LED battery headlight recommendations

[ridethecliche]

Yeah, here in philly there's an MUP that would work pretty well for riding in the dark since less people are out and about on it. There's also a stretch of road that's about 2.5ish miles long and pretty flat that a lot of us do laps of to get in a quick workout if it's dark out.

I think there's some super light packed gravel stuff in fairmount park but I haven't explored there much. There's some stuff in wissahickon as well but I think that park might be closed at night these days. But some of this stuff off the beaten path would be nice to do some lighter night riding in without being too worried about cars etc.

I just need to explore some of the trails around here better in daylight, but truth be told I'd like to be able to trust my lighting so I can venture out there in evening sometime and not be worried about getting stuck.

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

Are there any other decent lights that have replaceable batteries or packs?

I know I mentioned magicshine but I've only ever used one of their lights from like.... 2010 or so. It's really not great but it still works and holds a charge so it comes out every now and then! I think things have become significantly more efficient since then though!

Fenix has replaceable batteries...I think they are supposed to well made. I have never used them.

[roydyates]

This thread reminds me of the coffee threads about grinders and espresso machines. After a few posts, I realize I'm out of my league; probably i'll find all of these lights to be more than OK.

Back in 2017, I was occasionally getting home after dark and I bought a pretty nice light (maybe light & motion?) that I have since misplaced. I was thinking I would buy a new light but now I'm inclined to search some more for my old one.

[ChainNoise]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

What do you find so objectionable about the beam pattern?

In my use, it's a fairly well thought out. If I were describe it versus my other lights, it provides way more focused light where you need it (i.e. where you're riding towards), less on the edges where you don't need as much light.




You'll find that most cars are designed with a similar trapezoidal beam.

So take a look at the BK10 1050 lumen beam pattern. It is really basically a very narrow trapezoid. It's like driving a car with one headlight. Can't see **** on the side of the road, it really only lights up your direct path.

Now take a look at #3 (very last image). Look at the MASSIVE beam spread as well as the throw. You can see ALL over. Sides, right in front of you, way far out, etc. THAT is what you get with the Outbound lights, in addition to a very nice cutoff so you don't blind oncoming traffic. You really will not understand until you try one.

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by Ozz

Fenix has replaceable batteries...I think they are supposed to well made. I have never used them.

I have an older Fenix BC21R which has been really robust. I also have one of their headlamps and a really powerful flashlight. All of them use 18650 batteries so I have four of them between the three lights so it's easy to carry a spare if I need to.

I have found their responsiveness and customer service to be top notch also.

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by ChainNoise

So take a look at the BK10 1050 lumen beam pattern. It is really basically a very narrow trapezoid. It's like driving a car with one headlight. Can't see **** on the side of the road, it really only lights up your direct path.

Now take a look at #3 (very last image). Look at the MASSIVE beam spread as well as the throw. You can see ALL over. Sides, right in front of you, way far out, etc. THAT is what you get with the Outbound lights, in addition to a very nice cutoff so you don't blind oncoming traffic. You really will not understand until you try one.

It's a fairly common misconception that you need to see peripheral objects on the side of the road as you pass them. #1, they are distracting, and #2, they reflect and cause glare, which your eyes will adjust for by constricting your irises, which will HURT your ability to see further at night. The example you highlighted is the absolute worst you could have of the three beam output options.

This has been very well studied and is why the headlights have the beam shape that they do, and also with the bulk of the intensity at the horizon and tapers back in a trapezoid.

It's also why fog lights are automatically switched off in every car once you turn the high beams on, because that scatter hurts your ability to see distance.


For mountain bike, that's a different use case, where you are moving at slower speeds, but the OP requested a taillight too, which indicated road use to me.

[spoonrobot]

I've had the Lumintop B01 and the Acebeam BK10 and now I'm using the Magicshine Evo1700 - they all suffer from the same problem - anything sharper than a mild curve and I can't see where I'm going.

They work great for riding the multi-use paths where there aren't many corners and there are a lot of pedestrians the hour after sunset but on the open road especially descending they just don't work well. Regular round beam never left me wanting but doesn't work with a lot of peds, they complain and engage in dramatics.

I pair with a helmet light to see through the corners.

[ridethecliche]

I was just going to say... Sounds like helmet lights are a good idea even on the road Until they start making lights with gimbals

[classtimesailer]

My NR has had a temperamental charger for years and with this time change I wanted more dependability. I considered a Fenix, but being cheap, I went with the B01 with the shaped beam. It’s coming today.

