Bike lights definitive guide
I had a very scary experience recently. I was visiting my parents which meant a 25 minute bike ride from Birmingham Airport through tiny, pitch black country lanes. To top it all off the heavy rain had just started. I could barely see much more than a few metres ahead of me and only a small part of the road with my bike light. Whenever a car passed by my lights were completely drowned out. At some point during the journey, out of nowhere, I found myself pedal deep in water. Continuing to pedal, I soon realised I was pedalling through a ford. This is basically when a river flows over a part of the road.
Upon reaching home soaked, amazed I managed to avoid the open manhole cover and glad to have not been hit by passing cars I decided to re-evaluate my completely inadequate bicycle light.
So I had to think about how to choose a suitable bike light, how much to spend and which one is actually worth spending my money on.
Types of bike lights
- £10-£25 light – this is what I was riding with and is the most common. They are suitable for most cyclists needs and do a surprisingly good job considering the low price point
- £100+ light – provide a much stronger beam and are suitable in less well lit areas and where frequent riding in the dark will be necessary
- £300+ light – good for two things. Blinding people and night time mountain biking
- Front and rear lights – front lights help you be seen but also so you can see the road you are cycling down. Rear lights which tend to be red are just to be seen by others
- Helmet light – generally very useful for mountain biking as helps with avoiding obstacles
- Rechargeable light – there is a good range of rechargeable lights. Generally the charge won’t last very long and the battery will wear out with frequent use. However, they are good for those of us who forget to buy new batteries. There are major differences between the types of rechargeable batteries. Li-Ion tend to be the best and also most expensive. They are lightweight and last the longest. NiMH batteries are also pretty good as they don’t require a full discharge before recharging like NiCad batteries do. Lead acid and Nicad batteries are the cheapest but they don’t last very long and are sensitive to the cold
- Dynamo lights – these are lights powered through pedalling
- Fibre Flare – An alternative way to be seen is to grab one of these Fibre Flare lights. They are very bright and are designed so you can be seen from all directions. Also they are flexible so can be placed anywhere.
How I chose suitable bike lights
When choosing new bike lights the first thing I wanted to consider is what I would be using it for. The majority of my riding is done around London. As with most inner city areas there is plenty of street lighting so my lights are mainly just needed to be seen by others and occasionally help when there is no street lights. Therefore the cheaper lights are perfectly adequate.
If I was to do more cycling around darker areas that don’t have adequate street lighting then I would probably upgrade to a £100+ light.
My next consideration is not spending too much money in batteries. Therefore the lights should have a good battery life.
I also want the light to be easy to mount and remove. When I’m leaving the bike for a while then I want to be able to easily slide off the light. I also looked at reviews to see how durable they thought it was and whether it was adequately waterproof.
Recommendations
So what are the best bike lights?
Well after having a look around I really liked these options.
Cheap to midrange
It provides strong side visibility, is easy to clip off and is waterproof to 50 metres! The mounting keeps the bike light firmly in place so it does not slide around. It comes with 5 LED’s and is powered by two AA batteries. The battery life is reported to be extremely good.
Wiggle £23.99 | Amazon.com $31.99
Hope Vision 1 LED Front Light 200L
At this price point you start to look at bike lights that are for more than just to be seen. If your commute involves a lot of darker stretches then this light is worth considering. It comes with four power settings, it’s durable and provides a decent beam. Wiggle has a good picture showing the strength of this light.
Chain Reaction Cycles £72 | Amazon.co.uk £90
£100+ bike lights
Can be mounted to your helmet or handlebars. It is easy to clip off to take with you. Provides around 240 lumens and has a fairly decent battery life. It is light and of strong construction.
Very strong lighting in a small, light design. You can choose between different power settings and also it can be mounted to your helmet.
Chain Reaction £189.99 | Amazon.co.uk £203 | Amazon.com $229
Rear bike lights
Most rear lights are pretty samey. They are just there to be seen. I stand behind my CatEye LD610-R which provides plenty of light on two AAA batteries and has never let me down. If you pedal around a lot in the dark make sure you also have a reflector on the back and wear reflective clothing.
Conclusion – what did I go for?
Considering it is very rare for me to be cycling anywhere with such low lighting I couldn’t justify spending extra money. I purchased myself a NiteRider UltraFazer and when cycling somewhere very dark I plan to take both my bike lights with me.
See also:
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My lights cost maybe 10 pounds total and are absolutely fine. If you cycle in a city there’s absolutely no need to spend more.
Agreed! £10 lights basically help you be seen and often that is all that is needed in a city environment that has plenty of street lights.
You’ve ignored dynamos – higher upfront investment but no batteries running out on you.
I have a hub dynamo on my town bike and a bottle dynamo on my tourer. Much brighter than battery lights of the same price range, and if you get one with a standlight it’ll stay on when you’re stopped at the lights. All you need.
“I soon realised I was pedalling through a fjord”.
Sorry to be pedantic but (according to Wikipedia), a fjord “is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.” I suspect you went through a ford, which is quite different.
Useful article though!
MikeF – apologies must have used the wrong word (goes to check dictionary)
Chas – Dynamos – thought about including them. Do a lot of people use them these days?
Ahhh I was looking for word ford not fjord hehehe
You flew to Birmingham and took your bike?
Your price ranges have gaps e.g. £25-£100?
Birmingham Airport also has a train station
From MK to Bham is a very short journey (I had been visiting a friend the day before in MK)
RE: £25 – £100 true, I was just trying to simplify by not adding too many categories. I have listed a light in the £70 price range. If you have any recommendations I’d be up for hearing them.
