Ride_Fast

I’m looking for a front light that has a long battery life, is powerful, lightweight, easy installation and removal, USB charger, and is water proof or resistant. All of that for less than 100$ if possible. Any suggestions?

dedhed

https://shopmagicshine.com/collectio...ke-front-light

subgrade

Define powerful. Also: long battery life, powerful, lightweight - pick 2, since the greater the capacity of the battery, the heavier it will be.

jgwilliams

I was going to say powerful, light, cheap, pick any two. You're asking a lot for a $100 light. However, it does depend on your definition of powerful.

I now have an Exposure Strada RS front and Exposure Blaze at the back. By no standard could they be called cheap but they are powerful, very light, long lasting, very well built and very weatherproof. The Strada is 1200 lumen, the Blaze is 80 and they both have a 6 hour battery life on the brightest setting. They also both have a pseudo random flash pattern which, apparently, makes it more likely you'll be noticed by drivers.

cb400bill

Check out this one in our Marketplace. https://www.bikeforums.net/sale/1217...ban-800-a.html

bruce19

https://vimeo.com/203922296

Just bought this and have had it for a couple weeks. It works well and holds a charge better than some others I've had.

ririder

I have one of these that I'm really happy with.

https://cygolite.com/product/dash-520-usb/

FlMTNdude

I have one of these. I ride to work, part of the way is highway, and lights up the road fine. I also run it on strobe on the way home in the light. Just to be sure I plug it in mid week and on the weekends. Don't forget the rear, I am running a Cygolite 150. I have had a couple of drivers slow down to ask me about it, they can see it a solid half mile back.
https://cygolite.com/product/metro-plus-650-usb/

hsuBM

Serfas e-Lume 1200 is wonderfully bright, mounts somewhat easily, but is very fragile.

Light&Motion Urban 1000 is less bright, but still bright enough to be seen, easier to mount, and is far more durable.

I also really like the Cateye Volt 900.

oris

I personally like this one; it's co-branded from Olight and MagicShine. I had taken a chance on it in a bundle with a taillight.

https://www.olightstore.com/rn-1500.html

I'm not sure if it really is a 1500 lumen light but otherwise like the features. The mid-steady mode works well to light up the road on unlit streets. I rode this through a hailstorm this past weekend and didn't have any issues. It comes with a Garmin style mount and various adapters; I've got it set up on the GoPro mount of my K-Edge computer mount. It charges using a USB-C cable, which is nice because it's less cables for me.

ofajen

I don’t have a lot of experience to compare but I have an Urban 350 and the little companion rear light and I really like them. Very easy to put on and take off I mainly ride trails so I mostly just need enough light to see and then for other bike riders to see me.

Otto

woodcraft

I have a couple of versions of this, & they've been solid.

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...00-front-light

For longer run time, I bring a second light.

10 Wheels

Street and Road rider

Craptacular8

The magic shine, or it's clone is about the most cost effective, bright light for the money. The clones can be found on amazon for less than $20. They last for hours, easy on/off bike, do well down below 0 degrees F, and have survived rainy rides for me just fine. Their downside, depending on your taste, is that they have a cord, that attaches to an external battery pack. I don't find this cumbersome, it has velcro straps, you can easily attach the battery pack to the stem, etc...I usually drop it in a top tube bag, but, it does have to be used. It's an advantage in super cold, because I can put the battery pack into a pocket on my coat, and the battery stays warm, so no worries about the light not lasting as long, or not working in cold temps. I have used a 250 lumen cygolight, and I liked it for being seen. Definitely would need a brighter one to see much with it, and it was not happy when I used it in the rain. It did dry out and work subsequently though.

Maelochs

I have been using Light in Motion urban lights for years and have Zero complaints. I have tried three different models (I usually have two lights at a time on the bike---backup, and for Really dark roads that I don't know well or haven't ridden in a while) and they are pretty cheap, easy to mount and dismount, last pretty well (four hours I'd guess but I don't really pay attention) and in 20 years only one has burned out (I hear you can send them back for a new battery but I tried to replace the battery myself .... I will do that better next time. )

But ... there are a ton of decent light out there. All I would recommend is that the light be as bright as you need but not too bright---i find a lot of situations don't require 800 lumens, though it is good to have when you need it. get a light with a few setting.

