Bar or helmet mount.

£200 a pop including batteries and chargers. Made in the uk and the head unit is very small, light and compact.

Been running mine for a year or so now and have to confess it is the nicest light I have handled.

With £500 buy one for the bars one for the lid and give the change to me!

i'll put a word in for Lumi's excellent LED 3? I'm sure you can get better and brighter lights but i've had excellent service from the Lumi guys whenever i've had a problem with my previous halide set up….

If you are going to ride in a group then I would advise against the Ay-Ups. It's excellent stuff but it is just out powered by other stuff now. My pal with Ay Ups complained last week that my Bastid light meant that all he could see was shadow when I was behind him. It's a bit distracting when that happens.

DeVs

very fair point. I was out with my Ayups last night and wheras a year ago they were about the brightest, now that Lumen Wars have really taken hold they can be a bit dim if someone is on your tail with a Trout.

Ideal world for me might be trout on the bars and Ay-up or similar on the lid.

I still think you can have too much light!

I'd agree,

doesn't really matter how much light you have, so long as the whole group has about the same. One of the best night rides I've done was when we didn't bother to turn the lights on at all. This was on open moorland so you got used to the creeping dark. Did get a bit confusing when it got really dark though.
But for faster or more technical stuff the more light the better, but still balanced through the group.

45% off Nukeproof 2 cell light on CRC – 920 lumens ~ £110

get 2

Got a MaxxD and a Joystick on the Lid. Very good lights and the no-cable-faff aspect makes it so much easier to deal with fitting/charging/storage etc. but they are very expensive. Tried out a Diablo for a night ride and it makes an ace head torch, again more expensive than a dealextreme torch tho. Compared to a Magicshine £50 bike light i think the MaxxD is slightly brighter, with a nicer beam pattern, but at 20mph do you really notice?

Exposure have just brought out updated versions with more power (took their time!) so keep an eye-out for discounts on older models.

Oh, and i cant see myself going back to cables and separate batteries, Luminous/Trout, get making an all in one! Dosnt have to be barrel shaped either, think outside the box and utilise wasted space on the handlebar! (mount infront of stem maybe?)

Luminous Model 601 is brilliant!

I've got some four4ths on the bars – they give a really nice wide spread and a joystick on my lid. It works well for me.

Interestingly I was out with a mate on Tuesday and his hope 2's were as bright as the four4ths but only in a very narrow area ie you could see his beam within my lit area. My light spread was much much better and definately allowed a much better view of what was going on. The joystick has a much narrower beam and is useful for spotting turns in trails etc.

Oh, and i cant see myself going back to cables and separate batteries, Luminous/Trout, get making an all in one

Working on it, when I'm not dealing with all the other stuff.

Website is the main priority at the mo, while the afore mentioned light is at the anodizers.
😉

Mwhaahahahaha…. This should be fun!

s^&t the bed -thats a lot of light!

whos an excited little bunny then 😆

Hurry up and get dark!

Good work there, I'll be at my computer waiting for the results later tonight……:)

Surf Mat let us know how it goes!

Won't be dark for long, once you throw the switches on those.

Great Pic. I've never seen an LL, so have never been able to get an appreciation of the size, so the pic is the best indication yet.

😉

it looks betterer over the stem where it is meant to go but reale estate it at a premium on those bars

any road riding involved 😈

Troutie – my computer is a bit of a git to move (it's sort of stuck on) but I agree that it would be best on the other side – I tried "the other way round" but it didn't quite fit. One battery is attached under the stem (601) the other to the top tube/down tube junction. I'll swap them over at some stage during the ride.

Both together add a bit of weight to the front end – if this is an issue, I'll stick one in my Camelback while using the other.

Briefly tested the 601 already; it's very bright (obviously!) and has passed my highly unscientific "bunny hop test" – repeated heavily landed bunnyhops to make sure it doesn't fall off!

Bit of road riding coming up – I shall see if I can blind those gits with bi-xenon headlights!

I think one of those on me lid and one on the bars would just about do me