Alien8 has already suggested Fenix LD20 as opposed to the Hope Vision 1 so I’m looking around and considering changing it.
Ah…I am in search of lights for my bikes as the dark is setting in earlier. Agree with above poster that you have overlooked dynamos.
Have also mentioned dynamos and Fibre Flare lights thanks to @suspectpackage
Agree that dynamos (esp. dynohubs) are neglected in this article. They have the great advantage of eliminating the hassle of batteries, recharging, replacing, etc.
There are a good range of options now with cost equivalent to mid-level battery systems up to around $800, like the Schmidt SON coupled with top-notch LED lamp.
For a discussion of pros and cons see: http://www.veloweb.ca/randopages/randolights.html
I seem to recall having a bottle dynamo as a youngster. I cycled 12 miles to school then (round trip). I recall that the weight of pedalling against the dynamo was like pedalling through a ford or fjiord or worse.
I never did establish whether the dynamo was defective or whether this was how they work. I have never had another one!!
Can anyone throw any illumination
on my experience??
Thanks for comment Titan, made for amusing reading. I’m fairly sure dynamos these days would not slow you down otherwise I don’t think anyone would ever use them. Though I admit this is an area I’m new to so I need enlightening
too?
I think that in the city there is also a need to have back up lights. How many times do we realise that the front light isn’t blinking as strong as it should? Ah….time to recharge or change the batteries!
As back up lights i use Knog lights. At the back i use Knog Gekko, and at the front i have a Knog Beetle. They are amazingly bright, but i wouldn’t use them as a main source of lights. They are also very discrete so won’t clutter your bike up.
I love them.
I think that the brighter the light the better, even in an urban environment.
Just because there are streets lights around does not necessarily mean that car drivers will be able to see you. You need a strong light that can be seen from a distance and I’m afraid that a feeble little flickering led does not cut the mustard.
I ride with two lights on the rear, one flashing and one static and the same up front.
As an aside your review stated that the Hope Vision 1 has two power modes. It has four, minimum, normal, high and maximum plus flashing.
Thanks Jon for picking out my error. Considering changing the Hope Vision 1 to a different recommendation anyway. Have you tried the Fenix LD20?
Hi Andreas,
No, I haven’t tried the Fenix, looks nice though. I bought the Hope because at £72 and 240 lumens it gives the best ‘bang for the buck’. The one down-side to the Hope is that there is no low battery warning, it simply dies when it runs out of juice so a backup light is a must! This aside it is very well made, from machined alloy, and very bright.
Thanks for feedback on the Hope, I read around and people seem fairly pleased with it.
At some point, using these kinds of dinky LEDs without backup, you’re going to be left out in the dark. They are also not bright enough to ride at speed on unlit roads.
Modern dynohub lighting on the other hand is reliable and very bright. We’re not talking old bottle generator lights here (though the Busch & Muller bottle generator is a good choice today).
Generator systems are chosen by significant percentage of marathon cyclists who require failsafe lighting … and, believe me, are not interested in being slowed down by inefficient technology. The best in this area is Schmidt of Germany. Refer to the link I provided above.
I encourage you to research the subject in depth.
At US $85.00 you should really look at the Magicshine light. Bar or helmet mount with a Lithium Ion Battery. Listed as 900 lumen but probably running at closer to 600 it is the brightest I have seen in this price class. Was so impressed that when i saw it I bought another one that is going to replace my Dinotte. Newer versions have fixed reported problems with overheating and construction is excellent.
Just read a load of reviews on the Magicshine light – seems to be getting a lot of positive mention on all the blogs and seems to offer good value at that price point
Don’t feel you have to have your light on full beam in London – we’d complain with good reason if cars did this, most of them dip their lights in built up areas.
I had an after-image of a cyclist’s lights for 5 minutes in Oxford street last month. Not very safe.
I have a £1 torch from poundsavers ziptied on my bike, next to the fitting for a £30 light which I will keep for if it fails, and every bit as good, and if/when a yob pinches it, well it was only £1!
I cycle (commute) all year round and my hours generally mean I do half my cycling in the dark. Half of this is in central London the other in the Sussex countryside. This is what I have fitted:
Front light is a Hope 2 LED with rechargeable battery
Rear is a Dinotte 400R Taillight. Yes the Hope is bright especially on it’s brightest mode but is fantastic in areas with no street lighting and as far as blinding anyone, probably best not to stare at it, you wouldn’t do it to a car so don’t do it here. The Dinotte is also very bright on it’s brightest setting, you can be seen about 3kms away in daylight, again not wise to stare at this. I also have a set of Pedalite pedals with toe clips, these are great because they also give you side illumination and have no batteries.
This has cost me a small fortune as I also opted for extra batteries with both front and rears. I justify this cost because if I lost any work from being knocked off I’d really be out of pocket, I’m the sole earner in my household, not to mention the possible injury, it really is no contest.
This all sounds very obnoxious in terms of light out put, but the point is to be seen and when riding in a busy city centre, with all the drunks, cabbies, mopeds, buses and urban 4×4 drivers you need all the help you can get, safety is first at ALL times. To strengthen my point further, I get at least one driver a month stop me at lights to say how useful it was to be able to see me at distance and really have a presence on the road. This is probably due to some of the so-called urban cyclists you can’t see at night, no lights, all in black and riding like idiots. You cannot put a price on your life, please don’t be a statistic get illuminated.
Check out the Planet Bike lineup as well (http://ecom1.planetbike.com/headlights.html). Their stuff is pretty popular around here and they do a lot of advocacy/charity stuff as a company.