Post by bob on Aug 15, 2013 7:59:30 GMT
With the dark nights encroaching upon us I thought I'd do a quick summary of various lighting systems available to the cyclist. Most of the links are to Wiggle - just because I happened to be on the site when I wrote this. (I wrote most of this in February but the nights were getting a bit light for it to be relevant at the time!)
Basically lights serve two purposes: to see and to be seen. What is fine for the latter may not be good enough for the former. Typically the lights "to be seen with" are intended for use under street lighting. Once you are on rural roads or indeed off-road then you will need something substantially better.
The basic legal stuff can be found here www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=4071 but can be summarised as:
1. You must have a rear, red, reflector fitted.
2. You must have amber reflectors fitted front and rear to each pedal.
3. Front light must be white
4. Rear light must be red.
Point 1 above - the reflector is a fail-safe backup in case of battery failure. Some lights have them built in.
Point 2 - I think the only pedals I've ever seen with reflectors are the cheap plastic ones that used to come with bikes so that the manufacturer and vendor could claim compliance with the law.
Somewhat strangely, my road bike came with both a front and rear reflector fitted. My commuter bike came with neither.
The big problem is that the lights must be marked as conforming to BS6102/3 or an equivalent EC standard but given the relatively small size of the UK market it isn't worth manufacturers paying for conformance testing. The few models that are marked with the British Standard tend not to be the better current models. Ho,hum. If you have a look on the various websites: wiggle; chain reaction; etc, you can find models costing over £700!
A note about how various manufacturers specify the output of units. A lot of people talk about a 10 Watt bulb for instance, but this is the amount of power going *in* to the bulb not the amount of light being emitted, there is a relationship between the two but it isn't simple and depends on the type of light amongst other things. This leads to the other two units: lumens and lux. These are related: 1 lux is 1 lumen shining on one square metre. So lumens measures the light being emitted and lux measures the intensity of the light where it hits an object, in our case the road. Most manufacturers quote lumens.
I've used quite a lot of different lights over the years, some good, some bad and some awful - remember EverReady Nightriders? Battery life is for steady mode, blinking modes typically give a run time of 5 times this.
Lifeline Mini
You simply wouldn't use this for anything but an emergency to make sure that other road users know you are there. We've got some around the house (freebies from mountain bike mags) but I've only used them for fixing to a sack for walking back from the station in the dark. Worth having in a back pocket on autumn/spring evenings in case you get caught in fading light.
Plus points
Cheap
Minus points
Don't meet any criteria for lighting the way ahead
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-mini-front-light/
Type: emergency light
Cost: £6
Weight: 15g (with battery)
Lumens: ha!
Battery life: 30hrs
===========
Cateye Loop
Another emergency light, it has an elastic loop and hook to allow you to strap it to the bike - it's designed for the seat post. Considerably brighter than the above emergency light it's certainly good enough to use for those early autumn evening rides where you get caught in the gloom. Has a steady and a blinking mode
Plus points
Cheap
Easy to fit
Minus points
Small enough to lose round the house :-(
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-tl-sl110-loop-led-rear-light/
Type: rear light
Cost: £10
Weight: 20g (with battery)
Lumens: ha!
Battery life: 30hrs
===========
Infiny Amuse
Another small LED unit. This one has an elastic strap to loop around an object and attaches to a hook on the body of the light. Pretty good to fix to helmets. When used like this, the light is high up so is highly visible to other road users.
Plus points
When fixed to helmet is very visible
Minus points
None I can think of - silly name
Link: www.evanscycles.com/products/infini/amuse-rear-light-ec033214
Type: rear light
Cost: £7
Weight: 10g
Lumens: ha!
Battery life: 60hrs
===========
Moon Comet set
Yet another small LED unit, it's about the size of an AA battery. The front light is a very intense white light which is very good for being seen in traffic. It's not so good as a primary front light as you don't get much illumination of the road. Uses a standard USB cable for charging so can be plugged in to your computer at work ready for the ride home! The mount is a stretchy rubber clip that can fit to seat post, seat stay, front fork or handlebars.
