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Looking to do some fast night riding. Good headlight combo?

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Looking to do some fast night riding. Good headlight combo?

Old 09-28-12, 07:37 PM
  #1  
McFlurrey06
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Looking to do some fast night riding. Good headlight combo?

With the changing of the seasons upon us in Michigan and the shorter days, and my longer work hours, I need good lights. When I was riding more during the summer I was riding around 20mph for cruising, and would like to ride around that speed with my lights. I am stepping up from a blackburn flea, which isn't good for anything above walking pace it seems.

What do you think about this as my headlight combo

On my helmet:
https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...92_-1___202550

And on my bars
https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...94_-1___202550

With my route that I like I could run both on high and shouldn't run out of battery.

Anything else with in my budget of 200-250 USD, that could get me a better combo? With at least the helmet light being cordless.
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Old 09-29-12, 09:27 AM
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Burton
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Originally Posted by McFlurrey06
With the changing of the seasons upon us in Michigan and the shorter days, and my longer work hours, I need good lights. When I was riding more during the summer I was riding around 20mph for cruising, and would like to ride around that speed with my lights. I am stepping up from a blackburn flea, which isn't good for anything above walking pace it seems.

What do you think about this as my headlight combo

On my helmet:
https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...92_-1___202550

And on my bars
https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...94_-1___202550

With my route that I like I could run both on high and shouldn't run out of battery.

Anything else with in my budget of 200-250 USD, that could get me a better combo? With at least the helmet light being cordless.
The combined output of about 1,000 lumens is OK for 20km/h or less. Just a few comments.
Check to see if the batteries are user replacable and available. Otherwise you may have to either return it for servicing or consider it disposable.

The maximum run time on the 650 on high is about 1 1/2 hrs. That'll drop over the life expectancy of the battery, which if you end up having to charge it every day won't be much more than 2 years. So by the time you hit 2 years - you might only have a 30 minute run time on high.

I have no problem with external batteries myself - they give additional options for suppliers and capacity.
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Old 09-29-12, 01:47 PM
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Mark Stone
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Originally Posted by McFlurrey06
With the changing of the seasons upon us in Michigan and the shorter days, and my longer work hours, I need good lights. When I was riding more during the summer I was riding around 20mph for cruising, and would like to ride around that speed with my lights. I am stepping up from a blackburn flea, which isn't good for anything above walking pace it seems.

What do you think about this as my headlight combo

On my helmet:
https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...92_-1___202550

And on my bars
https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...94_-1___202550

With my route that I like I could run both on high and shouldn't run out of battery.

Anything else with in my budget of 200-250 USD, that could get me a better combo? With at least the helmet light being cordless.
That would be a great combo. I have used the predecessor to the Lumina 650, which was the MiNewt 600 Cordless, and the quality and longevity is very high in that line of lights. I rode with a 600 on my bars for about 18 months and noticed no degradation in battery or runtime (I finally replaced it with a NR 1500 Race and gave it to a roadie friend of mine who still has it). From user experience I say go for it. Plus, Nashbar will take it back no questions if you're dissatisfied.
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Old 09-29-12, 02:01 PM
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Helmet light:
A few years ago, I got a 180 lumen flashlight with a helmet mount to supplement my old handlebar light.

Good:
When turning, I could light up the side road.
I could flick it across a car's side window, to make sure the driver saw me.

Bad:
My neck was sore from trying to keep my head steady, so that the light stayed on the road ahead. (But it had a fairly narrow beam. Maybe a wider flood type beam wouldn't have this problem)
It just doesn't work in group rides, it's way too easy to accidentally beam into another rider's eyes.
It only lasted about 1:45. That wasn't always long enough, and it wasn't very practical to reach up and turn it off when it wasn't needed.

After a month, I moved it to the handlebar, next to the other light, and never went back to the helmet mount.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, I have one wide beam 1000 lumen light on the bars (measured lumens, not the exaggerated ratings that some lights have). It's much better. The wide, bright beam is even pretty good to light up the side road while turning at intersections.

I use the 1000 lumens all the time in the city, to compete with headlights and streetlights--I keep it aimed downward to make a bright pool of light about 20-30 feet in front of me.

Eyes adapt to dark roads, so less light is needed. On dark country roads, at 17-19 mph, I'll usually set it on medium, about 500 lumens. But sometimes, the 1000 lumens is good there--lots of curves, rough roads, or wet pavement all need more light.

Last edited by rm -rf; 09-29-12 at 02:13 PM.
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Old 09-29-12, 02:14 PM
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https://www.intl-outdoor.com/shadow-b...ght-p-465.html
https://www.intl-outdoor.com/edc-1865...ght-p-522.html The xp-g2 version.
https://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/t...-Lumens/Detail
https://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/t...sh-L-T6/Detail
https://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/t...sh-L-T6/Detail
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Old 09-29-12, 04:02 PM
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Buy two of these:

https://www.keygos.com/product_info.p...k8fvnjkt7527u4

The head strap can be used on a helmet by putting the straps through the holes. You'll have lots of flexibility since all the parts are interchangeable and extra batteries. Everything in the picture will come in the package (I've been asked this once since it does seem like a lot). I've thought about buying another myself but I just don't see the need for a helmet light in brightly lit NYC.
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Old 09-29-12, 04:25 PM
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Originally Posted by tractorlegs
I rode with a 600 on my bars for about 18 months and noticed no degradation in battery or runtime (I finally replaced it with a NR 1500 Race and gave it to a roadie friend of mine who still has it).
OK - I'm curious. What was the original maximum runtime and what was it after 18 months? Or are you just saying that your commute time was less than the total run time so you'd never notice a drop in capacity anyway?
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Old 09-29-12, 05:22 PM
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Mark Stone
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Originally Posted by Burton
OK - I'm curious. What was the original maximum runtime and what was it after 18 months? Or are you just saying that your commute time was less than the total run time so you'd never notice a drop in capacity anyway?
On high it went somewhere between 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hours before it automatically went to the low setting during the whole time I had it. My commute is 17 miles one-way which took me about 90 minutes (completely in the dark in the morning). If I tried to ride that night after the 90 minutes in and the 90 minutes on flash for the ride home, it would go on high for like a minute then automatically switch to low. Starting about a year ago I shortened my commute considerably by just riding 20 minutes to the bus stop
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Old 09-29-12, 06:49 PM
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Some good headlight comparisons:

https://www.modernbike.com/light-comp...singleshotplus

https://reviews.mtbr.com/2011-bike-lights-shootout

https://road.cc/content/news/46538-bi...ghts-test-data
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