Performance seams to have plateaued a bit now, so I’d consider spending a bit more today.

The LED manufactures have moved forward a bit in the last 6 months or so. You can now get 4000 lumens from a single LED 😯

I’ll be using 1 for my helmet and 2 on my bars 🙂

The efficiency hasn’t changed much though*, so unless your rides are all 10 minutes long or you like carrying huge batteries, in a practical sense that makes no difference.

* and you have even more problems with heat dissipation from an LED with that much power going through it, not to mention the even more nerdy issue of a larger die size making optics less efficient.

The LED manufactures have moved forward a bit in the last 6 months or so. You can now get 4000 lumens from a single LED
I’ll be using 1 for my helmet and 2 on my bars

On that basis, yes, I’d be interested in these.

I’ve got 2 higher end chinese lights, the excellent MJ872… They’d be 3 or 4 years old now, I’ve replaced the battery packs just because I don’t take very good care of them and they’re cheap. Everything else is good as new. I think I just timed it nicely just as lights got “good enough” and the lumen wars calmed down so there’s nothing out there I’m really keen to upgrade to, chinese or UK.

No, they’re not 8 years old. And that’s a bonus, because it means I’m not using an 8 year old light. And I can do that because they’re relatively inexpensive so I could buy a better light in the first place that’s lasted a long time and remained competitive, but also I can replace it at will.

The heyday of the DIY superlights seems a bit past, to me- they really were kicking arse for a while but mainstream lights got better. I’ve a feeling that the more common really powerful lights got, the more the novelty wore off and the more potential buyers got a chance to see them in the real world and go, maybe not worth it.

So that largely leave the midrange ones and they compete directly with equivalently priced, high quality, more powerful chinese lamps. Once you get out of the bargain basement there’s some great options- and that’s more or less what a lot of the resellers are selling anyway. So you mostly get left with speed of delivery, and aftersales which quite likely you won’t need.

I use Lumicycle’s on the bars and a cheapo Chinese on my lid.

I love the Lumi’s and while they’re old (halogen) they seem to be indestructible and the battery seems as strong now as when new back in July 2010 – and they’ve been used pretty much every week on a regular 2hr night ride in the woods.

They’re certainly proof that you don’t need a ton of lumens to see in the dark and that the quality is worth the price.
That being said, to replace my set up from their current range would cost me at least double what I paid back in 2010, I’d love to buy from them again but they may well have priced me out of a repeat purchase 🙁
Been looking at the Hope stuff recently – R8 looks good.

I think I’m on my third of forth battery for the cheapo light in 2 years – it’s done the job but I’ve certainly got what I paid for.

To the OP you are always going to have a small niche market for anything, even a pair of trousers from Hebden Bridge! Will it make you rich, no, will it be more hassle than its worth to you personally, yes.

Personally I will stick to Chinese lights that I can afford to change every 2-3 yrs

You don’t appear to have justified your assertion, not when mine cost 20% of a UK made one – no obvious problems with the quality, and as suggested above if it failed who cares about the back-up when you can just buy another one and still be quids in. Not that I’m seeing lots of reports of them failing.

You will never be comparing like for like with the Chinese made stuff. That’s why it’s an almost irrelevant comparison.

You can always buy cheaper but it doesn’t mean it’s the same product.

I used to do a lot of night guiding for our club, and you could guarantee the thing that held it up the most was poor quality lights. Almost certainly the Ebay junk. Ruined lots of rides. You would then have to educate them about where your money goes.

N.B Clearly not all Chinese stuff is rubbish – the Chinese factories will build to spec whatever the *manufacturer/designer* wants them to build. But, it’s mostly a cost exercise in my experience.

Clearly some parts for the Exposure lights are going to be of eastern origin but I put faith in them to source the better quality stuff – something I can’t say a lot of Ebay imported stuff.

chinese lights on a chinese car 😀

I do think cheaply made lights have a place – they have a place for people who want to try night riding. Once they start getting regular use and further away from the car – i would encourage buying something better made.

I dont give night riding a second thought. ill go as far and as long as i do during the day – but thats only because i have confidence in my kit not failing. Nothing ive seen with imported lights first hand while out riding my bike has changed that opinion so far.

Oh and the lupine wasnt mine. it was loaned to me by lupine by prior agreement for the event they were supporting….but they were not interested in the fact it stopped working part way through the race – so my solution as you put it was highlighting the fact that USE stepped in above their duty and made sure i was kept rolling.

Ive had 2x Chinese lights fail on me mid ride. I’ve also witnessed others failing mid ride, over heating a common issue. As is loose connections.

Some Chinese lights are pretty good quality nowadays, but they tend to cost around £80-£100. So imho I’d rather pay double that, have excellent local support and have integrated batteries – far superior to carrying batteries around in bags.
You can usually pick up virtually new Max-Ds, 6 packs etc for 30/40/50% cheaper than list price – my latest maxx d cost me £175 and it’s awesome. Bloody awesome in fact. If the Chinese fan boys could have a Maxx D for the price of their current light, they would.

Almost everyone I know with Chinese lights has had them fail mid night ride. My six year old Exposure Joystick, though totally outgunned in terms of brightness, has been faultless. As is the Strada on the bars. I’d have no hesitation buying Exposure lights again.