Plus points:
Small and light
Easy to move between bikes
Can be charged through a standard micro USB cable
Minus points:
Can be tricky to switch between steady and flashing modes
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/moon-comet-light-set/
Type: Front and rear set
Cost: £55
Weight: 33g per unit
Lumens: 100 for front unit, 30 for rear unit
Battery life: Low beam - 7hrs, high beam - 3hrs
=============
Cateye HL-EL530 set
This was the first LED light set that I bought and at the time I thought it was pretty powerful until the latest generation of lights came out. It's still a decent light but is best suited to lower speeds when on unlit roads. The rear light is brilliant - disco inferno! Two rows of LEDs that can be set to different flash patterns or put in to steady mode. It's actually bright enough in steady mode to read by.
Plus points:
Cheap for a full light set
Fairly powerful beam
Excellent rear light unit
Minus points
Fiddly mounting bracket for the front light
There is a dark spot in the middle of the beam which can be distracting.
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-hl-el530-and-tl-ld1100-light-set/
Type: Front and rear light set
Cost: £72
Weight:
Lumens:
Battery life: 50hrs
=============
Lezyne
This seems to be popular amongst club members. It doesn't take up much room on the handlebars - always something to look out for with all the gizmos that seem to get carried these days. It also charges through a USB cable so you can recharge it from your computer whilst at work.
Plus points
small
Can be charged through a standard micro USB cable
Minus points
Need to make sure you use the strap to hold the light in the bracket.
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/lezyne-macro-drive-led-front-light/
Type: Front light
Cost: £59
Weight: 108g
Lumens: 300
Battery life: Economy-9hrs; Enduro-4.5hrs; Blast-3hrs
=============
Hope Vision 1
A single LED light. I've not used these having the Vision 2, perhaps someone who has one can comment.
Plus points
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/hope-vision-1-led-front-light/
Type: front light
Cost: £72
Weight: 120g (without batteries)
Lumens: 215g
Battery life: 36hrs@level1; 12hrs@level2; 5hrs@level3; 3hrs@level4
=============
Hope Vision 2
This is probably the bottom end of the high performance units you can buy. A dual LED unit. Comes with all manner of attachments: head harness for running; helmet mount and handlebar mount. Extension lead for cold weather. Uses a rechargeable battery pack. Four output levels plus a blink mode.
I've found that most of the time you can get by with the lowest power level only needing to boost it when going at speed or off-road. The unit will go in to blink mode automatically when the battery is nearly flat
Plus points
Pretty versatile - I used to use this for nighttime fell running, it basically turned the track in to day.
Fairly lightweight - for the output
Extension lead lets you put the battery in an inside pocket in cold weather for better battery life.
Easy to put on and take off the handlebars
Minus points
Control - you have to cycle through the power levels to get to a lower output
Not much difference in perceived brightness between levels 3 & 4.
Mounting clip can break and is quite expensive to replace
Quite pricey.
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/hope-vision-2-led-front-light/
Type: front light
Cost: £136
Weight: 275g (including battery)
Lumens: 480g
Battery life: 30hrs@level1; 6hrs@level2; 3hrs@level3; 2hrs@level4
=============
Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ Fly
This unit is somewhat different to the others here in that it is dynamo driven so not best suited to pure road bikes but ideal for commuters and tourers. I've included it here as it is typical of the latest generation of dynamo lights.
The unit has a capacitor to provide a "standlight" so that the light is still lit for a few minutes when waiting at traffic lights or junction - a problem with the old style systems. Dynamo hubs range in weight from 350g to about 550g, for comparison a Shimano 105 front hub is around 150g. Prices range from around £30 to £220
Plus points
Always available
Powerful, even beam
3 minute standlight
Minus points
Needs a dynamo - not included
Link: www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s197p1087
Type: Front light
Cost: £60
Weight:
Lumens: 40 Lux
Battery life: how long can you keep pedalling?
=============
In general for the rear light, the simple battery operated models are more than adequate, most people seem to have some Cateye model or similar. I tend to go for having two lights on my commuter, one in flash mode and one on steady.
For the front light get the best you can. Lights like the Lezyne aren't that much more expensive than the so called cheaper lights.
