"Beverly" wrote
Most of my riding is done on bike trails during day light hours. I never
considered buying lights until I misjudged how long it would take to
return
to the car last weekend and had to ride the last few miles in the dark. I
was a little nervous as this trail is along a riverg I would like to
have
a system that can easily be removed from the bike and possibly stored in a
bag until needed. There are so many different types and I'm not sure what
the pros and cons are for them. Any suggestions on buying a good lighting
system that won't be used too often? I'll be going to the LBS later this
week and would like to have some idea on what to purchase. I would like
to
stay below $100 for the system. Am I going to be able to purchase a good
system in this price range?

TIA
Beverly

If the light is truly for occasional use, you might want to consider
climbing/mountaineering/caving headlamp (Petzl, Black Diamond, Princeton).
In this context "headlamp" means "light that straps onto your head", not
"light on the front of a vehicle". It might take a little fiddling to get
the light to fit around or on your cycling helmet if you cycle with a
helmet, but you would have a light that would work for hiking after dark and
camping/backpacking trips as well as something that would get you home from
an afternoon bike ride that lasted a little longer than expected.

If you insist on something that mounts on the bicycle, the Cateye EL series
lights are nice. Mine has five focused LEDs, and is just adequate for low
speeds on unlit bike paths. Mine runs on 4 AA batteries and was about $35 at
REI.
--
mark