Headlight recommendation for night riding
#27
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#28
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Thanks for all the information guys.
I've boiled it down to 2 lights:
1.LEZYNE Macro Drive 1300XXL Bicycle Headlight $90
2. LEZYNE Super Drive 1600XXL Smart Bike Light $140
The strap can fit around aero bars. With the other lights I'd have to buy a special Garmin mount from Canyon and an adapter from the light manufacturer to use the GoPro slot. (The Garmin mount puts the Garmin on top and the GoPRo (or light) on the bottom).
Both lights use 3 bulbs.
Is 1300 lumens enough for pre-dawn city riding or should I go 1600 lumens? Again I'm only in the dark for about 1 hour.
I've boiled it down to 2 lights:
1.LEZYNE Macro Drive 1300XXL Bicycle Headlight $90
2. LEZYNE Super Drive 1600XXL Smart Bike Light $140
The strap can fit around aero bars. With the other lights I'd have to buy a special Garmin mount from Canyon and an adapter from the light manufacturer to use the GoPro slot. (The Garmin mount puts the Garmin on top and the GoPRo (or light) on the bottom).
Both lights use 3 bulbs.
Is 1300 lumens enough for pre-dawn city riding or should I go 1600 lumens? Again I'm only in the dark for about 1 hour.
#29
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I'm tempted to fall back on "buy the best you can afford". meaning if the form factor isn't much different & if the price difference isn't a factor for you, then get the more powerful unit. but if I remember the links, 1 is twice the price. I just wouldn't want to buy a lower powered unit & then wind up buying the brighter one due to buyers remorse
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I use the Specialized FLUX 1200 as a headlight. It gives a great and wide light. It does not have an external battery which I see as a pro. But that also means that battery time for the max effect is quite limited. But fulle effect is only needed in really bad conditions.
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I use the Specialized FLUX 1200 as a headlight. It gives a great and wide light. It does not have an external battery which I see as a pro. But that also means that battery time for the max effect is quite limited. But fulle effect is only needed in really bad conditions.
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With all the night riding I've racked up, I've run everything from square-battery camping lanterns to bottle generators to Wonder lights (and their oddball rectangular batteries) to Sanyo Dynapowers to VistaLites. But the high-lumen white LED revolution changed everything.
Being acheap thrifty sort of person, I took a $5 Costco 200-lumen 3xAAA flashlight with a nice tight spot beam, replaced the internal battery holder with a wine cork with a screw in each end, drilled a small hole in the side of the light and ran power to those screws from a 4xAA pack, covered all the connections in NYK, and I've enjoyed bright reliable flicker-free illumination that lasts many hours. On my past several dusk-to-dawn rides, I've used a single set of 4xAA NiMH cells and had juice to spare at daylight. I've expanded this setup to nearly all my bikes at a cost less than one good rechargable system back in the 1990s.
I've read that a person's night vision drops by half every 13 years. So in a decade or so, I may need to upgrade to a 400-500 lumen flashlight on each bike. Just hope they're still $5 or so each.
Edit: What do I use for mounting this light? A pair of back-to-back conduit clamps bolted together. Not pretty, but very theft-resistant and durable, and allows adjustment in all axes.
Being a
I've read that a person's night vision drops by half every 13 years. So in a decade or so, I may need to upgrade to a 400-500 lumen flashlight on each bike. Just hope they're still $5 or so each.
Edit: What do I use for mounting this light? A pair of back-to-back conduit clamps bolted together. Not pretty, but very theft-resistant and durable, and allows adjustment in all axes.
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Richard C. Moeur, PE - Phoenix AZ, USA
https://www.richardcmoeur.com/bikestuf.html
Richard C. Moeur, PE - Phoenix AZ, USA
https://www.richardcmoeur.com/bikestuf.html
Last edited by RCMoeur; 12-03-22 at 07:41 PM.
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#34
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Look into the Lupine SL series battery powered lights, they have a lot of power in low beam and they also have a high beam. They make mounts for the Canyon cockpit. Low beam is StVO german standard......cutoff beam. High beam can also serve to melt winter ice in your path. Not cheap as is any good product made in a nonslave labor country.
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they make flashlight mounts. google or amazon. haven't used one myself so can't make a recommendation. some are very thin & may bounce, others are more rigid & seem more secure
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https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They certainly look a lot more civilized than the conduit clamps, allow 2-axis adjustment, and function quite acceptably, but don't offer the theft-resistance and rustic good looks of the less-expensive solution.
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Richard C. Moeur, PE - Phoenix AZ, USA
https://www.richardcmoeur.com/bikestuf.html
Richard C. Moeur, PE - Phoenix AZ, USA
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#37
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I did buy a set of these for evaluation:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They certainly look a lot more civilized than the conduit clamps, allow 2-axis adjustment, and function quite acceptably, but don't offer the theft-resistance and rustic good looks of the less-expensive solution.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They certainly look a lot more civilized than the conduit clamps, allow 2-axis adjustment, and function quite acceptably, but don't offer the theft-resistance and rustic good looks of the less-expensive solution.