Two lights? Or is one enough?
- Thread starter adaib
- Start date
tomacropod
Likes Dirt
I had a helmet battery fail on me 2/3 through a lap at the recent Solo 24 nats, was very glad for the bar light, finished the lap no problems, was relying on my memory of corners to get me through at acceptable pace. Great fun!
- Joel
- Joel
cam-o
Likes Bikes and Dirt
You want two lights and they serve a different purpose.
The Helmet light is probably the more important of the 2, it lets you look around corners. In singletrack a bar light only sucks.
The bar light's primary job is to flood the track and create shadows. Because a helmet light is close to your eyes, roots, ruts, rocks etc don't tend to throw a shadow that you can see. The bar light is there to makes these features visible and avoid those "why the hell am I suddenly on the ground??" moments.
The Helmet light is probably the more important of the 2, it lets you look around corners. In singletrack a bar light only sucks.
The bar light's primary job is to flood the track and create shadows. Because a helmet light is close to your eyes, roots, ruts, rocks etc don't tend to throw a shadow that you can see. The bar light is there to makes these features visible and avoid those "why the hell am I suddenly on the ground??" moments.
jathanas
Likes Bikes and Dirt
^ +1 what he said.
digitalhippie
Likes Dirt
^^ + 3
Much easier to read the trail/terrain running a combo of helmet and handlebar lights.
For a while there I did a lot of mountain unicycling at night - much more critical on one wheel to be able to read the terrain accurately compared to MTB. Very hard to do that with only a helmet light, significantly easier when a handlebar light is added into the mix. - shadows, perception of depth, seeing obstacles instead of just interesting texture ahead on the trail etc.
On a uni though trail riding at night is still very tricky regardless of lights. Need to read the terrain as best you can but also relax and feel everything as it happens through the tire, much more than you need to riding in daylight. I reckon night riding improves your riding overall in that sense.
I've had twin AyUps the last couple of years which I'm pretty happy with. They're a huge upgrade to the old Niterider I had years ago where the battery was a huge heavy thing in the shape of a water bottle with limited burn time and went flat with pretty much no warning leading to numerous rides home in the dark.
Here's the AyUp's on the uni and the MTB.
Much easier to read the trail/terrain running a combo of helmet and handlebar lights.
For a while there I did a lot of mountain unicycling at night - much more critical on one wheel to be able to read the terrain accurately compared to MTB. Very hard to do that with only a helmet light, significantly easier when a handlebar light is added into the mix. - shadows, perception of depth, seeing obstacles instead of just interesting texture ahead on the trail etc.
On a uni though trail riding at night is still very tricky regardless of lights. Need to read the terrain as best you can but also relax and feel everything as it happens through the tire, much more than you need to riding in daylight. I reckon night riding improves your riding overall in that sense.
I've had twin AyUps the last couple of years which I'm pretty happy with. They're a huge upgrade to the old Niterider I had years ago where the battery was a huge heavy thing in the shape of a water bottle with limited burn time and went flat with pretty much no warning leading to numerous rides home in the dark.
Here's the AyUp's on the uni and the MTB.
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and your happy with the 90 minutes run time ? (they quote)
As long as you don't include reliability in the value equation, sure.
Also, they're bright but they're not the 900 lumens advertised - tested at 550 lumens.
They're not very waterproof.
It's hard to tell from that DX page - have they got an improved battery? The things aren't that well built - bad enough for one of their US vendors to issue a recall.
I note that local distributor bikelights.com.au has disappeared..
Geoff Gump
Likes Dirt
The 836 is the latest version, they have fixed a couple of issues up apparently.
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mj-836-ha-iii-ssc-p7-2-mode-900-lumen-led-bike-light-set-4-18650-44676
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mj-836-ha-iii-ssc-p7-2-mode-900-lumen-led-bike-light-set-4-18650-44676
harmonix1234
Eats Squid
Just five minutes ago I ordered two of these.
One for the bike and one for the helmet.
I'll let you know how they go once I've tested them a bit.
900 lumens for $109.00!
I know they are cheap, so don't know how they will fare long term, but a mate at work has one and they are very impressive for the money.
http://www.cellbikes.com.au/900-Lumen-LED-Bike-Light?sc=34&category=12782
One for the bike and one for the helmet.
I'll let you know how they go once I've tested them a bit.
900 lumens for $109.00!
I know they are cheap, so don't know how they will fare long term, but a mate at work has one and they are very impressive for the money.
http://www.cellbikes.com.au/900-Lumen-LED-Bike-Light?sc=34&category=12782
Rich all of those issues are from the very early batches of lights, I've had my 2 for over a year and have never had a problem with them over many xc rides and weekly commuting, several times in the pouring rain.
They're a magicshines just rebadged with an Aussie plug. You could have saved $60 getting them from dealextreme, but still cheap and still good bang for your buck.
harmonix1234
Eats Squid
Even if they are rated at 550 lumens it will still be plenty with two combined.
Interested to see how they compare to my current 1W light haha.
jmcavoy
Likes Dirt
There are lumens and there are lumens; it's more about how they are delivered to the trail that makes them useful, you can have a gazillion lumens, but if they are a harsh white spotlight through crappy optics, you'll see as well as you would if you were staring into a welding arc. Quality not quantity is key I think, so don't get caught up with the numbers. I often run my lights (Radicals) on half power and ride just as fast, for twice as long. The delivery is super smooth from the bar lamp and it provides most of the work (they have such a smooth spread over a really wide angle you can see around corners with the bar alone) for me with the helmet being a spotter for trail detail and long distance read ahead.
Not all lumens are equal, that's for sure.
As for 1 or 2; I always use two lights in single track, but fire road races like Mawson are bar lamp only rides.
harmonix1234
Eats Squid
That's a shame. I thought they were a standard unit of measure like mls, inches or litres.
Good to know.
jmcavoy
Likes Dirt
Nice one smarty pants
Grab yourself three different brands of 1000 lumen lights and compare the light on the trail... Some 1000 lumen lights are rubbish, some are awesome. They are not equal IMO. Maybe they have the same lumens, maybe they don't (they rarely put out what the sales brochure says), so all I am saying is don't buy based on a lumen number, it doesn't tell you the quality of light on the trail. Testing them out does, so try before you buy is my advice.
harmonix1234
Eats Squid
Nice one smarty pants
Grab yourself three different brands of 1000 lumen lights and compare the light on the trail... Some 1000 lumen lights are rubbish, some are awesome. They are not equal IMO. Maybe they have the same lumens, maybe they don't (they rarely put out what the sales brochure says), so all I am saying is don't buy based on a lumen number, it doesn't tell you the quality of light on the trail. Testing them out does, so try before you buy is my advice.
No really, I'm not being a smart arse, I really did think lumens were a static measurement. And am genuinely appreciative for the knowledge. Not taking the piss.
Being a photonic measurement it would have been more appropriate to say that I assumed they would be more like watts, volts, amps etc. ie: 9 volts is 9 volts no matter how you look at it. Still learning!
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