Koyote

Your key parameters (powerful, battery life, even water resistance) are all quantifiable, and yet you have given no requirements. Thus, it's pretty difficult to make a recommendation.

Mista Sparkle

I just picked up a bontrager ion comp r from the lbs and am quite pleased with it.

I used it in totally dark conditions last night for my commute home and felt comfortable up to around 20mph on my normal route.

It's 700 lumen on max and lasts for at least an hour at max (it days 1.5 I believe) and substantially longer at medium and low. It has a reasonable pattern without a hard edge as some of the cheaper lights I've had. Usb charging, and other modes of course. For 80 of say it was worth it after a number of cheaper ones. You can get one in a kit with a rear light as well if you don't have one.

indyfabz

https://www.bikeforums.net/electroni...hting-gadgets/

cb400bill

Thread moved from General to Electronics and Lighting.

subgrade

A beam cut-off is a must in urban environment and on roads used by other people in my opinion. In wilderness with no one around, sure, go for it, but it seems that few people care that their 1000lm high beam front lights are blinding oncoming traffic. Decent optics also help to concentrate more of the light on the road where it matters instead of dissipating it in all directions, therefore a better illuminance can be achieved with less lumen total output which in turn raises battery efficiency. Instead, it seems that the industry has fixated on max lumen figures, not giving much thought to he applicability in real world.

pdlamb

Second best time of the year to be looking for lights (after spring). Look at the various on-line shops and see what's left of last model year's lights. I've had very good luck with Cygolite, and also with Light in Motion.

adamrice 

• Most lights are built with commodity parts (LEDs, batteries, etc). No single light manufacturer is developing these from scratch; they're shopping at the same "store" as their competitors, and in may cases, buying the same or very similar parts.
• Lights generally fall into the "see" or "be seen" category. I don't think "be seen" lights are much use, and if you want a "bright" light, that's probably not what you want.
• Most lights with rechargeable batteries in the "see" category are using either one or two 18650 LiFePo batteries. They pretty recognizable—if they have one battery, they're about the size of a stubby sausage; if they have two, they're about the size of two side-by-side. There is some variation in the quality of 18650 batteries, but the best probably has only about 20% more capacity than the worst. Even a 2-battery light is lightweight and compact. Nearly all rechargeable lights these days use USB chargers (there are some exotic high-powered lights that require their own wall warts).
• After that, you can pick based on LED. The LEDs will vary by output. You can pick the output level you want (600 lumens, 800, 1000, etc). Some manufacturers exaggerate output (especially no-name brands).
• The places manufacturers can really add value is in stuff like lenses and reflectors to shape the beam, control electronics, ancillary features like remote switches, customer support, quality of construction, etc.
• Lights that meet the German STVZO standard will have carefully shaped beams to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic. These put out less light overall, but put all of it on the road, so they do more with less. These indicate their output in lux, not lumen; lumen is total light output, lux is the lumen hitting one square meter. So you can't convert between the two.
• Most lights mount either to a slide-on bracket that stays on your handlebars, or using a rubbery ladder-strap. Both methods are fine.

Elvo

Lumintop B01 paired with Samsung 50E 21700 battery

https://www.amazon.com/Micro-USB-rec.../dp/B07WFDRPW8

Koyote

Ditto. And for a "be seen" light, I prefer a standard beam rather than a cut-off. I want cars to see me from a long distance. Although I don't run it at the highest setting, which (on one of my lights) is 1300 lumens

subgrade

I have had pedestrians complaining a couple times when I was running a front light without a shaped beam, and I have myself looked frontally at my bike with that front light angled so that I get the most illumination of the road - I didn't find it to be pleasant at all. If I angled the light down so it wasn't dazzling, I'd get just a few meters of illumuniation in front of me. And I've also been dazzled myself by oncoming riders on the MUP a few times.