Lights

My dealextreme ultrafire U4-MCU cree torch kept cutting out on me. It got worse the more I tried tightening it up. Took me a while to work it out, but the brass LED housing was loose. It screws into the reflector block and needs to be a tight fit to make electrical contact.

Once I realised you could remove it, I did and gave it a good clean. Put it back together and I can see in the dark now!

I did all this, thought I'd cured it, and it just backed out again- unscrewed from the housing.

I bought two of these based on recommendations from this thread, one now lives in the car glove box and I use the other one for reading the electricity meter, as both are too unreliable to use as bicycle lights.

BMMF posted a fix earlier in this very thread. It works.

So did I when I recommended it with the due modding instructions. Mine now goes into it's 2nd winter without problems. However a drop wd40 onto the exposed switch did the last bit of reliability improvement for me.

Fancy having a crack at mine then?

love to, sure.

Earlier link says AAA

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/16758/RSP-Astrum-Super-Bright-Rear-Light.html

Will let you know when mine shows up.

Just to confirm that the RSPs are AAA.

I am now blind. Feck, they are they bright.

.

So did I when I recommended it with the due modding instructions. Mine now goes into it's 2nd winter without problems. However a drop wd40 onto the exposed switch did the last bit of reliability improvement for me.
modding instructions? pray tell

Decided to go with the same one myself, ordered from the UK so hopefully it won't take too long to arrive. Paired with my (really) cheap 5w Cree torch on the helmet it should be enough for Muddy Hell too, as long as the mount is reasonably sturdy.

Received this yesterday.

Cable is an awkward length: too short to leave in a jersey pocket (whilst mounted on the helmet) or leave in a saddlebag (whilst on the bars) and too long for the stem. Battery casing is quite cheap and hard to mount anywhere neatly too. Other than that it seems great so far, tested it off-road and it was plenty bright enough, my small helmet torch was almost redundant (though useful for picking up roots close up).

I got a set of those £1.50 eBay lights a couple of months ago and I'm actually really impressed, they're pretty bright, certainly bright enough for just getting about on the relatively well lit streets of Bournemouth and Southampton. The only problems I've encountered are that the mounts are a bit crap and the rear light tends to turn itself on in my bag, but apart from that, for £5 posted they're pretty bitching!

which lights are you referring to ?

which lights are you referring to ?

These ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110531474223?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Yeah those. I've got a set as well. Unbeatable for £5. The rear ones are pretty crappy though.

I've found mine has a very tight spot. Very bright if you're head on to the torch but a few degrees out and you can't see it at all, but still, at that price probably better than anything else.

MTE SF-23 SSC P7-D-SXO 5-Mode Memory (*900 Lumens*) (450 lumens in reality)
On the medium setting, it should last 3 hours, and still give 200-300 lumens of light.
Max power is 450 lumens (actual) and runtime is stated as 2.5 hours (at full power).

I bought an identical torch (or extremely similar) torch from DX Extreme last year. I've been very impressed with its output and my only criticisms are that the strobe mode is obviously designed to be disorientating so I don't use it in traffic and the torch holder I bought separately from DX doesn't hold the torch as tightly and as rigidly as I had hoped. Still great performance for the price.

i currently have snowy's rear light and no front, since some turd nicked my lights.

Thank God, I actually thought I was going bonkers as I couldn't find that bloody light. I've been hunting everywhere for it, and didn't think of the big ginge.

Errr... so at risk of inflaming the UTFS brigade I'm a little confused by the overabundance of information in this thread. Obviously I use lights, but in the past my winter cycling has always been done either during the day/on the turbo for training and on well lit routes for commuting, so I've only had a collection of cheapish "visibility" lights. Now with a change of circs I've already found myself riding on dark unlit country roads in almost complete blindness... not ideal!!

I'm therefore in the market for a new front light. The two main criteria is that it should be able to illuminate my way on unlit country roads (no off roading) and be as cheap as possible. Secondary criteria would be that it would be reliable, small, and easy to attach and remove from the bike. I think I'd like to avoid battery packs, but would like a reasonable battery life (c. 2 hours commute daily).

Any reccomendations for the best value front light that will allow me to keep riding unlit roads through the winter would be much appreciated. Alternatively, since I know this forum isn't in the business of doing my job for me, if someone could set me off in the right direction (eg. how many lumens/watts should I be looking for) I'd be very grateful.

I'd go for a Hope Vision 1. I can get 4 hours runtime on a set of AA batteries and it's easily bright enough to illuminate dark country roads.

or the fenix LD20 :)

The Vision1 is fine. A little overkill for lanes, I only ever use the two lowest settings, constant runtime in the lowest setting on a decent set of AAs is 30Hrs. I always use rechargeable batteries and have never had a problem.

I have been pulled up on it before by the plod - legally a light needs to be visible from the sides so I run a small cateye when I'm away from dark lanes.

ewanmac has said as cheap as possible. That rules out the HOPE I believe?

Yeah, being seen on unlit country lanes isn't worth much.

This might be an option: http://www.lumenjunkies.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=35&product_id=109

1200 lumens for £30.00 (+ battery). Lumens are probably closer to 600-700 in reality.

Though any light producing more than 250 lumens and lasting more than 3 hours, should work for him.

And andyp, I cycle in the winter in the dark and in the snow, and my winter light is used specifically then, and it is brighter than a car headlight. Solarforce L2R.

Oh yes, one of my own main criteria for a light is that it takes AA or AAA batteries, so that I can buy my own charger and batteries from common sources.

Am sure Andyp holds your opinion in high regard like I do.

Give it a rest.