Rappstar’s reviews of lights (and seeing the scars and hearing him tell the story during the TV coverage of IM Arizona) has got me thinking about the inadequacy of the lights I currently have. They cost about $50 total, and the front is so bulky I just don’t like using it. If I think I can get away without it (and I always think I can) then I leave it at home. I don’t intentionally ride at night but probably get cought out later than expected about 3 times a year. I also like to get out as soon as it is light enough to see ahead on a weekend morning…and as I usually head to the road along large river I occassionally encounter unexpected stretches of fog. So how bright a light do I need to be able to see ahead after the sun has gone down?. The exposure joystick lights look cool - so is 300 lumens enough to see at night (as well as be seen during the day)?. I just don’t have a good perspective of how bright 300 or 600 lumens is - compared to something like a car headlight. And what about a 80 lumen rear light - is that as bright as a car tail light?
I think I will use a 99g light all the time, as long as it does what I need.
Minimum for riding (15mph) - 200 lumens. $55 Fenix L2D. These are bright enough to nearly blind an oncoming pedestrian.
For good riding (20+mph) - 600 lumens. Magicshine or Jetlites $200-$300. If shone into an oncoming driver’s eyes, it will blind them for sure, but you won’t be aiming these anywhere but the road anyway.
For aggressive mountain biking or very fast riding (probably better off indoors), $500+.
If you buy bike-specific products that they sell in the LBS as opposed to generic LED flashlights and torches, you will pay double the aforementioned listed prices.
First off I’d think about some lights you can leave on the bike. I have a set of the Blackburn Flea lights. They are super light and super bright. I leave them on all year long. They are quite eye catching and will get you home at dusk/dark no problem. By that I mean you will easily get cars’ attention. You won’t really be able to see with them but then most streets have street lights plus the spill over from car headlights.
To actually see I’d say you need at least 200 lumens. I’ve got a 300 lumen light (Light and Motion Stella 300) and it’s plenty bright for getting cars’ attention and seeing down the road. The Lupine Piko is really bright as well (550 lumen) and lighter although with less run time. The plus is that the whole system will fit on your helmet which is handy.
80 lumen is fairly bright. The Fleas are 40 and are quite eye catching. To some extent the hue of the light matters too. Incadescent lights are usually very yellow and perceived to not be as bright even if they are. (Think typical car headlight) HID or LED lights with a more white/blue tinge are more eye catching. I don’t know how many lumens a car headlight is but 550 is blinding and even 300 is pretty darn bright close up.
Remember lumens are perceived on a log scale. Therefore going from 10 to 100 lumens will appear to be twice as bright to your eye.
Also note that the shape of the beam (as determined by the lense) is also a very important factor in determining how useful a given light will be for your specified application. Peter White has a pretty good writeup of beam pattern and cutoff on his website (spend some time reading and clicking around - you can learn a lot there) and while there are those that argue with his extreme emphasis on cutoff patterns and German highway codes, you’d do very well to start out there as a primer.
Most of the little LED lights sold as “bike lights” are decent at increasing one’s visibility after dark, but not particularly effective in bright sunlight. The smaller/less expensive ones are less effective around more ambient light (city) than the more expensive/brighter ones.
For a truly effective lighting system for high speed riding after dusk and/or significantly increasing one’s visibility during peak daylight hours, you’re looking at a few hundred bucks/lumens as a starting point.
An 80lm rear light, like the RedEye, is about as bright as a car’s taillight.
I would say 100lm is enough to get noticed, either front or rear. The VIS360 I reviewed had a 100lm front, and that was plenty visible. Beam angle/dispersion is REALLY important. 100lm with a VERY narrow beam angle is way less visible than a wide beam angle. So that’s another thing to consider.
If you’ve got 800-200lm front/rear, that’s enough for visibility.
For riding at night, 400lm is the minimum, IMO, if you want to see the road. And I do mean BARE minimum.
Keep in mind that a car headlamp is probably going to be more usefully measured in lux, which accounts for light “volume.” I’m going to cover lumens vs. lux in the next article if you can wait that long.
