Lights

accidentally shorted the battery while i was repairing the lead. Have I killed it?

Did it look like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNsUDmlG6js

If not, it's probably fine.

Ordered one of these - it arrived today and so far I'm impressed. I reckon the rubber will snap eventually but not for a while.

Hopefully I can use the strap which came with the torch to tether it to the bars so that if the rubber does go, the torch just ends up dangling from the bars rather than hitting the deck and smashing.

£4.20 for that!? Aldi were selling one of those, with a shitty rear light and a decent aluminium torch type front light for £6.99 a couple of weeks ago....

Yeah, but I didn't have to go to Aldi.
#snob

Seriously though, £4.20 isn't going to bankrupt me I don't think. I'd best not mention that I'm now considering getting a second one and another torch.

Mine is the Lunar 10, I binned it and bought something decent today. It was just too unreliable for my liking. I don't want to be rubbing oil or KY gel onto my light every morning. I have enough things to do

what did u get?

i know. hoped that i might get some good recommendations in this thread, should of known..

Recommendation:

Buy a light. Use it. If it leaks use above methods.

...or just keep whining.

what did u get?

"you".

Recommendation:

Buy a light. Use it. If it leaks use above methods.

...or just keep whining.

Or, buy one of the lights mentioned that nobody has had any problems with.

Hence Hope Vision 1 - bloody reliable.

what did u get?

Went for a cat eye HL-EL320. Seems ok but you can never be sure until you go out when it's chucking it down

I just got two Smart Lunar 35 Lux to replace a broken B&M Ixon IQ. I'd read one bad review about them leaking water, but otherwise reviews were positive. They've not had a proper drenching yet, but have been out in the rain and so far so good. I'll just keep a close eye on them.

I'm a bit gutted the Ixon IQ only lasted a year, but it was completely abused. I would have got another, it's just that I could get the two Smart lights cheaper and quicker.

My lunar 35 lux is fine in the rain and it's survived being exploded apart in at least 3 separate crashes. In fact one of them I only found the bulb section of the light in the gutter the next day when I was walking past where it happened and it still worked.

Yeah, I bought some for my girlfriend - I'm very impressed for the price. I would've liked the USB cover/cap but to be permanently attached with a rubber strap or something, though, as I can see it going missing.
.

i bought one of these last week after advice from here, mine has the little USB cover attached like you suggest with a little rubber toggle thing.

pretty good light for £12!

My lunar 35 lux is fine in the rain and it's survived being exploded apart in at least 3 separate crashes.

That sounds great as "exploded" apart would be a good way to describe what happened to my Ixon IQ on multiple occasions. I'm hoping for less "exploding" instances with these lights though and am planning on leaving them on the bike and not dropping/throwing them around onto concrete.

Anyone know anything about reliability issues with cateye Slingshots? I have an almost brand new Cateye slingshot light. Pretty much fully charged (20 minutes flashing use against advertised 24hours). Turned it from flashing to constant and it died and left me with no front light. This happened on a fairly busy twisting descent at well over 30mph so pretty scary. An stranded in the middle of Herts with no front light meant a nightmare getting home. I've charged it up again last night and it appears to be working fine again. Anyone heard of similar? I've asked on another forum and had 1 person report the same but Zyro are denying that this could have happened.

On the same subject, light was brought from my LBS but as I've moved to Herts it is now a 3 hour round trip away. Zyco are only replying via standard emails (quality customer service) and are insisting that I deal with the shop. I have no desire to do this as they will clearly refer it to the distributor (intermittent fault, what can they do only the distributor can answer with authority if this is a common fault), I suspect (ok know) I wouldn't get a replacement as it'll be sent away to be looked at and the ballache and cost (timewise and rail fare) of 2 trips to Hackney would make it more economic to not bother! Anyone had any dealings with Zyco, are they as unco-operative as first impressions suggest?

Both 6pt and I have had problems with the singleshot cutting out despite having been charged. I find if I charge it, then unplug and put it on charge again this doesn't happen. Definitely not the best though!

I'm gonna buy one of those Moon lights, they look right handy.

^^ I have used a Singleshot for the last 4 years and it hasn't missed a beat.

It's expensive and not very bright when compared with what you can get from China though (what isn't?). I keep it for around town as it's easy to put-on-take-off, doesn't get hot and fits in a pocket alright.

Any recent experiences of the lockblock torch mount or similar? (the link on the 1st page is broken GA2G)

http://www.ledfiretorches.co.uk/accessories/bike-mounts.html

Any alternatives / better suggestions?

I brought a pair of lights from fleabay last winter, they were suggested up thread from Korea as a great front and solid rear light. The front mount is knackered though and I'm running a bog standard cateye atm.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270793233326&clk_rvr_id=272946211669

Better than the lock block as you can adjust the angle.

Try this.

Nice one, thanks very much Andy. Ordered and paid for.

My experience of the above is that it's alright. My Cree torch does bounce slightly in the mount though, what with road vibrations and the rubber band stretching so I'm going to pad it slightly with something. The mount seems like it's designed for quite slender torches (about 1cm dia) but it holds mine (~2cm) just fine.

Also, I have one of those 3-mode (dim, fast flash, bright) torches and as Dammit (I think?) found using the AAA carrier, bumps in the road are enough to make it change mode which sucks. It always switches to flashing which must be really annoying for oncoming traffic.

I tried it with a pair of CR123A (lithium) batteries though and it was much better, right up until they cut out after half an hour - now I need to dig out the charger and hope that they were almost empty at the time. Also, the torch gets quite warm with the lithium batteries which, given their reputation, worries me a bit.

Hopefully it wasn't a thermal cutout in the batteries which made the torch switch off.

I'm tempted to get a 18650 battery and charger anyway.

That seller ships from HK. It takes about a week and you have to sign for the package which means a trip to the delivery office if you're not home.

Square Beam technology anyone?

http://www.outdoorgb.com/p/Bushell_HD_Square_Beam_Torch/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TORCHES_1111_OGB

Not an exceptionally useful post, but based on the advice in this thread I bought a hope vision 1 and RSP Astrum to compliment my existing set of shitty cateyes. I can't offer the same detail of review as others as I'm still getting used to them and I haven't done as much nighttime cycling this last few weeks. But, first impressions are that they are awesome all round - no idea how I ever managed without. Thank you LFGSS :)

Also got one of these, thanks for the recommendation guys - I prefer it to the simple stretchy rubber strap attachments but it's not perfect. I would recommend adding a bit of rubber in between the plastic block and the handlebars to ensure that it's kept solid. Good enough for me though and at £4.20 delivered from HK I thought the price was OK. Also using one of those cheapo cree lights in it, which are surprisingly good.

skully lights . could berly notice they on the bike . but they doo hit strong.