I've been using Night Rider lights since they put their batteries in water bottles and used regular light bulbs. Always a great product. I currently use a Lumina 950 mostly for riding on the roads at day time and just in case I get stuck out in the dark. I've had it for three years now and it performs flawlessly.
Lowest cost 130 Ponds. This is how the market sets the narrative to brainwash people into spending more and think that I still haven't got enough. The lowest price point keep increasing time to time. Same with bike costs. And other accessories.
@@KetansaCreatesArt - *Except for consumer-friendly models that don’t have any delusions of being “pro.” Amazon literally sells inexpensive lights, but the price margins increase exponentially for claimed mid-and high-lumen products.*
Yep. For example; The Monteer 6500: "We got 2 hrs 20 mins in maximum mode" That implies the light was at 6500 lumens for that duration.. and that is absolute nonsense! I guarantee that it would be at less than half of that after 10 or 15 minutes. They don't show "ANSI" on any of the packaging, or the instructions, because they want to hide the fact that the output isn't the one that it's claiming it to be. They simply don't follow fl1 ansi standards, which means they can get away with making numbers up. I expect the max output at switch on would be around 3500 lumens, maybe 4000 at a push. Seconds after that, it would drop down.
@@SSH01 It depends on what form factor you want? I use the Moon Canopus 4000 for both. It has an external battery pack (large one) and a remote. What makes it slightly unique, is the variable lumen system, which means you can choose your own low/med/high modes to set. It also has 2 warm white LED's and 2 Cool white. The warm white has better visibility in fog/mist and rain. It's also less dazzling to oncoming traffic if you're on a busy road. The light is FL1 ANSI rated, so the output stated is what was measured - no made up numbers. If you want an all-in-one style light, then go for the Fenix BC30 V2. You'll need to supply your own 18650 batteries, but that's good, as you can always have spares to replace on long rides. It has 2200 FL1 ANSI rated lumens and comes with a wireless remote. That bike light is actually pretty sweet!
Beam pattern is more important than max lumens (which is inflated on allot of cheap lights anyways) I've only found 2 cheap lights with a nice wide spill/diffuser beam...but they have anti glare, so not best for single track. I still want to try titan 4000 and Monteer 8000. So far my 2 favorite offroad bar lights are Outbound lighting trail evo and Baja Designs S1 wide angle.. My fav street light or helmet light for offroad is the Novsight 1600
Just ordered the 8000S. Rode Coastal Peak Park last night after dark. Lizards, Emerald Falls all the way down to the canyon end, Fenceline. Great ride, lots of toads (pop, pop, pop, sorry little buddies) and 2 rattlesnakes, both hanging out on the trail. Fun, fun, fun.
Not to mention the all-in-one convenience of the Six Pack, and the ability to program it and display exact burn time remaining. Although it is twice the price, and the beam spread not as good, I still don't regret getting the exposure
Nice test. It would have helped if you showed the name of the lamp under test , maybe with lumen and price as well. You fail to mention if there is a pilot light and that this light, as well as a wireless remote, will mean that the lamp is always on and will discharge in a day or two, when just sitting on the bike in the shed. In most cases the off button does not turn the lamp off completely, because it's an electronic button, that needs some circuit to be working, so you will have to pull the connecting cable to the battery, every time you get home and that can be a hassle as it's very tight because it has to be watertight. I have installed mechanical switches on both my lamps, that have this fault. I also found that the capacity indicators dazzled me in the night, so I have installed some white tape over it. Did you check this? And the Magicshine can only use proprietary battery. The Monteer 6500 is currently only compatible with Magicshine MJ-6106D 4 pin battery pack., which makes it expensive to replace although it's a very good battery.
Great points from the OP. I would add that a summary chart that we could pause on, highlighting the differences (e.g. ONLY a 31.8mm mount, checkmarks in depth or side vision boxes), would help.
The depth of this review was awesome, cheers! I just can't believe you just shrugged off Asia direct lights due to safety concerns and didn't touch on dyno lights! Asia direct lights, with their extremely low price they make a great entry level light to get people outside in the winter. Yes, charging safety can be questionable, however its questionable for name brand lights too, especially when bike lights are use/abused as they are. Whatever the case, i've converted to dyno lights, if you have the money they're worth it (see K-lite, Exposure, Supernova).
Great set of lights. I just got a new light for my bars, the Outbound Lighting Trail. New company that only makes a couple products, but they have the best beam pattern I've seen in person--and the almost 3 hour runtime on high is nice too. Not the best throw, but I use a spot light on my helmet (Lumina) and it works out perfectly.
Well Done Bike Radar a very good review, I cycle a lot at night commuting /trail riding and I own at least 5 of the brands you mentioned in this review you certainly covered every light on the market that is worth owning if you are serious about purchasing a quality night light. My favorite light brands are NIite rider lumina and Exposure strada. Nite rider lumina you can't really go wrong with any light in this range excellent value for money. Exposure strada they are very pricey lights but what I have found is the lights last for years and the company which is a british company I hasten to add are really good at servicing and repairs if you have any problems. visibility
Thanks for watching! We are glad you found the review useful. Alex is in the process of more lights testing at the moment so keep an eye out on bikeradar.com over the next few months for the update!
70% might be bad/low quality but the other 30% is just as good at least. Off course you need to do your homework, just buy the more expensive products with a lot of orders and reviews. I have seen several European companies that ordered products from the same factory, sometimes even without design changes.