Most of the issues I’ve had/witnessed with Chinese lights are with the even cheaper copies of the solarstorms etc. The hardest part of buying them these days is being sure you have the genuine version.
I like exposure stuff but not a fan of their helmet mounts as they stick up quite a bit and I’ve seen a few get caught on low branches in the woods and new mounts aren’t cheap. I use a magicshine mj880 which is about as good as it gets from China in terms of quality. It’s small and lightweight so I can attach it to my peak.

Thinking about it, with the exception of the one dude that insists on buying the cheapest lights on ebay, most light failures I’ve seen have been Hope 😆

And joystick battery issues but that’s not really a failing, it’s just that they’re powerful wee lights with little, fixed batteries so people screw up the battery management.

Hope Vision R1 and R2 for me. Designed, Built and Tested in Barnoldswick (so they say).

I dont give night riding a second thought. ill go as far and as long as i do during the day – but thats only because i have confidence in my kit not failing. Nothing ive seen with imported lights first hand while out riding my bike has changed that opinion so far.

Maybe. But others have no issues at all with them.

For balance I also bought a ####fire (cant remember which fire) branded 7000lumen Chinese light just to compare it and see what it was like. It was appalling. Battery died in minutes, replacement battery got warm, output was no more than 2000lumens, sealing was non existent. That’s the kind of crap that fails.

So it’s not Chinese lights in general that are the problem, there’s 2 billion people in China, I’m sure someone somewhere is just as good at making lights as USE or Troute, it’s the crap ones that are the problem. My cheapest (decent) light cost £50 (magicshine in the early days), the BT70 was quite a bit more (£100 IIRC) but does come with a proper Panasonic battery and even the cable is a heavier gauge wire (it needs to be, it draws 5A!).

If we were in the business of tarring all manufacturers with the same brush, we’d not touch USE with a barge pole, they’d be no better than a Rover 25 with a leaky head gasket compared to the Lupine BMW M3.

Presently 90% of my rides are in the evening. I use lights all year round; even in the summer on that last descent though the woods.

Lights are so essential to my riding that I don’t mind paying for quality, or failing that, good support. My lights cost about 10% as much as my bike and I expect at least 5 years use from them, probably 7-8 IME. In the scheme of things, I would buy UK again, it’s not much to pay for peace of mind.

The only reason can possibly be because you feel the need to support UK production. Makes no economic sense at all from what I can see.

I have a draw full of dead lights that say otherwise. Exposure everytime.

lumis were the first decent/high o/p set i bought. HID with li-ion. they lasted about 6 years, then i had ballast/bulb issues, so lobbed some of those new-fangled LEDs in the head, which lasted me another couple of years, and the battery started to die. that set relegated to commuting.
exposures now. if they last as well as the lumis i’ll be happy. the cable free thing is great, clip on and go, no pissing about.
the times you end up waiting for guys on our weekly night ride, cocking about with cables, crappy velcro straps, poor mounts etc. i don’t like being ‘that guy’ that puts everyone’s ride on hold for a mechanical of any sort, let alone something very avoidable.
they have their place, they get people out riding, and that’s great, but long term it’s not for me. i would just find trying to use the chinese stuff frustrating, i can afford to pay for a better overall experience, so i do. supporting UK industry is a happy side-effect.
YMMV.

Yet there are plenty of others on this thread with Chinese made lights which work perfectly, don’t fail in the middle of a ride, have mounts which work great, last for 5 years etc. I’m not sure whether all the critics have just bought the cheapest no-name Chinese light available or they’ve not tried them at all, but clearly as mentioned several times there is a happy medium (which is still way, way cheaper) where you get decent quality. It’s not even that hard to find – I mentioned the UK company I bought my Chinese made lights from earlier, and here’s a link to what I own:
http://www.candb-seen.co.uk/product-green-1200-bike-light-kit.html

Oh and to come back to the economic argument, it produces light, it recharges when plugged in without blowing up, it has a switch to turn it on and off. I’m not quite sure what other features UK made ones have which makes it impossible to compare.

Buy cheap, buy twice, as my dad always says.
I’m going to agree with him on this one. Exposure user here, fellow night riding buddy has been through numerous lights in the same time I have had only one replacement exposure as the first got pinched out of the garage with the bike it was fixed to.
He hasn’t spent any less than me, he has had more rides ruined By light failure and brackets breaking after crashes though.

Lights from China? Is China in the EU?

Oh and to come back to the economic argument, it produces light, it recharges when plugged in without blowing up, it has a switch to turn it on and off. I’m not quite sure what other features UK made ones have which makes it impossible to compare

Well in Exposures case:

Accurate digital fuel gauge

Reflex technology so it gets brighter as you go faster and dimmer when you go slower

Smart port

Plug in rear lights and front light boosters

PTO so you can use the battery to charge your phone/GPS

Tap control for helmet lights

Remote dip switch to change the output without taking your hands off the bars

Multiple modes so you have high/low or high/medium/low etc

Piggyback batteries.

Beam dispersers so they can be used as a lantern in a tent.

