Bike Light Comparison

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.

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.

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...