Lights

My general guide to bike lights:
How will you use it and under what conditions?

Well lighted city streets or roads with a constant flow of cars?

Poorly lighted roads?

Off road?

What kind of weather?

How long must the light run?

Night vision decreases directly with age; dropping by half in late middle age.

Brightly lighted streets or constant traffic will decrease the effectiveness of your light and may decrease the need for a bright light.

Poorly lighted roads and wet pavement require more light.

Illuminating turns on trails is easier with helmet mounted lights.

Halogen and HID lights are the brightest and most expensive battery powered systems. HID lamps give more light per watt so have longer battery run times for a given battery capacity (amp/hours). Many manufactures and many options at many price points

Self contained low wattage handlebar mounted systems are as much for being seen as seeing. In general the light output is about that of a flashlight. Prices are low and system weight is low because only small batteries are used. Also many choices

LED systems have long run times and generally poor out put -excellent for being seen. Many choices

1W single LED systems are more expensive but have greater output while still being lightweight and having long run times. Brighter than other small multi LED and flashlight bulb systems. Few bike specific makers at this time.

I'll be riding on suburban city streets mainly, with minor traffic. There are lights along the road, but they are spaced out such that there are lengths that are completely dark so you can't see the road surface at all. When I'm not on the streets I'll be in residential areas, again, with street lights but not a density such that I can get away without having a bike light.

I guess my question at this point is how to know which light is for me, when I have a selection like this. Like say, would cateye.comviewProduct.phpOpen ↗ be all I need? Or should I go the next step up for the cateye.comviewProduct.phpOpen ↗? I haven't a clue what 100 or 1000 candle power amounts to, would wager that the difference between 127grams and 85grams is negligible, and don't see why an eighty hour life span is neccessary.

And while I'm at it, can you wear a headlamp with a helmet? I've seen my brother's and I can't imagine so, but I hear a lot about headlamps being great. I assume THAT many people can't be riding without helmets.

My commute is a combination of well lighted city streets and six miles of unlighted, two lane road with few straight sections. I am alas now in middle age, so I use a NiteRider HID system helmet mounted system, but bar mounted, with the battery stuffed in a cut down water bottle. I am very happy with the medium beam spread and reach as well as the 4hr+ run time. I have used a 6v halogen system with a narrower beam and longer reach but much shorter burn time and less light in turns. Nearly all of the halogen systems use similar lamps, although some run at slightly higher voltage to increase brightness. There are now a large number of Asian made halogen systems on the market so if you go this route you can hit any price point. The lamps for HID systems all come from Welch Allyn and are expensive to replace (but mean time to failure is thousands of hours). Replacement lamps for halogen systems are relatively cheap--batteries are expensive for both. I opted for HID because the long run times allow me ride all week on one charge, and I now know that no light on a country road in a canyon full of large trees is a sobering experience not to be repeated. LEDs are not enough. The Cateyes are like flashlights CP claims are meaningless.