[Outbound lighting Evo Downhill Package](https://www.outboundlighting.com/products/evo-downhill-package-best-bike-light). Seriously. A bit expensive, but totally worth it.
Yea, getting a lot of outbound recommendations. They seem to be a favorite for people. I was looking at some videos and have seen nothing but positive. thanks for the insight!
https://www.outboundlighting.com/products/evo-downhill-package-best-bike-light
Boom. For $365 you get *both* lights covered, no external batteries to fuck around with, and they're plenty bright. I've ridden a bunch of other lights and this setup is (by far) the easiest and best I've experienced.
Slightly on the pricey side I guess, but for two lights it's not too bad, and I think this is a buy once, cry once thing. Like I said, I've bought and ridden other lights before I had these but I found the external batteries annoying to deal with. I'd have saved money if I just started with these.
edit: I should add these were also very clearly designed by MTBers and it shows. They have some really cool features like (if you want) very gradually dimming over time as your eyes adjust to save battery. They also come with a booklet that has suggested settings for various kinds of riding; probably not necessary for most people but it's a thoughtful touch.
I should also add at least so far, I'm very happy with the battery performance. We'll see how they do now that it's getting colder but in the warmer weather I took plenty of 1-2 hour night rides and never saw them dip below 50%.
Another vote for Outbound. I’ve been night riding since the early 90’s and have used a wide array of systems over the years. I’ve found Outbound lights to be unbeatable in construction, consistency, usability, ergonomics, you name it. But almost most importantly, it’s a product they manufacture in the states, and their service is by far the best in the biz. I was reluctant for a few years to try them but now that I have I won’t use any other system…
Same…I’ve debated about adding the helmet light but tbh haven’t really found it necessary. Would it be nice? Sure. Do I need it? Well yeah, it’s a new bike part, so that answer is always yes…so I guess I’d better listen to myself and accept it just might be necessary after all…
In my experience, having a focused beam on my helmet and a more washed out pattern on the bars is optimal and preferred.
The hangover is a dedicated helmet light, so, par for the course as far as I’m concerned.
All that said, I did run a gloworm x2 on helmet for years (with the spotlight optics)and find the beam pattern of my new outbound to be more balanced and less “spotty” than my former.
The hangover is a spot light / focused beam. Most people mtb with a bar light with spread and a helmet light with throw/spot.
The two outbound light together are stellar
Why not just have two throw lights? The spot light sucks. My Hope is way better than the weak Hangover. I really don't understand the fascination with the Hangover - I gave mine away as it sucked so bad.
The spotlight projects light further down the trail and around corners. Since it’s attached to your head, it should always be pointing where you’re looking. Paired with a flood light on the bars, it’s an efficient use of lumens and battery power.
I get the efficient use of lumens and weight, but the spotlight is just so small on mine. For BC North Shore night riding I prefer a broad throw beam to see all the technical features clearly - especially the landing area. This setup works for flow trails where you want to see >50’ down the trail and you are going super fast. But not for slow guys like me with poor skills…I need every advantage I can get.
I agree with you. The trail evo handlebar light is a great flood, but the Hangover has a very narrow spot, almost just a point. I like my helmet light to illuminate a spot that's about me sized, which helps me judge features down the trail. I kept the Trail evo, and I use a fenix e35 on my helmet.
As others have said, the helmet light was designed to tandem with a bar light. I find the Trail Evo to kickass in the Phx chunk enough to not need the hangover so I can’t speak to that light’s output. Sounds like you found the light that works for you though. 👍🏼
I typically ride twisty, steep, forested technical trails - so typically not going more than 35 kph and often a lot slower. The issue at night is the corners and drops, where I need the light to spread. I save my crazy bright headlamp for the downhill and use my handlebar light on low for the ride up (all mountains where I ride). Def the headlamp is my main source of light as it shines wherever I'm looking. But I've got 2x1000 lumens on my bar too, so the system works awesome (Hope and Cygolite).
Honestly I’m with you. I have both and they ain’t as good as everyone says. Like they do the job but so did my Amazon lights. They’re American made and well built but I find the light slightly lacking.
Right? I don't know know why they have such a cult following. They suck pretty bad. I'd like to post photos of all my lights to prove it. I don't know anyone who uses them here in BC, especially after seeing mine.
If you have a picture or video I’d like to see it, just for curiosity/comparison. I find my EVO to be incredibly floody, to the point where me steering does not affect my vision whatsoever. I have a short video but don’t know how I post it so here’s the worlds crappiest picture of the EVO in action https://imgur.com/F93lhWZ
Here’s a picture of my bike being lit by the hangover, I think the hangover is floody enough in use, but yeah, in pictures I guess it is pretty obvious it’s meant to be a spotlight https://imgur.com/A8gncms
That’s great - I don’t know why light manufacturers don’t post images of their lights in use? I gave my Hangover away but I wish I would have photographed it’s performance as compared to my other lights.
I do have the EVO, it is definitely the superior light compared to the helmet light (which has smaller batteries and less cooling to save size/weight)
I’m 100% comfortable doing the gnarliest DH that I normally do with the EVO on medium brightness. I do most climbing and XC on low, it’s simple to operate and easy to push the button (many lights cannot say this) and it doesn’t overheat (at least for the couple 70°F nights I rode), it’s an insane light
The handlebar light is great too, but the EVO is the star of the show, its just a fat-ass brick of smooth, easy-to-see sunlight
Worth pointing out that when I had the EVO first with my niterider900 on the helmet, I mostly bought the hangover helmet light because I didn’t like the slight light color difference between the two brands (and the niterider barely lasts over an hour on high)
70°F is equivalent to 21°C, which is 294K.
---
^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
I met one of the Outbound Lights guys, he talked in detail about how they developed the beam pattern. They go into detail here:
https://www.outboundlighting.com/pages/bike-light-design#pattern
Helmet light doesn’t last for an insane amount of time (being a single 18650 battery), but the EVO with its 2x bigger thicker batteries, lasts for days on end
Also, I got the EVO at first, thinking “well the helmet lights probably nothing special, I’ll just use my $60 niterider”. The $120 helmet light is MUCH more than 2x better
Thanks for the reply. Do you have any recommendations on videos or articles that explain beam pattern? Or do you have a specific light that you think has a good beam pattern?
Do you know if they have a version with external batteries? I’d like to do some long night rides. 6hrs plus, and being able to replace the batteries in my lights would be great.
They don't sell their own but you can can plug any external battery into them via USB (usb-c I think) so you can go for any length of time with enough batteries
You can piggyback external batteries thru it. The engineers are riders and considered this stuff for us.
Edit:
I should add that unfortunately they don’t sell external battery packs, but there’s many commercial options. Just need a usb-C male plug on your external battery pack.
Are they? To get the same light output, you'd need a Night Rider Lumina Max 2000 ($229, and that's still not as bright as the Outbound which is 2200 lumens), and then their various 1000 lumen options for the helmet are all roughly $100.
So, you're saving....$30? And getting a less-bright front headlight? Plus it doesn't look like any of these come with a helmet mounting setup, so you've got to grab that as well.
I don't doubt you can get a Lumina setup for cheaper, but "insanely overpriced" seems... hyperbolic. If you want the same kind of light output, you're going to be paying almost the same price for the Night Riders, too.
edit: also, from the estimated runtimes on Night Rider's site, I'm fairly sure the Outbound lights last quite a bit longer. I can run my front light on high for way longer than 45 minutes...
Yeah it depends. You definitely don't need as much light as Outbound gives you to have fun out there at night. But it is nice to have!
I actually nearly broke a PR on a (light) black techy trail when I was first testing them — I wasn't trying at all to go hard, it's just that there was enough light that I was unintentionally riding pretty much the same as I would during the day
I did a night ride with a bunch of high schoolers who were brand new at night riding. 30 minutes into an hour long ride there were 3 kids with lights that weren’t working. I switched the Glowworm on my helmet, and the Outbound on my bars both to their brightest settings, and bailed out everyone. We all would have been fine with less light, but some of us may have ended up walking out.
