Front light for disused railway line

[AlastairS]

Hi, I would like to cycle on my local disused line (4.5 miles) to work, i'll probably take the road back.
There are no 'street' lights along the line and so it is likely to be quite dark.
I've not done this before in the winter so not sure what it will be like.
I have a basic flashing LED light on front.
Am I likely to need something brighter ? Perhaps I should try it first with this light and see how I get on.
My requirements would be something cheap, reliable and does the job. May be good if it used ordinary alkaline batteries or rechargeable equivalents.
Thank you, Alastair

[meic]

A flashing front light in the dark would drive me insane.

One of the cheap high power LED torches strapped to your bars is a place to start. Tesco have sold a 3W Cree torch that runs on 2AA batteries and would be good for the job at its then price of £10. You could even mount a pair of them.
Aldi have sold a superpowerful little torch that runs on 3AAA batteries for a similar price.

They are limited in battery life but will manage one of your trips easily, maybee even a weeks worth.

Or you can spend lots of money for a proper bike light/system. If choosing to do so I would consider a dynamohub with a B&M Cyo or Fly. Or a battery version called the Ixon IQ.

[Mick F]

A flashing front light in the dark would drive me insane.

I've been through a railway tunnel a few times on an old rail-bed, and once a cyclist came towards me with a flashing front light.

Although there is lighting in the tunnel, it's only at one end and rather inadequate, so this chap coming towards me was almost sending me epileptic! It must have been bad enough for him, but the beam was right in my eyes against an almost pitch dark background.

My advice is to get a bright and steady light as a first priority.

[Big T]

Cateye EL530 is a cheap but powerful front battery light, RRP is £49.99 but can be had for less that half that if you search around on the internet. Merlin Cycles had them for £22.99 a couple of weeks ago.

If you want an Ixon IQ, then buy from Germany - they are much cheaper than UK shops:

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/a6235/ ... tAodMy4AIQ

UK online shop Dotbike are asking £80 for one with battery and charger.

[andrew_s]

The Smart Lunar 35 comes in a package with a rear, and is fairly good for something AA powered and fairly cheap

[AlastairS]

Hi, thank you for all your replies which are very helpful.
Cateye EL530 - I am interested in this one as it seems to do the job and is about £23 posted to UK. I don't think it will take rechargeable batteries though and wonder if this would result in spending a lot on batteries. Though, if it will give 90hrs (even on reduced power this might be okay for me ?) of runtime that would be about 180 single trips along the disused railway line (I will only do one of these per day) which seems very good value, but maybe not realistic. Any thoughts ? Thank you , Alastair

[mjr]

EL530 should be bright enough. I've done similar dark tracks with 320 and at reduced speed with a 400. All of them are I think are a bit dimmer if used with rechargeables and have a less-than-brilliant beam shape so take care not to dazzle oncomers.

The best cheap lights I've seen recently are probably Lidl's occasional cirvit special offers that meet German standards (StVZO I think) but they're rare. Cateye and Smart seem second-best and easier to find.

[meic]

Hi, thank you for all your replies which are very helpful.
Cateye EL530 - I am interested in this one as it seems to do the job and is about £23 posted to UK. I don't think it will take rechargeable batteries though and wonder if this would result in spending a lot on batteries. Though, if it will give 90hrs (even on reduced power this might be okay for me ?) of runtime that would be about 180 single trips along the disused railway line (I will only do one of these per day) which seems very good value, but maybe not realistic. Any thoughts ? Thank you , Alastair

Why do you think that?

The last light that I had that would work on alkaline but not NiMH was an old Maglite, I havent seen anything with LEDs that wouldnt work with NiMH rechargeables and I dont waste time and battery power on old fashioned bulbs like the Maglite had, anymore.

[reohn2]

Hi, thank you for all your replies which are very helpful.
Cateye EL530 - I am interested in this one as it seems to do the job and is about £23 posted to UK. I don't think it will take rechargeable batteries though and wonder if this would result in spending a lot on batteries. Though, if it will give 90hrs (even on reduced power this might be okay for me ?) of runtime that would be about 180 single trips along the disused railway line (I will only do one of these per day) which seems very good value, but maybe not realistic. Any thoughts ? Thank you , Alastair

Yep good lamp,with a good beam for seeing with, it will take rechargable AA's and at £23 a good buy IMHO.

[Big T]

If you want rechargeables, you could do worse than the IXon IQ linked to in my earlier post. Comes with charger and batteries included. I've got one and it's plenty bright enough. You don't have to take the batteries out to charge them.

[Audax67]

Careful if you look for an EL530 on eBay: the earlier models look very similar but are dim in comparison. Dead giveaway for earlier models is a raised circle in the middle of the lens. EL530 lenses don't have it.

[AlastairS]

THank you for all your replies. I think I will like the Cateye EL530 so plan to buy that one if my circumstances remain the same by this time next week. THank you Alastair

[Audax67]

Nuther nice point about the HL530 is that the optics are symmetrical so you can use it upside-down. I sling mine on a Topeak T-piece so that it peeks out under the HB bag and doesn't get in the way.

[niggle]

How about one of these:

[irc]

I bought a couple of these 3W front lights from PLanet X. Extremely bright. £5 each. The twin 0.5W rears are superbright as well. Can't gp wrong at those prices. Buy two fronts. Run both on the railway if needed. Then use one on road and you have a backup if batteries get low during a commute.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/LIP ... ront_light

A short run life though. Maybe run one along with a less bright long life light for the road.