Bogley

Shan · Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 794 Location: Cache Valley

I need a headlight for my commuter bike. With school and work I won't be getting home til 5:45 and that's darkness coming up pretty soon.

Is there such thing as a decent headlight for under $40.

I do NOT want LED. All LED lights I've ever owned still make me crash because I cannot see the potholes. Super poor night vision + LED = accidents.

live2ride · Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 1136 Location: Riding my bike

You can pick up a nightrider trail rat or road rat for a little more cash but they are good lights and seem to be better than the inexpensive cateye lights. I used my trail rat in the mountains for years and it worked great!!

accadacca · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 7657 Location: On Your Screen

Getting bloody cold out lately. I commute on my motorcycle and I had to get out some of my winter gear. :cold:

Shan · Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 794 Location: Cache Valley

So far my only two suggestions are:

nitetrider trail rat (about $80)
nitetrider road rat (looks about $60)

Anyone else?

Are those two about easy to slip on and off a bike? I don't want to leave it on my bike while I'm on campus/in class. Some punkass kid might steal it.

cachehiker · Joined: 30 Dec 2005 Posts: 144 Location: Logan, UT

I have what is basically a two year old Marwi Bullite relabeled as a Performance Viewpoint I could let go. I now have two lights that throw enough between them (25W) for trail riding at night so I haven't used it since sometime in March.

http://www.marwiusa.com/default.aspx?taxid=24&cid=productview&bbid=3&pid=51#42

It goes about 2 hours at 6W. Higher end LED lights put out about the same amount of light but the lower end ones don't even come close. How does $30 for it and both a 10º spot and 30º flood bulb sound?

The spot bulb was fine when I was puttering along at 12-14 mph through a 3-1/2 mile commute on the old Bianchi Advantage. The flood bulb sucks at higher speeds but is handy to have around as a spare and kinda nice for casual summer rides through the Logan River Trail and such.

I found I needed a little more when I started doing a 9-1/2 mile commute with more hills on a much faster Soma Double Cross.

opskmallory · Joined: 24 Jul 2007 Posts: 65 Location: Span'sh Fark

I have a Trailrat 2.0 I got on clearance at Golsan Cyclery in S. Jordan ($35.00 :2thumbs: ). It's a great light. About 2.5 hours of ride time and it puts out a good amount of light for being a small and rather inexpensive light. $100 is very reasonable (IMHO) price for one.

live2ride · Joined: 20 Jun 2005 Posts: 1136 Location: Riding my bike

Shan wrote: So far my only two suggestions are:

nitetrider trail rat (about $80)
nitetrider road rat (looks about $60)

Anyone else?

Are those two about easy to slip on and off a bike? I don't want to leave it on my bike while I'm on campus/in class. Some punkass kid might steal it.

I think that this is your best bet, I have a spare trail rat that I could let you borrow to test out if you wanted to buy a light? Let me know, I upgraded to the H.I.D version and it rocks, obviously I spent much more than your looking to spend, but it was well worth it.