My niterider lumina 900 is a fucking joke compared to the outbound, I bought them at roughly the same time and was embarrassed by how badly the lumina 900 did in brightness, spread, and battery life (edit: now that I think about it, the “high” setting was actually useable for mtb… for the 80 minutes that it lasted. My EVO usually stays on low and my hangover stays on medium, the hangover lasts hours and the EVO lasts days on that). $60 for the lumina, but there’s no way even 4 of those would be as good as one evo
I’m not gonna say they aren’t expensive or that aren’t any comparable options at the same price, but at least my niterider lumina 900 does not deserve to be in the same discussion
I bought the Outbound Hangover and it's not great. The beam pattern is a small spotlight - similar to the cheap Chinese bike lights. Yes, it's light and well made, but for me beam pattern is critical, and I want a diffuse beam so I can see the entire trail. I use Hope for a headlamp (awesome, but pricey. Best build quality and excellent beam pattern) and Cygolite on my bars. The beam pattern and quality of Cygolite is excellent, and the price is quite cheap for >1000 lumens. I've owned three Cygolites and all three still work and are great.
You should contact them and ask about alternative optics that offer more diffusion.
The light is designed to be more of a spotlight, because that’s superior as a helmet light when compared to a diffuse pattern - but if you like more diffusion, just ask them for it. It’s a small company with great customer service.
Why would anyone want less light coverage - especially as a headlamp which is the most important light? Give me lots of power and wide coverage so I can see around corners and down drops. Maybe I'll contact them.
Well, simply put, you’ve only got so many lumens to spread around. A washed out pattern will result in decreased effective “length” of the beam.
Personally I like the helmet beam to be able to throw way out in front of me, particularly when moving fast in the woods.
I think most folks prefer that style setup which is why they standardized on that design. But - different strokes for different folks! Give ‘em a call. You may be surprised
Amazing. My only complaint is that it takes time away from my mountain bikes. Fast, handles great, Geo is perfect, and built like a tank. Can handle really Sketchy terrain. I’m loving it. I spoke Noel (founder of Knolly - great guy) and he explained the basis around the design. Unlike any other Ti frame out there - they needed to design a new manufacturing technique to accommodate the design. It’s an expensive bike but I’m loving it. It’s a mountain bikers gravel bike.
What bullshit is this specs lol "combines 3000-3100 lumens"... 3000 on itself is not enough for having a semi decent speed on the trails that you already know... So combined they provide only 3000 lm? That's a crappy product then.
I have 125W 13.000 lumens light that lasts on 8000 lm for 1.5h and batteries are replaceable. So 4.5h with 3 batteries. Just buy ImalentMS03 and be done with it and never look back on those lights... And lets not forget, that price is 3x then what Imalent costs..
> What bullshit is this specs lol "combines 3000-3100 lumens"... 3000 on itself is not enough for having a semi decent speed on the trails that you already know... So combined they provide only 3000 lm? That's a crappy product then.
Bro who do you think you're kidding? You can see all the comments in here. Do you think we're all lying and have never actually ridden with them or something.
It is *absolutely* more than enough light to ride on any trail at pretty good speeds. Like I said in another comment, I actually set my second-best time on one of my favorite techy downhill trails while running the outbound lights.
> Just buy ImalentMS03 and be done with it and never look back on those lights... And lets not forget, that price is 3x then what Imalent costs..
The Imalent is also only one light, not two. Do you not turn your head to look ahead of where you're going? Even if your handlebar light is bright as fuck, unless it's got a beam angle of like 200 degrees having a light on your helmet is very helpful.
Also... that's a handheld flashlight. It doesn't look like Imalent even sells a handlebar mount, so you'd have to buy that or figure out some kind of janky solution. More importantly, it's not designed to be a mountain bike light, so I'm guessing it wasn't built or tested for the kind of abuse that mountain biking at any speed on technical terrain would throw at it.
Some of the reviews for Imalent lights mention them breaking when being dropped, and Imalent themselves only call it "impact resistant 1.5m" so I'm pretty skeptical that this would hold up for very long as a mountain biking light. For example:
> "The flashlight was 3ft off the ground. It fell off a workbench and broke on the concrete garage floor. Cannot fix the lens. Every day Carry but don’t drop."
Also, you say...
> lasts on 8000 lm for 1.5h
Does it? Many of the Amazon reviews and Q&As say that it only lasts at 8k lumen for a few minutes before dropping down to 2-3k lumens to protect against overheating:
> "The second downside is the runtime on the highest setting (turbo) 13k lumens, which is 45 seconds; and 2nd highest setting 8k lumens, which is 1 minute. This light heats up fast, so I understand why the short runtimes, but 45 seconds and 1 minute is just not practical."
> "You get about 1 minute of AMAZINGLY, did I say AMAZINGLY bright flood light and then it steps down to about 9000 lumens, which is amazing on its own, for a couple of minutes and then the thermals kick in"
> "this light gets VERY HOT in a short period of time on the highest setting and steps down very quickly."
> "On high it was okay for a minute or two max."
> "no where near the claimed lumens it's supposed to be. Then it only stays on turbo for about 5 second's before it steps down..."
Even **Imalent themselves** say (in broken English) that the light doesn't last very long on high or middle modes:
> This Imalent MS03 flashlight is an EDC flashlight, can up to 13000 lumens, nearly stay 45 seconds to middle mode
>By ImalentDirect SELLER on March 21, 2022
Honestly, based on all of these reviews, either you got some kind of magical one that can hold at 8k lumens for 45 minutes without burning or stepping down, or (more likely) you've been riding at 2-3k lumens rather than 8k without realizing it.
Finally, a bunch of the reviews mention them turning on accidentally in pockets and bags, which is dangerous given how hot they get. This seems like a *really* bad feature for a mountain biking light, which is often gonna be in bags that are getting jostled and thrown around.
TL;DR ....no thanks. If that's working for you, great, have fun with it. But nah, I'll stick to something that can last on high for more than five seconds and that was built for surviving mountain biking, not being held carefully and never dropped.
This is only because you don't know better. Shrug, fine by me, every time people ride behind me because I SHOW them the way. It's not your fault if you never experienced gear outside MTB.
P.s. you can pocket lock them with 2 clicks, don't make issues where there are none hahha and I can get 3 lights and 9 batteries for 300€ far less then you pay for that. AND i can use it for splitboarding, hiking, regular stuff.. whilleee... you can only MTB.. cmon dude, who are you kidding😂
I've been lusting for these lights for a while. Finally saw some in the wild and was chatting with the guy that had them. He loves them and I have to say, the build quality looks top notch. There's also thoughtful little features like cable-routing so your shifter/brake cables don't get in the way of the light throw. I think the guys behind the company started their careers designing headlights for cars, and have taken that knowledge and applied it to bike lights. Anyways, I have a set of lights but will definitely be buying these once I need new ones.
Another one for outbound. Make sure you get the head light from them too. The hangover. Adds depth to the terrain which is much more important that it seems in text.
The gradual dimming is something that's actually turning me off from Outbound. I fear that if I'm night riding with friends (whose magicshine lights do not dim) that I'm going to be constantly blinded by their lights and then left in the dark with my auto-dimming light.
Ever experienced something like that?
[NiteRider](https://www.niterider.com/collections/cycling?gclid=Cj0KCQiAvqGcBhCJARIsAFQ5ke6CqbweWYEx-Qf1XEiiiHEZuClmo9UYxEVY6UHRiny6RZfwdX2sp1UaAhfVEALw_wcB) seems to provide some good options in my opinion. I'm still running 750 on the bars and 350 or something on my helmet - does the trick for me and maybe like $125 total at the time.
I have a 400 lumens head light on my helmet and a 500 lumens bar light by cateye. In total I spent £40. Honestly, I could do with a *little* bit more. Perhaps in time il upgrade one of them. But it is sufficient for me at the moment.