@@detmer87 Dont ever buy 2 dollar bike headlamps. The 30 dollar lamps are equal or better than 200 dollar bike shop lamps IF YOU KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR.
zebralight headlamp with an adapter to fit it on bars. 18650 rechargeable batteries - no proprietary stuff, can take as many spare ones as I want want. 700-400 lumens. I can use it as headlamp or regular flashlight of the bike. 80eur, one battery is 10eur
Fenix offers amazing value and build quality on all their lights. They are already highly respected in the flashlight industry but completely overlooked amongst cycling brands. And unlike most, they feature swappable batteries (rechargeable 18650's). Easy choice for all-night outings and will never expire from worn out batteries (that can no longer hold a charge).
I daily, 5-6 days per week. I truly enjoy the bontrager ion pro rt. They got 5 modes, from daytime flash to 1300 lumens. I stack 2 sets of them, so whether it is a 12+ hrs ride, or as fast as I can go down a path....my lights last & I got great visibility.
Exposure 6 pack all day may not be the best spred pattern but well built solid reliable unit I run mine on program 3 lasts 12 hour's on high plenty of power and I can see more than enough to shred the trail
The Lifeline Pavo Motion 2400 is not the giant killer described in this test or in any way a bargain IMO. It's not a bad light and I can see how it performed well in a bar light only test because of its nice floody beam but instead of getting a light that outshines lights with twice the claimed lumen output (as described in the test) it actually delivers an almost identical beam pattern and 1300ish lumen output (my measured lumen output) of a Magicshine RN1200 I paid $45 for brand new on ebay (less than 1/3 of what I paid for the Lifeline). Additionally with the RN you get a wonderful Garmin style mount that fits any size bar, a mode button that only required one push to change levels, and a much smaller/lighter lamp. The only real performance advantage the Lifeline has is longer runtimes. I'll give the tester the benefit of the doubt because it would be impossible to know some of this without actually testing the output of each light and spending an adequate amount of time with each light which would take months with 15 lights. So owning one of these lights I wouldn't recommend it unless very long runtimes were your first priority. Lots of other brand name lights available with equal or better performance for less money!
thats what i was just thinking , why do the all cost 100 or more lol its 20 is cost to make here , the same light from china is 30 on line this should include those , ahh but they dont pay for the reviews ,
These ebay ligths have maximum 200 lumens. Not more. I ve tried it out with a girlfriend. She use a 10.000 lumen ebay light an i use my Betty 5000 Lumen light. The result - We diddent recognice, that her light give up after 30 minutes of use, because my lupine betty was to strong to see the cheep ebay light. Her light vanished in my light !!!
Got a couple of cheap LED lights from eBay for about 20 quid. Bright enough to ride with, batteries last ages, waterproof, lightweight. Not sure why you would want to pay hundreds.
Nice, good job well done. Clamp security is most important for me, especially off road. Then its the actual beam colour, some colours are so hard to see with regardless of the power output. Next would be battery longevity and availability of a spare. I've used a third light before now for road sections to preserve my main lights. Cost is massive too, some insane priced there for lights. Access to on/off mode switches while riding? All in I think you've nailed that as a good test, thank you.
There was a instance where the mount broke when I crashed my bike, and since the mount is part of the light itself (and I can't take it apart) Even with my 3D printer I am unable to repair it. So this is what I think too...
Like the Lumina Dual 1800 and the Magicshine Monteer, got myself a second light for cheap 400lm with 5 modes and light sensor only 8€, but can´t compete with none of those on the video. very nice video comparison and models.
I have the Monteer 5000 light which is like the 6500 light just less lumens as far as mounting it's a bit different but has a size selection that comes with it to fit your handlebar perfectly. The Monteer 6500 light is about $300 or $350 USD while the Monteer 5000 is $250 USD
This is like deep-groove vinyl, BikeRadar, thanks for this across-the-board display of lights. And to answer your question of which light is right, I'd say, as a commuter, the perfect light makes me visible to motorists without making them mad and prompting them to flick on their stadium lights in retaliation. Unfortunately, too many of them do that no matter what, so I wear a visor on my helmet and look down until they roar past or turn off their brights on otherwise dark two-lane roads. Bike lights are a necessity for anyone riding at night or even during the day when it is stormy and gloomy. Thanks again, BikeRadar.
great review and comparison. I would also like to compare some of the lights modes. How they compare and how long the lights last at lower brightness modes is a pretty important consideration for my needs. As I am often riding for quite a bit longer than the maximum brightness 1 or 2 hour run times. If I can get 5-6 hours of use at a lower brightness without sacrificing too much visibility that would be all I need. While still having the option to turn it up to max when needed.
Can't beat a pair of cat eye volt 800s best claps and fixings going I've tryed about 20 lights cateyes brackets are the best as are the lights trust me
I'm researching for a road use front light aat the moment. I Tend to look for a controlled flat top (wide and even) beam pattern. Many trail orientated lights are just too powerful for my requirements.
I think. I will stick to what i have on my trike. A small 12 v 6 ah battery 2 each 8 LED fog light strips mounted on each side of the trike. Last for 72 hours on one single charge. Other vehicles on the road will not pull out in front of me with those lights. (They are not sure what is coming down the road or trail. This is what I have been told.)
Practical JoeShmoe here. 1) Get two lights! One for your handlebar, one for your helmet. I can not stress enough, how much better it feels to be able to see when you turn your head. On twisty, slow trails your head will need to look into the corner before you start turning for it. A light on handlebar can not help you with that. Having two (or more) points of illumination helps with the depth perception and judging the obstacles. 2) Lumens and perception of illumination by the human eye are NOT linearly correlated. A thousand lumens are not perceived as twice brighter than 500. Power consumption of the LEDs is worse than linearly correlated with lumens. In other words higher lumens bring diminishing returns, while draining your batteries faster. IMO 700-1000 lumens per light is a reasonable sweet spot. 3) Floody lights are more suitable for riding then spotty/throwy ones. They also happen to be smaller and lighter (Spotty ones need a bigger cup/lens). 4) Just like anything else commodity items tend to be cheaper than specialized ones. There is a ton of high quality reviews on the Internet for 18650 or 2170 cell based flash-lights. Budget ones start at ~ $20. Still manage to offer high quality LEDs, watertight, compact and impact resistant body. Additional plus is that you have afford to get more than two, if you need a large output. 5) Get name brand cells (Samsung, LG, Sony, Sanyo or Panasonic). Top capacity ones are around 3400-3500mAh for 18650, 4800-5000mAh for 2170. 6) You can bring as many cells as you need for the ride/trip. I usually carry two single cell flash-lights and two spare cells. A single 18500 usually holds around 1.5-2h at max output. If I run out of power, I swap in the fresh cells and keep riding. There are affordable 18650/2170 USB power-bank/chargers out there. Your spare cells can be used for charging your phone, camera, etc.
