Busch and Muller's Topfire helmet lightsare a really neat way to get yourself a bit of extra visibility on the bike. They're easy to fit, effective and weigh next to nothing.
The kit contains four single red LEDs connected to a battery compartment housing a cheap-to-replace 2032 button cell. The LEDs sit in the rear vents of your lid, held in place by double sided sticky tape, and the battery clips to a strap or, in my case, the centre strut of the rear retention system.
Once it's on it stays put. I was worried that the tape wouldn't hold the LEDs in the wet, but there's been no end of wet and they're still there. The battery compartment twists to turn on and off, it's easy to do without looking and with gloved hands, no more difficult than adjusting the retention system on a normal helmet.
There's one mode, flashing (twice a second), and battery life is a claimed 100 hours. I've been using them for a month of night-time commutes home and they're still going strong.
Once the battery dies you can pick up 2032 cells online for next to nothing. The LEDs aren't super bright but they're very effective in the dark and a useful bit of extra visibility now the nights have drawn in. And at 18g you're hardly going to notice the extra weight, are you?
Verdict
Simple and effective kit for a bit of extra night visibility.
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road.cc test report
Make and model: Busch and Muller Topfire helmet lights
Size tested: na
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
Innovative and stylish. Four very bright red flashing LEDs attached in rear air vents of the helmet with sticky pads. The thin, flat cables can be easily routed to the chin strap via the inner helmet surface to connect to the flat, round cell housing the on/off button that is attached by clips to the helmet strap. Please ensure that the helmet is clean and dry before attaching the LEDs into the air vents
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
Total weight including battery 18 gms
100 hours plus run time
Easy to replace standard 2032 battery
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.
Would you consider buying the product? Yes.
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.
About the tester
Age: 40 Height: 190cm Weight: 102kg
I usually ride: whatever I'm testing... My best bike is: Genesis Equilibrium with SRAM Apex
I've been riding for: 10-20 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Experienced
I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling, track
Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.
9 comments
My first set lasted a few months, the second set nearly a year. Sweat and rain gets into the battery pack and the terminals rot. It also took glue to keep the lights in place as the sticky tape supplied is not up to the job. The biggest problem however is that the LEDs are very directional and can only be seen directly from behind. There are better options out there.
Any advice on the better options ?
Knog lights can generally be easily mounted on most helmets.
Nice one, Matt_S - thanks for sharing that. Pretty cool way of doing it.
I run a fibre flare on the rear of my helmet. The straps are v stretchy, piece of pee-pee to fit it.
Anyone else think the picture at the top resembles Megatron from the new transformers films?? May have to buy them just for that :-P
Clas Ohlson do a helmet light for about a fiver. Good side visibility. My cycling buddy has one and I hate it when I am drafting him at night on training rides.
I rather like the Topeak Headlux helmet light which has red to the rear and white to the front. My issue with that is that it does form an obstruction on the helmet that can catch, I'd try this out except I'd still want a white to the front.
(BTW the topeak suffers in the downpour, goes to steady instead of flashing and you may have to remove a battery to get it to switch off)
Busch and Muller Topfire cycle helmet LED Lights. Great idea, let down by the fitting of the LED's to the helmet. Basically the adhesive tabs supplied with the product are not up to the job, so if you purchase factor in the cost of finding a suitable product to glue or affix the LED's to your helmet. Plus the LED's are quite directional, it's shame they don't have 180 degree cover and not sufficiently weatherproof.