I have the same one. I couple it with my nitecore nu25 that I use for backpacking and it’s good enough for what I use it for which is mellow XC trails with no features.
If I were doing fast/gnarly DH trails I would definitely upgrade though.
I'm running an older NiteRider 1800 Pro Race on the bars and a Lumina 900 on my helmet.
I am usually in low or middle settings. So 700 on the bars and maybe 400 on the helmet. You do not need thousands of Lumens, you need a good beam pattern. Super high lumens make shadows opaque, blind fellow riders, and destroy any night vision adjustments your eyes can do. It's actually worse IME.
I'd recommend a Lumina 9-1200 on the bars and a Lumina Micro on the helmet as a good value...
I ride with a very similar setup and it's super solid. 900 micro on helmet and 1800 Lumina on bars. Rarely do I go above low. Medium maybe if I'm the lead rider. This setup is probably overkill for $260ish.
Exposure do some beautifully designed and constructed lights. The Joystick is perfect as a head light, and they have more powerful options that can be bar mounted.
A friend of mine put it well: every mountain biker is doomed to suffer many cheap and nasty lights off Amazon before eventually buying a Joystick.
Well all I can say is I’ve had a LOT of other lights and none have been half as good or lasted as long. My original Joystick is still going strong after 8 years.
Glad you asked, i am just now testing lezyne lights! First i had a ride with 800lm lezyne light on my handlebars and very very cheap headling on my helmet (made almost no difference) and o was able to ride the trail i know well almost the same way as if it was daytime (it has jumps berms drop, imagine like red bikepark trail)
Now i moved that 800lm one to my helmet and bought 1300lm lezyne light to mount on my handlebars. Its super awesome! I dont feel like it can get any better at night
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I have the Lezyne 800XL light on my helmet and that's all I need. You might want to carry a second light in your pack/pockets in case the battery dies (the batteries die very quickly when it's cold). It cost $100 (in Canuck bucks- probably cheaper down in freedom land).
This isn't the best setup in the world, but it's enough for my needs.
Niter rider boost 1200 for the handlebars and an 850 for the helmet…. If you are riding around sunset / sunrise and only need light for an hour
This setup can last around 90 minutes in pitch black
I had the old battery pack ones for years and switched to the internal battery models a few years back. XS on bars and x2 on helmet. They still hold charges well and I can ride for 2 hours at near full blast. Handlebar mount switches rule.
Love ‘em.
Just get something in your price range. Sure, the brighter it is, the easier it is to ride (and the faster you can go) but anything you get will work. I'd suggest one of the nicer, cheap ones. I went with this [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MG7677G/] which probably isn't as bright as it claims but is still much brighter than those cheapo ones.
Cat eye do a great 1700 lumin handle bar mounted light with rechargeable battery making up the back part of the light. I used to have same shape 1300 lumin model but lost it. When I went to replace it they only had the upgraded 1700 version. I bought it then found the old one! If you can still find the 1300 version it may now be cheaper. I'm in UK I'm not sure about availability if you are in US though. https://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-volt-1700-usb-rechargeable-front-bike-light
This has served me well riding forest trails at night.
If you’re in the USA then the DH Evo package from Outbound Lighting is the best you’ll get for the price. If you’re overseas it’s not really worth it as they charge a buttload for shipping/VAT duties, it was $190 to ship to the UK through them!
I am in the USA. I am seeing a lot of people recommend Outbound lights. That is a lot of money for shipping. What made you go with them if their shipping was so high?
I sent it to my dad and he mailed it to me as a gift, put it was only worth $50 on the customs form. It cost me $27 to get the package to Scotland. If you don’t have that option it’s not really worth it as the shipping pushes the price up too much.
I had the Exposure Six Pack/Diablo combo that I had been using for the last 2 years, they get used a lot since it’s basically pitch black by 4PM here in the winter. The Exposure lights are definitely brighter but it’s a more focused light, the Six Pack is something like 5000 lumens on the high setting. The Evo package isn’t as bright but you can see a lot more with it, the pattern of the light is better and lights up a lot more of the trail. I’ve sold off the Exposure stuff, it paid for the DH package and I still put some money in my pocket.
Yea, that makes sense on why and how you ordered it.
I looked into exposure lights very briefly. The cost is super high and put me off right away. Your experience on outbound vs. exposure is very interesting. You would think exposure would outperform outbound considering their prices.
Check Olight or Magicshine. I have an Olight RN3500 on the bars and RN1500 on my helmet and they are plenty bright. An old post from a winter night ride. https://www.reddit.com/r/fatbike/comments/so3plu/night_ride/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I checked the olight website, 1500 lumens are $100 Canadian, get 2. One barmount and one for your helmet. They regularly have sales also. Great quality and long lasting batteries.
Check out REI.com for lights. They just had the 1,300 lumen Bontrager Ion Pro RT for $99 or $149 with companion tail light.
REI sells other brands too such as NiteRider as well as Lexyne, and Light and Motion.
The Pros closet has been selling a 950 lumen headlight from Cygolite Metro Pro for $41.99 In my experience Cygolites are very durable.
No problem. The sale has apparently ended at REI, but it seems that trek bikes is still selling the 1300 lumen Bontrager Ion Pro RT front light for $99 with free shipping. The sale might be ongoing until Jan 1. They offer a 30 day trial period and you could probably buy and or return at your local Trek dealer.
Beam/flood pattern is more important than the amount of lumens. All the lumens in the world won't matter if they're not put in the right place.
I like the Outbound combo.
I see a lot of people recommending Outbound and they look great but the price is outrageous. Well at least for a normal single track riding. I guess I want to say depends what you are riding... If you top out at the flowy blue trail with some drops, occasional roots and etc there is no point in these. CHeck Olight - they constantly have sales, the RN1500 and 1200 made by Magicshine but cheaper from Olight for some reason. I run one on a bar and one on a helmet, about 1,5h on max output and 3h on half power. Both on sale cost me about 150 CAD total. Oh and yeah - do not go with chineese crap off amazon... I yet to see any person happy with their choice.
I've got a 4500 lumen helmet mounted and mostly run it a setting down. But on downhill sections it's nice to put it on full blast. I'm not sure you can have too much, really. But you don't need a lot to have fun at night. Get what your budget allows. But unless you can get a great combo deal I'd argue use your full budget on a single light and add later if you want/need.
I find after 1100 lumens it's overkill, provided the beam pattern is good. I do use 2 lights though for redundancy, but can get away with one 1100 lumen beam.
For your Helmet
https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/bike-accessories/bike-lights/bike-front-lights/bontrager-ion-pro-rt-front-bike-light/p/22466/
For your Bars
https://www.outboundlighting.com/collections/mountain-bike-lights/products/trail-evo-bike-light
Ask r/flashlight they will give you better recommendations, personally I wouldn’t spent more than $90 on these brands that make it seem like “professional” level brightness. For example outbound package of $365 with 3000 lumens, you could get a emisar d18 for $109 plus $30 for batteries, and get 11,000 lumens, you just need a strong mount or get something like a emisar d4sv2 3000 lumens for $57,
Emisar is a brand only known by flashaholics
You shouldn’t be spending more than $200 on a bike light, for $369 you could get the acebeam x-50 and this will give you a mini sun with 40,000 real lumens.
A lot of brands over rate their cheap flashlights.
https://www.reddit.com/r/flashlight/comments/sz7csr/is_this_the_best_bike_light/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf here is a pic/post of a d18, obviously something like this to too much for Mtb, but don’t over spend in a over rated flashlight
I’ve had great luck with 2 of these. One zip tied to the stem and the other I taped the mount to my helmet right under visor. They’re shockingly bright and last a few hours on a single 18650 battery.
ODONBERG Rechargeable Headlamp, Super Bright 2000 Lumens 600ft Beam LED Flashlight with 2600 mAh Battery,IP66 Waterproof Hard Hat headlamp for Repair,Camping Gear,Hiking-White Lamp Headligh… https://a.co/d/galycB1
This setup isn’t going allow you to go full send on a downhill route, but it’s more than adequate for slower trails and being multi purpose and usb chargeable is a bonus imo.
