I'm sure this has been asked many times before but I'm too lazy to search 😀

I want a new and brighter light for night riding. I go out for 1 – 2 hours max on relatively straightforward terrain, but find my current set limited since they don't exactly pierce the darkness. I also bang my knee on the battery when mounted on the top tube since it is square rather than long and thin (this is when I'm up out of the saddle BTW).

I like the look of the Exposure Diablo since it is a self-contained unit and helmet-mountable; no wires and no separate batteries. Anyone got any experience of this? Good or bad? What else is a good option the right side of £200?

Dealextreme!

Que??

search the forum for dealextreme, deal extreme, DX, bastid… you'll get the idea.

this is what you'll find:-

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25149

Looks a good deal, but is not self-contained, not helmet mountable and has dangling wires and a separate battery pack. Apart from that it ticks ALL the boxes 🙄

Ayups. Not self contained but the batteries are VERY small and you'll get both bike and helmet lights for £250ish.

Same ('bastid') light as cp link but with a helmet mount:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29489

No it's not a self contained unit and but has a (very small) seperate battery and a dangly wire It costs a quarter of most Exposure lights & has a better output but what the hell it doesn't tick your boxes so should be ignored.
🙄

If you're dead set on integrated battery then you're limiting yourself a lot- I reckon a field of two- Diablo or Joystick.

OP, you didn't state those were requirements

5 Mode P7 from deal-extreme, what the Bastid was developed from:

5 Mode P7 LED Torch http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12060
Charger http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6105
Batteries http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790
on and one of these http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2709 to convert the charger.

You'll still need to locate a helmet mount (2fish lock block) though & it weight around 200g (ok 170g if you want exact figures! so neh! 😀 ), so is not for everyone. But it is self contained…

hmmm, you didn't specifically say you wanted self contained 🙂

as mentioned above, self-contained really limits your choice.

The P7 or MCE LED torch helmet mounted using velcro straps is great. Self contained unit, less than 200g (at least mine is, about 180g including 'mount'). Mine was £40 including 4 batteries (Just over 4 hours of run time on full beam).

Self contained unit, jolly bright, about an hour on full, or longer on medium (the diablo is a very similar unit, but made with a nicer user interface and probably slightly better made, but still with the rubbish 1 hour runtime). Oh and you can get spare batteries for about £2.50 each or something ridiculous, so when you want you can run it on full for an hour, then just swap over the battery, which you can't do with the diablo or similar. Oh and dead cheap.

Joe

Oh yeah, don't bother with the 'helmet mounts' for torches etc., just strap them to your helmet with velcro straps (cost about a fiver for ten from maplin or similar). More secure, less high in the air, so less likely to catch on trees, and very quick to fit.

Joe

For piece of mind and outstanding quality of light go for the Exposure Diablo or for 3x's run time the Toro is preferable for the cost.

For an amazing light at a bargain price then Alpine bikes are selling the L&M seca 700 for £135. Absolute bargain but it does have a small remote battery, small enough to mount on a stem.

OP, you didn't state those were requirements

Ah, the charm of STWers. I thought I had suggested I wanted it self-contained. Sorry, next time I will post an unambiguous and detailed functional specification of my needs and requirements before asking for some friendly advice.

To everyone else, cheers for the suggestions. More research this evening methinks…

For an amazing light at a bargain price then Alpine bikes are selling the L&M seca 700 for £135.

The ad says its the Seca 400, but its still a good deal, I've had a Seca 700 for a couple of years and its excellent.

Get in touch with trout of here, I got a self contained light off him last year and v. good it is too. I'm not sure if he was making anymore but worth a try.

that's a good price ont he Seca 400;

review here is good;

here.

if it stuck up less from the helmet I'd get one for head mounting.

Argh, too many choices. It's a shame there isn't somewhere I could test them.

well, if you go for exposure most decent lbs's will have one 🙂

My mistake. Seca 400.

is there anywhere else you can buy a dealextreme P7 light from for a similar price?
gave up waiting for dealextreme after a month

Cheers Wors
Glad the Proto is still going strong .

I have 3 of these cases left the improved version of Wors light

they are a pain to build as I made it too tight inside but once done make a cracking light .

here

beam shot of said light

cynic-al, have I upset you in a previous life or just this post? If you have issues with the ambiguity of my OP, perhaps you should take a look at your first response. As for sarcasm, I'd rather be accused of that, knowing it was tongue-in-cheek, than go around telling people to **** themselves. A touch excessive, don't you think?

Anyway, as per walla24, I'm not sure I want to wait for something to ship from overseas so that rules out the Ay Up and Deal Extreme stuff.

Has anyone ridden the Diablo on the next setting down from Max? Is it any good?

Exposure Diablo or Hope Vision II

Any of Exposure lights.

Tidy, small, self contained and have a QR for easy removal.