Best Cycling Headlamp

LEDBE
Mountain, Road, or Both?
Are you a Granny, a Gonzo, or In-Between?

Cycling at night can require quite an investment if you're going fast off road (big, wide light), or not so much if you do leisurely road rides (less light w/rear flasher). You need to see, and be seen. Here is a link to a CPF member that loves biking and headlamps, which is the perfect combination for you. It's in Polish, but as he says "A picture is worth 1000 words". Some lights are not readily available in the US and some are modified, so be forewarned. Scroll each side to a headlamp or bike-light to do a side by side comparison.

It's at least a great point to start from.

Good Luck!
 
I use the Ay Up light which is in one of the posts above. Not the cheapest bike light around but very bright, neat and solid looking. They have a 5 (used to be 10) year warranty.
 
I used to be into cycling professionally- a lifetime ago. There is a big difference in lights that are for you to be seen, and lights that allow you to SEE. If you are a mountain biker and want to ride off road at night you need some serious light. If you are just a commuter and are looking for something to let cars see you, it's a different deal entirely.

I have used over the past 10-15 years lights from a company called NiteRider. They make amazing products, but these are serious light systems that are literally like having car headlights mounted on your bike or helmet. The ideal system is a very bright handlebar mounted system in conjunction with a powerful headlamp. That is what I use and it's exactly like riding in the daytime.

My systems are older, but here is the newer versions of what I use:

http://www.niterider.com/prod_pro1200.shtml

http://www.niterider.com/prod_slickrock.shtml

The bar mounted system gives you 1200 lumens for 2-3 hours, the headlamp is close to 1000 lumens for 2-3 hours. But this system will probably cost you close to $700- maybe more.

Anyway, you asked for the best, and with my history in professional cycling, this is it without question.
 
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WOW ...... !!

For someone that just started in cycling ....... thats a LOT .

Their bike may not have cost em that much .

.
 
dealextreme sku 29489 is quite a hit here at the moment for mtb and also for trail running/orienteering.
 
Gizmo, you're rich, retarded, and laid back. So lift one little pinky, click de mouse button, and send Bob some bread so dis poe-poe boy can get a propah outfit foe his ride.

+1 on NiteRider, and what Jethro describes is the best setup for offroad, but you can get by for less if traveling at sub-sonic speeds.

Still waiting to hear what kind of riding Bob is looking to do before offering more advice.
 
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tnuckles ,

You live in Alabama , and you're calling me retarded ?

You can't read !

It says " RETIRED" - as in .... no further need to work .


Are you flaming me .... :poof:

.
 
Of course I'm not flaming you. Making a bit of a play on you're location, is all. Sheesh, does every :poke: poke need an emoticon to ensure blood won't be spilt?

Have you never heard retarded swapped for retired, poking fun at ones-self describing the lessened horizons that a retiree may experience after a lifetime of active employment, or perhaps describing how your mind atrophies from not doing so much any more?

BTW, currently living in Alabama by choice hasn't impinged on my ability to travel the world and savor the wondrous sights, sounds & tastes life has to offer … Mr. recliner … there with you're faux-leather-covered-footstool-handle-flippy-thingy.:D
 
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Mr. recliner … there with you're faux-leather-covered-footstool-handle-flippy-thingy.:D
.....................................................................................

It says Retired - and WEALTHY ...... too

My leather is not ....... faux


Jeeeezzzzz , now your flaming my furniture TOO


I'm going to bed .......... cause I CAN , in the middle of the day .
 
tnuckels said:
+1 on NiteRider, and what Jethro describes is the best setup for offroad, but you can get by for less if traveling at sub-sonic speeds.

Still waiting to hear what kind of riding Bob is looking to do before offering more advice.
Click to expand...

Hey, he asked for the best, I'm just following orders!

And yes, the style of biking he does makes a huge difference.
 
bobfromwaco said:
Just got into cycling and wanted to get a headlamp. What should I avoid when looking?
Click to expand...

Avoid 3*AAA battery powered lights. Avoid alkaline batteries.

Do you wear a helmet? Strap a small but powerful LED flashlight to the ventilation slots. Use a rubber band, luggage strap or a dedicated mounting system. This is a simple and robust

You can use any flashlight, but the more powerful the better. The diameter should not exceed 1 inch, the length 4-5 inches maximum. Lots of high-powered lights in the 150-200+ lumens range that fit the bill. Just decide what battery options you like the best and if you prefer a tight, far-reaching hot spot or a wide, floody beam. (This is hotly debated in the biking community; I prefer a tight beam on the head but others prefer a floody light there. Each to his own...). Then you still have tons of lights to choose from...

Some high quality brands in the $50-80 range: Nitecore, quark, fenix, ...
Some nice budget brands (buy from shiningbeam.com for reliable quality control and dealer support): ITP, Romisen, MG

My favorite battery setup is 2 AA batteries. Invest in a nimh charger and buy some low self discharge nimh batteries, such as eneloop.