If you have used any other models then add a quick review in the same format as those above.
=============
Finally if you are after something really (ahem) flashy then check these out - revolights.com/ I don't think they are available in the UK yet.
Basically lights serve two purposes: to see and to be seen. What is fine for the latter may not be good enough for the former. Typically the lights "to be seen with" are intended for use under street lighting. Once you are on rural roads or indeed off-road then you will need something substantially better.
The basic legal stuff can be found here www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=4071 but can be summarised as:
1. You must have a rear, red, reflector fitted.
2. You must have amber reflectors fitted front and rear to each pedal.
3. Front light must be white
4. Rear light must be red.
Point 1 above - the reflector is a fail-safe backup in case of battery failure. Some lights have them built in.
Point 2 - I think the only pedals I've ever seen with reflectors are the cheap plastic ones that used to come with bikes so that the manufacturer and vendor could claim compliance with the law.
Somewhat strangely, my road bike came with both a front and rear reflector fitted. My commuter bike came with neither.
The big problem is that the lights must be marked as conforming to BS6102/3 or an equivalent EC standard but given the relatively small size of the UK market it isn't worth manufacturers paying for conformance testing. The few models that are marked with the British Standard tend not to be the better current models. Ho,hum. If you have a look on the various websites: wiggle; chain reaction; etc, you can find models costing over £700!
A note about how various manufacturers specify the output of units. A lot of people talk about a 10 Watt bulb for instance, but this is the amount of power going *in* to the bulb not the amount of light being emitted, there is a relationship between the two but it isn't simple and depends on the type of light amongst other things. This leads to the other two units: lumens and lux. These are related: 1 lux is 1 lumen shining on one square metre. So lumens measures the light being emitted and lux measures the intensity of the light where it hits an object, in our case the road. Most manufacturers quote lumens.
I've used quite a lot of different lights over the years, some good, some bad and some awful - remember EverReady Nightriders? Battery life is for steady mode, blinking modes typically give a run time of 5 times this.
Lifeline Mini
You simply wouldn't use this for anything but an emergency to make sure that other road users know you are there. We've got some around the house (freebies from mountain bike mags) but I've only used them for fixing to a sack for walking back from the station in the dark. Worth having in a back pocket on autumn/spring evenings in case you get caught in fading light.
Plus points
Cheap
Minus points
Don't meet any criteria for lighting the way ahead
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-mini-front-light/
Type: emergency light
Cost: £6
Weight: 15g (with battery)
Lumens: ha!
Battery life: 30hrs
===========
Cateye Loop
Another emergency light, it has an elastic loop and hook to allow you to strap it to the bike - it's designed for the seat post. Considerably brighter than the above emergency light it's certainly good enough to use for those early autumn evening rides where you get caught in the gloom. Has a steady and a blinking mode
Plus points
Cheap
Easy to fit
Minus points
Small enough to lose round the house :-(
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-tl-sl110-loop-led-rear-light/
Type: rear light
Cost: £10
Weight: 20g (with battery)
Lumens: ha!
Battery life: 30hrs
===========
Infiny Amuse
Another small LED unit. This one has an elastic strap to loop around an object and attaches to a hook on the body of the light. Pretty good to fix to helmets. When used like this, the light is high up so is highly visible to other road users.
Plus points
When fixed to helmet is very visible
Minus points
None I can think of - silly name
Link: www.evanscycles.com/products/infini/amuse-rear-light-ec033214
Type: rear light
Cost: £7
Weight: 10g
Lumens: ha!
Battery life: 60hrs
===========
Moon Comet set
Yet another small LED unit, it's about the size of an AA battery. The front light is a very intense white light which is very good for being seen in traffic. It's not so good as a primary front light as you don't get much illumination of the road. Uses a standard USB cable for charging so can be plugged in to your computer at work ready for the ride home! The mount is a stretchy rubber clip that can fit to seat post, seat stay, front fork or handlebars.
