Which bike lights?

parking_question_chap

Evening

Does anybody have any suggestions for which bike lights to buy? Looking for one front and one rear, ideally the rear would have both static and intermittent, just looking for static on the front.

Also, any suggestions for where to buy cheap reflective top? not a full jacket but like a breathable vest type garment to put over whatever I am wearing.

Pound

Www.wiggle.co.uk
Www.evanscycles.com

parking_question_chap

Ok, so let me reword that as I guess I wasnt clear enough.

I am not looking to know various websites that sell bike lights, I could probably work that out myself.

Has anybody recently purchased bike lights that they would recommend? and be kind enough provide the make and model of light.

Cheers.

Pound

The Exposure Six Pack is a pretty good head light, it has both a flashing and steady option. Also the Exposure Blaze tail light i can recommend, drivers can't claim to have not seen you with one of these.

esuhl

The Knog Blindr is a great rear light. Very bright, with three useful flash modes, and two non-flashing modes (of different brightness).

At the front, I have a pair of Cateye EL135 commuter lights, which are good for being seen. They have both flashing and solid modes. I only ever have them set to flash because they're quite small. The flashing mode is quite noticeable, though.

As a non-flashing headlight to see where I'm going, I have a Philips SafeRide 80. It uses rechargeable AA cells (so you can take spares if you are riding for several hours), and the lamp is designed like a car headlight, where the bulb is recessed with internal reflectors dissipating the light so it doesn't blind oncoming traffic. It's a bit big, a bit expensive, and not great off-road (as it doesn't shine too much light upwards, so you can miss overhanging tree branches, etc.)

But overall, I'm happy with all of the lights I have.

cubegame

You don't say if you need a light to see with or just to be seen.

Keep_pedalling

We need more info. If all your night riding is in town then you don't need something that will illuminate the road to see where you are going, but if you regularly ride country lanes in the dark you will need something very different.

AndyBSG

I use a pair of Smart Lunar rear lights which are pretty good and a CatEye LED front light

Both come with a variety of flashing and steady settings, battery life o them is pretty good, easy to fit and not had either of them fail in 3 years of cycling.

That said, the Smart lights do benefit form a cable tie wrapped round them as I have had the lens pop off on a very rough patch of cobblestones that I hit at speed.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smart-Lunar-R2-Rear-Light/dp/B00452O6LI
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cateye-EL-130-Front-Bike-Light/dp/B002ZCE6ZG/ref=sr_1_1?s=sports&ie=UTF8&qid=1471250592&sr=1-1&keywords=cateye+bicycle+lights

Nasqueron

Cateye Volt 1200 Front Light for me is enough alone to light up teh country roads I used to commute down, I also have a secondary Cateye Nano shot which is 600 lumen - with my current commute being all urban I think I would be fine with the 1200 at 1/2 power or the mix of one solid one blinking

I use the Cateye TL-LD610 as a rear - can either be solid, flashing or a pattern sliding left to right / up and down or flashing each LED at random - stands out fine

These have happily survived rides home in the rain and the battery life is good, only downside I had with the volt is that it goes red to show low battery and in about 10 minutes (when on full beam) is dead, would like a longer warning!

brat

I use the Knog Blinder rear light which is on my bike all the time and is on every time I use the bike. It is extremely bright (70watts) and will not be missed even in brightest sunshine.
I have a Lezyne Zectro front light for 'being seen' which I again use all the time. Both are lightweight if that matters to you, and USB rechargeable.

For seeing with, i use a Cateye Nano which is only 600watts, but it is perfectly sufficient for my needs. I am tempted to go for the Cateye Volt 1200, but I have other things on my wish list that will be bought before it.

parking_question_chap

Yes fair point, I need to see where I am going rather than just be seen.