Non dynamo lights

[in4]

Can anyone give a thumbs up to a set of front and back lights that are battery powered. I've had a great summer on my MK1 Nomad and would love to get in a few more evening rides before it gets too dark and cold. My rides will be confined to lanes or compacted tracks so I need to see as well as be seen ( doesn't everyone!?) in case assorted critters appears out of nowhere; I include others in an 'advanced state of refreshment' in that group.Thanks

[jags]

here you go this is what i use on my night rides excellent lights.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/cateye-el-530-tl-1100-light-set/rp-prod64522.
jags

[macspud]

I've just purchased a Philips Saferide 80 rechargable battery light and I am satisfactorily impressed with it. The Philips Lumi Ring rear light gets good reviews too.

http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/philips-saferide-80-led-bike-light-battery-front-light/aid:642257

[RonS]

I have a B&M Ixon IQ Premium front light and am very impressed with it. For the rear the B&M Toplight Line and the Philips LumiRing are both excellent and available in battery version.
One thing about the Philips and B&M lights is that they comply with German regs, so that there is no light shining up to dazzle oncoming traffic. This also means no light
shining on low hanging branches if you are riding on a trail. You could always tilt the light up if it's on your handlebar.

Happy night riding

Ron

[energyman]

The Smart Lunar R1 Rear Bike Light is the brightest I've ever come across.
(Your rear view looks like you had a curry the night before, with apologies to Jonny Cash)

Lumicycle front lights are excellent.

[in4]

Thanks for the replies folks, much appreciated. There is certainly a range of prices! It seems  there is a german benchmark that is well worth factoring in. A number of online stores list the Smart Lunar R1 as not being available and I've happily used the Cateye rear light previously. I'll do a bit more research and see what else is out there. That B&M does look the business though.

[jags]

love night cycling so different, when i had the sherpa i had the dynamo light the cat eye and smart light  car drivers reckoned it looked like a space ship coming in  to land great set up tho.


jags

[George Hetrick]

Another vote here for the SafeRide 80.

[jags]

this is an excellent review on the philips saferide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTGqv6ejSLI

[martinf]

I prefer dynamo lights, but for use on the 2 bikes that don't have dynamos and as backup for the bikes with dynamos I have a B&M Ixon Premium front and Cateye LD1100 rear.

Cateye LD1100 has the advantage of being seen side on (2 LEDS facing left, 2 right, and 6 facing back). For this reason I use it most of the time, even on the dynamo-equipped bikes. It can be set to fixed, flashing or a combination of both.

Ixon Premium is similar to the B&M Cyo dynamo lights. I use it quite a lot off the bike as a general purpose torch. I like the use of 4 AA size accus - cheap to get spares, same size as for the Cateye LD1100. There is an optional charger which is very compact, which could be useful for touring.

[Bill]

I have a Light and Motion Urban 400, which I like, they no longer have that exact model, but there are a number of even brighter lights.
The 400 is more than adequate for night riding on roads, there are others for trail rides. i was able to use it last week in a kilometre long unlighted tunnel
on the Columbia and Western rail trail.

http://www.lightandmotion.com/

[David Simpson]

I have a couple of Light & Motion Seca lights, which are battery-powered and extremely bright. They are also very expensive, but are sometimes on sale. (SJS has a Seca 700 on sale right now.) The Seca 400 is very bright, and is what I normally use for night-time commuting on busy streets. The Seca 1700 is extremely bright, and I don't use it on the streets, only on the trails. It seems as bright as a car light.

These lights are waterproof and simple to operate. I recommend them if you want something bright.

Note that they have a separate battery pack. The battery is not part of the light. I used to have the battery in my trunk bag (the cable is long enough), but now I keep the batteries in my handlebar bag.

- Dave

[macspud]

A pretty comprehensive review of the Philips Saferide 80 with beam shots:

http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/verlichting/koplampen_accu_afkapping/Philips_LED_bike_light/index_en.html

http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/verlichting/index_en.html#andere-koplampen-met-afkapping

His suggestions for some possible competitors to the Philips LED bike light:
http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/verlichting/koplampen_accu_afkapping/index_en.html

Other battery powered headlamps with cutoff that could be of interest, or not: http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/verlichting/index_en.html#andere-accu-lampen-met-afkapping

Headlamps that have no cutoff: http://swhs.home.xs4all.nl/fiets/tests/verlichting/index_en.html#andere-koplampen-zonder-afkapping

Anyway there is lots of reading to do with bicycle lights on that site, amongst other stuff bicycle related that may give you ideas, at least it'll give you some idea on things to look for whilst trying to decide. Hopefully not confused the matter too much.

[DAntrim]

I use the Fenix LD22 in a pair on the front www.fenixtorch.co.uk on my commutes one on high setting & one in case additional light / 1st one dies mid-ride and find the light to be great specially on the bike paths runtime is approx 5 - 6hrs on 2AA's enough to last the weekly commute, they have 2 different bike mount's - I use the velcro type.

On the rear I have the cateye and also a fibre flare http://fibreflare.com/ which is ridiculously bright and I did replace the original 2 x AAA's after about a month's use last Feb.

As for batteries I use duracell rechargable