Plus points:
Small and light
Easy to move between bikes
Can be charged through a standard micro USB cable
Minus points:
Can be tricky to switch between steady and flashing modes
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/moon-comet-light-set/
Type: Front and rear set
Cost: £55
Weight: 33g per unit
Lumens: 100 for front unit, 30 for rear unit
Battery life: Low beam - 7hrs, high beam - 3hrs
=============
Cateye HL-EL530 set
This was the first LED light set that I bought and at the time I thought it was pretty powerful until the latest generation of lights came out. It's still a decent light but is best suited to lower speeds when on unlit roads. The rear light is brilliant - disco inferno! Two rows of LEDs that can be set to different flash patterns or put in to steady mode. It's actually bright enough in steady mode to read by.
Plus points:
Cheap for a full light set
Fairly powerful beam
Excellent rear light unit
Minus points
Fiddly mounting bracket for the front light
There is a dark spot in the middle of the beam which can be distracting.
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-hl-el530-and-tl-ld1100-light-set/
Type: Front and rear light set
Cost: £72
Weight:
Lumens:
Battery life: 50hrs
=============
Lezyne
This seems to be popular amongst club members. It doesn't take up much room on the handlebars - always something to look out for with all the gizmos that seem to get carried these days. It also charges through a USB cable so you can recharge it from your computer whilst at work.
Plus points
small
Can be charged through a standard micro USB cable
Minus points
Need to make sure you use the strap to hold the light in the bracket.
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/lezyne-macro-drive-led-front-light/
Type: Front light
Cost: £59
Weight: 108g
Lumens: 300
Battery life: Economy-9hrs; Enduro-4.5hrs; Blast-3hrs
=============
Hope Vision 1
A single LED light. I've not used these having the Vision 2, perhaps someone who has one can comment.
Plus points
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/hope-vision-1-led-front-light/
Type: front light
Cost: £72
Weight: 120g (without batteries)
Lumens: 215g
Battery life: 36hrs@level1; 12hrs@level2; 5hrs@level3; 3hrs@level4
=============
Hope Vision 2
This is probably the bottom end of the high performance units you can buy. A dual LED unit. Comes with all manner of attachments: head harness for running; helmet mount and handlebar mount. Extension lead for cold weather. Uses a rechargeable battery pack. Four output levels plus a blink mode.
I've found that most of the time you can get by with the lowest power level only needing to boost it when going at speed or off-road. The unit will go in to blink mode automatically when the battery is nearly flat
Plus points
Pretty versatile - I used to use this for nighttime fell running, it basically turned the track in to day.
Fairly lightweight - for the output
Extension lead lets you put the battery in an inside pocket in cold weather for better battery life.
Easy to put on and take off the handlebars
Minus points
Control - you have to cycle through the power levels to get to a lower output
Not much difference in perceived brightness between levels 3 & 4.
Mounting clip can break and is quite expensive to replace
Quite pricey.
Link: www.wiggle.co.uk/hope-vision-2-led-front-light/
Type: front light
Cost: £136
Weight: 275g (including battery)
Lumens: 480g
Battery life: 30hrs@level1; 6hrs@level2; 3hrs@level3; 2hrs@level4
=============
Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ Fly
This unit is somewhat different to the others here in that it is dynamo driven so not best suited to pure road bikes but ideal for commuters and tourers. I've included it here as it is typical of the latest generation of dynamo lights.
The unit has a capacitor to provide a "standlight" so that the light is still lit for a few minutes when waiting at traffic lights or junction - a problem with the old style systems. Dynamo hubs range in weight from 350g to about 550g, for comparison a Shimano 105 front hub is around 150g. Prices range from around £30 to £220
Plus points
Always available
Powerful, even beam
3 minute standlight
Minus points
Needs a dynamo - not included
Link: www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s197p1087
Type: Front light
Cost: £60
Weight:
Lumens: 40 Lux
Battery life: how long can you keep pedalling?
=============
In general for the rear light, the simple battery operated models are more than adequate, most people seem to have some Cateye model or similar. I tend to go for having two lights on my commuter, one in flash mode and one on steady.
For the front light get the best you can. Lights like the Lezyne aren't that much more expensive than the so called cheaper lights.
If you have used any other models then add a quick review in the same format as those above.
=============
Finally if you are after something really (ahem) flashy then check these out - revolights.com/ I don't think they are available in the UK yet.