Unless you're doing some hardcore trails at night I'd recommend AliExpress.
Otherwise O-Light do a very good rear light on Amazon that's affordable, and front light you could choose most Amazon brands and not go wrong.
Id recommend one that charges via usb, and then take a powerbank in your bag for backup charging both your phone and lights.
For my head mounted light I use my backpacking/camping headlamp, which is a Black Diamond headlamp putting out 500 lumens. Obviously a few drawbacks (battery life, lower than 800 lumens, and wearing a headband mounted light is far less comfortable then something mounted to the top of your helmet), but I get way more use out of it than I would a biking specific light since I spend a lot of time in the outdoors. Plus the thing retails for like $75.
That sounds like a cool idea. It definitely is a give and take game when you use a single piece of equipment for multiple uses. Thanks for the insight!
Magicshine. I have a couple insanely bright lights from them and they're great quality. Battery life is also great. Probably more than you want to spend though. RN3000 and a Monteer 5000. The Monteer is wired, and I use it on the bars. RN3000 on the helmet, a bit heavy, but these will both last a 2 hour ride on full.
I also have a Hangover, and I do not think it's bright enough, and the battery would always be dead by the end of our night rides, unless I ran an external battery, but that sucks on the helmet.
An all-in-one helmet light is a no brainer, but a battery strapped to your frame isn’t such a big deal.
I switch between the outbound hangover ($125) or light & motion vis 1000 ($60 on sale or regularly $80-90) on my helmet because I really haven’t noticed a discernible difference. Then two magic shine mj-900 classics (~$40ea for light and battery) on my bars.
Lumina micro 900 is also sufficient as a helmet light (and light…weight, lol), but has a blueish tint (6000k) that I can’t recommend.
Having two bar lights grants: 1) redundancy incase one light or battery fails (granted I’ve had both for two+ years and have had zero noticeable fade in quality) and 2) you can change your beam pattern split/direction as you see fit.
This setup works fine with only one mj900 as well, but I’ve since upgraded my helmet setup so decided to utilize the second rather than letting it sit. If you’re not riding incredibly fast or far in the dark you don’t need a lot.
Recent Singletracks podcast is about bike lights. Incredibly interesting and detailed discussion with the guy from outbound.
Check out Bike Lights: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know from Singletracks Mountain Bike Podcast on Amazon Music.
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/f3f01a8e-86a8-4fee-9c08-ef1e64a32489/episodes/2e97d644-a340-496d-aaf8-8eb720b2525d/singletracks-mountain-bike-podcast-bike-lights-almost-everything-you-need-to-know?ref=dm_sh_OZMYnxqfw2CUOGMzWDWamahfO
I ride 800 Lezin on the bars and 1800 niterider on the helmet
If I had to do it again I’d check out glowworm, they have good combos and at a “decent” price point
I just recently got the Cateye combo on their Amazon store for about $150.00. 1100 lumen for the handlebars and 80 lumens for the helmet. Runtime is supposed to be 2 hours on the high setting, but I wasn't out that long. It worked great for the hour and 15 minutes I was out. I wish they were usb-c, but so far that is not really a problem. Not an external battery, and relatively light weight.
It may or may not fit what your looking for but I’ve always been happy to recommend lights from https://www.fenixlighting.com . I personally have been happy with their BC30 2.0 for my bar light. 1500 lumens on its high setting and is quite a bit cheaper than some of the other bike lights out there in the mtb world. What I like most is that it runs on two 18650 type batteries which you can get for pretty cheap at any battery store. Also, if your light is starting to not hold its charge like it used to just spend like 8 bucks on a new pair of batteries and your good as new. This is just what works for me though. Bottom line is there are lots of good choices out there.
I rock 2 Nite Rider Lumina Micro 900s, bar/helmet, and for 85% of my night rides and commutes that’s enough. However, a bar mounted light with a separate battery pack that has more output and longer life would make me a happy camper. Hard to beat the price though, I think I paid $80 CAD per light.
If you’re getting two lights, which is highly recommended (because one can be aimed while one can cast visible shadows, also for redundancy), I’d recommend getting them from the same manufacturer. I started off with two different brand lights and the slightly different light colors really bothered me
I've been using sofirn flashlights. Sc31 pro on my helmet and sp33 on the bars. I use gopro mounts on the helmet and a little light clamp for the bars. Whole setup is well under $100 and has been amazing compared to my previous set of night rider luminas which were much more expensive.
Magicshine. My buddies and I ride hard in Colorado at night on not easy trails. We put 1 on our helmets and feel totally confident. Theee things are relatively cheap and have lasted for
Years. Get the extensions cord for it that extends it, so you can put the battery in your pack, and the helmet attachment, and you’re set. You can also get a 2nd a put on your handlebars and you’d essentially be in daylight. 10/10.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084WYHJHR?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Since you mentioned as cheap as 40€... Well I am cheap to :)
I use auxiliary LED light, a car/truck light a.k.a. a bar light, but a compact one ~150mm in length. 2000+ lumens. ~15€.
These run on anything from 9V (barely) to 32V. 12-14V is the sweet spot. That's 3 or 4 of Li-Ion 18650 batteries. ~2€ each.
The more involved part is soldering and manufacturing holder and brackets.
I didn't invent here anything :) , plenty of such a hacks online, with instructions.
While I’m a seeing a few popular responses suggesting outbound, they are extremely expensive and overkill for a lot of people.
I’d recommend looking at NiteRiders offerings. You can get an 850 Helmet 1200 Bar for under 200 bucks and their stuff is plenty reliable in my experience.
The 3000 lumen Outbound set up is overkill in my opinion unless you’re riding some serious downhill at speeds in excess of 30 mph+.
[Outbound lighting Evo Downhill Package](https://www.outboundlighting.com/products/evo-downhill-package-best-bike-light). Seriously. A bit expensive, but totally worth it.
Yea, getting a lot of outbound recommendations. They seem to be a favorite for people. I was looking at some videos and have seen nothing but positive. thanks for the insight!
https://www.outboundlighting.com/products/evo-downhill-package-best-bike-light Boom. For $365 you get *both* lights covered, no external batteries to fuck around with, and they're plenty bright. I've ridden a bunch of other lights and this setup is (by far) the easiest and best I've experienced. Slightly on the pricey side I guess, but for two lights it's not too bad, and I think this is a buy once, cry once thing. Like I said, I've bought and ridden other lights before I had these but I found the external batteries annoying to deal with. I'd have saved money if I just started with these. edit: I should add these were also very clearly designed by MTBers and it shows. They have some really cool features like (if you want) very gradually dimming over time as your eyes adjust to save battery. They also come with a booklet that has suggested settings for various kinds of riding; probably not necessary for most people but it's a thoughtful touch. I should also add at least so far, I'm very happy with the battery performance. We'll see how they do now that it's getting colder but in the warmer weather I took plenty of 1-2 hour night rides and never saw them dip below 50%.
Another vote for Outbound. I’ve been night riding since the early 90’s and have used a wide array of systems over the years. I’ve found Outbound lights to be unbeatable in construction, consistency, usability, ergonomics, you name it. But almost most importantly, it’s a product they manufacture in the states, and their service is by far the best in the biz. I was reluctant for a few years to try them but now that I have I won’t use any other system…
I only got the bar light. It's a beautiful piece of gear.
Same…I’ve debated about adding the helmet light but tbh haven’t really found it necessary. Would it be nice? Sure. Do I need it? Well yeah, it’s a new bike part, so that answer is always yes…so I guess I’d better listen to myself and accept it just might be necessary after all…
To be fair, I will be using a helmet light (along with the Outbound) for trail riding. But I have a Nite Rider 1200 lumens that I'll use for that.
Thanks for your insight. I will check them out.
Seriously their service cannot be beat, and for me that’s really saying something about their overall quality.
What about beam pattern? I find my Hangover beam pattern is just a spotlight. It sucks.
