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Bike Light Comparison

If some of you haven't seen that bike light comparison here on Road CC website and are considering purchasing a new light this is a fantastic comparison tool, you should be using it.  The only problem I've found with it is the price quotes given for the lights have been off by as much as $80; for example the light I liked was the Cateye Volt 1600 which for the price listed on this site of $150 was a great deal, except the cheapest place I could find it was on Amazon for $230!  That's a huge difference, so if you use this site and you have a price in mind that you want to spend double check the prices on Amazon.  Of course if you are in the market for a light and can wait a few months, the end of the year sales should begin around Feb when the days start getting longer and people won't be buying as many lights; that's what I'll be doing...waiting for the price to drop on that Cateye Volt 1600.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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12 comments

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froze | 6 years ago
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That's weird, my last post appeared twice, so I deleted one of them thinking I must have accidently saved it twice and both got deleted??

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
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I've got a nice wide beam, conforms to all the standards, light of about 400 lumens atop the bars and a nice led flashing 'be seen' high on the fork.

 

I've got a naughty dirty great import light which I use with one of those bar mount extender type things (for when you run out of space on the bars). This is turned upside down so it is a little above the height of the front wheel and is ideal for lighting the potholes without causing upset! 

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HLaB | 6 years ago
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It is useful but whether I'm right or wrong (there's a song there) I went against it when it came to replacing my Volt 300 and got the Volt 400 despite the Volt800 being vastly superior in the test sad I decided I didn't need a massive improvement on the 300 which was good enough for unlit country lanes (I'd back it up with a smart lunar 35 though and will probaby still do that) and the recharge times of the 800 were just a little too long.

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richiewormiling | 6 years ago
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i wish cyclists wouldnt get such high lumens, getting silly now. As quite a few times can't even see where i'm going on the other side of the road as they are SO bright.

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to richiewormiling | 6 years ago
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richiewormiling wrote:

i wish cyclists wouldnt get such high lumens, getting silly now. As quite a few times can't even see where i'm going on the other side of the road as they are SO bright.

resolve the multiple reasons why they do and they probably would. Like police blaming victims of crime for not being 'lit up brightly' despite legal lights.

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froze replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
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BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

richiewormiling wrote:

i wish cyclists wouldnt get such high lumens, getting silly now. As quite a few times can't even see where i'm going on the other side of the road as they are SO bright.

resolve the multiple reasons why they do and they probably would. Like police blaming victims of crime for not being 'lit up brightly' despite legal lights.

Some are over bright that's for sure, I think the sweet spot is 450 to 600 lumens (depending on how fast your ride) for most riding, with 700 to 900 being the bright setting for dark rainy nights or dark unlit bike paths or dark county roads and depending on how fast you ride.  The faster rider you are the more you want higher power so you don't over ride your light.

Some of you might disagree with my sweet spot and max lumens figures, but having done a lot of riding at night I find those to be about right.  I use two lights when I ride at night, one on the bar and one on the helmet.  The bar light is a Philips Saferide that puts out a max of 400 lumens according to the package, but it has aimed optics which makes the light appear to be around 1000 lumens.  I did see this light in a comparison against other lights a few years ago and the Phillips outperformed lights that were rated for 1500 lumens, but the higher powered ones were round beams so you could see tree tops with it, while the Phillips, being experts in car headlight design, threw a much brighter beam on the road but did not light up tree tops.  My other light is a Cygolite Mightycross 450 OSP, but this beam is round and is noticably dimmer unless I aim it down on the road instead of outward to ride with, but not unusable by itself.  This is why it's important that you look at the comparisons of the various lights because not all lights will look the same even with the same lumens.  Also keep in mind that cameras cannot replicate what the light will look like with the human eye, but at least it gives you an idea of how one light compares with another so you can make a half way intellegent decision.

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janusz0 replied to richiewormiling | 6 years ago
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richiewormiling wrote:

i wish cyclists wouldn't get such high lumens, getting silly now. As quite a few times can't even see where i'm going on the other side of the road as they are SO bright.

I'm fine with other cyclists having as many lumens as they want. What pisses me off is cyclists who can't be bothered to lower them below a cyclists' eye level. On their side, I admit it would be a lot easier if these lights conformed to the British Standard and had a nice horizontal cut off at the top of the beam. A circular beam is just a waste of light and a pain in oncoming eyes.

Sometimes it would be nice to have a quick flash function for cars and bikes approaching with undipped headlights. In fact a camera with a flash would do nicely to warn them and record number plates. Ditto for the numerous cars driving around town without lights at night!

