Bicycle rechargeable headlights - price variation - what to buy.

[John Malyon]

I have decided to replace my Cygolite Streak (280 lumens) and my NiteRider (350 lumens) both bought about 8 to 10 years ago with something brighter and more modern. It now seems the basic headlight for someone who likes to see where they are going in pitch black darkness is about 1000 lumens which sounds pretty good to me. So in doing my Google search I find bike headlights all over the place pricewise. I saw NiteRider and other familiar brands Bontrager and Cygolite all 1000 lumens or more for somewhere between $90 and $150.
From Walmart I just ordered Cshidworld 1000 lumen rechargeable for about $20 and from Amazon a EBUYFIRE USB Rechargeable (1000 lumens) also $20. Neither of these lights have arrived yet but my question is, assuming I have not been totally scammed and they do arrive, what should I expect or not expect from theses lights? Do the popular brands charge more because they can or is there a legitimate reason why they are 4 to 5 time the cost of these obscure brand name rechargeable headlights I've naively ordered? Do these lights have crummy batteries or do the LED's pop and die early?
Any feedback from anyone with experience in this area would be most illuminating - so to speak .
Thanks - John.

 

[Joshua Turner]

I’ve tried a few now and have been very happy with my 1300 lumen Lyzne for $100. Many of my peers have it too. The only reliable one that’s brighter that I’ve seen is a night rider at 2400Lumen. If it’s cheaper than $85 it’s problem no good.

 

[Ener]

Mounting a good flashlight is beneficial Because the flashlight helps multipurpose after you can use it for other purposes as I did. If you can't find the right one then I want to suggest mounting a Nitecore flashlight. It comes with 4000 lumens, different modes, maximum beam distance is 454 meters long. It's a worthy flashlight to mount with any device.

 

[Froze]

The problem with most bike lights is that they use a flashlight type of beam that is round instead of a cut off beam like car and motorcycle lights have. The other issue that just irks me is that the vast majority of lights do NOT have a replaceable battery, so you have a light you spent $120 or so for and in 3 to 5 years you have to buy another, while the LED bulb is just fine for another 15 years but you have to throw it away!

The other thing is that a cyclist does not need 4,000 lumens, a car has between 700 to 1,200 on low to 2,000 to 4,000 lumens on high but a car is going a lot faster than a cyclist which the average cyclist only does 13-mph, even if you are a 20-mph rider you only need at the most 1,000 lumens for road riding. Most of the time I run around 700 lumens at 20mph and I'm more than fine and I have 68-year-old eyes.

Here is a site that lets you compare about 40 lights, it's a great starting point so you can see what you're up against: The best 2021/22 front lights for cycling: Our big beam comparison engine plus bumper guide on how to choose | road.cc

The Knog PWR series are expensive but they do offer a user replaceable battery, as does the Fenix line of lights but those are a bit less expensive than the Knog's.

As far as cheap Amazon lights, is that 99% of them are far over rating their lumens, usually their about 2/3rds to 1/2 less than what they state; and their battery run time specs are also far over rated. Since these batteries are made in China they degrade rapidly to where they will only charge up about 50% of what they did new a year later which means of course the run time drops a lot. They were having some problems with the batteries catching fire and people were recommending to charge them in a fire proof can on a concrete surface so as not to burn down the house, but I think they corrected that issue? regardless I still would charge in can on concrete just to be safe.

Now the light you ordered seems to have very high reviews, so since you ordered it, I would try it and see if it's any good, if not, send it back.