Helmet lights - what do you use for night time winter riding?

Rusty said:
Gloworm X2 the past few years.
X2-stand-alone-front.png
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Are these really 253 euros?
 
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Duracell LED Headlamps 500 Lumens, 4 Light Modes, Weather Resistant, 3 Pack
1500 lumens £26.....have it! Yes you can put all 3 on your helmet at once ?

After an all day sesh that turned dark, these were great tbh.....could see what was coming up on the trail no probs. They have a cool tilt function also, very handy for cleaning bikes etc later too. Night time riding is so atmospheric with the owls and things

reviews 5/5 Duracell, I prefer being able to aim light so I much prefer head
 
HORSPWR said:
Are these really 253 euros?
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Currently 215€ using 15% newsletter discount code and free shipping ... Lupine Piko R7 with SC battery will cost at least 150€ more ...
 
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carlbiker said:
These headlight prices are obscene
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20 years ago we were paying $100 - $150 NZD for 15w halogen lights that would barely shine past your front wheel. My first HID light was $250 NZD and that was without the battery.
When the Magicshine and other cheap Chinese lights came on the market they were about $120 for the 900lm (claimed but about 500-600 in reality) and opening them up you found a lot of swarf as well as bloody poor soldering and crappy wire. Battery packs used to degrade or fail after a couple months etc. Ay-Up, Cateye, Cygolite or Lupine were triple that price - but you got quality that worked and lasted.
 
I've been using the cheap chinese cree based led lights for 10 years or so now, I dont see any need to pay more. They work fine, provide a load of light (although you have to take the quoted lumens figures with a huge pinch of salt - 10000 lumens yeah right! more like 2000 lumens but thats plenty). They last for a few years then a cable fails, or some water gets in, you throw it away and buy a new one. You're still saving a fortune compared with buying a 'branded' light.

plenty to choose from

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carlbiker said:
These headlight prices are obscene, I’m wondering if the worlds gone mad or I’m being oblivious, that said there is some bliss to ignorance, it’s cheaper too!

That said could anyone make use of this which is on offer atm?Olight Baton Pro 2000 LUMENS EDC CAMPING TORCH
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I can vouch for Olight stuff, I have a really small Olight i3E EOS that I use for work. Takes 1 x AAA battery and its super bright for the size of it! I love it...
 
Rusty said:
20 years ago we were paying $100 - $150 NZD for 15w halogen lights that would barely shine past your front wheel. My first HID light was $250 NZD and that was without the battery.
When the Magicshine and other cheap Chinese lights came on the market they were about $120 for the 900lm (claimed but about 500-600 in reality) and opening them up you found a lot of swarf as well as bloody poor soldering and crappy wire. Battery packs used to degrade or fail after a couple months etc. Ay-Up, Cateye, Cygolite or Lupine were triple that price - but you got quality that worked and lasted.
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Man. I'd almost forgotten about HIDs. Awesomely bright for their time but scary AF when they ran out with no warning at all. I eventually gave up on them when mine went off just as my front wheel left a high speed 10ft+ drop with a sheer drop to the right of the landing. I basically had to pull in to the left completely blind and just hope I didn't hit anything. One of the scariest moments on a bike of my entire life.
We're spoilt for choice with great affordable mtb lighting nowadays.
 
salko said:
Those look fantastic with more reasonable pricing. I'm now tempted to go for Gloworm XS with 2500lm output. Does anyone have this one mounted on a helmet? Or is it to big/heavy for the helmet? I think I've got an offer too good to refuse :p
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I switched round last night so it was Chilli-Tech on bars and the Gloworm X2 on the helmet. Much better that way round. I genuinly see no point in the XS over the X2 on your helmet, unless your rides are going to be shorter.
 
deksawyer said:
I switched round last night so it was Chilli-Tech on bars and the Gloworm X2 on the helmet. Much better that way round. I genuinly see no point in the XS over the X2 on your helmet, unless your rides are going to be shorter.
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Most of my rides will be shorter (1 to max. 2 hours in the dark) and I will only have XS on a helmet, no other lights on the bars ...
 
Gary said:
Man. I'd almost forgotten about HIDs. Awesomely bright for their time but scary AF when they ran out with no warning at all. I eventually gave up on them when mine went off just as my front wheel left a high speed 10ft+ drop with a sheer drop to the right of the landing. I basically had to pull in to the left completely blind and just hope I didn't hit anything. One of the scariest moments on a bike of my entire life.
We're spoilt for choice with great affordable mtb lighting nowadays.
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Haha, that's why I always use two lamps
 
I use a Petzl Reactik + headtorch that I already had for climbing. It sits OK just under the peak of my lid.
 