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froze replied to janusz0 | 6 years ago
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janusz0 wrote:
richiewormiling wrote:

i wish cyclists wouldn't get such high lumens, getting silly now. As quite a few times can't even see where i'm going on the other side of the road as they are SO bright.

I'm fine with other cyclists having as many lumens as they want. What pisses me off is cyclists who can't be bothered to lower them below a cyclists' eye level. On their side, I admit it would be a lot easier if these lights conformed to the British Standard and had a nice horizontal cut off at the top of the beam. A circular beam is just a waste of light and a pain in oncoming eyes. Sometimes it would be nice to have a quick flash function for cars and bikes approaching with undipped headlights. In fact a camera with a flash would do nicely to warn them and record number plates. Ditto for the numerous cars driving around town without lights at night!

 

I agree.  I don't understand why light manufactures don't use a asymmetric cutoff like my Phillips Saferide and a few others, the technology is there and has been around since 1990's when HID headlights came out, this is a very easy thing to do, yet we still get the majority of lights being nothing more then a flashlight beam.  I think, not sure though, but I think Phillips created the asymmetric cutoff beam; I wish Phillips had kept selling their light because it is very good, the best beam brightness on the road that I've seen where I live even 5 years after I bought it! and it wasn't horribly expensive.

I also don't understand this last fad of car drivers driving around in the dark with nothing on but their amber parking lights, or no lights at all.  The odder thing is about this behavior is that the cops don't seem to care?  I remember back in the earlier 60's that same fad started but ended rather quickly because a new law that said lights must be on no later than 30 minutes after sunset and no earlier than 30 minutes before sunrise, and the cops started writing tickets for this activity and in a short period of time the fad ended.  That law is still on the books today yet cops don't enforce it.  I'm not sure about the flash idea, and the plate thing won't work because some states don't require a front plate which I think is very stupid...I live in one of those states!  But recording plates would be an invasion of privacy and would never be allowed.

When I ride my bike at night and an oncoming cyclist refuses to dim his lights I just aim my helmet light right at their eyes until they get the idea.

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TypeVertigo | 6 years ago
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If you can't muster up the cash for the Volt 1600, I bet you won't be too disappointed with its older Volt 1200 brother. I run mine at half power around the mean streets of Manila 90% of the time while riding in the dark.

The 1600 does have better resistance to cosmetic corrosion because of the (anodized?) black finish on the light head. The Volt 800 has this same finish, and on mine, it's held up very well.

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Ratfink | 6 years ago
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I agree that the light comparison tool is a wonderful thing and i used it myself to make my choice of a ravemen PR900 which arrived yesterday but for me the price was spot on at £84.99 i could've saved a bit by ordering it from China but since my previous light packed up on Fri i was in a hurry and couldn't wait a week or so.

I just looked at amazon and the Cateye Volt 1600 is there for £157.99 (sold by sigma sport),Evans have it for £127.99 plus if you order before midnight tomorrow an extra 10% off.(no stock until 22/11 though).

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froze replied to Ratfink | 6 years ago
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Ratfink wrote:

I agree that the light comparison tool is a wonderful thing and i used it myself to make my choice of a ravemen PR900 which arrived yesterday but for me the price was spot on at £84.99 i could've saved a bit by ordering it from China but since my previous light packed up on Fri i was in a hurry and couldn't wait a week or so.

I just looked at amazon and the Cateye Volt 1600 is there for £157.99 (sold by sigma sport),Evans have it for £127.99 plus if you order before midnight tomorrow an extra 10% off.(no stock until 22/11 though).

 

I still find the Cateye Volt 1600 for $220; see: https://www.amazon.com/CatEye-Volt-1600-Rechargeable-Headlight/dp/B0145Z...

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Ratfink replied to froze | 6 years ago
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froze wrote:

Ratfink wrote:

I agree that the light comparison tool is a wonderful thing and i used it myself to make my choice of a ravemen PR900 which arrived yesterday but for me the price was spot on at £84.99 i could've saved a bit by ordering it from China but since my previous light packed up on Fri i was in a hurry and couldn't wait a week or so.

I just looked at amazon and the Cateye Volt 1600 is there for £157.99 (sold by sigma sport),Evans have it for £127.99 plus if you order before midnight tomorrow an extra 10% off.(no stock until 22/11 though).

 

I still find the Cateye Volt 1600 for $220; see: https://www.amazon.com/CatEye-Volt-1600-Rechargeable-Headlight/dp/B0145Z...

Hmm well according to XE.com $220 =£166 you do realise the prices on the comparison tool are in GB pounds?

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