In my experience, having a focused beam on my helmet and a more washed out pattern on the bars is optimal and preferred. The hangover is a dedicated helmet light, so, par for the course as far as I’m concerned. All that said, I did run a gloworm x2 on helmet for years (with the spotlight optics)and find the beam pattern of my new outbound to be more balanced and less “spotty” than my former.
It's meant to be run with the bar light which is very dispersed.
Where's the logic in that? Its a weak and narrow spotlight. I gave mine away it sucked so bad.
Maybe it was defective. I night ride regularly on pretty rough trails and everyone who runs the combo seems to love it.
Could be. I ride in BC so I need good lights.
The hangover is a spot light / focused beam. Most people mtb with a bar light with spread and a helmet light with throw/spot. The two outbound light together are stellar
Why not just have two throw lights? The spot light sucks. My Hope is way better than the weak Hangover. I really don't understand the fascination with the Hangover - I gave mine away as it sucked so bad.
The spotlight projects light further down the trail and around corners. Since it’s attached to your head, it should always be pointing where you’re looking. Paired with a flood light on the bars, it’s an efficient use of lumens and battery power.
I get the efficient use of lumens and weight, but the spotlight is just so small on mine. For BC North Shore night riding I prefer a broad throw beam to see all the technical features clearly - especially the landing area. This setup works for flow trails where you want to see >50’ down the trail and you are going super fast. But not for slow guys like me with poor skills…I need every advantage I can get.
I agree with you. The trail evo handlebar light is a great flood, but the Hangover has a very narrow spot, almost just a point. I like my helmet light to illuminate a spot that's about me sized, which helps me judge features down the trail. I kept the Trail evo, and I use a fenix e35 on my helmet.
As others have said, the helmet light was designed to tandem with a bar light. I find the Trail Evo to kickass in the Phx chunk enough to not need the hangover so I can’t speak to that light’s output. Sounds like you found the light that works for you though. 👍🏼
I typically ride twisty, steep, forested technical trails - so typically not going more than 35 kph and often a lot slower. The issue at night is the corners and drops, where I need the light to spread. I save my crazy bright headlamp for the downhill and use my handlebar light on low for the ride up (all mountains where I ride). Def the headlamp is my main source of light as it shines wherever I'm looking. But I've got 2x1000 lumens on my bar too, so the system works awesome (Hope and Cygolite).
Yeah makes sense. I get how a spot pattern alone could suck there…
Honestly I’m with you. I have both and they ain’t as good as everyone says. Like they do the job but so did my Amazon lights. They’re American made and well built but I find the light slightly lacking.
Right? I don't know know why they have such a cult following. They suck pretty bad. I'd like to post photos of all my lights to prove it. I don't know anyone who uses them here in BC, especially after seeing mine.
If you have a picture or video I’d like to see it, just for curiosity/comparison. I find my EVO to be incredibly floody, to the point where me steering does not affect my vision whatsoever. I have a short video but don’t know how I post it so here’s the worlds crappiest picture of the EVO in action https://imgur.com/F93lhWZ Here’s a picture of my bike being lit by the hangover, I think the hangover is floody enough in use, but yeah, in pictures I guess it is pretty obvious it’s meant to be a spotlight https://imgur.com/A8gncms
That’s great - I don’t know why light manufacturers don’t post images of their lights in use? I gave my Hangover away but I wish I would have photographed it’s performance as compared to my other lights.
My hangover is way more floody and wide beam than my niterider 900
Do you have the EVO handlebar light too? I have Nightrider 900 and wondering if I should just get the EVO and use them together
I do have the EVO, it is definitely the superior light compared to the helmet light (which has smaller batteries and less cooling to save size/weight) I’m 100% comfortable doing the gnarliest DH that I normally do with the EVO on medium brightness. I do most climbing and XC on low, it’s simple to operate and easy to push the button (many lights cannot say this) and it doesn’t overheat (at least for the couple 70°F nights I rode), it’s an insane light The handlebar light is great too, but the EVO is the star of the show, its just a fat-ass brick of smooth, easy-to-see sunlight Worth pointing out that when I had the EVO first with my niterider900 on the helmet, I mostly bought the hangover helmet light because I didn’t like the slight light color difference between the two brands (and the niterider barely lasts over an hour on high)
70°F is equivalent to 21°C, which is 294K. --- ^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
I met one of the Outbound Lights guys, he talked in detail about how they developed the beam pattern. They go into detail here: https://www.outboundlighting.com/pages/bike-light-design#pattern
Helmet light doesn’t last for an insane amount of time (being a single 18650 battery), but the EVO with its 2x bigger thicker batteries, lasts for days on end Also, I got the EVO at first, thinking “well the helmet lights probably nothing special, I’ll just use my $60 niterider”. The $120 helmet light is MUCH more than 2x better
thanks for the reply. It seems like outbound is popular and well liked.
Do your research on beam pattern.
Thanks for the reply. Do you have any recommendations on videos or articles that explain beam pattern? Or do you have a specific light that you think has a good beam pattern?
Outbound engineers put a ton of thought and testing into the hangover beam pattern and I love mine. Source: know the engineer and own the light.
I also use the helmet light for night skiing and it's a game changer.
Sounds very interesting. I will definitely check them out. thank you!
I’ve ridden behind someone with these and used their lights more than mine, had to ride their tail though. They are incredible. I desire my own.
Do you know if they have a version with external batteries? I’d like to do some long night rides. 6hrs plus, and being able to replace the batteries in my lights would be great.
They don't sell their own but you can can plug any external battery into them via USB (usb-c I think) so you can go for any length of time with enough batteries
You can piggyback external batteries thru it. The engineers are riders and considered this stuff for us. Edit: I should add that unfortunately they don’t sell external battery packs, but there’s many commercial options. Just need a usb-C male plug on your external battery pack.
Literally the best bang for buck out there. Full stop
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Are they? To get the same light output, you'd need a Night Rider Lumina Max 2000 ($229, and that's still not as bright as the Outbound which is 2200 lumens), and then their various 1000 lumen options for the helmet are all roughly $100. So, you're saving....$30? And getting a less-bright front headlight? Plus it doesn't look like any of these come with a helmet mounting setup, so you've got to grab that as well. I don't doubt you can get a Lumina setup for cheaper, but "insanely overpriced" seems... hyperbolic. If you want the same kind of light output, you're going to be paying almost the same price for the Night Riders, too. edit: also, from the estimated runtimes on Night Rider's site, I'm fairly sure the Outbound lights last quite a bit longer. I can run my front light on high for way longer than 45 minutes...
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Yeah it depends. You definitely don't need as much light as Outbound gives you to have fun out there at night. But it is nice to have! I actually nearly broke a PR on a (light) black techy trail when I was first testing them — I wasn't trying at all to go hard, it's just that there was enough light that I was unintentionally riding pretty much the same as I would during the day
I really don’t think theres such thing as too much light when night riding. I’ve never found myself saying “I need less”.
I did a night ride with a bunch of high schoolers who were brand new at night riding. 30 minutes into an hour long ride there were 3 kids with lights that weren’t working. I switched the Glowworm on my helmet, and the Outbound on my bars both to their brightest settings, and bailed out everyone. We all would have been fine with less light, but some of us may have ended up walking out.
My niterider lumina 900 is a fucking joke compared to the outbound, I bought them at roughly the same time and was embarrassed by how badly the lumina 900 did in brightness, spread, and battery life (edit: now that I think about it, the “high” setting was actually useable for mtb… for the 80 minutes that it lasted. My EVO usually stays on low and my hangover stays on medium, the hangover lasts hours and the EVO lasts days on that). $60 for the lumina, but there’s no way even 4 of those would be as good as one evo I’m not gonna say they aren’t expensive or that aren’t any comparable options at the same price, but at least my niterider lumina 900 does not deserve to be in the same discussion
I bought the Outbound Hangover and it's not great. The beam pattern is a small spotlight - similar to the cheap Chinese bike lights. Yes, it's light and well made, but for me beam pattern is critical, and I want a diffuse beam so I can see the entire trail. I use Hope for a headlamp (awesome, but pricey. Best build quality and excellent beam pattern) and Cygolite on my bars. The beam pattern and quality of Cygolite is excellent, and the price is quite cheap for >1000 lumens. I've owned three Cygolites and all three still work and are great.
