Front light

Quoted message said:

Does anyone have any experience and/or advice of a good choice? Mainly
I ride in the city where being seen is most
important but like to ride out on the unlit lanes reasonably often...

I had a EL500. It was bright and had a proper beam, although it was a
little narrow. The main problem with it was a design fault with the
contacts on the circuit board. They kept bending so I was forever
having to bend them back again. Eventually they fell off and that was
the light borked (impossible to take apart without destroying it).
Probably should have written to cateye about it, but it was more fun
taking the thing apart.

The LEDs in the 400 aren't as bright, so out of the three I'd plump for
the 510.

Also consider the Smart Nova[1] which seems to spread it's light over a
wider area than the 500.

Also tried out (in the shop) an S-SUNN 'Scuba' which was very bright,
but the beam was a far too narrow for my tastes.

My lbs used to have a big rack with lights bolted onto it. If yours has
the same it might be worth turning up with a load of fresh batteries and
trying them all out - for some unknown reason the makers don't provide
us with worthwhile enough information to judge their lights by.

Almost all my after-dark cycling is under streetlights, so at the moment
I'm just running two fairly cheap led lights - one flashing and one
steady - to help drivers see me. Let us know how whichever one you
plump for performs tho, as I'm on the lookout for a 'proper' front
light.

[1] Review here: <http://www.ajjrice.plus.com/reviews/smart%20nova.htm>

On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 19:29:44 +0000, Ben Barker <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hi

My front light needs replacing... I've been looking around on ebay, and
the EL500 510 and 400 from Cateye all look
quite good and are similarly priced. The 500 looks very bright but also
very large, while the other two are far smaller -
althoug the 510 seems almost as bright.

Does anyone have any experience and/or advice of a good choice? Mainly I
ride in the city where being seen is most
important but like to ride out on the unlit lanes reasonably often...

Having recently bought both the EL210 and EL120, I can only comment on
the mounting systems of the lights you are considering.

The EL400 (and EL120) is easy to transfer from bike to bike and the
strap mounting system is very flexible.

The mounting on the EL500 and EL510 (and EL210) stays on the bike and
the light is removed by pressing a clip.
--
Let us have a moment of silence for all Americans who
are now stuck in traffic on their way to a health club
to ride a stationary bicycle. -
Congressman Earl Blumenauer (Oregon)

"Ben Barker" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi

My front light needs replacing... I've been looking around on ebay, and
the EL500 510 and 400 from Cateye all look
quite good and are similarly priced. The 500 looks very bright but also
very large, while the other two are far smaller -
althoug the 510 seems almost as bright.

Does anyone have any experience and/or advice of a good choice? Mainly I
ride in the city where being seen is most
important but like to ride out on the unlit lanes reasonably often...

Cheers,

Ben

Where I ride there is no street lighting (deepest rural Norfolk) so I work
on the low-flying UFO principle to be seen and see by.

I use a Petzl-type LED head light affixed to my lid.

Then I have two of these
<http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?W=0&Manufacturer=&UberCatName=&Cat=cycle&CategoryName=Lights%20-%20Front&ProdID=5300004473&UberCat=0>

on my handlebar-mounted Minoura space bar

Then I can have a S-Sun SS-L120 LED on a front fork mounting as fettled by
one's Personal Bike Mechanic.

I also have multitudinous rear lights and I have acres of reflectives on
self & bike.

Works well :-)

Cheers, helen s

In article said:

Where I ride there is no street lighting (deepest rural Norfolk) so I work
on the low-flying UFO principle to be seen and see by.

I use a Petzl-type LED head light affixed to my lid.

Then I have two of these
<http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?W=0&Manufacturer=&UberCatName=&Cat=cycle&CategoryName=Lights%20-%20Front&ProdID=5300004473&UberCat=0>

You can trim wiggle URLs down to just the ProdID. The EL300 is
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/Default.aspx?ProdID=5300004473

Mark Thompson said:

Also consider the Smart Nova[1] which seems to spread it's light over
a wider area than the 500.

Still too small a spot for my liking and with distracting thin rays
radiating from it, and the on/off button is horrible. It is good for
being seen by though, but then the Smart Polaris at about half the size,
weight and cost is OK for that job.

