Firstly Apologies for the question which no doubt is answered elsewhere on the forum but my mind is tired recently and I can’t sift through it all …in fact I can’t do much at all at the moment and am sitting in bed with my “black dog” and friends.
Basically I need a half decent rechargeable light … easily available , that will give reasonable light for Devon back lanes/ fire roads etc and last up to a couple of hours .
I seemed to remember the Halfords unit being championed a while back but a quick Google seems to bring up many complaints re the mounts being wobbly / straps breaking etc .Also quite a few having issues with water ingress.
Just wondered if those in the know could advise and/ or recommend alternatives that are a better option these days for the same money or less ..happy to try a real Chinese cheapie if not bad but need to buy soon .
If the Halfords light is still a good choice ( easily available ,warranty 2 yrs?, Return to store etc ) are there tried and trusted solutions to the issues (ie better clamp off eBay / better straps etc )
Thanks in advance for your help
Bill

The rubber strap is pretty wobbly, but I use the out-in-front mount because I’m a Garmin user anyway so it kills two birds.

I’d probably go for the 1000lm one as I cannot really tell the difference – I think it’s a slightly tighter beam so the actual lit up part is the same brightness – and it’s a bit cheaper and a bit lighter.

Still very happy with mine and I still recommend them.

There is however an open question about using them in the cold. My 500 does cut out if it’s cold, as in a few degrees below zero.

I have the 1600 on the bars and the 1000 on the lid.

Both have been more than adequate for me for the last 12 months.

But when you meet others with more expensive/superior lights it is quite literally night and day.

I will be upgrading next year for something better for the bars, and move the 1600 to the noggin.

It’s still one of the best value options, I use a GoPro mount on the bars as the rubber strap is wobbly. Yes there are brighter options out there but the Halfords one lights up what you need to ride plenty fast.

Basically I need a half decent rechargeable light … easily available , that will give reasonable light for Devon back lanes/ fire roads etc and last up to a couple of hours .

It is perfect for this.
I use it on low on the busier roads, but commute home in the dark is unlit woodland path where a higher setting is great.
I don’t find the mount too bad, particularly if you are on road or track, rather than gnarly off road.
Off-road proper it works well – yes I could spend £300 on a small nuclear reaction for my bars, but this works. And has done now for two years.
You can get them on eBay from Halfords outlet – mine was a box damaged and £30.

I also have a lower power, smaller Aldi special – it is 5 years+ in and I am just noticing battery not lasting as long. Much lighter and better as the light I leave on the bars during winter days, for daylight ‘show’. On flash mode it works really well. In pitch black it is fine – I can see on road just fine, but with less run time. Again was £20 iirc.

Might be helpful..
https://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/best-front-bike-lights-2022-212914

I had/have the 1600 unit and found it very good, but did use a Hope mount to secure it. I only replaced it, as a friend offered me a brighter Maxx-D at the right price.

I prefer the 500 on my helmet, it’s a lot lighter and effectively as bright.

The lower power models have less spread to maintain as much brightness as they can. So the 500 is more of a spot which is what I want on my helmet.

https://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/accessories/lights/moon-meteor-storm-pro-front-light-black__332533?currency=GBP&chosenAttribute=LAAMY1908&gclid=Cj0KCQjwnvOaBhDTARIsAJf8eVOk3YZ7WvwUg_qaP9OSv4Jofip6Tq6VGFGwEUw2TBT76mgnukEivBIaAkx8EALw_wcB

Can’t comment it’s not arrived yet ! Huge saving for powerful light

Had mine for a few years, but don’t night ride much so it’s not used that much, but it’s been/still is a great value light.
Just need to be careful of the screw in fitting – the outer body of the light is very thin and I managed to thread the hole by overtightning the bolt, so had to glue the bracket on.

1600 is great – like @matt_outabout said, perfect for the usage you describe and capable of more when you do something different. I use mine all the time, on road and off, on my head (a bit heavy, I get used to it quick enough, but I am in a minority) and on the bars.

But: we have a 1000 in the household as well and, honestly, that’s fine for all this as well. I think I might choose that in future.

The Moon Meteor Storm Pro linked to above is good. Can usually be found for £60-80.

I’ve have two on rotation between winter club rides and commuting. This will be their 3rd or 4th winter of use. They come with a remote control which velcro’s to the bars – which means I can hang the lights upside down from a central mount and control them remotely.

I have the AMPP 800 (lower power version of one in the link above).  Powerful enough for the unlit roads here, good coverage to the side so you can see where the verge used to be 😉 Great mount, really solid, can run above or below bars. Never had anyone flash me so it’s not dazzling. I use it on 400 most of the time and it lasts ages. Also ‘hyper-flash’ mode is very good for visibility in town.

