Budget Powerful Lights

This is a brilliant new light, just launched and has a solid waterproof battery case, quick release 360 clamp + standard rubber rings, head mount + helmet mount and a new beam selector which stops the light turning off: 

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/amazing-briter-cree-bicycle-light-with-t...

I bought my old man a Solar storm too.

We went through the woods on a night ride and it was bright enough for us to ride at fast speed.  

Aim it down for road use. 

Bought 2 battery cases and waiting for the batteries to die before buying a charger and Panasonic 18650's.

Rear options:

He's using a Cateye TL-LD1100 10 LED Opticube Rear Light.  Seems rain proof and visually very good from the side too. But bulky. Any LBS.

I use a Metroflash Danger zone tail light. Nice and light and very bright.  Amazon?

Not sure how water resistant this is yet.

Just ordered the Busch & Müller Ixon IQ Premium from Germany. Powerful beam, with a cutoff in order not to dazzle people into crashing into me (thanks, German StVZO), and £60 delivered including rechargable batteries (internal, no external pack dangling about), a charger, the oversized bar mount, and a glare shield (in order not to dazzle myself when out of the saddle). Pretty decent deal.

The non-"Premium" version was tested here a few years ago, and I wasn't convinced mostly because the beam looked very narrow. The "Premium" version however looks like it fixed that. Mind, there is also a "Speed" version (and a "Speed Premium"), but that one comes with an external battery pack, not too keen on that - only thing it does is burn a wee bit brighter and run longer. The non-"Speed" version runs for 5 hours on the high setting, and 20 hours on low, which should be more than enough for me.

Non-"Premium":

"Premium":

Looking forward to doing some night rides. Just need to find a decent rear light now to accompany the weak-ish 30 lumen Fly6 on the seatpost.

Nice one Al.  Don't leave the battery charging overnight.  3 hours from from flat to green is enough.

Damn cheap and a damn good light.

Bought myself a trip plug for gardening to use on the charger just in case.

Might have to look into that lens swap during an upgrade.

I use these and they're amazing.  Be aware though that they're not *really* designed for road use - the beam is circular like a torch so when riding around cars make sure it's dipped towards the ground: you'll still be seen, they're epically bright.  Using one on the bars and one on the helmet you can ride at full speed in pitch black under trees.

Useful info: 'Cree' is the maker of the LED emitters used by the majority of these lights (SSC is another one); XM-L is the "1000 lumen" model and there's now an XM-L2 that uses less power for the same output.  The makers buy a job lot of the emitters, the machined aluminium cases, and the battery packs and put them together themselves.  So quality is perhaps variable, although I've never had a problem (I wouldn't leave the charger plugged in overnight just to be careful) and some makers are bigger than others (Solarstorm, Trustfire, etc).  Sometimes you might find that the battery packs don't hold a charge if you leave them unused for a while - this happens if the maker has used a cheap battery without a 'protection circuit' - but they're so cheap that I just bought a new one (of the new design, like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171981691338). 

I bought a Solarstorm X2 from them and they were quick to deliver and work great so far.

Just don't leave the battery charging overnight/unsupervised.

They were so cheap, I bought two of them, but found one is more than enough even on completely unlit roads. Since the battery is external I simply take both batteries with me. They do give a low power warning (mine do at least) by changing the button illumination from green to red.

I have had these from Ebay for a few years, value for money is outstanding.

The only issue with mine is there is no warning of battery charge level, so you have to remember how long you have had it on and at what setting, or be very thorough with the charging.  It literally just goes out, so you need to have a back up light, and if you are on unlit roads the back up needs to be as bright.

yes, I've got one of these. cannot be beaten for VFM, in my view. And you can see with them, at speed.

Yes I have one, very bright and very cheap!  you could try 7 day shop as I have one from them also.  They are also availabe from Ebay as well.  Be carefull of the chargers as I have had one go bang on me!!!  Been out this evening, used on unlit lanes with no problems, I have to remember to push the light down as I have had cars flash there lights back at me If I forget when coming back into town and even had a van give way to me in the dark and wait behind a row of parked cars on his side of the road, must of thought I was a motorbike!