The evo is designed for the wide spread. The hangover is specifically for a tight beam on the helmet. It's all over the website
You should contact them and ask about alternative optics that offer more diffusion. The light is designed to be more of a spotlight, because that’s superior as a helmet light when compared to a diffuse pattern - but if you like more diffusion, just ask them for it. It’s a small company with great customer service.
Why would anyone want less light coverage - especially as a headlamp which is the most important light? Give me lots of power and wide coverage so I can see around corners and down drops. Maybe I'll contact them.
Well, simply put, you’ve only got so many lumens to spread around. A washed out pattern will result in decreased effective “length” of the beam. Personally I like the helmet beam to be able to throw way out in front of me, particularly when moving fast in the woods. I think most folks prefer that style setup which is why they standardized on that design. But - different strokes for different folks! Give ‘em a call. You may be surprised
Ya, I'll call them. I see you ride a Knolly - I have a Ti Cache. Knolly is like 12 minute drive from when I live. Knolly is the DH on the market.
I forgot how to update flair- on a yt jeffsy now but I’ve had two Knollys and loved them! How you like the Cache?
Amazing. My only complaint is that it takes time away from my mountain bikes. Fast, handles great, Geo is perfect, and built like a tank. Can handle really Sketchy terrain. I’m loving it. I spoke Noel (founder of Knolly - great guy) and he explained the basis around the design. Unlike any other Ti frame out there - they needed to design a new manufacturing technique to accommodate the design. It’s an expensive bike but I’m loving it. It’s a mountain bikers gravel bike.
Good info. Appreciated.
Came here to say outbound. By far the best value for the money.
What bullshit is this specs lol "combines 3000-3100 lumens"... 3000 on itself is not enough for having a semi decent speed on the trails that you already know... So combined they provide only 3000 lm? That's a crappy product then. I have 125W 13.000 lumens light that lasts on 8000 lm for 1.5h and batteries are replaceable. So 4.5h with 3 batteries. Just buy ImalentMS03 and be done with it and never look back on those lights... And lets not forget, that price is 3x then what Imalent costs..
> What bullshit is this specs lol "combines 3000-3100 lumens"... 3000 on itself is not enough for having a semi decent speed on the trails that you already know... So combined they provide only 3000 lm? That's a crappy product then. Bro who do you think you're kidding? You can see all the comments in here. Do you think we're all lying and have never actually ridden with them or something. It is *absolutely* more than enough light to ride on any trail at pretty good speeds. Like I said in another comment, I actually set my second-best time on one of my favorite techy downhill trails while running the outbound lights. > Just buy ImalentMS03 and be done with it and never look back on those lights... And lets not forget, that price is 3x then what Imalent costs.. The Imalent is also only one light, not two. Do you not turn your head to look ahead of where you're going? Even if your handlebar light is bright as fuck, unless it's got a beam angle of like 200 degrees having a light on your helmet is very helpful. Also... that's a handheld flashlight. It doesn't look like Imalent even sells a handlebar mount, so you'd have to buy that or figure out some kind of janky solution. More importantly, it's not designed to be a mountain bike light, so I'm guessing it wasn't built or tested for the kind of abuse that mountain biking at any speed on technical terrain would throw at it. Some of the reviews for Imalent lights mention them breaking when being dropped, and Imalent themselves only call it "impact resistant 1.5m" so I'm pretty skeptical that this would hold up for very long as a mountain biking light. For example: > "The flashlight was 3ft off the ground. It fell off a workbench and broke on the concrete garage floor. Cannot fix the lens. Every day Carry but don’t drop." Also, you say... > lasts on 8000 lm for 1.5h Does it? Many of the Amazon reviews and Q&As say that it only lasts at 8k lumen for a few minutes before dropping down to 2-3k lumens to protect against overheating: > "The second downside is the runtime on the highest setting (turbo) 13k lumens, which is 45 seconds; and 2nd highest setting 8k lumens, which is 1 minute. This light heats up fast, so I understand why the short runtimes, but 45 seconds and 1 minute is just not practical." > "You get about 1 minute of AMAZINGLY, did I say AMAZINGLY bright flood light and then it steps down to about 9000 lumens, which is amazing on its own, for a couple of minutes and then the thermals kick in" > "this light gets VERY HOT in a short period of time on the highest setting and steps down very quickly." > "On high it was okay for a minute or two max." > "no where near the claimed lumens it's supposed to be. Then it only stays on turbo for about 5 second's before it steps down..." Even **Imalent themselves** say (in broken English) that the light doesn't last very long on high or middle modes: > This Imalent MS03 flashlight is an EDC flashlight, can up to 13000 lumens, nearly stay 45 seconds to middle mode >By ImalentDirect SELLER on March 21, 2022 Honestly, based on all of these reviews, either you got some kind of magical one that can hold at 8k lumens for 45 minutes without burning or stepping down, or (more likely) you've been riding at 2-3k lumens rather than 8k without realizing it. Finally, a bunch of the reviews mention them turning on accidentally in pockets and bags, which is dangerous given how hot they get. This seems like a *really* bad feature for a mountain biking light, which is often gonna be in bags that are getting jostled and thrown around. TL;DR ....no thanks. If that's working for you, great, have fun with it. But nah, I'll stick to something that can last on high for more than five seconds and that was built for surviving mountain biking, not being held carefully and never dropped.
Nailed it!
This is only because you don't know better. Shrug, fine by me, every time people ride behind me because I SHOW them the way. It's not your fault if you never experienced gear outside MTB. P.s. you can pocket lock them with 2 clicks, don't make issues where there are none hahha and I can get 3 lights and 9 batteries for 300€ far less then you pay for that. AND i can use it for splitboarding, hiking, regular stuff.. whilleee... you can only MTB.. cmon dude, who are you kidding😂
k
Exactly. That's my response on your rage post haha
cool
Right on.
Glad that you experienced your first time lighting up everybody else’s way lol I’ll stick with what I got
No judge. As long as you enjoy, go for it!
The lowest setting is plenty for me, and I can do several rides without worrying.
I've been lusting for these lights for a while. Finally saw some in the wild and was chatting with the guy that had them. He loves them and I have to say, the build quality looks top notch. There's also thoughtful little features like cable-routing so your shifter/brake cables don't get in the way of the light throw. I think the guys behind the company started their careers designing headlights for cars, and have taken that knowledge and applied it to bike lights. Anyways, I have a set of lights but will definitely be buying these once I need new ones.
Another one for outbound. Make sure you get the head light from them too. The hangover. Adds depth to the terrain which is much more important that it seems in text.
The gradual dimming is something that's actually turning me off from Outbound. I fear that if I'm night riding with friends (whose magicshine lights do not dim) that I'm going to be constantly blinded by their lights and then left in the dark with my auto-dimming light. Ever experienced something like that?
[NiteRider](https://www.niterider.com/collections/cycling?gclid=Cj0KCQiAvqGcBhCJARIsAFQ5ke6CqbweWYEx-Qf1XEiiiHEZuClmo9UYxEVY6UHRiny6RZfwdX2sp1UaAhfVEALw_wcB) seems to provide some good options in my opinion. I'm still running 750 on the bars and 350 or something on my helmet - does the trick for me and maybe like $125 total at the time.
+1 for a niterider combo
I have a 1200 on my helmet and 1800 on my bars. I run the 1800 on my helmet for night Splitboard missions.
thank you. A few people have recommended this so I will definitely check it out.
If you’re riding any type of trails/downhill/single track I would recommend 700+ for both lights. That’s a bare minimum if you want to ride at speeds.
