Need a new set of lights-not proper mtb lighting but more of bike packing/be seen point of view. Has to be smallish with a decent battery life. Exposure Trace look good but slightly put off by the negative reviews caused by the side flashes.

Hub dynamo with German led lights. The focussed beam means they are bright / unusual enough for drivers to spot them but not dazzling. Been using mine for a year now and surprised how well they stand out. Always on so good on dull days without resorting to hi-vis. Just fit and forget. Spa cycles is the easiest option.

Someone will be along shortly to say Exposure – probably a 6 pack or something way over budget and overkill!

Clearly something rechargeable that has front and side visibility / rear and side visibility is what you need on the road.

I’ve been happy with a Moon Nebula on the back for a few years now – I usually run a setting that has a low light permanently on with a very bright intermittent pulse through it – so there’s never a point you have no light.

On the front if it’s more to be seen than to see you don’t need anything with ludicrous power. I tend to run one light on solid all the time and one on a pulse. Both of mine happen to be Moon too as then I can use the same charger for each one. I think the one that pulses is a Vortex (which doubles as a helmet light for off road sometimes as it can chuck out 600 lumens on its highest solid setting) and the solid one is a Moon Meteor Auto X I believe. I run that on its middle setting (highest setting is too bright for the road at 400 lumens).

See.Sense. Adjustable brightness via app (bluetooth) and a quite frankly amazing battery life. I use mine (or did before lockdown & wfh),twice daily, 5 days a week on commutes and go weeks between charges. Flashing and steady modes. Steady mode on 100% is just, enough to use for some impromptu low level off-roading. Use rubber straps to mount round bars and seat post, so a doddle to swap between bikes.

See Sense are excellent lights, not sure if some of the features and gimmicks are worth it though

My set up is Exposure Sirius front, Moon Shield rear.

Very impressive battery life on both, and the strobing setting on the Sirius is stupidly visible. One slight downside if bikepacking might be the need to have two different cables.

+1 See.sense. Mainly for battery life but also because I like their mounts.

I can’t imagine what the Trace side flash issue is. I like mine.

Agreeing with CFH – what has the world come to.

Exposure Sirius on the front.

Exposure TraceR on the back (saved)

😀

Also, worth noting that the Sirius (among other Exposures) mounts really neatly under a Garmin on a K Edge combo Mount.

On the rear I’ve got an Exposure TraceR & a Moon Pulsar with rechargeable AAAs.

I use this combo because the Pulsar lasts for ages on it’s AAA and is pretty bright.
The TraceR is brighter, but doesn’t have as good battery life. I can get away with not charging the Moon light very often & being confident that it will still have plenty of juice.

On the front I use a Ravemen PR1600. It is a really good light and was a bit of a no-brainer when I saw it on fasttech.com for £50.
From your usage description, you could probably get away with one of the lower priced models.

It has plenty of modes including a ‘be seen’ mode (it’s not called that) which has the road beam on ‘low’ and then pulses brightly. I think the LCD displays 27 hours battery life in this mode.

Hub dynamo is the ideal solution for a dedicated bikepacking bike. Although less so for MTB due to power outputs for charging devices.

In terms of battery powered options, I’m a big fan of my Cateye Volt 1200. Loads of light on full power. About 18 hours battery life on low, and 100 hours flashing. Pulse mode. Flashing mode accessed by double click so you never get plunged into darkness scrolling through the settings. It’s just well thought out and really robust. Only issue I’ve had after many years of use is the charging port is beginning to fail, which seems to be a flaw in micro-usb generally. They’re relatively cheap now compared to when I bought mine too.