Which is the most reliable bike light?

As the nights are starting to draw in, which is the most reliable
manufacturer of bike lights? They seem to last a maximum of six months for
me, and it's getting boring constantly buying them. I have had no luck with
Cateye or Vistalite. They are good looking, but don't last.

--
Iain Cheyne

Iain Cheyne wrote:
As the nights are starting to draw in, which is the most reliable
manufacturer of bike lights? They seem to last a maximum of six months for
me, and it's getting boring constantly buying them. I have had no luck with
Cateye or Vistalite. They are good looking, but don't last.

I did manage to break of my various B&Ms on the Brom, but that was
replaced FOC and the others have been fine. Coupled to the (so far,
touch wood, etc.) very reliable SON dynohub I've not to do anything to
the B&Ms on the Streetmachine since I bought it except tighten the front
mounting bracket and re-crimp a rear connector (both os which are
problems external to the lights themselves). That's a couple of years
now. Of course the "not doing anything" even includes worrying about
batteries thanks to the dynohub.

Not a good solution for sporting kit though :-(

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Iain Cheyne" wrote in message
.. .
As the nights are starting to draw in, which is the most reliable
manufacturer of bike lights? They seem to last a maximum of six months for
me, and it's getting boring constantly buying them. I have had no luck
with
Cateye or Vistalite. They are good looking, but don't last.

Seriously, the most reliable is two. Given the cheapness and effectiveness
of LED lights it makes sense to have a second light back & front.

T

Iain Cheyne wrote in message ...
As the nights are starting to draw in, which is the most reliable
manufacturer of bike lights? They seem to last a maximum of six months for
me, and it's getting boring constantly buying them. I have had no luck with
Cateye or Vistalite. They are good looking, but don't last.

I've just switched to a hub dynamo for the coming winter, but the last
two years I've been using Sigma Mirage rechargables (one for the
headlight, one for the trailer tail lights), and they have been
perfectly reliable (and cheap for a bottle-cage set-up). I'd pop them
on charge every evening when I parked up, and the front would be good
for about 3 hours riding, whilst the rears lasted weeks (2 x .6w
LEDs). I've now switched to a dynamo because I was often exceeding
the 3 hours in a day, plus the auto-switch is great for those shall
I/shalln't I moments when its not quite dark...

My dynamo set-up is Shimano NX30, B&M Oval Sensoplus (standlight,
auto-on) front, and 4D toplight back, with a thing called as "Weiche"
(a plug-socket that switches) from B&M to switch the rear to the
trailer when attached. All in all a good set-up, and worth the money
for the reliability.

Iain Cheyne wrote:
As the nights are starting to draw in, which is the most reliable
manufacturer of bike lights? They seem to last a maximum of six
months for me, and it's getting boring constantly buying them. I have
had no luck with Cateye or Vistalite. They are good looking, but
don't last.

Does that include the latest Cateye LED models?

~PB

"Pete Biggs" wrote in news:bj9prv$ggild$1
@ID-144931.news.uni-berlin.de:

Iain Cheyne wrote:
As the nights are starting to draw in, which is the most reliable
manufacturer of bike lights? They seem to last a maximum of six
months for me, and it's getting boring constantly buying them. I have
had no luck with Cateye or Vistalite. They are good looking, but don't
last.

Does that include the latest Cateye LED models?

I have had a look at www.cateye.com and can't see the light that let me
down after only two months. Similarly, the Vistalite that broke in a
similar time span is not on www.vistalite.com. They might have improved
since then, but both companies have lost my trust.

--
Iain Cheyne

I did manage to break of my various B&Ms on the Brom, but that was
replaced FOC and the others have been fine. Coupled to the (so far,
touch wood, etc.) very reliable SON dynohub I've not to do anything to
the B&Ms on the Streetmachine since I bought it except tighten the
front mounting bracket and re-crimp a rear connector (both os which
are problems external to the lights themselves). That's a couple of
years now. Of course the "not doing anything" even includes worrying
about batteries thanks to the dynohub.

I thought I recognised that sig! Usenet is obviously a small place.

Thanks for the advice, but what are B&Ms, SON and FOC?

--
Iain Cheyne

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in message ...

The Schmidt hub dynamo is almost certainly top of the heap for reliability.
But you didn't say "light systems" or specify rechargeable or head units.

Sorry. I am after front and back LEDs. I want lightweight kit, that's
reasonably priced but I am willing to pay a lot more if it will last.

But as others have said, the more the merrier. Assume that one day your
lights will fail (battery, lamp, whatever), and plan accordingly. Nothing
is 100% reliable.

Good advice. It does mean more kit to strip off my bike when I lock it
up in London though.

(

--
Iain

schreef ...
"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in message ...

The Schmidt hub dynamo is almost certainly top of the heap for reliability.
But you didn't say "light systems" or specify rechargeable or head units.

Sorry. I am after front and back LEDs. I want lightweight kit, that's
reasonably priced but I am willing to pay a lot more if it will last.

In fact, the Schmidt (SON) *is* lightweight kit in its kind. Yes it
weighs somewhat more than your average hub (at 580 grams) but this extra
weight is almost unnoticeable since it's at the center of your wheel.
And you're no longer relying on batteries that can die suddenly and have
a much lower output when it gets cold. More info on www.nabendynamo.de

Good advice. It does mean more kit to strip off my bike when I lock it
up in London though.

Another point for the hub dynamo: it's an integral part of the front
wheel so it's less "strippable".

--
Regards,
Marten

In message , Iain Cheyne
writes

I have had a look at www.cateye.com and can't see the light that let me
down after only two months. Similarly, the Vistalite that broke in a
similar time span is not on www.vistalite.com. They might have improved
since then, but both companies have lost my trust.

I'm still using four year old Vistalites off-road. They're fine except
for lamp unit parts broken in falls. They're now technologically
obsolete, people are buying Cateye off-road lights and seem happy with
them.
My hack bike has a bottle dynamo. I park the bike daily in Reading town
centre; IME dynamo lighting bits fail suddenly, but none's ever been
stolen. Touch wood.
--
Sue ]