P.S. Cree xml2 used to be the top LED. I can see that SST40, SST20 and Nichia 219C are more popular now. My personal recommendation is 4300-4500K for color temperature.
Disagree on safety. eBay lights are safe if you buy a separate battery holder and get quality 18650s from a good supplier. I got a six pack in of LG bats from fogstar.. Rated at 3500mah each, I tested them in my charger and the worse came out at 3420mah. Which is very good. They will genuinely last 400 cycles as well, or more if look after them (e.g. stop charging at 80%, store half charged in the fridge). Best Li-ion bats can get. My 6 pack cost £30 and gives in total a true 21000 mah, which is twice as much as the bat you mentioned here that cost £100!!! And totally safe. Attached to a Chinese pretty cheap torch, it all works well. The Torches are ali and have good seals. Have used them for years in rain. Will be safe, as the safety issue is all about the bats. Both my 6 bat holder and the batteries are protected too. 6 bat holder cost just £8. And it strong, waterproof etc.
I’ve found, that using 2 handle bar lights, and a head lamp work best. The brighter, the better. Yes, the cost can be an issue, but if you’re going to be biking trails at night, you’ve got to do it. Don’t skimp, or stay off the trails.
Dont forget candela output (intensity) i dont see many bike lights giving it a rating.Kelvins and beam pattern a lot more important for a bike light too/
Evolva lights? All in one nice spread 45€. Add a small tactical hand torch on the helmet and you can cover the blindspots. Best part is if you trash them you don't have to spend hundreds to replace them.
nice review. in my vast experience you can get 1500 lumens only in a so called turbo mode. at least in medium sized flashlights. all flashlights step down after a short or medium time otherwise the driver burn or the battery explode. the only way to avoid that is to use a battery pack separated and a big housing for the driver. and maybe a dedicated fan for the driver ( riding bicicle act like a fan). i dont ride trails, only city commute. 300 lumens for 9¹/² hours from my Seeker2Pro is more then enough. i understand the need to see further in front on a trail but 1500 seems to be op and unatainable. some good quality 18650 can give 1000 lumens for more then 1hour. and 21700 can do that with more ease.
Interesting. I have an ott system on my current bike and I would love to see how it stacks up against some of the better lights out there.. I graduated from a Lupine Betty and wanted something better.. I think that I have got there now, but what I have would not be to everyone's taste.
Check the video description and you will see timecode for all of the lights on test. The score is at the start of each individual light review as well. Thanks for watching, BikeRadar.
I'm using Gloworm XSV with 2 wide and one spot lens as my main light. Would like to to Lupine Alpha in the test how it fares with the rest of the lights for far less €.
Three things that would've greatly improved this video: 1. Stop showing the camera settings (I don't care about that, unless it changes). 2. Please show in TEXT the make & model # of each light that you're talking about/showing. 3. Since you showed numerous lights in this test, it would be prudent and very helpful to have a table at the end that provides info & grading/suggestions on each light & it's cost.
Is it not better to have more lights which are all at lower lumens, than to have one single big light at a higher lumen? Charging time would also be less time with smaller lights compared to charging one big light.
Thing here is: Night riding is always done with 2 lights. One on the bike that iluminates where you are going and one on the helmet that iluminates where you are looking. With this a lot of your points do not matter any more and you can have a really good setup with 2 lights for around 150 max.
This is a standalone review of bike lights, I didn't see anywhere in the title where it say combined with head lamp too. This is an excellent review and tells everyone what they need to know about a standalone bike light.
this comparison has -- or more specifically the comments on this video have -- opened my eyes to ... fairly priced technology on ebay/amazon/aliexpress ... : ) thanks to those for posting about cree and xhp70.2 ... just google those terms and ... far out we're paying way too much for generic technology with a brand name sticker.
Way too cheap; I am in the market for a ultra light , ultra bright, ultra shhpessall (it's posh for special), solid gold £10000+ light that serves icecream while on a trail; any recommendations?
@@OutboundLighting I have a trail and a hangover, absolutely the best lights going! Thanks for taking your automotive light engineering skills and making great bicycle lights!
