New front lights

[Tangled Metal]

Looking for a new front light that's not dazzling for other road users but bright enough to safely light up the road on sections without street lighting. I've misplaced my cat eye volt 300 light mount but that was a little underpowered. Currently using an aldi two led light and it's dire.

Prefer £30 or so. Any road legal ones with the lens that's German approved? Needs to be usb rechargeable.

So any suggestions?

[Mick F]

I bought an Exposure Sirius some few years ago. They were about £60ish when I bought mine.
Dunno if it's German approved, but it does have a logo of a Union Jack .................. and it's made in UK.

https://exposurelights.com/products/bik ... -daybright
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/exp ... prod191357

[Tangled Metal]

They're real dazzlers. Not really what I want. It's possible to light your way without the higher lumens of the dazzlers by having a fresnel lens I believe.

[pwa]

They're real dazzlers. Not really what I want. It's possible to light your way without the higher lumens of the dazzlers by having a fresnel lens I believe.

The Sirius is designed as a commuting light and has a slightly frosted resin lens. If you keep it pointed at a reasonable angle and don't have it on max it is okay viewed from the angle of oncoming traffic. I know because I have a Mk4 and one test I do when fitting a lamp to the bars is to park the bike outside in the dark then look at it from the perspective of a driver coming the other way. It gives a smooth pool of light that tapers off at the edges. It has long run times and it will last for years. It also makes a great torch in the attic.

You don't need to use this sort of light on a high setting, so the 750 lumens is academic. You might do as I would and choose a lower lumen setting and benefit from huge run times. These lights allow you to fine tune how bright you want them, and the less bright the longer the run time.

£80 at Evans. Outside your price bracket but will probably last much longer than a £30 light if my Mk4 is anything to go by.

A quality product made in England, not a plasticy thing from the Far East.

[mjr]

And again the defences of substandard lights sold to UK mugs appear!

Dansi's cheaper lights seem to be AA-powered, with USB starting on the £45 ones, so I suggest the Sigma Roadster 25 lux which seems to be on sale at about £20. You might just be able to find the Aura 35 for under £30 but I only find it just over.

There's a discussion in the Lidl thread where TUC is claiming that a Sigma 25 lux is as good as a Dansi 30 lux, which is the minimum I think I want for dark country lanes, but I'm sceptical. 25 lux might be OK for short unlit urban sections.

I posted beam shots of the Dansi (both wall and later road) on another front light discussion.

[mjr]

There's an interesting-looking £17 light on the eBay-lottery at https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-Recharge ... 4123041241 which is USB-chargeable but an 18650 battery inside so you could probably carry two and swap for longer life if needed. The problem is it claims StVZO compliance but doesn't state its brightness in lux or have any K~ mark that I can see, so I'm suspicious. The light design (shining onto a reflector, having red/green power button) looks German-style so it might be bad product details or a knock-off. Model number is DG666 but I don't find that in any of the usual brands' ranges.

[Tangled Metal]

The aldi light I'm using was only bought as a second front light to get me home should anything happen to the cateye one. The cateye has been very good for something like 6 years commuting use. Still good now, there's nothing better at the right price I'll just have another good look for the mount or buy a replacement.

I guess I've been put off the Sirius lights because you do see a lot using the dazzlers that look like that one. I think some of their other models are more for off road use without frosting or lensing into a better beam pattern.

[rotavator]

How about a Fenix BC25R:

https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-bc25r-led-bike-light/

They were about £40 on Alibaba if you don't mind waiting a bit. It has worked OK for me so far this autumn.

[freeflow]

You could consider Torchy the battery boy

http://www.torchythebatteryboy.com/

He is currently selling stvzo 16850 based Fluxient lights at £39.95 on ebay. These come with a usb cable for recharging.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293320332615

On the other hand, despite caveats about the wobbliness of the mount and the lack of USB charging, my current goto favourite light for unlit streets is the B&M Ixon premium. If you don't mind running a battery pack and spending upto £100 then its the B&M Lumotec IQ-X E 6 volt light.

[mattsccm]

I have Torchy stuff. Good. Going for another for Xmas. Got his own web shop as well as ebay.

[mattsccm]

I am a fan of removable 18650 batteries. They last well and can be easily replaced.

[Robzere31]

I'll just have another good look for the mount or buy a replacement.

I think I have a spare Volt mount lying around in my spares drawer. I'll have a look in the morning & confirm. If so I'm happy to send to you for the price of postage.

[Manc33]

SolarStorm x2 (Cree LED). Dirt cheap and bright. It just straps on with a rubber O ring and doesn't move about. Being strapped on that way it's easy to angle down so it's not shining in drivers faces but also easy to angle up again (and put on full power) in places like forests with zero light.

On the lowest setting of the 3 brightness settings (which is all that's needed on the street) I get about 1hr per 18650 battery out of it. With a waterproof (rubber cased) 4x 18650 battery pack (also dirt cheap, just look on DX.com for "waterproof 8.4v battery") you get about 4 hours on the road at night with one battery pack. These are so cheap you can just get the light + a 4 battery pack + a 6 battery pack, then you have got 10 hours of power with the ability to swap to the other pack if one runs out. The packs cost me only about £15-£20 per battery pack. It's not likely you'd be in the saddle for 10+ hours (and it's not dark that long lol) so you always have a light. I had a light with 3 of those same LED's on and it was overkill, too bright and wasted battery power, these Cree LED's are stupidly bright. I'd even argue you only need one single LED, certainly on the street if the only reason you have got a light is to be seen, as opposed to having to see.



If you already have a suitable battery pack, the light can be had for under £13 on the auction site we all know and love.

Only one battery pack at DX that I can see can be shipped to the UK. Of course we're all in cahoots with the Taliban these days.

Code: Select all

https://www.dx.com/p/aibber-tone-power-8-4v-8800mah-waterproof-6x18650-battery-pack-with-charger-for-cree-bike-lamp-headlight-2021501.html

If you get two of those you would have 2 packs the same size, which might lead to confusion, this is why I have a 4-pack and 6-pack.

These always come with US chargers and a UK charger is needed but they are dirt cheap, like £4. For example "DC / AC 8.4V UK Plug Adapter Charger For T6 18650 Li-ion Battery Pack Bike Light" (401668204491)

[pwa]

I guess I've been put off the Sirius lights because you do see a lot using the dazzlers that look like that one. I think some of their other models are more for off road use without frosting or lensing into a better beam pattern.

My Sirius is a Mk4 and has a frosted lens but looking at images of the Mk8 it appears not to. The lens is deep, i.e. it sticks out at the front so that the side of it is visible and it emits sideways light to make you more noticeable (whatever your opinion is on that) to traffic coming from the side.

The lamp could certainly be a real dazzler if used badly. Stick it on a high setting and point it a long way down the road and it will bother oncoming traffic, which is a bad thing to do. Mjr (I will save him the job of making this point) will say that you can point a German standard lamp quite a long way down the road without dazzling, and perhaps that means responsible use of a Sirius means settling for not pointing it as far down the road, With a lamp like that I try to have the main pool of light begin about 8 metres in front, with the lamp directed a few degrees downwards. And I use a lower setting to result in a run time of at least 7 hours. That gives decent lighting on dark lanes but without "turning night into day". The German standard B&M dynamo light I have will get light a bit further down the road without dazzling but the light on the road is heavily patterned, which irks me. I like a smooth light that better reveals irregularities in the road surface.

Some lamps from Exposure certainly are aimed at MTB use and are best avoided for road use. They do now make a German road standard lamp but that costs megabucks so best not to dwell on that.

[Mick F]

Mine is a Mk5 and the lens is clear.