Oh, and the headlamp / helmet lamp should be a complement to the lighting already on your bike. The details of which depends on what kind of cycling you do... At the very least you should have a handle bar mounted "bee seen" light in traffic. The headlamp could be turned on in dark spots to help you avoid pot holes. If doing trail rides I use a flood on the bars and a spot on the helmet (others prefer it the other way around). If you use a rubber gadget called "two fish lock block" you can mount a conventional flashlight to the bars as well.
 
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I agree on the Alkaline battery part (alkaline pretty much suck in every way). However, I disagree that you should avoid 3xAAA as a rule. There are lots of very nice lamps on that standard. The only reason for avoiding that would be the relative scarcity of AAAs and their lower total power than AA. However, that's not the fault of the light itself. There are lots of lights which have quite decent battery lives and brightnesses.

How, again, could using a ghetto flashlight bodged onto a helmet be better than a headlamp? Then again, a normal shaped headset strap might have difficulty holding fast against the funny shape of a bike helmet. Mounting a flashlight to the handlebars in an option as well, but that would reduce your ability to see around corners.
 
Zeroignite said:
I disagree that you should avoid 3xAAA as a rule. There are lots of very nice lamps on that standard.
Click to expand...

You make the decision process easier if you eliminate all crappy 3*AAA lights. True, you eliminate some decent 3*AAA lights as well - but I recommend regulated lights for cycling anyway. When riding a bike, I prefer constant output for a limited time (then recharge) rather than having this dim 3*AAA light that never dies. Doesn't matter how bright it is with fresh batteries, the majority of the battery life it will be much dimmer. Long runtime is useless if you can't see that pothole at high speed.


There is a time and a place for unregulated lights (your typical 3*AAA / 3*AA friend). Such as hiking or as a backup. It may be bright for a short time, then it gets dimmer for a loooooooong time... Not what I want for cycling, but really good if you get lost in the woods and need 3 days to get out again.


Zeroignite said:
How, again, could using a ghetto flashlight bodged onto a helmet be better than a headlamp? Then again, a normal shaped headset strap might have difficulty holding fast against the funny shape of a bike helmet.
Click to expand...

You've partly answered your own question. I'll give you some more reasons:
- There are TONS of good (and inexpensive!) flashlights that fits on a helmet. (cost = flashlight plus $0.002 for a rubber strap, perhaps $2 for a luggage strap or $7 for a two-fish lockblock).
- Good dedicated bike lights are insanely expensive.
- High powered headlamps are surprisingly hard to find. The good ones are almost as expensive as bike lights.

Remember that you need much more light as your speed increases. I can walk comfortably with hardly any light at all. I can run with a 10-50 lumens light. When biking in the dark I want the full power of a quark or a fenix LD20 (170'ish lumens or more). Not many good headlamps below $100 that can match that output.

Zeroignite said:
Mounting a flashlight to the handlebars in an option as well, but that would reduce your ability to see around corners.
Click to expand...

+1 and exactly why a head mounted lamp is useful. If you go straight, you don't need it.
 
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jankj said:
- Good dedicated bike lights are insanely expensive.
- High powered headlamps are surprisingly hard to find. The good ones are almost as expensive as bike lights.

When biking in the dark I want the full power of a quark or a fenix LD20 (170'ish lumens or more). Not many good headlamps below $100 that can match that output.
Click to expand...

Thats exactly why the dealextreme sku 29489 headlamp is getting so popular these days as I mentioned above. Reasonably lightweight headlamp compared to output, 600-700 lumens, comes with battery pack and charger for $80. Very difficult to beat if it works as well as they say at CPF bike section.
 
[QUOTE="jankj]You make the decision process easier if you eliminate all crappy 3*AAA lights. True, you eliminate some decent 3*AAA lights as well - but I recommend regulated lights for cycling anyway. When riding a bike, I prefer constant output for a limited time (then recharge) rather than having this dim 3*AAA light that never dies. Doesn't matter how bright it is with fresh batteries, the majority of the battery life it will be much dimmer. Long runtime is useless if you can't see that pothole at high speed.


There is a time and a place for unregulated lights (your typical 3*AAA / 3*AA friend). Such as hiking or as a backup. It may be bright for a short time, then it gets dimmer for a loooooooong time... Not what I want for cycling, but really good if you get lost in the woods and need 3 days to get out again. [/QUOTE]The recommendation for a regulated headlamp is absolutely correct, for all of the reasons given. I would like to point out that there are regulated 3xAA and 3xAAA headlamps, most notably the ones by Princeton Tec. However, they are all in the 40-100 lumen range, which may indeed be insufficient for your needs.

But again, we really need a lot more information to make a recommendation. Most importantly, we need to know whether this is for road or mountain biking. I imagine that if you're riding smooth roads, then a light with lots of throw would be most important, since you don't need to see what's right below you as much as you need to see what's hundreds of feet in front. However, if you are mountain biking, you would need a very floody light, so that you can clearly see small obstacles directly in your path. Plus, depending on how fast you ride, you might need throw as well.

Another important parameter is how long you ride for. Whether the light needs to last 1 hour or 10 per charge makes a pretty big difference in what kind of form factor you're looking at. Indeed, it may be that the best solution turns out to be a homebrew system, utilizing large fixed battery packs to drive a high-powered lamp.
 
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