Heading towards the light

Have you tried Solidlights ?

http://www.solidlights.co.uk/

Nothing brighter on a bike... enough people have been blinded by mine:
http://www.lumicycle.com/

as certain people remarked at the last London Wests - 'wtf is that it's bright'

http://www.thephotonshop.co.uk/page22.htm

AA batteries, 180 lumens. £44. bye bye hope.

combine that with the lockstop and it's a really neat front light solution.

I have the smooth reflector (long throw) - combine that with a second 'orange peel' which is wider spread (but less throw) and it's a sub £100 solution for any stuff @ night.

I use Ansmann 2850mAH rechargables and have over 2.5 hours in strobe/turbo mode. over 5 hours in the 120 lumen range, and up to silly hours down at 50 lumens (with 3 other settings inbetween)

I refuse to get a system where I can't get the batteries at a petrol station/newsagent.

Next week I'll see if he can do a LFGSS discount or something if people are interested.

I was looking at the Fenix handlebar mounts - thought about getting that and a Maglite.

heavy-handed mounting bracket...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Zoom-Focus-200-Lumens-LED-BIKE-Bicycle-FRONT-HEAD-LIGHT_W0QQitemZ350240553289QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_SportsLeisure_Cycling_Bike_Lights?hash=item518bf6b949&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Fantastic for the money.

Been through a few cheap CREE torches like this, they tend to work brilliantly until such time as it pisses it down and you get water inside the body. You then end up riding home in the dark with a bike light that doesn't work. Unless you can find one that's actually proper waterproofed instead of just a shitty rubber seal; they tend to be false economy.

as certain people remarked at the last London Wests - 'wtf is that it's bright'

http://www.thephotonshop.co.uk/page22.htm

AA batteries, 180 lumens. £44. bye bye hope.

combine that with the lockstop and it's a really neat front light solution.

I have the smooth reflector (long throw) - combine that with a second 'orange peel' which is wider spread (but less throw) and it's a sub £100 solution for any stuff @ night.

I use Ansmann 2850mAH rechargables and have over 2.5 hours in strobe/turbo mode. over 5 hours in the 120 lumen range, and up to silly hours down at 50 lumens (with 3 other settings inbetween)

I refuse to get a system where I can't get the batteries at a petrol station/newsagent.

Next week I'll see if he can do a LFGSS discount or something if people are interested.

Yup, interested! =) I need something for winter biking, plus off on holiday trekking in a couple of months, this could be just the ticket with it's fancy waterproofedness!

I don't think those Fenixes are worth the extra £30 over some of the offerings by Romisen et al. Build quality isn't that different, and you can add o-rings or silicone grease for extra waterproofing (I'd add grease, even if I had a Fenix).

Oh dear, it's all going a bit CPF, isn't it.

Got any recommendations?

For bike use I've had an Ultrafire C5, a Romisen RC-A2 and one other that's since been binned.

Personally I found none to be sufficient for bike use. One broke due to the internal springs snapping off (for some bizarre reason), the others failed due to rain getting inside.

Sure none were specifically listed as being waterproof but I'm just saying it's important to make sure they are when you're going for these cheap CREEs. Most aren't so you think yeah bargain, but then they go and fail when you most need them.

Been through a few cheap CREE torches like this, they tend to work brilliantly until such time as it pisses it down and you get water inside the body. You then end up riding home in the dark with a bike light that doesn't work. Unless you can find one that's actually proper waterproofed instead of just a shitty rubber seal; they tend to be false economy.

I put the battery pack in an aquapac. Seems to have lasted well thus far.

^^I've got 2 x Romisen RC-N3. The more recent spec, that's advertised as single mode, but has 3 modes (high/low/strobe).

I wanted one as a helmet light, and sometimes use another on the bars, mainly because the Hope Vision 1 I also own will shut off without warning when it runs out of juice. This hasn't happened to me yet, but probably because I run the bar-Romisen on low and the Hope on med, so they're good for 8-10 hours. If I'll only be in darkness for a couple of hours, I just use the Hope (on med/high) and the helmet torch.

I've put a length of inner tube (700c/23mm) around each torch, and silicone greased the seals. I also stretched the cap spring a bit on the one for the bars: due to using it in AA mode (where the bulb end of the torch is slightly wider to take a single other type of cell if preferred), I was getting a bit of battery rattle, and the light was changing mode on me. It's fine now.

I also like it because it's a nice positive forward clicky. The high setting's very bright, so I save it for fast descents, or if I'm charging along on the front at 25+mph on iffy surfaces.

Worth a punt for £11 posted from DX...

Thanks for all the opinions. Seems like torches are a divisive topic - who would have thought that a thread on LFGSS would divide opinion? Weird.

I have a torch handlebar mount on its way. Can anyone recommend a decent, waterproof, rechargeable torch, then? Do Romisen do one? I don't really want to mess with batteries - seems like they will last a lot shorter time than the ones in my commuter lights?

http://www.lumicycle.com/product/183/hire-by-post.htm

You can hire them.

I had a mate who DIY'd lights with normal Halogens and recharchable NiMH batteries. worked well for a hour or so... did way 2.5kg though. so probably fail but the parts literally cost under $40 aud

Thanks for all the opinions. Seems like torches are a divisive topic - who would have thought that a thread on LFGSS would divide opinion? Weird.

I have a torch handlebar mount on its way. Can anyone recommend a decent, waterproof, rechargeable torch, then? Do Romisen do one? I don't really want to mess with batteries - seems like they will last a lot shorter time than the ones in my commuter lights?

bad runtime only if you run them on super nutter mode. drop down the brilliance scale for good runtime. There are times in London when the strobe makes life far easier - probably best not to have it on all the time (e.g going through hyde park is a waste - the cops there loved it tho and asked what it was)

If you are coming to Wests this week - maybe we could have a light/torch comparison - bring your uber lights peeps :)

Momentum has two of these http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15335 which we used one each recently on a bit of off road night riding. They worked really well. Best setup would be one on bars one on head. Buy extra batteries because the life is not that long on them. I'm going to be ordering some of my own soon they where so good and cheap to boot.

Just my 2p but off road in winter I used the HOPE lights, good burn time really bright but only rechargeable and always used a petzel head torch as well, it meant if i had a mechanical i didnt have to struggle to see what was going on

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Zoom-Focus-200-Lumens-LED-BIKE-Bicycle-FRONT-HEAD-LIGHT_W0QQitemZ350240553289QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_SportsLeisure_Cycling_Bike_Lights?hash=item518bf6b949&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Fantastic for the money.

or money no object
http://www.ayuplights.co.uk/content/view/41/109/

and what Will said.
check out the Dunwich thread for SnS's alteration to light mountings.

thanks!!I'm so glad !People like you keep my mind at constant go with ideas and inspiration!

Regards,
Lombard http://www.lyco.co.uk

=

here comes velocio

Get some faith and get your own built-in lighting rig.

Still lookng for a decent waterproof torch for bike use + a bit of camping if anyone has any suggestions.

Fancied a Fenix P30d, uses CR123 batteries but you can buy rechargeables of those so it's fine.

Just the price is putting me off, £50! D=

I've just ordered a Fenix L1D and a lockblock holder. Looks small and bright, well built, reasonably waterproof and I can stash a couple of spare batteries in my bag. I'll let you know how they go on dark roads in the country.

peeps, prod Murtle for his Fenix review and we will have a Fenix LFGSS offer ready to go when he posts it. Free mount with a choice of one from 3 lights (L2D, LD20 or TK11) from the Fenix UK Distributor.

just so you know :)

Cracking timing, cheers...

Awesome, I wanna pick one of these up on next pay day!