Wish it was USB C, but otherwise a great, well built light. I only paid about £28 in a sale for mine.

I am still happy with my Halfords 1600 light, 3 or maybe 4 seasons in now and its still going strong. I ditched the rubber strap for a gopro mount after a few rides.

Aren’t there some new fancy Aliexpress options yet? The P90 version of this says it has 10,000 lumens!! What the chinese lumen to real lumen scaling factor?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004651592247.html

Aren’t there some new fancy Aliexpress options yet? The P90 version of this says it has 10,000 lumens!! What the chinese lumen to real lumen scaling factor?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004651592247.html

Be careful as this doesn’t seem to be very waterproof, the link describes it as small rain/splash water!

I’ve had a halfords 1600. swapped it out for one of planet x’s cheap lights (now available as a pulse flare https://marinacycles.com/bike-lights/) and a bargain buy of a moon 1500 lumen light.

currently, for towpath and lanes I just use the moon 1500.

If I had the choice, I’d probably go for the 2000 lumen moon over the halfords one, just on build quality alone.

I’d adapted my halfords one with a hope qr mount, so it wasn’t wobbly at all, and it did the trick, though I found the charge port was very fragile if you used any other micro USB cable to charge it with. the hooks on normal micro USB’s would pull the female USB off the PCB of the light.

halfords warranty is good, but it’s a pain to have to keep changing them.

The Moon’s use a USB-C, and, at least my one, came with a remote.

my old px light may be for sale once my magicshine sun on a stick arrives

I use the Halfords 1600, it works fine for my night rides of 2.5 hours. Mostly on the 2nd brightest level with the brightest level used for more technical or faster sections. It’s never been close to running out of power.

The rubber mount and out front mounts both wobbled too much for me. I picked up a GoPro style top cap mount off eBay which doesn’t wobble at all.

Be careful as this doesn’t seem to be very waterproof, the link describes it as small rain/splash water!

I actually found similar ones on Amazon and the reviews that looked genuine seemed to say it was rubbish and just stopped working.

Stcik with Halfords!

I’ve had the 1000 for a couple of years now and it’s still going strong, definitely use some flavour of GoPro mount though.

I will say that it’s got far too many modes, different intensity and flashing/pulsing combo’s when it would be much better with just 3 or 4 steady modes but I tend to just put it on the bars set on the 50~60ish% setting and trundle around like that for a couple of hours, if I need more light off-road I just turn on my helmet light (crappy old solar storm X2 that still hasn’t died).

Oh and I’ve got the remote lever but I seldom bother with it as I don’t really faff with the modes when out riding…

Thanks all .. much appreciated .

Was gonna suggest moon for something posher. My LX350 is years old and I can commute with it. They use quality cels that are removable/ replaceable (check the new models). This means on a proper through the night ride you take extra cells. Anyway, great quality and not too spendy.

What sort of GOpro mounts are people using on them? I am too tight t spend all that cash on an Exposure bracket and cleat.

I use the one that came with it. It’s very wobbly so I filled the holes on the underside with epoxy putty, now it’s rock solid.

Thats the one thats knackered.

Slightly different form factor but the gloworm Alpha is a great deal on wiggle at the mo as part of the black Friday binge.

1200 actual measured lumens, 4 hours run time on max, millions of spares in the box and completely rebuildable. Even has a wireless remote in there, all reduced to £80.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/gloworm-alpha-plus-lightset-g10-black-one-size

I’ve had a few Gloworm lights – currently have an XS which is great but the Alpha and Alpha plus linked above are cracking value – wish I needed another one at those prices!

I had the 1600 and the 500, both turned off every 60 seconds once it got down to about -4

What sort of GOpro mounts are people using on them? I am too tight t spend all that cash on an Exposure bracket and cleat.

I have one of these on each bike, rock solid and cheap link

Anyone use the Halfords 1600 as a helmet light? At about 220g I think it’s too heavy, I think 150g should be the limit – but happy to be proven wrong.

what’s the current go-to super cheap one? we’re taking a group of kids out locally for about an hour. we’ve enough in the spares / lends for the adults but need 5 matching ones for the kids. matching so they don’t all argue.

is the solarstorm / nestling x2 still on the mark, or is anything else recommended for £25 ish including battery? we’ll have the odd spare if something goes and 90 mins battery will be more than enough.

@skooby39
We have a few of these in the house, got one for my nephew so he can join us too. No complaints for the price.

Cheers Hooli. I meant something specific to the Halfords 1600.