Best mtb light for £100 ?

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 mike123 29 Nov 2020

As title . Combination of brightness and run time . It's for a present for my son . He uses cheap and very bright Chinese head torches at the moment but I want something a bit more robust , waterproof and helmet friendly . I use  a mixture of cheap Chinese  and leyzne mega drives but want something in between . A bit more money is fine but not much more !  

Edit : to see with rather than be seen 

Post edited at 12:31
 Prof. Outdoors 29 Nov 2020
In reply to mike123:

Loads of forum posts on Singletrackworld.com on similar topics. First post is specific to helmet lights.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/need-a-light-thats-like-an-exposur...

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/recommend-me-a-front-light-for-mtb...

Know you asked about helmet lights but halfords gets rave reviews and is only £40 at the moment.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/halfords-advanced-1600-bike-light/

Probably choice limited by availabilty but;

Four4th scorch but £135, Fenix headtorch with helmet mount, Moon Vortex Pro seem to be the favourites.

Bit of sifting required for the above sites but Singletrack forum regularly have similar questions.

 nniff 29 Nov 2020
 spenser 29 Nov 2020
In reply to mike123:

A point to note is to buy from a decent manufacturer with a UK distributor. Mounts for lights are often none standardised and sometimes snap due to fatigue (particularly if the part which flexes is mounted on the handlebars and the bike gets cold).

I have a 1600 lumen light manufactured by Ryder, part of the tab holding it in place snapped on a cold morning and it took me about 9 months to find a suitable mount (coincidentally the new handlebar mount from Moon happens to be compatible and more robust).

Given that you're spending £100 it would be a bit galling to be unable to use it after a couple of years due to a failed mount.

 monkey man 29 Nov 2020
In reply to spenser:

You can pick up some exposure ones in sale at similar price, I got a strata for £110 ish. Prob not good enough for off road but ideal for my commute 

 crayefish 01 Dec 2020
In reply to mike123:

I've literally just bought some lights to replace my useless Lezyne ones (light output ok, but battery life insufficient).

For 100 quid roughly, check out the Gloworm Alpha... 1200 lumen, remote battery, replaceable lenses (4 beam patterns), fully waterproof (IPx7), 2.5 hours runtime at full power, multiple mounts included (bar, helmet, go-pro) and optional wireless remote and double size battery pack.

I was so impressed with my Alpha, I went and bought the Gloworm XCV after (Black Friday was still on) which is a 3400 lumen one.  So I have the Alpha on my helmet (with battery in my jersey pocket) and the XCV on my bars, with a wireless remote to control the brightness of both of them.  Cost me 300 euros in total (Black Friday helped - 100 for alpha, 200 for XSV) for many hours of 4600 lumens of remote controlled single-track lighting power.  As well as adjusting the beam patterns, you can even user program the light levels.  Pretty good value I'd say...

Post edited at 09:01
 David55 01 Dec 2020
In reply to Prof. Outdoors:

I have been  using  the £40 Halfords light, this is its second dark season and it is really good. It comes with a variety of  attachments.  I use it on the  handlebars. 

OP mike123 05 Dec 2020
In reply to David55:

Thanks all . I got him one on the £40 Halfords ones . It s perfect for what he needs . It’s so good it’s now on my helmet and I need to get him a another one . £40 ? Real bargain . Most importantly it cones with a little widget to mount to a go pro pad . After trying all sorts of things including home made go pro adapters   , this is imho the best way to mount a light on top . 
Edit : if a gcse or a level design student with access to some of the Gucci kit they have in some schools was looking for a project .. .... helmet mount for lights . The number of people out and about at night seems to be growing rapidly 

Post edited at 09:05
 BattyMilk 06 Dec 2020
In reply to mike123:

I’ve recently come across the r/flashlight sub on reddit which has opened my eyes to a new world of lighting. It’s a forum for light enthusiasts to talk. One of the sticky posts gives recommendations for a huge number of different lights for different applications. I’d never come across any of these brands before but the posters in the subreddit generally scoff at the performance, battery life and price of the “mainstream” outdoor light brands (cat eye, petzl, BD, etc). 
 

I’ve a BD revolt head torch (~45 quid), petzl nao plus (~110) and a cateye volt 300 (~40). Following some recommendations I picked up a Sofirn SP40 for 34 quid on Amazon (you can get it on Ali express for about 20 if you can wait). It’s not necessarily a bike light but you can buy a cheap sturdy mount. It far outperforms all my other lights in battery life and power (1200lumens) and feels bombproof. It’s chargeable and you can swap battery. Comes with a detachable headstrap too. 
 

Would recommend checking out the subreddit. It was a world of wonder for me. My wallet is going to hate me

Post edited at 15:53

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