Bike lights vs. Surefires

I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive halogen bike light, but I don't have any experience with them. I'm wondering how they compare to various Surefire or other flashlights for brightness, throw and beam quality.

The Nitehawk Raptor 10W is one I'm looking at for $35 at Bike Nashbar.

10W ain't too bad. For $35 bucks, I'd say it was a good deal. It's not going to be a throw monster, and the beam quality depends mainly on the type of reflector used. It's not going to throw like you're typical surefire, but it will put out as much light or more than many of them, and should be more floody (i.e. light a wider path for you). Aside from buiding your own light, which some people might suggest, I say 10w for $35 bucks is about as good a deal as you're going to get. And if you're used to those cheap $10 dollar bike lights (ala Wal-Mart or Target), then you'll be thrilled with the Raptor. If memory serves me correctly, that one uses a sealed lead-acid battery, so you'll want to make sure it stays charged.

Depends on the condition of your trial, even a 2.5W Cateye Halogen should be fine. Since 2.5 is fine, more should be better. Although I have a 25W Cateye Solo II which is good enough for most trials, I still want a 400-500 lumens HID.

SF's lights are not bike lights, but I love to mount them on my bike. I even mount a UK LC100 on it...thats why I want a HID system for bike.

For $35. thats ok if the Lead Acid battery's weight is not a concern. And your heart won't break when accident happens (on your bike lights)...

Look at NightSun, Jet Lights, NIght Rider or Planet Bike.

Will the vibration from the bike damage or shorten the life of Surefire bulbs? I saw a light mount at Amondo Tech that would hold a surefire on the handlebars but I thought that the vibration may blow the bulb. Any experience with this? I'd love to mount my 9P with the P91 on my handlebars.

I wouldn't think so as surefires are engineered to withstand weapon recoil, but I could be wrong as it is a different kind of stress.

I tried my G2 with a P90/RCR123 setup and the amount of light is adequate, but it gets too hot and the runtime isn't long enough. After a few rides, there was no problem with vibration. The M-series and weaponlights have the shock isolated bezel, though it is designed mainly to dampen a fore and aft movement, not up and down.

Another light I tried was a minimag/badboy 400 that I thought would be good for slow riding or a backup light. It was far to weak.

What I'm trying to find out is how the bike lights perform compared to a Surefire to decide how much power I need.

Just tried out Trek 4AA, vs 2AA NiMH (1.2 amp, 2 volt bulb), vs Magcharger vs SF 9AN. Good grief, the SF was the best by far. Just gorgeous spread (very useful) and nice brightness. Only problem was that is was cold outside and the NiCD died after 30 minutes (good thing they sell it with 2 sets of NiCD's). MC lasted the longest, since it's built like a tank.

X990, the next frontier.

run surefire U2 all the the time on my bike.
U2 rides on helmet or handlebar and acts as backup to my Niterider HID

as a primary light, you are better off getting a dedicated bike light

Wow, $35? It's listed as $60 in the catalog I just got.
I'd jump on it.

NotRegulated said:

Will the vibration from the bike damage or shorten the life of Surefire bulbs? I saw a light mount at Amondo Tech that would hold a surefire on the handlebars but I thought that the vibration may blow the bulb. Any experience with this? I'd love to mount my 9P with the P91 on my handlebars.

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to be safe, you may want to also tie down the bike clamp with some cable tie/velcro etc. i have heard that the clamp on some of the cheaper models do not take rough tracks very well. wouldn't want to have your 9P bounce off the clamp while going downhill at speed!

Emilion said:

For $35. thats ok if the Lead Acid battery's weight is not a concern. And your heart won't break when accident happens (on your bike lights)...

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What do you mean by "accident"? The battery leaking?

This bike light uses a 6V 10W MR-11 lamp assembly.
Is this equal to something like a Surefire P91 in output? I'm trying to get some frame of reference.

Thanks!

kz1000s1 said:

What do you mean by "accident"? The battery leaking?

This bike light uses a 6V 10W MR-11 lamp assembly.
Is this equal to something like a Surefire P91 in output? I'm trying to get some frame of reference.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Think about crashing ....
Which do you prefer ? A $100-200 surefire or a $35 10W ?

Did the "10 watt" cause you to crash? Er, then the money is worth it to buy a SF. I'd pay that any day.

I'd go for the 10watt bike light

10watts is about the minimum for off roading with. However it should be much trouble to get a 15 or 20watt bulb if you decide you need more power. The bike light bulbs will be much much cheaper to replace if they blow during a crash.