Yeah....a reputable chinese/taiwanese flashlight brand with $1 mount, separate reputable charger, number of quality 18650 batteries that suits your ride lenght, will cost you sooo much less even when you put one on the bar and one on the helmet. And it will be all separate. Failure of one component will not be equal to failure of a complete integrated system. Or a repair labour cost after warranty period. And will give more use out of the light, as flishlight is more usefull for wider spread of uses, than a bar mounted head unit with a battery pack. Also I'm wondering, scratch that I'm very much doubting, that most battery packs have cell balancing in them and lack of that means trouble. That's why a single flashlight for single task, with single 18650 cell is the best option. And if you decide you need more light, you can mount a second one on the bar. But really, if most recommend a thrower on the head with around 1k lumens, then why would you need more on the bar for close flood? Perfectly happy having 900 lumens flood on the bar and 900 lumens thrower on the helmet. And I've seen more light with my own eyes, so it's not entirely: "you didn't use more light, so you don't know"
@@michaelwyatt4871 Do You know what cells ar used in 9/10 bicycle lights? Do You know how agressive the lights manufacturer was, when haggling the price per cell and if it influenced the quality? I only buy top brand cells, they cost around 3 euros per 3300mAh capacity(pretty much most economic) and I buy cells that are new, but have been separated from unsold packs for electronic equipment like laptops, drills. Recently my brother found a new source, where totally new retail cells never used for anything cost under 4 euros. To be honest, considering Samsung's fiasco with smartphones burning peoples bodies....do You charge your phone in a steel pan? Do You own a portable power bank and charge Your phone in a pocket or bacpack, or worse still...on a plane? Cause that is all dangerous when we consider guidelines for charging phones alone. Same goes for any lithium batteries. If you wanna be safe: steel pan with lid, placed on non flamable surface or fireproof battery charging bag (like for RC cars battery pack charging) and that's with smoke detector in the same room and with You present in the house during charging. Sad truth, those batteries are volatile, but yeah, I would never import Li-Ion or Li-Poly cells from china by ebay, Aliexpress, Gearbest or Banggood. If You want more info, I can write what I've got. Also wanna add, those batteries are slowly being used in more stuff, so a charger for lithium 18650, 26650 and other sizes will again prove more usefull and some will also charge Ni-MH batteries if one wants to reduce the ammount of chargers at home or doesn't have one. And having 2 flashlights on a ride for the price of 1 bicycle light is making a comeback in the darkness very unlikely. With some basic soldering knowledge, many flashlights can be fixed at home, as the parts are interchangeable and available, which can not be said about proprietary lights. Ohhh I could go forever about superiority of a flashlight over bicycle light. Except in Germany, as every light over there has advanced beam patterns which is laughable, that those in test here mostly do not have for the price and using them on the road, can get You a ticket regardless of the laws. (those lights are blinding people just like flashlight....and they're purpose designed for riding....???) Anyhow, I'm gonna make a stainless steel hood for my flashlights to make upward cut off, till now I've been just adjusting the angle for road rides and lowering the output. And I've seen 5k lumens, wide spread light being used in flashing mode by Bikeradar rider at night on the road.....speechless.
you have to have flood bar mounts, beam frame mounts and a headlamp to night ride, otherwise you outride your lights which means slowing down which means twice as much work to cover the same ground.... that said, night riding has benefits, when it freezes at night, all that mud turns tacky and hard plus i like to stop, have a fire and drink coffee and smoke weed.
Want our most up-to-date video on the best bike lights for 2022? Check out our latest video here 👉ua-cam.com/video/Fnpj1GqFP4oy/v-deo.htmlt
Touhuhot Bicycle lights
This light is made of metal waterproof and it was $50 7,000 lumens but we will see
I've been using Night Rider lights since they put their batteries in water bottles and used regular light bulbs. Always a great product. I currently use a Lumina 950 mostly for riding on the roads at day time and just in case I get stuck out in the dark. I've had it for three years now and it performs flawlessly.
Slide projector bulbs!
This was a genuinely comprehensive review of all aspects of bike lights from cost, to lumens, to battery run time on max power. Well done.
Lowest cost 130 Ponds. This is how the market sets the narrative to brainwash people into spending more and think that I still haven't got enough. The lowest price point keep increasing time to time.
Same with bike costs. And other accessories.
@@KetansaCreatesArt - *Except for consumer-friendly models that don’t have any delusions of being “pro.” Amazon literally sells inexpensive lights, but the price margins increase exponentially for claimed mid-and high-lumen products.*
If you’re going to test expensive lights, the least you could do is measure the actual lumens and effects of thermal regulation (throttling).
+1 more science, less puff
Yep. For example; The Monteer 6500: "We got 2 hrs 20 mins in maximum mode" That implies the light was at 6500 lumens for that duration.. and that is absolute nonsense! I guarantee that it would be at less than half of that after 10 or 15 minutes. They don't show "ANSI" on any of the packaging, or the instructions, because they want to hide the fact that the output isn't the one that it's claiming it to be. They simply don't follow fl1 ansi standards, which means they can get away with making numbers up.
I expect the max output at switch on would be around 3500 lumens, maybe 4000 at a push. Seconds after that, it would drop down.
@@Mapantz1 Hi what is the best light for mountain bike bike on and off road and that last a while please ?
@@SSH01 It depends on what form factor you want? I use the Moon Canopus 4000 for both. It has an external battery pack (large one) and a remote. What makes it slightly unique, is the variable lumen system, which means you can choose your own low/med/high modes to set. It also has 2 warm white LED's and 2 Cool white. The warm white has better visibility in fog/mist and rain. It's also less dazzling to oncoming traffic if you're on a busy road. The light is FL1 ANSI rated, so the output stated is what was measured - no made up numbers. If you want an all-in-one style light, then go for the Fenix BC30 V2. You'll need to supply your own 18650 batteries, but that's good, as you can always have spares to replace on long rides. It has 2200 FL1 ANSI rated lumens and comes with a wireless remote. That bike light is actually pretty sweet!
That was very enlightening...😜
I use a older Sigma Lightster USB
For the city it’s ok, but for the forest..in the dark..not so much.
Beam pattern is more important than max lumens (which is inflated on allot of cheap lights anyways)
I've only found 2 cheap lights with a nice wide spill/diffuser beam...but they have anti glare, so not best for single track.
I still want to try titan 4000 and Monteer 8000.
So far my 2 favorite offroad bar lights are Outbound lighting trail evo and Baja Designs S1 wide angle..
My fav street light or helmet light for offroad is the Novsight 1600
My current favorite setup, excellent overall and the lights with the best engineered optics on the market didn't make the test. Outbound Lighting.