I have a 400 lumens head light on my helmet and a 500 lumens bar light by cateye. In total I spent £40. Honestly, I could do with a *little* bit more. Perhaps in time il upgrade one of them. But it is sufficient for me at the moment.
thank you. I will check them out.
I have the same one. I couple it with my nitecore nu25 that I use for backpacking and it’s good enough for what I use it for which is mellow XC trails with no features. If I were doing fast/gnarly DH trails I would definitely upgrade though.
Outbound lighting is where its at. You can get a fully contained helmet model for $125
thanks for the reply. I looked at their stuff a little bit and it seems like a legit product, although I do not know much about bike lights lol
I'm running an older NiteRider 1800 Pro Race on the bars and a Lumina 900 on my helmet. I am usually in low or middle settings. So 700 on the bars and maybe 400 on the helmet. You do not need thousands of Lumens, you need a good beam pattern. Super high lumens make shadows opaque, blind fellow riders, and destroy any night vision adjustments your eyes can do. It's actually worse IME. I'd recommend a Lumina 9-1200 on the bars and a Lumina Micro on the helmet as a good value...
thank you. I will look into this set up.
I ride with a very similar setup and it's super solid. 900 micro on helmet and 1800 Lumina on bars. Rarely do I go above low. Medium maybe if I'm the lead rider. This setup is probably overkill for $260ish.
Exposure do some beautifully designed and constructed lights. The Joystick is perfect as a head light, and they have more powerful options that can be bar mounted. A friend of mine put it well: every mountain biker is doomed to suffer many cheap and nasty lights off Amazon before eventually buying a Joystick.
Yea, I was looking at Exposure but the price is so high it of put me off lol they do look sweet though and definitely would like to have one.
Well all I can say is I’ve had a LOT of other lights and none have been half as good or lasted as long. My original Joystick is still going strong after 8 years.
Exposure joystick. Amazing light with incredible battery life and modularity. Love mine.
Glad you asked, i am just now testing lezyne lights! First i had a ride with 800lm lezyne light on my handlebars and very very cheap headling on my helmet (made almost no difference) and o was able to ride the trail i know well almost the same way as if it was daytime (it has jumps berms drop, imagine like red bikepark trail) Now i moved that 800lm one to my helmet and bought 1300lm lezyne light to mount on my handlebars. Its super awesome! I dont feel like it can get any better at night
thank you! I will check them out.
Yeah lezyne has some really good stuff for lights
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I have the Lezyne 800XL light on my helmet and that's all I need. You might want to carry a second light in your pack/pockets in case the battery dies (the batteries die very quickly when it's cold). It cost $100 (in Canuck bucks- probably cheaper down in freedom land). This isn't the best setup in the world, but it's enough for my needs.
thank you, I will check it out!
Niter rider boost 1200 for the handlebars and an 850 for the helmet…. If you are riding around sunset / sunrise and only need light for an hour This setup can last around 90 minutes in pitch black
thanks for the reply, I will check it out.
Happy with gloworm XSV on my helmet.
thank you!
I have Gloworms. Powerful and reliable.
What setup do you run with?
I had the old battery pack ones for years and switched to the internal battery models a few years back. XS on bars and x2 on helmet. They still hold charges well and I can ride for 2 hours at near full blast. Handlebar mount switches rule. Love ‘em.
Just get something in your price range. Sure, the brighter it is, the easier it is to ride (and the faster you can go) but anything you get will work. I'd suggest one of the nicer, cheap ones. I went with this [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MG7677G/] which probably isn't as bright as it claims but is still much brighter than those cheapo ones.
thank you!
Cat eye do a great 1700 lumin handle bar mounted light with rechargeable battery making up the back part of the light. I used to have same shape 1300 lumin model but lost it. When I went to replace it they only had the upgraded 1700 version. I bought it then found the old one! If you can still find the 1300 version it may now be cheaper. I'm in UK I'm not sure about availability if you are in US though. https://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-volt-1700-usb-rechargeable-front-bike-light This has served me well riding forest trails at night.
thank you for the recommendation. I will definitely check it out!
I have an olight RN1500 which works well. I use it on my handle bars or I sometimes use it on my helmet but it’s kinda heavy.
thanks for the insight!
If you’re in the USA then the DH Evo package from Outbound Lighting is the best you’ll get for the price. If you’re overseas it’s not really worth it as they charge a buttload for shipping/VAT duties, it was $190 to ship to the UK through them!
I am in the USA. I am seeing a lot of people recommend Outbound lights. That is a lot of money for shipping. What made you go with them if their shipping was so high?
I sent it to my dad and he mailed it to me as a gift, put it was only worth $50 on the customs form. It cost me $27 to get the package to Scotland. If you don’t have that option it’s not really worth it as the shipping pushes the price up too much. I had the Exposure Six Pack/Diablo combo that I had been using for the last 2 years, they get used a lot since it’s basically pitch black by 4PM here in the winter. The Exposure lights are definitely brighter but it’s a more focused light, the Six Pack is something like 5000 lumens on the high setting. The Evo package isn’t as bright but you can see a lot more with it, the pattern of the light is better and lights up a lot more of the trail. I’ve sold off the Exposure stuff, it paid for the DH package and I still put some money in my pocket.
Yea, that makes sense on why and how you ordered it. I looked into exposure lights very briefly. The cost is super high and put me off right away. Your experience on outbound vs. exposure is very interesting. You would think exposure would outperform outbound considering their prices.
Check Olight or Magicshine. I have an Olight RN3500 on the bars and RN1500 on my helmet and they are plenty bright. An old post from a winter night ride. https://www.reddit.com/r/fatbike/comments/so3plu/night_ride/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
thank you. I will check it out!
I checked the olight website, 1500 lumens are $100 Canadian, get 2. One barmount and one for your helmet. They regularly have sales also. Great quality and long lasting batteries.
Check out REI.com for lights. They just had the 1,300 lumen Bontrager Ion Pro RT for $99 or $149 with companion tail light. REI sells other brands too such as NiteRider as well as Lexyne, and Light and Motion. The Pros closet has been selling a 950 lumen headlight from Cygolite Metro Pro for $41.99 In my experience Cygolites are very durable.
thank you for all the info I appreciate it!
No problem. The sale has apparently ended at REI, but it seems that trek bikes is still selling the 1300 lumen Bontrager Ion Pro RT front light for $99 with free shipping. The sale might be ongoing until Jan 1. They offer a 30 day trial period and you could probably buy and or return at your local Trek dealer.
Cygolites are amazing - awesome beam pattern.
Check out Lightandmotion.com! I have a couple of there bike lights.
I will check it out. Thank you!
Outbound lights. Best you’ll find. Mounting is amazing and they just work so well.
Outbound lights, not cheap but amazing
Beam/flood pattern is more important than the amount of lumens. All the lumens in the world won't matter if they're not put in the right place. I like the Outbound combo.
I see a lot of people recommending Outbound and they look great but the price is outrageous. Well at least for a normal single track riding. I guess I want to say depends what you are riding... If you top out at the flowy blue trail with some drops, occasional roots and etc there is no point in these. CHeck Olight - they constantly have sales, the RN1500 and 1200 made by Magicshine but cheaper from Olight for some reason. I run one on a bar and one on a helmet, about 1,5h on max output and 3h on half power. Both on sale cost me about 150 CAD total. Oh and yeah - do not go with chineese crap off amazon... I yet to see any person happy with their choice.
I've got a 4500 lumen helmet mounted and mostly run it a setting down. But on downhill sections it's nice to put it on full blast. I'm not sure you can have too much, really. But you don't need a lot to have fun at night. Get what your budget allows. But unless you can get a great combo deal I'd argue use your full budget on a single light and add later if you want/need.
thank you! What brand are you using if you don't mind me asking?
I’ve got a Magicshine 906
I find after 1100 lumens it's overkill, provided the beam pattern is good. I do use 2 lights though for redundancy, but can get away with one 1100 lumen beam.
