LED battery headlight recommendations

[sparky33]

It's dark here.
What LED battery headlight do you recommend?

My trusty Light&Motion Urban 500 is dying. I like that this light is bright, efficient, very compact, lacks an external battery pack, and is easy to move around. Probably I would get the new Vis 1000 if I cannot find an even better battery LED unit.

Is there a better headlight option?

Let me know your best tail light too!

[ChainNoise]

Outbound Lighting Detour for road use. End of story, close the thread.

[p nut]

I use a Lezyne Megadrive 1800. I don’t care for its looks but very bright and lasts a long time.

https://ride.lezyne.com/collections/led-front

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by ChainNoise

Outbound Lighting Detour for road use. End of story, close the thread.

Cool. I've never heard of it before now.
It looks like the mount is a bolt-clamp on the handlebar, and there is a quick release to attach the light to the mount, yes?

[rothwem]

Originally Posted by ChainNoise

Outbound Lighting Detour for road use. End of story, close the thread.

I've got the Trail Evo, its the best headlight I've ever used. How long have you had your Detour? I might get one for the road bike, the Trail Evo is a serious traffic blinder.

[ridethecliche]

Do you prefer having an all in one unit or something with a bigger external battery pack? I've had a few of each and I'm also in the market-ish... now starting to think about something with a bigger battery pack so I don't have to worry about things as much if I forget to charge it between a ride or if I want to go out for a early morning or chasing daylight kind of ride and might be out for an hour or two in suboptimal natural light conditions for riding.

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by ridethecliche

Do you prefer having an all in one unit or something with a bigger external battery pack? I've had a few of each and I'm also in the market-ish... now starting to think about something with a bigger battery pack so I don't have to worry about things as much if I forget to charge it between a ride or if I want to go out for a early morning or chasing daylight kind of ride and might be out for an hour or two in suboptimal natural light conditions for riding.

I like the all-in-one units for this purpose, and charging is not a hurdle for me.

For a situation where I need more run time etc, I'll use a dynamo set up instead of an external battery.

[Bob Ross]

I've been using the Niterider Lumina series for several years, very happy with those. Comes with both handlebar and helmet mounts, so in those rare instances where I want to go cycling in complete darkness -- hey, it can be fun out here in the desert! -- I'll use one of each.

Nice wide beam spread without too much of a hotspot in the center, charge lasts a long time and recharges fairly quickly, has three separate intenity settings plus a couple flashing modes that will trigger a seizure in most oncoming traffic (I never use flashing mode at night...but at times during daylight it's a great way to get traffic to move out of your way, because it resembles an emergency vehicle as you approach in their rear view mirror).

[eippo1]

So I use the Vis 1000 trail for my gravel bike because I can do a Gopro style undermount on the computer mount. Also have the regular 1000 for my road bike and it's fine, but I do find that the batteries definitely have shorter run times when it gets colder.

As recommended above, Outbound makes fantastic stuff. I use their Hangover for a helmet light on most trail rides. Their lights are so good for a self contained unit.

If you want something that lasts a while with an external battery, Gloworm is pretty awesome. Have an X3 for the bars for mtb or the gravel if on real gravel at night and an X2 for bars or helmet depending.

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by eippo1

So I use the Vis 1000 trail for my gravel bike because I can do a Gopro style undermount on the computer mount.

Yes, that's a nice thing about the symmetric Vis lights.
It turns out that Outbound has a similar undermount bracket for Gopro style attachment. https://www.outboundlighting.com/col...n-camera-mount

[Alistair]

I've had good luck with Exposure Lights. I have a couple of their Diablo model (large pen light) that are suitable for helmet or bar mounting.

https://www.exposure-use.com/Brands/Exposure-Lights

I also have some Bontrager headlamps. Nothing fancy, but they're fine for what I paid.

[ChainNoise]

Originally Posted by sparky33

Cool. I've never heard of it before now.
It looks like the mount is a bolt-clamp on the handlebar, and there is a quick release to attach the light to the mount, yes?

Yes. You can also get a GoPro mount from them which I have. Best setup ever. I would recommend the GoPro mount to clear up the bars.

[eippo1]

Originally Posted by sparky33

Yes, that's a nice thing about the symmetric Vis lights.
It turns out that Outbound has a similar undermount bracket for Gopro style attachment. https://www.outboundlighting.com/col...n-camera-mount

Yup, and I could mount my Hangover to the same mount (K edge Wahoo top and GoPro below) I use for the Vis since the helmet mount they use is GoPro style, but what you linked makes the Detour work the same way since it has a different mount.

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by Alistair

I've had good luck with Exposure Lights. I have a couple of their Diablo model (large pen light) that are suitable for helmet or bar mounting.

https://www.exposure-use.com/Brands/Exposure-Lights

The Boost-R rear light from Exposure is intriguing. Any real world feedback on that one? Turns out my L&M taillight needs replacing too.

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by ChainNoise

Outbound Lighting Detour for road use. End of story, close the thread.

Nah, that's a pass for me.

Integrated battery lights are all dumpster-bound (like the OP's light is already).

I use an Acebeam BK10, handy light that integrates well w/ the GoPro mounts that are on most OTF headunit mounts nowadays. Remember you have to flip the diffuser though so the anti-glare cutoff is correct when the light is flipped. Takes standard 21700 lithium batteries, carry extras for infinite runtime.