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Budget Lights

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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That time of year in the northern tier of states. Not enough daylight left to ride after work without lights.

I have been riding the same two-light setup for a few years. The bright but cheap Chinese light I've been using on the bar died last year. I have a really nice made-in-NH DiNotte light that's still working like new. I can keep it in on the helmet or move it to the bar. I need a replacement for the cheapo. Can't afford another DiNotte.

Light has to run for two hours on high. Thinking it might be nice to have an integrated light on the helmet and dispense with the dangling wire issue.

Thoughts?
 

Tom K.

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firebanex

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I'm a sucker for led lights and sales.. so I've picked up quite a few different self contained lights from Bontrager, Cateye, Light and Motion, Niterider, and Cygolite in the 400-500 lumen range and they all work on high for somewhere between 1.5 and 2 hours. My preference is to the Light and Motion Urban 500 and Bontrager Ion 450 right now, they have easier mounts and a beam pattern I like better. I use the Bontrager Ion 450 as my DRL on flasher mode all summer and it gets service as a backup emergency light for winter fat bike riding.

You might try your local Trek dealer and see if you can talk them into a deal on the Ion 800.. my local shop has discounted all their remaining 800 stock for 50% off cause the new Ion 1300 is out shortly.

Now it might be stretching your budget but my absolute favorite self contained light right now is the Light and Motion Taz 1200, it has 2 spots and 1 flood emitter.. the beam pattern is glorious and it's "only" $130. Medium beam is still 600 lumens and 3ish hours of light. This light is big and heavy, not so good for helmet mounts
 
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Rod9301

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No need to pay more than$30 for a high powered LED light.
The ones for by trek or other big names are still designed and made in China.
 
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Tony S

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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I'm a sucker for led lights and sales.. so I've picked up quite a few different self contained lights from Bontrager, Cateye, Light and Motion, Niterider, and Cygolite in the 400-500 lumen range and they all work on high for somewhere between 1.5 and 2 hours. My preference is to the Light and Motion Urban 500 and Bontrager Ion 450 right now, they have easier mounts and a beam pattern I like better. I use the Bontrager Ion 450 as my DRL on flasher mode all summer and it gets service as a backup emergency light for winter fat bike riding.

You might try your local Trek dealer and see if you can talk them into a deal on the Ion 800.. my local shop has discounted all their remaining 800 stock for 50% off cause the new Ion 1300 is out shortly.

Now it might be stretching your budget but my absolute favorite self contained light right now is the Light and Motion Taz 1200, it has 2 spots and 1 flood emitter.. the beam pattern is glorious and it's "only" $130. Medium beam is still 600 lumens and 3ish hours of light. This light is big and heavy, not so good for helmet mounts

Great info. Thanks. Are you using the Taz on singletrack? I did a little Googling and a lot of people have not been enamored of this light. Hmmm. Also, for me the point of a self contained unit is so I can put it on my helmet without that dangling wire. This lights appears not to have a helmet mount. Thoughts?
 

firebanex

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The L&M Taz has a gopro adapter along with the usual bar mount, I've used the gopro mount adapter for it on my ski helmet before but never a bike helmet. Honestly I think it might weigh a bit much for a helmet light. (I kinda missed that part of your OP when I started talking about this light) I just really love the beam pattern on it, its got great coverage nearfield with the flood and the spot light is sufficiently big that actually illuminates enough of the stuff in front of me. Single track use, yes, but in the winter on a fat bike so I'm going slower than someone on a normal bike on dirt. I'm in Alaska, we rarely need lights for singletrack in the summer months, only really in the winter and at that point riding is quite a bit slower and and we are more concerned with watching out for Moose down the trail and not getting hit by snowmachines or cars. The local shop guys ride with 3k-5k+ lumen light systems if that gives you an indication of what we worry about here.

I just went and checked/compared all the beams of the lights I have to remind myself why I like the L&M lights in my collection over the others. They have a more even spot light compared to everything else I own, the Bontrager Ion 450 was very close, but the cheaper Cygolight and Nitrider had very strong gradient within the spot and don't send much light around the spot.

So if I were to pick a helmet light out of the ones I currently own, I would be tied between the L&M Urban 500 and the Bontrager Ion 450. They are both light weight, sameish battery life, and a very similar well covered spot light.

Another place to look for info on less expensive lights is the various "cheap lights" threads on MTBR in the lights section, http://forums.mtbr.com/lights-night-riding/ I lurk there quite a lot and there should be quite a bit about other lights you may not have thought of yet.
 
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Tony S

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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I've been very happy with this one - pretty impressive for the $:
https://www.amazon.com/Revtronic-16...1600+Lumens+Bike+Light+-+Cree+LED+Bike+Lights
It's probably closer to 1K - 1.3K lumens.

How long have you had it, how many rides do you have on it, and how many fires have you had to douse so far? Just curious.

(I had one of these ubiquitous no-name lights. Different branding. It was bright, light, and cheap. It did not start any fires. However, the battery did not last, and I don't want to put good money after bad with a new battery pack.)
 

kingsalami

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I've had it for a year and a half, but have only put about 25 hours on it. I haven't noticed any degradation in the battery. Even though lithium ion batteries have been going up in quality while going down in price over the past 5 or 6 years, you're correct in being concerned about battery longevity. For less than $60, I expect it to last at least 5 yrs...that's good enough for me.
 

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