FYI, I use the niterider trinewt 500 advertised lumens on high. There are times when I’m riding ~18mph or so on an unlit bike trail riding towards oncoming traffic in an adjacent road and I can barely see any distance ahead due to blindness from those car headlights. I guess what I’m saying is there are times where you’ll want more than “typical” use.
BTW, I usually ride ~15mph on the lowbeam setting, ~250 lumens I think.
I think i am going to splash out the $200 - $300 necessary to be seen in daylight and at night, and to see at dawn and dusk. As I mentioned, I don’t have to ride in the dark too often but getting caught outside later than you are equipped for is scary as hell.
I’ll watch another few rounds of reviews, ask a few of the more sensible experienced cyclists I know and decide in the next couple of weeks.
I’ll watch another few rounds of reviews, ask a few of the more sensible experienced cyclists I know and decide in the next couple of weeks.
I’m waiting for Jordan to get his hands on lights by Ay-Up and Dinotte. While he didn’t cover the Diablo in his Exposure review, I’m thinking that that light coupled with the coming-soon version of the Redeye (that’s supposed to flash) could be THE killer app.
But, how can one not LOVE a rear light that does this?
as a new tri bike owner I was evaluating the options further and another practical question came to mind.
where do you attach a largish headlight on atri bike?.
In the video of the exposure lights, the Strada looks a lot more visible in daylight than the Joystick, but where can it go on a tri-bike without my hands being in the way? I could get a bar mounted light such as the Strada or an alternative for my road bike and use something different on my tri-bike.
Anybody have or what are your thoughts on the L&M 2010 Seca 700 light?
I had an old L&M ARC Li-ion light than needed the bulb replaced. LBS told me it was going to cost me $$. I contacted L&M and they said $150 to change the bulb or I could trade in/upgrade to the SECA 700 light head for the same price of $150.
Think I’m going to do it anyway, but anyone here ever used this light and have an opinion on it?
google search for a handlebar flashlight mount and a battery charger for the lithium batteries and you will be burning retinas for under $40 shipped. Buy two and put one on your helmet for night riding trails. You can mail me your leftover $400 for the fact that i saved you from buying a Niterider P.O.S.
google search for a handlebar flashlight mount and a battery charger for the lithium batteries and you will be burning retinas for under $40 shipped. Buy two and put one on your helmet for night riding trails. You can mail me your leftover $400 for the fact that i saved you from buying a Niterider P.O.S.
I’d like to see one of these lights compared to a “real” (term used loosley) bike light just to see the beam difference - such as the 480 Lumens Hope light posted above. I could be WAY off base here, but for some reason I don’t think the pocket LED light will even compare. Again I could be way off base on this one. Light could be nice, but possible the beam is very narrow??
…anyway your have a valid point, you can probably make a really good and bright light (many already do) with a good sized rechargable battery for well under $100.
Yeah, not the worst idea (except charging times can be on the long side for this solution).
I switched to a flashlight-based system for two reasons:
The self-contained lights (without external battery pack) are much better when switching from bike to bike or for commuting.
I think most headlights have to small a reflector for daytime riding. Both the size of the light source and brightness are important.
If you only ride at night and don’t switch the lights between bikes, YMMV.
Yep handlebar flashlight mount - google it. $10 on Amazon probably. As for brightness, search for “ultrafire” on MTBR forums, guys have pics there, and I’m too lazy to get mine out and compare it to my old Light and Motion light. But its brighter. Heck, if not, buy 5 of them and you’re still $300 bucks ahead.
Anybody have or what are your thoughts on the L&M 2010 Seca 700 light?
I had an old L&M ARC Li-ion light than needed the bulb replaced. LBS told me it was going to cost me $$. I contacted L&M and they said $150 to change the bulb or I could trade in/upgrade to the SECA 700 light head for the same price of $150.
Think I’m going to do it anyway, but anyone here ever used this light and have an opinion on it?
Michael
I haven’t used it, so this is all second hand. The Seca head generally has a very wide beam pattern. The general consensus that I’ve gathered is that it’s too wide for 700lm. It is, in many folks opinion, the BEST dispersed beam on the market, but that you really need the 1400 to provide enough light to actually make that much spread usable.
The 1400 gets rave reviews (except for the mounting system), but the 700 seems to be a bit underpowered for how wide the beam is.