Hopefully they'll contact us next year to get in on it!
Just ordered the 8000S. Rode Coastal Peak Park last night after dark. Lizards, Emerald Falls all the way down to the canyon end, Fenceline. Great ride, lots of toads (pop, pop, pop, sorry little buddies) and 2 rattlesnakes, both hanging out on the trail. Fun, fun, fun.
I'm curious - have you guys ever tested the Sigma Sport Buster 2000? Why not if you haven't?
Thank you for the list. It’s hard to find one that’s unbiased and not narrated by bots.
Wow! That beam pattern on the last light is phenomenal! And half the price of my exposure six pack! 🤨
Alex Roberts first crash and tiny bar mouth will fly away same as battery , not like six pack :)
@@lukas181118 yeah, good point.... I'm happy with the six pack and the clamp is well made! 👍🏻👍🏻
Not to mention the all-in-one convenience of the Six Pack, and the ability to program it and display exact burn time remaining. Although it is twice the price, and the beam spread not as good, I still don't regret getting the exposure
@@thewarr10r1 You better be happy at 550$ lmaoo what a waste
@@davidveltum6730 didn't pay for it so not bothered how much it cost tbh.. 👍👍
Nice test. It would have helped if you showed the name of the lamp under test , maybe with lumen and price as well.
You fail to mention if there is a pilot light and that this light, as well as a wireless remote, will mean that the lamp is always on and will discharge in a day or two, when just sitting on the bike in the shed.
In most cases the off button does not turn the lamp off completely, because it's an electronic button, that needs some circuit to be working, so you will have to pull the connecting cable to the battery, every time you get home and that can be a hassle as it's very tight because it has to be watertight.
I have installed mechanical switches on both my lamps, that have this fault.
I also found that the capacity indicators dazzled me in the night, so I have installed some white tape over it. Did you check this?
And the Magicshine can only use proprietary battery. The Monteer 6500 is currently only compatible with Magicshine MJ-6106D 4 pin battery pack., which makes it expensive to replace although it's a very good battery.
Great points from the OP. I would add that a summary chart that we could pause on, highlighting the differences (e.g. ONLY a 31.8mm mount, checkmarks in depth or side vision boxes), would help.
The depth of this review was awesome, cheers! I just can't believe you just shrugged off Asia direct lights due to safety concerns and didn't touch on dyno lights! Asia direct lights, with their extremely low price they make a great entry level light to get people outside in the winter. Yes, charging safety can be questionable, however its questionable for name brand lights too, especially when bike lights are use/abused as they are. Whatever the case, i've converted to dyno lights, if you have the money they're worth it (see K-lite, Exposure, Supernova).
Great set of lights. I just got a new light for my bars, the Outbound Lighting Trail. New company that only makes a couple products, but they have the best beam pattern I've seen in person--and the almost 3 hour runtime on high is nice too. Not the best throw, but I use a spot light on my helmet (Lumina) and it works out perfectly.
well done I ended up with niterider 2200 magicshine 6500 and lumina 1000 I wanted back up lol
Well Done Bike Radar a very good review, I cycle a lot at night commuting /trail riding and I own at least 5 of the brands you mentioned in this review you certainly covered every light on the market that is worth owning if you are serious about purchasing a quality night light.
My favorite light brands are NIite rider lumina and Exposure strada.
Nite rider lumina you can't really go wrong with any light in this range excellent value for money.
Exposure strada they are very pricey lights but what I have found is the lights last for years and the company which is a british company I hasten to add are really good at servicing and repairs if you have any problems.
visibility
Thanks for watching! We are glad you found the review useful. Alex is in the process of more lights testing at the moment so keep an eye out on bikeradar.com over the next few months for the update!
Days are getting longer but I could use an additional light or two!!
Lights aside, that welding on the bike frame is shocking.. last light gets a big 👍👍
Do a second test with the very best Ebay and Aliexpress lights, there are some true gems out there!
Would need to be a Long-Term Test given the dodgy/hit-or-miss quality from those sources.
I'm glad I'm not the only one out there saying this
There is nothing dodgy about Aliexpress. Its only the uninformed consumer that's the problem.
70% might be bad/low quality but the other 30% is just as good at least. Off course you need to do your homework, just buy the more expensive products with a lot of orders and reviews. I have seen several European companies that ordered products from the same factory, sometimes even without design changes.
@@detmer87 Dont ever buy 2 dollar bike headlamps. The 30 dollar lamps are equal or better than 200 dollar bike shop lamps IF YOU KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR.
using the XSV for the season. Great building quality, performance and direct talk with the crew
zebralight headlamp with an adapter to fit it on bars. 18650 rechargeable batteries - no proprietary stuff, can take as many spare ones as I want want. 700-400 lumens. I can use it as headlamp or regular flashlight of the bike. 80eur, one battery is 10eur
Fenix offers amazing value and build quality on all their lights. They are already highly respected in the flashlight industry but completely overlooked amongst cycling brands. And unlike most, they feature swappable batteries (rechargeable 18650's). Easy choice for all-night outings and will never expire from worn out batteries (that can no longer hold a charge).
I daily, 5-6 days per week. I truly enjoy the bontrager ion pro rt. They got 5 modes, from daytime flash to 1300 lumens. I stack 2 sets of them, so whether it is a 12+ hrs ride, or as fast as I can go down a path....my lights last & I got great visibility.
Thanks. Is there an equivalent review of road bike lights?
Thanks for this review. I decided on the Titan 4000 and love it! Has anyone tried to run the Titan 4000 off of the Bosch CX motor?
Exposure 6 pack all day may not be the best spred pattern but well built solid reliable unit I run mine on program 3 lasts 12 hour's on high plenty of power and I can see more than enough to shred the trail
You missed the Fenix BC30R. It's at the same level as the Niterider you tested, beam pattern is nicer, and interface is nicer.
hell yeah! MS Monteer 6500!