~PB

Trelock LS600 - see http://www.kinetics.org.uk/html/trelock.shtml - at
£30 delivered (batteries extra) works for me on my Mistral recumbent,
with a good beam pattern for road work. Battery life is as claimed,
with a useful red light that comes on a long time (like hours) before
the light dies. Light mounting on bar clamp is a bit prone to rattle -
fixed with some foam tape, and battery housing cover design is a bit
awkward, but seems to work OK.

Well, I've just bought an EL510. It is smaller than the 500, but only
slightly less bright
(supposedly). It was ebayed, so I'll have to wait a while to try it
out...

Ben

squeaker said:

Trelock LS600 - see http://www.kinetics.org.uk/html/trelock.shtml - at
£30 delivered (batteries extra) works for me on my Mistral recumbent,
with a good beam pattern for road work. Battery life is as claimed,
with a useful red light that comes on a long time (like hours) before
the light dies. Light mounting on bar clamp is a bit prone to rattle -
fixed with some foam tape, and battery housing cover design is a bit
awkward, but seems to work OK.

Ben Barker said:

Hi

My front light needs replacing... I've been looking around on ebay, and
the EL500 510 and 400 from Cateye all look
quite good and are similarly priced. The 500 looks very bright but also
very large, while the other two are far smaller -
althoug the 510 seems almost as bright.

Does anyone have any experience and/or advice of a good choice? Mainly I
ride in the city where being seen is most
important but like to ride out on the unlit lanes reasonably often...

Cheers,

Ben

I have two of the single LED ones (200/210?); they look like the
current HL/MC 200; and love them. I have one angled down; and the other
off to the right at driver-eye level.

Expensive to get 2 but
1) - brackets are freely available; and so I have a few spare
brackets... (can share lights with someone riding with me).
2) - I have redundancy, should one bounce off; batteries fail etc
3) - I get very good response from drivers waiting to turn right etc.

daily urban commute: ~4km each way in snow / fog / scottish rain. Not
used them in 'true dark'.

I have encased them in a short length of mtn bike tube (unnecessary?)
so they're fully rain proof, and 'rubberised'.

Ben Barker said:

Hi

My front light needs replacing... I've been looking around on ebay, and
the EL500 510 and 400 from Cateye all look
quite good and are similarly priced. The 500 looks very bright but also
very large, while the other two are far smaller -
althoug the 510 seems almost as bright.

Does anyone have any experience and/or advice of a good choice? Mainly I
ride in the city where being seen is most
important but like to ride out on the unlit lanes reasonably often...

Try the Halfords/Hella Ultra front LED. It's as good as a 2.4W battery
halogen light, and they were on special offer with the back light (VERY
bright) last time I went in.

Zog The Undeniable said:

Ben Barker said:

Hi

My front light needs replacing... I've been looking around on ebay, and
the EL500 510 and 400 from Cateye all look
quite good and are similarly priced. The 500 looks very bright but also
very large, while the other two are far smaller -
althoug the 510 seems almost as bright.

Does anyone have any experience and/or advice of a good choice? Mainly I
ride in the city where being seen is most
important but like to ride out on the unlit lanes reasonably often...

Try the Halfords/Hella Ultra front LED. It's as good as a 2.4W battery
halogen light, and they were on special offer with the back light (VERY
bright) last time I went in.

It is very bright (I have one) and the batteries last a good wee while
too. The ony issue is that you will need to mask the top of the bezel
to stop yourself being blinded by it. With masking it is usable at
15-20mph. Without masking, barely at walking pace.

...d

squeaker said:

Trelock LS600 - see http://www.kinetics.org.uk/html/trelock.shtml - at
£30 delivered (batteries extra) works for me on my Mistral recumbent,
with a good beam pattern for road work. Battery life is as claimed,
with a useful red light that comes on a long time (like hours) before
the light dies. Light mounting on bar clamp is a bit prone to rattle -
fixed with some foam tape, and battery housing cover design is a bit
awkward, but seems to work OK.

I'll second that recommendation. Works fine for me at 20mph on unlit
roads. I wish it took 4 AAs rather than 5 though (4 NiMH AA chargers are
cheaper and easier to find than 5 AA ones).

There are some good comparisons of lights here:

http://www.nabendynamo.de/pdf/ar.1-2_2005.pdf
http://www.nabendynamo.de/pdf/ar.11-12_2005.pdf
http://eddys.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=493

(the new B&M Ixon looks nice, but is very pricey:
http://www.kinetics.org.uk/html/battery_lights.shtml)

Anthony