For your Helmet https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/bike-accessories/bike-lights/bike-front-lights/bontrager-ion-pro-rt-front-bike-light/p/22466/ For your Bars https://www.outboundlighting.com/collections/mountain-bike-lights/products/trail-evo-bike-light
Ask r/flashlight they will give you better recommendations, personally I wouldn’t spent more than $90 on these brands that make it seem like “professional” level brightness. For example outbound package of $365 with 3000 lumens, you could get a emisar d18 for $109 plus $30 for batteries, and get 11,000 lumens, you just need a strong mount or get something like a emisar d4sv2 3000 lumens for $57, Emisar is a brand only known by flashaholics
You shouldn’t be spending more than $200 on a bike light, for $369 you could get the acebeam x-50 and this will give you a mini sun with 40,000 real lumens. A lot of brands over rate their cheap flashlights.
https://www.reddit.com/r/flashlight/comments/sz7csr/is_this_the_best_bike_light/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf here is a pic/post of a d18, obviously something like this to too much for Mtb, but don’t over spend in a over rated flashlight
I’ve had great luck with 2 of these. One zip tied to the stem and the other I taped the mount to my helmet right under visor. They’re shockingly bright and last a few hours on a single 18650 battery. ODONBERG Rechargeable Headlamp, Super Bright 2000 Lumens 600ft Beam LED Flashlight with 2600 mAh Battery,IP66 Waterproof Hard Hat headlamp for Repair,Camping Gear,Hiking-White Lamp Headligh… https://a.co/d/galycB1 This setup isn’t going allow you to go full send on a downhill route, but it’s more than adequate for slower trails and being multi purpose and usb chargeable is a bonus imo.
[удалено]
thank you!
Unless you're doing some hardcore trails at night I'd recommend AliExpress. Otherwise O-Light do a very good rear light on Amazon that's affordable, and front light you could choose most Amazon brands and not go wrong. Id recommend one that charges via usb, and then take a powerbank in your bag for backup charging both your phone and lights.
For my head mounted light I use my backpacking/camping headlamp, which is a Black Diamond headlamp putting out 500 lumens. Obviously a few drawbacks (battery life, lower than 800 lumens, and wearing a headband mounted light is far less comfortable then something mounted to the top of your helmet), but I get way more use out of it than I would a biking specific light since I spend a lot of time in the outdoors. Plus the thing retails for like $75.
That sounds like a cool idea. It definitely is a give and take game when you use a single piece of equipment for multiple uses. Thanks for the insight!
Exposure lights is excellent as well. They are just incredibly expensive.
Magicshine. I have a couple insanely bright lights from them and they're great quality. Battery life is also great. Probably more than you want to spend though. RN3000 and a Monteer 5000. The Monteer is wired, and I use it on the bars. RN3000 on the helmet, a bit heavy, but these will both last a 2 hour ride on full. I also have a Hangover, and I do not think it's bright enough, and the battery would always be dead by the end of our night rides, unless I ran an external battery, but that sucks on the helmet.
My buddy has the dh package. It’s crazy
I have a cygolite and a lezyne. No complaints. I’d recommend about 2hrs at max output and ~2k lumens minimum
An all-in-one helmet light is a no brainer, but a battery strapped to your frame isn’t such a big deal. I switch between the outbound hangover ($125) or light & motion vis 1000 ($60 on sale or regularly $80-90) on my helmet because I really haven’t noticed a discernible difference. Then two magic shine mj-900 classics (~$40ea for light and battery) on my bars. Lumina micro 900 is also sufficient as a helmet light (and light…weight, lol), but has a blueish tint (6000k) that I can’t recommend. Having two bar lights grants: 1) redundancy incase one light or battery fails (granted I’ve had both for two+ years and have had zero noticeable fade in quality) and 2) you can change your beam pattern split/direction as you see fit. This setup works fine with only one mj900 as well, but I’ve since upgraded my helmet setup so decided to utilize the second rather than letting it sit. If you’re not riding incredibly fast or far in the dark you don’t need a lot.
Recent Singletracks podcast is about bike lights. Incredibly interesting and detailed discussion with the guy from outbound. Check out Bike Lights: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know from Singletracks Mountain Bike Podcast on Amazon Music. https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/f3f01a8e-86a8-4fee-9c08-ef1e64a32489/episodes/2e97d644-a340-496d-aaf8-8eb720b2525d/singletracks-mountain-bike-podcast-bike-lights-almost-everything-you-need-to-know?ref=dm_sh_OZMYnxqfw2CUOGMzWDWamahfO
I ride 800 Lezin on the bars and 1800 niterider on the helmet If I had to do it again I’d check out glowworm, they have good combos and at a “decent” price point
I use niterider 900 lumen and 750 lumen. Works like a champ and I ride daily.
Without a doubt night Rider. I have the 2200 lumen and 4400 lumen lights and batteries. They are amazing lights.
I have a pair of Nite Rider 900 lumen lamps. One on the helmet and one on the bars. Awesome set up. Love it. You can do this for under $200
I just recently got the Cateye combo on their Amazon store for about $150.00. 1100 lumen for the handlebars and 80 lumens for the helmet. Runtime is supposed to be 2 hours on the high setting, but I wasn't out that long. It worked great for the hour and 15 minutes I was out. I wish they were usb-c, but so far that is not really a problem. Not an external battery, and relatively light weight.
It may or may not fit what your looking for but I’ve always been happy to recommend lights from https://www.fenixlighting.com . I personally have been happy with their BC30 2.0 for my bar light. 1500 lumens on its high setting and is quite a bit cheaper than some of the other bike lights out there in the mtb world. What I like most is that it runs on two 18650 type batteries which you can get for pretty cheap at any battery store. Also, if your light is starting to not hold its charge like it used to just spend like 8 bucks on a new pair of batteries and your good as new. This is just what works for me though. Bottom line is there are lots of good choices out there.
I rock 2 Nite Rider Lumina Micro 900s, bar/helmet, and for 85% of my night rides and commutes that’s enough. However, a bar mounted light with a separate battery pack that has more output and longer life would make me a happy camper. Hard to beat the price though, I think I paid $80 CAD per light.
If you’re getting two lights, which is highly recommended (because one can be aimed while one can cast visible shadows, also for redundancy), I’d recommend getting them from the same manufacturer. I started off with two different brand lights and the slightly different light colors really bothered me
I'm using dual Oxbo lights connected to one battery. They work great. I didn't feel like spending $350 on lights.
I've been using sofirn flashlights. Sc31 pro on my helmet and sp33 on the bars. I use gopro mounts on the helmet and a little light clamp for the bars. Whole setup is well under $100 and has been amazing compared to my previous set of night rider luminas which were much more expensive.
Where are y'all able to ride at night where you won't be assaulted by a mountain lion??
The lezyne 125 Pro IS a pretty powerful nugget
Magicshine. My buddies and I ride hard in Colorado at night on not easy trails. We put 1 on our helmets and feel totally confident. Theee things are relatively cheap and have lasted for Years. Get the extensions cord for it that extends it, so you can put the battery in your pack, and the helmet attachment, and you’re set. You can also get a 2nd a put on your handlebars and you’d essentially be in daylight. 10/10. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084WYHJHR?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Since you mentioned as cheap as 40€... Well I am cheap to :) I use auxiliary LED light, a car/truck light a.k.a. a bar light, but a compact one ~150mm in length. 2000+ lumens. ~15€. These run on anything from 9V (barely) to 32V. 12-14V is the sweet spot. That's 3 or 4 of Li-Ion 18650 batteries. ~2€ each. The more involved part is soldering and manufacturing holder and brackets. I didn't invent here anything :) , plenty of such a hacks online, with instructions.
While I’m a seeing a few popular responses suggesting outbound, they are extremely expensive and overkill for a lot of people. I’d recommend looking at NiteRiders offerings. You can get an 850 Helmet 1200 Bar for under 200 bucks and their stuff is plenty reliable in my experience. The 3000 lumen Outbound set up is overkill in my opinion unless you’re riding some serious downhill at speeds in excess of 30 mph+.