They really are very good and very clever. I take mine camping to provide light as well as power for phone etc. as well as lighting my winter commutes. I’m not sure any chinese lights can do the same thing. Of course whether the features are worth the money is up to you. For me, no question.

A whole load of stuff which isn’t particularly fundamental to the purpose of a bike light. Sure it’s nice, but it’s like having metallic paint and leather seats in a car.

I’m not sure any chinese lights can do the same thing. Of course whether the features are worth the money is up to you. For me, no question.

Some of those features are available if you want to pay more. For you it’s apparently worth paying 6 or more times as much for the frills – fair enough, but given the primary purpose is fulfilled just as well by the cheaper one, the economic argument is flawed.

I’ve been slowly upgrading and modernising the same set of Lumicycles for years. I ride in some sh1te weather alone at night up here in the highlands and they have never let me down.

I’ve had a little cottage industry started by buying in the lamp units direct from China, but making up my own battery packs with branded batteries from LG or Panasonic and selling the kit with a Magicshine charger. Best of both worlds and everyone seems well chuffed so far.

Yes. My Exposure lights have been fantastic. I ride in the dark a lot and am quite time poor. Worth every penny for the features, reliability, build quality, support, etc. It’s nice to have a reason to buy British, whether or not aracer, stw’s most blinkered and argumentative man, thinks I’m wrong.

Yes. My Exposure lights have been fantastic. I ride in the dark a lot and am quite time poor. Worth every penny for the features, reliability, build quality, support, etc. It’s nice to have a reason to buy British, whether or not aracer, stw’s most blinkered and argumentative man, thinks I’m wrong.

This to the word. Except the personal insults.

I do also plan to have leather seats, metallic paint and maybe some kind of superfluous gadget (padded coin holder maybe) in my soon to be purchased replacement car.

I’ve had a couple of magic shine lights in the past and they were very good for the money. Now I have Exposure lights on my helmet and bars and can’t think of any I’d rather have. They work brilliantly and the lack of cables is great. The fact they are a UK company based only a few miles away (even closer since they moved) is just a bonus

I do like Exposure’s piggyback batteries. “Our USP is the self contained lights! You want a self contained light!” “But the battery’s not very big” “We can sell you a remote battery!” “but now it’s not self-contained” “Yeah you never wanted that really” “but…” “Look at the eyes, look directly at the eyes…”

I finally got a chance to try to reflex mode last year, it’s as completely useless as I thought it was going to be. Slow technical section? Light goes low power. Cheers light. Does anyone actually use this for mountain biking? It doesn’t detract from the light though and I quite liked the way these features basically heralded the end of the lumen war. “Look- gimmicks!”

I’d still like a joystick though. I use a cheap torch in a joystick mount to do the same job and it’s adequate but it’s nothing like as nice- much bigger and heavier.

I do use reflex mode on my maxx-d and don’t give it a thought, just tap it on to low for any road sections so I don’t blind drivers so much. I use the tap mode on my helmet light too. In both cases I like the gimmicks because I use them without thinking about using them

Wow, I get that for pointing out that you can buy lights for a lot less money which don’t have any of the problems which seem to put people off cheaper lights? I’m the blinkered one?

I do like Exposure’s piggyback batteries

I’d opt for one of their lights with plenty of battery and only consider the piggy back as an emergency back up. The beauty of their lights is the all in one unit

No I wouldn’t. Why? Because I bought a strada and a joystick five years ago and they have worked flawlessly ever since.

I have, however, just bought a 400 lumen Fly 12, which is broadly Joystick like in pattern with a built in HD camera.

I do like Exposure’s piggyback batteries. “Our USP is the self contained lights! You want a self contained light!” “But the battery’s not very big” “We can sell you a remote battery!” “but now it’s not self-contained” “Yeah you never wanted that really” “but…” “Look at the eyes, look directly at the eyes…”

The specs on the lights I looked at were plenty for my normal night rides, half of our ride group has the MaxD or 6 Pack and never struggle with battery life. But the idea of a tiny cell that can boost the power or duration for emergency or the one time you do a longer ride makes sense. I’d add one for racing and keep one in my bag for winter in case I wanted/needed to run full burn for the duration of the ride.

Its financially crippling, but, I have bought USE Exposure lights and it’s been worth it. I value those few hours every week so much I’m glad I made the investment.

Others may disagree, but I’ve had cheap lights die completely and forever on me. I also dabble in racing when I can and the Exposure guys have been helpful, supportive and damn good chaps.

Seen as an investment in what I care about I don’t resent the money spent one bit.

And I’m TIGHT.

I do 200miles a week on and off road. Before I got exposure lights I was lucky to get 3 months out of a light.

See sense – drowned
Knog x 3 – strap split
Moon comet – drowned
Chinese super cheap – battery would not hold charge
MTB batteries – battery dead after summer
Fibre flare – drowned

The exposure traceR is under £30 and is the only rear light to survive a winter.

Piggyback just means i dont have to carry around something weighing the same as a small sun on sub 6 hr rides.

But when it comes to riding a 24 i dont have to stop and charge/change my battery.

Although wi my revo- thats a thing of the past.