[rogerspam]

Have had a few sets of Niterider Luminas of various lumens and they work well.

One related tangent:

1) Niterider provided excellent customer service when there was a warranty issue. Quick and easy replacement.

2) Reading the Outbound site, independent of the technical issues, I feel compelled to support them due to their sensible approach to designing a solution, customer support philosophy including Right to Repair--while their battery is not user replaceable, they say they WILL repair it for you at no cost.

https://outbound-lighting.groovehq.c...le-replaceable

[froze]

MagicShine is still a generic brand, there are lights on the market that have the same designs.

Lezyne makes great pumps but not lights, they source their batteries from China and they don't last long. My Lezyne light lasted 3 years before the battery would no longer take a charge, and I wasn't a heavy user. And the batteries in the Lezyne cannot be replaced, so you throw out a perfectly fine LED light that the LEDs still have at least 30,000 hours of life left.

The last light I bought was a NiteRider Lumina Pro 1100, this company makes their lights so for about $30 you can send it back in and they will replace the batteries, check all the circuits, reseal it, and send it back. So I bought that light because it fit my need to make sure the battery could be replaced.

The other thing you should do is look at a beam comparison site, simply pick lights in your price range and compare them to others. I did that with the NR Lumina, I chose a light on the first column, went through lights on the second column, found a better one then went to the first column and started finding another brighter light. while maintaining my budget and the desire to have a replaceable battery. Anyway, go to this site and scan down a bit till you get to the image. You can move a slider from left to right to compare 2 different lights at the same time.

https://road.cc/content/feature/road...am-test-296975

[NHAero]

Re-opening this thread one year later.
Rode home in the dark last night, about 30 minutes, and typical for me that it's part road and part trail. Still like the Fenix I referenced earlier in the thread, but it doesn't have enough light intensity and spread at speed at my age of 71. I really like its quick-on/off rubber band mount because I have multiple bikes, some using a Klickfix HB bag setup, so a simple bar mount often wouldn’t work. I've attached the Fenix to a fork blade for instance, or more often to the bar drop below the lever.

So - I'm intrigued by the idea of keeping the Fenix and supplementing with a helmet light, and the Outbound Portal looks pretty great (and $$$).

Anyone have one yet? And is this a good approach? I don't need really long run time, night rides are usually returning from some local event and rarely exceed 45 minutes. But it can be really dark on Martha’s Vineyard even on the roads, let alone the MUPs and trails.

[froze]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Re-opening this thread one year later.
Rode home in the dark last night, about 30 minutes, and typical for me that it's part road and part trail. Still like the Fenix I referenced earlier in the thread, but it doesn't have enough light intensity and spread at speed at my age of 71. I really like its quick-on/off rubber band mount because I have multiple bikes, some using a Klickfix HB bag setup, so a simple bar mount often wouldn’t work. I've attached the Fenix to a fork blade for instance, or more often to the bar drop below the lever.

So - I'm intrigued by the idea of keeping the Fenix and supplementing with a helmet light, and the Outbound Portal looks pretty great (and $$$).

Anyone have one yet? And is this a good approach? I don't need really long run time, night rides are usually returning from some local event and rarely exceed 45 minutes. But it can be really dark on Martha’s Vineyard even on the roads, let alone the MUPs and trails.

Are you saying that 1,200 lumens aren't bright enough?

I'm 73, my main light is a Niterider Lumina boost with 1100 lumens as well, but I only run it at 900. While I do have another light that is on the bar as well when I ride, it's an older Phillips Saferide that had the equal output of around 800 even though it was rated at 250, it is an aimed cutoff light. Both of my headlights are on the bar due to them being too big to be on a helmet, but I only use one at a time, the other is for backup in case the battery dies in one. But as you go up in lumens the light becomes heavier and can be uncomfortable attached to a helmet.

The problem is, not all 1,200 lumens light are the same lumens, you can go on that website I gave in my last post and you can compare lights and see what I said is correct.

The brightest light on that site for the money is the Gaciron Raptor-3000, which means it puts out 3,000 lumens, but I'm not sure what the quality of that light is.

Anyway, go on that site and compare lights.

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by froze

Snip
Are you saying that 1,200 lumens aren't bright enough?
.

My Fenix is rated at 800 lumens, but I feel it's also the narrow beam that is part of what I want to upgrade.

[Spdntrxi]

Bookman