Gary said:
Man. I'd almost forgotten about HIDs. Awesomely bright for their time but scary AF when they ran out with no warning at all. I eventually gave up on them when mine went off just as my front wheel left a high speed 10ft+ drop with a sheer drop to the right of the landing. I basically had to pull in to the left completely blind and just hope I didn't hit anything. One of the scariest moments on a bike of my entire life.
We're spoilt for choice with great affordable mtb lighting nowadays.
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Gary makes a good point actually! Who knows when it’s to die...Might be worth having something mounted and then a backup similar to this perhaps? WASAGA Head Torch, 2000 Lumen 5000 Lumen Zoomable Rechargeable LED Headlamp Headlight Flashlight, Waterproof Adjustable LED Headlamp, Perfect for Running, Walking the dog, Camping, Reading
 
carlbiker said:
Gary makes a good point actually! Who knows when it’s to die..
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No. You missed my point entirely.
By their very nature HID lights give absolutely no warning of when they'll die.
LEDs generally have at least coloured battery indicator. and many will go into limpo mode (Iow or strobe)
 
Gary said:
No. You missed my point entirely.
By their very nature HID lights give absolutely no warning of when they'll die.
LEDs generally have at least coloured battery indicator. and many will go into limpo mode (Iow or strobe)
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When you said ‘affordable’ what does that translate to out of interest?
 
carlbiker said:
When you said ‘affordable’ what does that translate to out of interest?
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You're fluent in English. It's a common English word you don't need it translated.
i'm sure a man of your means can google it's meaning ;)
 
Rob Rides EMTB said:
So I have the Halfords 1600 lumen light that @Gary recommended for the bars. Got it last year and it seems really good.

I’d like a helmet mounted light to go with it. Not crazy money, just a good bang for buck one will do.

What do you recommend?
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Gemini Duo 2200
 
Gary said:
You're fluent in English. It's a common English word you don't need it translated.
i'm sure a man of your means can google it's meaning ;)
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lol.....(don’t you just love folk who lol, I bet Gary has never ‘lol’d! ?)

I subscribed to that £24 Magzter (groupon) deal and was reading a quality article where a bunch of chaps hit 5 bike parks in 24hrs, they were given a sponsored light some 6k lumens and said it was needed; I guess this is where circa £300 is spent as that’s some serious output! I bet it’s as bright as that light Frodo used to scare that big spider away in LOR!
 
I've been rocking one of these for a few years. It's a TrailLED Darkstar (DS). The company is out of business, but the light is still going strong:

Trailled.jpg
 
carlbiker said:
lol.....(don’t you just love folk who lol, I bet Gary has never ‘lol’d! ?)

I subscribed to that £24 Magzter (groupon) deal and was reading a quality article where a bunch of chaps hit 5 bike parks in 24hrs, they were given a sponsored light some 6k lumens and said it was needed; I guess this is where circa £300 is spent as that’s some serious output! I bet it’s as bright as that light Frodo used to scare that big spider away in LOR!
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Carl. You're so gullible.
The article you read sounds very much like sponsored content. So whatever equipment it said they needed needs to be taken with a huge pinch of salt. There's no bike park traik in the UK that would require anything more than a £50 light to ride. The only issue would be runtime but even then a 4 hour ride is perfectly doable by simply running a low power mode for all climbing.
I can't think of 5 bike parks all within close enough distance of each other in the UK to ride between and do a lap of in 24hrs. Or did you mean "trail centres"?
Also. You're not those chaps.

In the real world. You know. Actually outdoors. 6000lm isn't really any more use than 3000. Beam pattern and light quality matters way more than lumens

I have many lights ranging from 800lm to 3500. I rarely ever take more than 1600 and even then its only used at full chat for about 10min of any ride.
 
Before spotting @Rob 's post .... I had just ordered Magicshine Monteer 3500 S for my helmet. Can't comment on how good it is yet as it arrives tomorrow but I will be sure to send an update.

On that note, the guy from Magicshine UK was on the live YouTube feed the other night and was offering @Rob Rides EMTB a few freebies to try out and review. (No connection or affiliation to me).

Cheers
 
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