Id love to buy Hope but Magicshine have been smashing it on usability and price for over 10 years!
The Lifeline Pavo Motion 2400 is not the giant killer described in this test or in any way a bargain IMO. It's not a bad light and I can see how it performed well in a bar light only test because of its nice floody beam but instead of getting a light that outshines lights with twice the claimed lumen output (as described in the test) it actually delivers an almost identical beam pattern and 1300ish lumen output (my measured lumen output) of a Magicshine RN1200 I paid $45 for brand new on ebay (less than 1/3 of what I paid for the Lifeline). Additionally with the RN you get a wonderful Garmin style mount that fits any size bar, a mode button that only required one push to change levels, and a much smaller/lighter lamp. The only real performance advantage the Lifeline has is longer runtimes. I'll give the tester the benefit of the doubt because it would be impossible to know some of this without actually testing the output of each light and spending an adequate amount of time with each light which would take months with 15 lights. So owning one of these lights I wouldn't recommend it unless very long runtimes were your first priority. Lots of other brand name lights available with equal or better performance for less money!
I will stick to my 10,000 lumen £20 eBay lights with about 3 hours run time. Lasted over a year so far of heavy use.
It's not 10,000 lumen though.
thats what i was just thinking , why do the all cost 100 or more lol its 20 is cost to make here , the same light from china is 30 on line this should include those , ahh but they dont pay for the reviews ,
I got a cree light off ebay lasted 2 months off road use, buy cheap buy twice i never learn.
These ebay ligths have maximum 200 lumens. Not more. I ve tried it out with a girlfriend. She use a 10.000 lumen ebay light an i use my Betty 5000 Lumen light. The result - We diddent recognice, that her light give up after 30 minutes of use, because my lupine betty was to strong to see the cheep ebay light. Her light vanished in my light !!!
JuliusCesar2781 you got a dud light then. Mine are still lighting the trail like daylight 👍🏻
Olight Seeker 2 Pro with the FB-1 handlebar mount. Awesome.
What about the sigma buster 2000?
What is your opinion on the Outbound Lighting systems, please?
Got a couple of cheap LED lights from eBay for about 20 quid. Bright enough to ride with, batteries last ages, waterproof, lightweight. Not sure why you would want to pay hundreds.
Nice, good job well done. Clamp security is most important for me, especially off road. Then its the actual beam colour, some colours are so hard to see with regardless of the power output. Next would be battery longevity and availability of a spare. I've used a third light before now for road sections to preserve my main lights. Cost is massive too, some insane priced there for lights. Access to on/off mode switches while riding? All in I think you've nailed that as a good test, thank you.
There was a instance where the mount broke when I crashed my bike, and since the mount is part of the light itself (and I can't take it apart) Even with my 3D printer I am unable to repair it. So this is what I think too...
Outbound Lighting
The true best mtb lighting system
Trail + hangover lights on my rig and they make for a great experience
Like the Lumina Dual 1800 and the Magicshine Monteer, got myself a second light for cheap 400lm with 5 modes and light sensor only 8€, but can´t compete with none of those on the video. very nice video comparison and models.
Use a Bontrager Ion Pro RT light, sometimes on the bar and sometimes with the helmet mount. Really like it.
Good message..night riding is a blast!
Buy exposure, job done.
I have the Monteer 5000 light which is like the 6500 light just less lumens as far as mounting it's a bit different but has a size selection that comes with it to fit your handlebar perfectly.
The Monteer 6500 light is about $300 or $350 USD while the Monteer 5000 is $250 USD
were those shots really a 30 second exposure? or did you mean a 1/30th of a second exposure?
It's a F16 aperture, so it is propably a 30 second exposure. Also Iso only 100.
I use 2 3 led bike light then side light then tail light one under the seat then 2 more on the side
This is like deep-groove vinyl, BikeRadar, thanks for this across-the-board display of lights. And to answer your question of which light is right, I'd say, as a commuter, the perfect light makes me visible to motorists without making them mad and prompting them to flick on their stadium lights in retaliation. Unfortunately, too many of them do that no matter what, so I wear a visor on my helmet and look down until they roar past or turn off their brights on otherwise dark two-lane roads. Bike lights are a necessity for anyone riding at night or even during the day when it is stormy and gloomy. Thanks again, BikeRadar.
We're glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching, BikeRadar.
great review and comparison. I would also like to compare some of the lights modes. How they compare and how long the lights last at lower brightness modes is a pretty important consideration for my needs. As I am often riding for quite a bit longer than the maximum brightness 1 or 2 hour run times. If I can get 5-6 hours of use at a lower brightness without sacrificing too much visibility that would be all I need. While still having the option to turn it up to max when needed.
@Not Reasonable you never ride all night long? bullshit.
Can't beat a pair of cat eye volt 800s best claps and fixings going I've tryed about 20 lights cateyes brackets are the best as are the lights trust me
Everything is possible. I think what you meant to say, was " we're not willing to "
🤣🤣🤣
I'm researching for a road use front light aat the moment. I Tend to look for a controlled flat top (wide and even) beam pattern. Many trail orientated lights are just too powerful for my requirements.
I think. I will stick to what i have on my trike. A small 12 v 6 ah battery 2 each 8 LED fog light strips mounted on each side of the trike. Last for 72 hours on one single charge. Other vehicles on the road will not pull out in front of me with those lights. (They are not sure what is coming down the road or trail. This is what I have been told.)
Exposure lights is where it’s at
Who remembers when Magicshine was an eBay light...?
Still have MS lights, maby 6-7 years old. Have made many many hours with them. Just now Im looking to replace them as battery life decreased
Practical JoeShmoe here.
