Bike lights at £50, £100.... really?

[VanDriver]

When you can get a front-and-rear pair of very bright LED lights for £2, are the much higher-priced ones really worth it?

[meic]

Ah, now your definition of "very bright" will not be quite the same as other peoples.

You may not be in the habit of going down country hillsides in the dark at high speeds but some of us are. Would you like to do it with those lights?

Those people that do it with out the road even, need something like a portable sun!

There is also this annoying legal hurdle to be overcome, not so much insurance against a petty fine from the Police but that we dont want some blind motorist's insurance company to try and worm out of paying because your light lens doesnt have BS 6102 etc written on it.

Apart from that I agree pound shops often sell perfectly good lights to be seen with. (if not to see with )

[snibgo]

Do you want your front light:
- to help you be seen under streetlights
- to help you be seen on dark roads
- to help you be seen in daylight
- to illuminate the road a long distance ahead without dazzling drivers
- to allow you to flash an oncoming driver who is on full beam
- to illuminate muddy paths and overhead trees
- to be totally waterproof
- to comply with the law
- to cope with winter commuting without you needing to fuss with batteries?

Some of these questions also apply to rear lights.

[cjchambers]

If you try cycling on an unlit road with a £2 LED, I'm sure it will become quite obvious why people spend up to £100 on lights!

[VanDriver]

Meic,
Point taken re cycling sports, but surely top-end lights are over the top for mainly urban use.
I've done a fair bit of night-time rural riding (on roads) and have been hugely impressed at what LEDs can do. They really can be more than a "be seen" option. And re brightness, they are way too bright to look at directly, and they even light my way to a decent degree.
The legal point you mention is always at the back of my mind, but i'll carry on

Snibgo
I don't need my lights to do all that. I'm confident with 2 or 3 pairs of £2 LEDs.

[meic]

I totally agree I dont take my £50 light with me when I go to town as I know the bits of country road that I use so well and it isnt needed in town, you will be seen by anyone who looks even without lights. Just as those who are not looking will not see you even with Busch and Muller's finest. However there is a large group who are half looking and I feel greatly reassured by my almost car headlight strength front light when I am in city traffic and faster busy roads.

Most people are thinking of having good back lights so they are seen but most accidents are from cars pulling out in front of cyclists having not seen their front lights.

I hope you were not referring to me when you said sports, I refuse to be classified as a sports cyclist.
I just ride home from mum and dad's in the dark every week through 23 miles of empty hills.

[Chris_C]

My ride home from work (always in the dark at this time of year) involves a 3-mile downhill run on a completely unlit narrow and twisting country road. I experimented with two cheapish LEDs and was always on my brakes before finally biting the bullet and buying an Ixon IQ (about £60). It's one of the best purchases I ever made: I can now cover this section at 25 mph.

But I know what you mean: the Ixon offers no real advantages over a good basic LED on roads with streetlighting.

[PH]

You sound like the bloke at work "How much for a bike - you can buy one for £59!"
Of course theres a rule of diminishing returns, but a £10 light is nothing like as good as a £100 one.

[VanDriver]

You sound like the bloke at work "How much for a bike - you can buy one for £59!"

You can get a very decent (second hand) bike for £59.

[VanDriver]

Of course theres a rule of diminishing returns, but a £10 light is nothing like as good as a £100 one.

Maybe, but a £1 light is something like as good as a £20 light.

[meic]

Personally I do like to spend the minimum amount of money to achieve my aims but then later I do get seduced by gorgeous technology.

I had cheap blinkies for years but I was never riding in the night for the sake of it, just because it happened to be dark when i had to ride.

Then i started on country roads and felt the need for lights that would allow me to do over 15mph.

I bought Tesco 3W cree torches for £10 and £8 and they allowed me to cycle at full speed at night for most of the time, if I strained my eyes.

later I bought an Ixon IQ £50 and now I can ride just as fast at night as I do at day and with a fair degree of comfort.

Then I have to admit I got seduced and made a dynamo hub wheel for £100 which I just do not need.

I am sure that at some point I will buy a Cyo because when I ride with my friend I can see that his light is so much better than mine and they are gorgeous, so far I have resisted because my Ixon is perfectly adequate.

Leaving my money in the bank earns me no interest and makes the bankers rich, which annoys me so I can see myself eventually buying a Cyo. When I could have stopped at the Tesco torches.

[benm]

I used to ride on single LED or single GLS bulb lights for years.

Since getting the Orca, which comes with a 3 LED Cateye front and a motion sensitive rear, I have been using that in preference to my existing lamps. I thought it was bright enough... however I soon found that cycling the unlit section of my commute impossible, due to unlit/black clad pedestrians & their pets.

These days I have a £60 Hong Kong special which lights up the unlit section of my commute just nicely - even the ninja peds have nowhere to hide! When I am not riding (or about to be riding) the unlit commute I don't bother with the searchlight.

So why bother with a £50 lamp - well it lets me see where I am going and see the self propelled obstacles that may be in my way.

B.

[ersakus]

spent more than £50 on cateye singleshot few years ago. The real eye opener was a 50mile ride from London on pitch black country lanes with it. You really don't see much and ride nervously with a tiny light like this. Quite exciting though I admit! Now I have a dynamo system, what a revelation. I see what I need to see at bike speeds in dark country roads and never worry about my lights. Yes I did spend much more than 100 quid on this. Was it worth it? Surely in the long run.

[Steve Kish]

It all depends on how much importance you place on the quality of the light, where you intend to use it and how much money you're prepared to pay for it.

A couple of years ago (when I was flush) I paid a shed-load of money for a pair of bar fitting Tiger Lights and a Hope Vision 2 for the helmet. With lights that out-perform my car lights on full beam, I can go on and off-road at any speed I like but since then, I have seen some excellent lights from the far east. Whilst these are not as powerful as my set-up, they cost a fraction of the price.

TBH, these days you can get a decent set using many trade variations of the the Seoul Semiconductor P7 LED emitter for under £100. One of these will produce enough light to tackle all road situations and most off-road ones as well.

[Trigger]

Recently bought a Hope Vision 1 from CRC for £67, what a bargain!

On the lowest flashing setting the comedy value of all the reflective road signs 300 yards up the road "flashing" back at me still hasn't worn off, on setting 4 full beam it's ridiculous. I'd love to see some of the really expensive lights in action