Lights - Training at night

[WillemJM]

After a loooong layoff, I'm road training now for almost 5 months and to keep it up, I have to ride at night during the week.

Sooo, I purchased a light I think, almost 20 years ago, being a Niterider Digital Pro 12E, which was top of the range back then, used it for about a year and it went back into its box in storage. You can see the light with a review here, not mine:
http://bigyver.blogspot.com/2009/03/niterider-digital-pro-12-e-bicycle.html

Anyways, took it out of its box this Sunday, kick started the battery and charged it. Went out last night for 2 hours, using from normal to full capacity and it had a 1/4 charge left when I came back.

Problem is it is obsolete, so when I have issues I will probably have to replace it.

What am I missing with the new digital lights and what would be the best buy? Some of my route includes 45 mph downhils, with no street lights, so I need something bright.

 

[alienator]

What am I missing with the new digital lights and what would be the best buy? Some of my route includes 45 mph downhils, with no street lights, so I need something bright.

The only real function of digital computing in lights is in current control and monitoring of battery state. Do you mean LED lights? No matter the case, I highly recommend Ay Up lights. They're bright, super light, and about as weather tight as any light available. I love mine.

 

[WillemJM]

Originally Posted by alienator .


The only real function of digital computing in lights is in current control and monitoring of battery state. Do you mean LED lights?
No matter the case, I highly recommend Ay Up lights. They're bright, super light, and about as weather tight as any light available. I love mine.

Thanks for the linky, yes, I did mean LED.

 

[Hugh Juunit]

Modern LED lights will be far superior to any product even more than a few years old. I have been riding in pretty much complete darkness with a 100 lumen LED head lamp - that level of light is barely passable.

There are plenty of offerings in the 200+ lumen range - though the brand name stuff is spendy. I took a risk and bought a 1000 lumen Cree based headlamp off of Ebay from a US seller for 22 dollars. It worked for about 10 seconds before the regulator board fried. I bypassed the board and the headlamp is indeed very bright; the LED and optics are kosher at least. I figure that the light should be sufficient at a fraction of max brightness. The seller offered me free return shipping on the product and I will be getting a new unit soon.

The shortcoming of the unit (other than a questionable circuit board) is that it is powered by 4 AA batteries, not included. I figure I will pick up some high capacity NiMH cells for the job.

 

[Aussie Steve]

.Ebay shows lots of "Cree" LED lights. I am confused as to the stated lumen ratings, as some are a lot more expensive than others of the same rating. I would say the claims of the cheaper ones are misleading. I ride on a bike path at night; this is lit by street lights - far too many dark spots due to trees blocking the street lights. I need a very strong light to illuminate the path. I stopped the other night to have a pee and noticed that my Tioga LED light appeared (while I was stopped) to offer a LOT more illumination than when I was going at 30km/h (18mph) Weird.

 

[slowfoot]

i like one bright one on my helmet and one on my handlebars.
that way i can illuminate things other then those right in front of my bike.
i can look ahead around corners, light up the deer trying to t-bone me etc

i have a mini-newt 150 on my helmet. now you can get 200-450 for you helmet.
and a 150 on my bars.
if you up to 200 each or more you'll be laughing at how ridiculously well lit the road or trail is.

ideally, i would put a dual beam on the bars and a helmet light.

look at these prices!! maybe santa is listening........

http://www.rei.com/gear/feature/search/Google_Cycling/nite%20rider?gclid=CNG594TL27MCFY-d4AodvGMAIw&s_kwcid=TC|13029|nite%20rider%20lights||S|b|20251709045&ef_id=UKpwVgAAVJ@TbgKu:20121119174558:s

 

[Bob Ross]

I spent the last 5 years doing night rides with a Niterider MiNewt Dual ...which, as the name suggests, consists of two headlamps. I really like the dual lamp arrangement, as not only did it provide more light output but I could focus that light where I wanted it.

The battery finally lost its ability to hold a charge, and the price of a replacement battery (~$165) was more than the cost of a (or several, actually) new LED light that could rival if not exceed the light output of the MiNewt Dual.

I wound up getting two different units: a Niterider Lumina 650 ($120), and one of the Chinese clones of the MagicShine headlight (~$35).
I mostly use only one at a time, except for those sections of road where there are no lights anywhere and then I fire up both units simultaneously. They're both mounted on my bars, though I've done some rides with the MagicChine on the bars & the Niterider on my helmet.

If I had to do it again I think I would splurge and just buy two Niterider Lumina 650s...being wireless just makes installation, deployment, recharging, & removal so much cleaner.

And if I were doing nighttime offroad rides I'd get three: two on the bars & one on the helmet. But then if I ever encountered oncoming traffic they'd want to kill me!

 

[MotownBikeBoy]

I've got two of these Phillips mounted up front. Totally awesome lights, extremely bright, gives me great near and far path illumination. Initial battery set started to give out on one light after about 3-4 months of heavy use. No big deal though, they take Nickle metal hydride AA's, four of them. Picked up a pack of Duracells for under $10, back in business. Only real issue is battery life, 2 hours high, 8 hours low. Low is bright enough to be safe, I just prefer high. I often alternate to stretch it. But I also learned to carry 8 fully charged replacements and a #10 Torx driver in my pack for field replacement. http://www.mea.philips.com/c/Bicycle%20lamps/saferide-80-lux-bf48l20bblx1/prd?country=SA&catalogType=CONSUMER&language=en