1) Get two lights! One for your handlebar, one for your helmet. I can not stress enough, how much better it feels to be able to see when you turn your head. On twisty, slow trails your head will need to look into the corner before you start turning for it. A light on handlebar can not help you with that.
Having two (or more) points of illumination helps with the depth perception and judging the obstacles.
2) Lumens and perception of illumination by the human eye are NOT linearly correlated. A thousand lumens are not perceived as twice brighter than 500. Power consumption of the LEDs is worse than linearly correlated with lumens. In other words higher lumens bring diminishing returns, while draining your batteries faster. IMO 700-1000 lumens per light is a reasonable sweet spot.
3) Floody lights are more suitable for riding then spotty/throwy ones. They also happen to be smaller and lighter (Spotty ones need a bigger cup/lens).
4) Just like anything else commodity items tend to be cheaper than specialized ones. There is a ton of high quality reviews on the Internet for 18650 or 2170 cell based flash-lights. Budget ones start at ~ $20. Still manage to offer high quality LEDs, watertight, compact and impact resistant body. Additional plus is that you have afford to get more than two, if you need a large output.
5) Get name brand cells (Samsung, LG, Sony, Sanyo or Panasonic). Top capacity ones are around 3400-3500mAh for 18650, 4800-5000mAh for 2170.
6) You can bring as many cells as you need for the ride/trip. I usually carry two single cell flash-lights and two spare cells. A single 18500 usually holds around 1.5-2h at max output. If I run out of power, I swap in the fresh cells and keep riding. There are affordable 18650/2170 USB power-bank/chargers out there. Your spare cells can be used for charging your phone, camera, etc.
P.S. Cree xml2 used to be the top LED. I can see that SST40, SST20 and Nichia 219C are more popular now.
My personal recommendation is 4300-4500K for color temperature.
Disagree on safety. eBay lights are safe if you buy a separate battery holder and get quality 18650s from a good supplier. I got a six pack in of LG bats from fogstar.. Rated at 3500mah each, I tested them in my charger and the worse came out at 3420mah. Which is very good. They will genuinely last 400 cycles as well, or more if look after them (e.g. stop charging at 80%, store half charged in the fridge). Best Li-ion bats can get. My 6 pack cost £30 and gives in total a true 21000 mah, which is twice as much as the bat you mentioned here that cost £100!!! And totally safe. Attached to a Chinese pretty cheap torch, it all works well. The Torches are ali and have good seals. Have used them for years in rain. Will be safe, as the safety issue is all about the bats. Both my 6 bat holder and the batteries are protected too. 6 bat holder cost just £8. And it strong, waterproof etc.
I’ve found, that using 2 handle bar lights, and a head lamp work best. The brighter, the better. Yes, the cost can be an issue, but if you’re going to be biking trails at night, you’ve got to do it. Don’t skimp, or stay off the trails.
Good review here. I actually really like the Cateye Volt series on the road. Totally reliable and the best handlebar mount I've seen.
I already got the frontier b4 this video but thanks.. i still need it for a spot helmet light on long distances !
Dont forget candela output (intensity) i dont see many bike lights giving it a rating.Kelvins and beam pattern a lot more important for a bike light too/
How about the Outbound Lighting stuff? Their Trail Edition throws a fantastic beam of light!
Flood on the bars, spot on the helmet
Big Lezyne light fan here
What if your single light 💡 malfunctions in the middle of nowhere that’s why I run to like separate on my bars tactical light Fenix PD 35s
What if I need a light that lasts for 4-5 hours? Or maybe more?
Evolva lights? All in one nice spread 45€. Add a small tactical hand torch on the helmet and you can cover the blindspots.
Best part is if you trash them you don't have to spend hundreds to replace them.
nice review. in my vast experience you can get 1500 lumens only in a so called turbo mode. at least in medium sized flashlights. all flashlights step down after a short or medium time otherwise the driver burn or the battery explode. the only way to avoid that is to use a battery pack separated and a big housing for the driver. and maybe a dedicated fan for the driver ( riding bicicle act like a fan).
i dont ride trails, only city commute. 300 lumens for 9¹/² hours from my Seeker2Pro is more then enough. i understand the need to see further in front on a trail but 1500 seems to be op and unatainable. some good quality 18650 can give 1000 lumens for more then 1hour. and 21700 can do that with more ease.
Interesting. I have an ott system on my current bike and I would love to see how it stacks up against some of the better lights out there.. I graduated from a Lupine Betty and wanted something better.. I think that I have got there now, but what I have would not be to everyone's taste.
Cat Eye is best choice
Do the all-in-one lights mounted on the handlebar change the bike handling? I suppose such a heavy weight there can be felt in the technical sections
It's a fantastic, comprehensive test, but the video sorely lacks on-screen manufacturer and model description.
Check the video description and you will see timecode for all of the lights on test. The score is at the start of each individual light review as well. Thanks for watching, BikeRadar.
I'm using Gloworm XSV with 2 wide and one spot lens as my main light. Would like to to Lupine Alpha in the test how it fares with the rest of the lights for far less €.
Are the number of light output by norm ANSI/NEMA FL ? Where is for example febix or nitecore?
Good thorough review. Happy with an R8 on the bars and a Magicshine MJ880 on the lid. Have a Gloworm X2 which is disappointing...
Ravemen PR 1600 best of the best bikelight
Very good review. thx a lot.
Are you gonna make "cheap chineselights" review in 2021/2022?
Cheers
Nik
No Lezyne?! Sleeping behind bars!
It was very helpful for me
Three things that would've greatly improved this video:
1. Stop showing the camera settings (I don't care about that, unless it changes).
2. Please show in TEXT the make & model # of each light that you're talking about/showing.
3. Since you showed numerous lights in this test, it would be prudent and very helpful to have a table at the end that provides info & grading/suggestions on each light & it's cost.
