Decent front battery light - Recommendations?

[mjr]

I've been using one of these for the past few weeks, for commuting and general night riding (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1)

Only £39, with a nice wide beam pattern [...]

A shaped or O shape? Any legality markings?

[thelawnet]

I've been using one of these for the past few weeks, for commuting and general night riding (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1)

Only £39, with a nice wide beam pattern and very bright (probably not far off the quoted 1800lm). The battery life has also been excellent, easily lasting a few hours between high and medium (haven't run it flat). Whilst the batteries are not easily accessible, they are 18650's and it should be simple to replace by undoing a few screws...

Charging is a little slow (quoted 7 hours to full charge, although I've never needed more than 4 hours as have not run it flat) and I am not keen on the mounting bracket as it is slightly bulky and simply didn't work too well with my road bike bars, so I ended up making my own (as it has a 1/4" tripod screw mount built in which is super convenient).

The batteries are in fact not replaceable.

Same light:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evolva-Future- ... 075H5Z567/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LWSQKBU/ and the questions make that clear.

It's all fairly disposable Chinese stuff; my concerns would be the included cells (fake or not), the bracket, and the charger.

Here's a teardown

https://forums.mtbr.com/lights-night-ri ... 29334.html

It seems likely that different versions of this light may be supplied with better or worse cells.

It is noted in various places that the weight of two batteries, lenses, etc. means that these lights are inherently difficult to bar mount. The alternative form where this a separate battery and a connecting lead has some merit for that reason.

I think that these lights are intended for off-road MTBing and not suitable for all on-road at full blast. I don't think there's cut-off intended - it would flood a road. http://budgetlightforum.com/node/54158

So I would suggest a single cell light is probably more appropriate for general road use.

[geomannie]

Ixon IQ works for me. Excellent light, excellent beam and replaceable batteries.

One source https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/b-m-ixon-iq ... ux--703596

[webber]

Ive used one of these https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/lightinglig ... usb-light/ for the past couple of years and its bee excellent

[Sweep]

Ive used one of these https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/lightinglig ... usb-light/ for the past couple of years and its bee excellent

Does anyone actually read the questions - this looks like yet another facefark broadcasting look at me post. For that link clearly says that that light has a built in battery.

Does anyone want to see a pic of my tea/my car?

[Sweep]

OP, this looks like it might be the lidl light I reeferred to judging by the rear it comes with.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Crivit-Led-B ... SwhdZaXmtr

Other folk feel free to correct me.
I have two.
Runs of 4 AAs, rechargeables fine.
I have ridden the entire dunwich dynamo on one, through a dark suffolk night. Also did another night ride from midlands to north west with it. I was also carrying the excellent hope vision 1 with me but had no need to use it. This actually has a better mount than the hope and the mount can be found in several other cheaply available lights such as some from smart. No flash mode but as i said you can use a compact cateye for that.

[The utility cyclist]

Hard to find now but I have one of these, this is the first place where I found one.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listi ... dition=new
Tooless fit, superbly solid clamp that you can fit/remove to bars of all sizes in seconds, takes 4AAs, has very good run time whilst producing an excellent beam. It's a simple high/low though the low is good for 20mph riding, I use the high beam for 30+mph riding down the unlit back road (7% hill).
I use Fujitsu rechargeables and I get around 15 hours on high and easily double that on low, you might get less on cheap alkalines. Simple green light for half life and red when low shows up on the operating button. You can buy a charger that connects direct to the light but I use my own. The open/close is a simple twist and lock.

Best light I've ever owned because it does everything very well, the fitting/removal simplicity, run time, great beam (with cut off) as well as the replaceable battery aspect makes it a winner for me.

[thelawnet]

I think:

front light: 1 * 18650 (about the same as 4 * AA) with two spares in a carry case
rear light: something with a reliable battery indicator, or a light + a spare.

[Witterings]

Cheaper options are Chinese torches.

The Convoy S2+ is around £14

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/produc ... 28969.html

It uses the same Cree XM-L2 T6 LED but they have choices of colour temperature & number of cells.


The Convoy light is pretty well-designed, water-proofed, etc., but the beam is in no way shaped for road use, as the Fenix would be.

The S2 rather than the S2+ (plus) gives a "slightly" more focused beam so a tad more road friendly and if you focus your light towards the kerb and away from oncoming traffic both are brilliant for the Wonga.

That said, whilst non cycle torches can be made to work and pointed towards the kerb and run on a lower setting so it doesn't affect traffic coming in the opposite direction too much .... if I was doing a lot of road riding in the dark (we're not the odd country lane) I really wouldn't want to run the risk that I blinded the car coming the opposite way so they swerved across the road and hit me which would kind of defeat the whole reason for using a torch to avoid an accident where you get hurt.
If I was doing more road at night I think I'd probably opt for a proper bike light like the Fenix BC 30 ... on paper seems like a great piece of kit and not bent over and Royally F*-^$.k up the A.. when you need to replace batteries.

Personally I'd love to see everyone boycott companies selling torches with a standard £5 .... 18650 battery's that has a bespoke plug so you have to pay them £45 for the same thing .... they have absolutely no interest in their customers what so ever and rely on people being uneducated in certain areas just so they can take as much money off you as they possibly can for their corporate gain at your expense!

Apologies to all for having gone off on one ... just a pet hate of mine!

[freiston]

I use a B+M dynamo light now but prior to that, I've used a variety of battery powered front lights including Fenix running off 18650s. I'm a big fan of Fenix torches but I'm not so impressed by their bike lights - imho, the beam of mine was too much like a torch and not enough like a bike light. I'm so impressed with the B+M dynamo light and how it puts the light where it is needed without dazzling other road users that if I were in the market for a battery front lamp, I would go for their 4xAA light as linked in an earlier post by geomannie.

[thelawnet]

More options here:

Blackburn Central 300
Blackburn Central 650
Blackburn Central 700
Blackburn Central 800

All basically the same light body/mount, just different brightness. Discontinued; the 300 is around £25 on fleabay, the others are harder to find but around £50-£60

Features:
<25%, <75%, 75%+ battery indicator
1 * removeable 18650 battery (included, 2400 mAh, feel free to replace with a stronger one)
IP65
Micro-usb charging (0.5A - external chargers can typically do 1A)
Go-Pro mount style, mount provided

Brightness:

300 lumen/150/80/pulse 80/strobe 80 (real ANSI-FL1 lumens, not fake Chinese lumens)
650/400/200/pulse 150/strobe 150
700/400/200/pulse 150/strobe 150
800/400/200/pulse 150/strobe 150

Review here notes good beam but dodgy mount if your handle bars are not straight. https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/thread ... ght.29654/