Excellent review!
was thinking for using it on the road
Superb review.
Magicshine Monteer 8000 £220 vs exposure mk2 six pack £385?
I'm using a miner's helmet with candle torch.
Very nice
Is it not better to have more lights which are all at lower lumens, than to have one single big light at a higher lumen? Charging time would also be less time with smaller lights compared to charging one big light.
Niterider lights are engineered to fall off. Wish they would bring back the dual mynewts that you can just wire to your bars..
the pavo motion seems to be unavailable in the US... bummer
Not going to lie, when a chinese version of the Magicshine Monteer 6500 is available, i'll buy that. I can't justify the cost of these lights
Thing here is: Night riding is always done with 2 lights. One on the bike that iluminates where you are going and one on the helmet that iluminates where you are looking. With this a lot of your points do not matter any more and you can have a really good setup with 2 lights for around 150 max.
This is a standalone review of bike lights, I didn't see anywhere in the title where it say combined with head lamp too. This is an excellent review and tells everyone what they need to know about a standalone bike light.
Sounds like a great light. Try getting hold of one at the moment though. 😔
was looking for a lightweight helmet mounted option. Anyone have thoughts on it?
Exposure all the way
I know people like them and they are bombproof but I think the game has moved on in terms of power.
Should’ve tested the NiteRider Pro 4200 Enduro.
hi。
Make sure your bike lights are charged up and ready for the darker morning commute after daylight saving time changes!
this comparison has -- or more specifically the comments on this video have -- opened my eyes to ...
fairly priced technology on ebay/amazon/aliexpress ... : )
thanks to those for posting about cree and xhp70.2 ... just google those terms and ...
far out we're paying way too much for generic technology with a brand name sticker.
Way too cheap; I am in the market for a ultra light , ultra bright, ultra shhpessall (it's posh for special), solid gold £10000+ light that serves icecream while on a trail; any recommendations?
Where's Outbound Lighting?
Never got invited. *shrugs*
@@OutboundLighting I have a trail and a hangover, absolutely the best lights going! Thanks for taking your automotive light engineering skills and making great bicycle lights!
where are the dynamo lights like K-lite
Yeah....a reputable chinese/taiwanese flashlight brand with $1 mount, separate reputable charger, number of quality 18650 batteries that suits your ride lenght, will cost you sooo much less even when you put one on the bar and one on the helmet. And it will be all separate. Failure of one component will not be equal to failure of a complete integrated system. Or a repair labour cost after warranty period. And will give more use out of the light, as flishlight is more usefull for wider spread of uses, than a bar mounted head unit with a battery pack. Also I'm wondering, scratch that I'm very much doubting, that most battery packs have cell balancing in them and lack of that means trouble. That's why a single flashlight for single task, with single 18650 cell is the best option. And if you decide you need more light, you can mount a second one on the bar. But really, if most recommend a thrower on the head with around 1k lumens, then why would you need more on the bar for close flood? Perfectly happy having 900 lumens flood on the bar and 900 lumens thrower on the helmet. And I've seen more light with my own eyes, so it's not entirely: "you didn't use more light, so you don't know"
Are those batteries safe? What I have read makes me fear for burning my house down.
@@michaelwyatt4871 Do You know what cells ar used in 9/10 bicycle lights? Do You know how agressive the lights manufacturer was, when haggling the price per cell and if it influenced the quality? I only buy top brand cells, they cost around 3 euros per 3300mAh capacity(pretty much most economic) and I buy cells that are new, but have been separated from unsold packs for electronic equipment like laptops, drills. Recently my brother found a new source, where totally new retail cells never used for anything cost under 4 euros.
To be honest, considering Samsung's fiasco with smartphones burning peoples bodies....do You charge your phone in a steel pan? Do You own a portable power bank and charge Your phone in a pocket or bacpack, or worse still...on a plane? Cause that is all dangerous when we consider guidelines for charging phones alone.
Same goes for any lithium batteries. If you wanna be safe: steel pan with lid, placed on non flamable surface or fireproof battery charging bag (like for RC cars battery pack charging) and that's with smoke detector in the same room and with You present in the house during charging. Sad truth, those batteries are volatile, but yeah, I would never import Li-Ion or Li-Poly cells from china by ebay, Aliexpress, Gearbest or Banggood.
If You want more info, I can write what I've got.
Also wanna add, those batteries are slowly being used in more stuff, so a charger for lithium 18650, 26650 and other sizes will again prove more usefull and some will also charge Ni-MH batteries if one wants to reduce the ammount of chargers at home or doesn't have one. And having 2 flashlights on a ride for the price of 1 bicycle light is making a comeback in the darkness very unlikely. With some basic soldering knowledge, many flashlights can be fixed at home, as the parts are interchangeable and available, which can not be said about proprietary lights.
Ohhh I could go forever about superiority of a flashlight over bicycle light. Except in Germany, as every light over there has advanced beam patterns which is laughable, that those in test here mostly do not have for the price and using them on the road, can get You a ticket regardless of the laws. (those lights are blinding people just like flashlight....and they're purpose designed for riding....???)
Anyhow, I'm gonna make a stainless steel hood for my flashlights to make upward cut off, till now I've been just adjusting the angle for road rides and lowering the output.
And I've seen 5k lumens, wide spread light being used in flashing mode by Bikeradar rider at night on the road.....speechless.
you have to have flood bar mounts, beam frame mounts and a headlamp to night ride, otherwise you outride your lights which means slowing down which means twice as much work to cover the same ground.... that said, night riding has benefits, when it freezes at night, all that mud turns tacky and hard plus i like to stop, have a fire and drink coffee and smoke weed.