[LEL17] Light for your consideration

[canuckystan]

Lights seem to be a hot topic for LEL.  I recently acquired two Sigma Lightsters, each on a mount on the fork eyelets.  They last a very long time on 4 AA batteries and are quite good in terms of getting all the light onto the road.  You could use one in twilight and both during faster runs in the pitch black:
http://www.sigma-lighting.com/en/front-lights/lighster.html

Best of all, they are dirt cheap online.

[Ivo]

20 lux is below the current level of lighting. The base level nowadays is around 40-60 lux. A lot of us will start LEL with an 80 lux light, so a lot more as your Sigma's. Starting out with under powered lights will really impact your chances for LEL:
-lower descending speed;
-more concentration needed for night riding so your eyes will be tired;
-more chance of an accident.
So get youself some decent lights, 60 lux or more.

[The French Tandem]

Lights seem to be a hot topic for LEL. 

It's a bit like asking whether Shimano is better than Campagnolo. Every rider has its own opinion, and you better make your own from your experience!

Basically, slower riders tend to say that a dynamo hub is the sensible thing to have on events like LEL, due to the long hours spent riding in the darkness. Faster riders tend to say that  you can ride LEL with very limited night riding, so a couple of cheap battery lights will do the job.

[canuckystan]

I know it doesn't seem like much on paper, but they work very well in practice, especially in tandem.  There are online reviews if you want to see the light pattern.

Personally I find very bright lights also tend to adversely affect my night vision, others may not have that problem.

20 lux is below the current level of lighting. The base level nowadays is around 40-60 lux. A lot of us will start LEL with an 80 lux light, so a lot more as your Sigma's. Starting out with under powered lights will really impact your chances for LEL:
-lower descending speed;
-more concentration needed for night riding so your eyes will be tired;
-more chance of an accident.
So get youself some decent lights, 60 lux or more.

[Kim]

A 40 lux light chucks out twice the photons of a 20 lux light, but as the eye doesn't respond linearly, the perceived difference in brightness is actually quite small.  This can readily be demonstrated by aiming two identical lights at the same target and observing the difference when you turn one on and off.  Indeed, given two identical lights, it's generally more effective to aim them at different points to increase the area covered rather than making a brighter spot.

So, it's a little bit dimmer than the Cyo/Fly standard.  I'd say that was good enough for audax riding, if you don't take the piss on descents.  The beam shape looks sensible.  That makes it better than pretty much everything that was available a few years ago.

Other riders' lights will be brighter.  But motor vehicles' lights will be much brighter than that.

[Kim]

Personally I find very bright lights also tend to adversely affect my night vision, others may not have that problem.

I find that this effect is strongly correlated with the spread of the beam.  A light can be chucking out loads of lumens, but if they're spread across the road to give a moderate amount of lux, it's a lot less blinding than a weaker light focused to a small spot.  The eye adjusts to the bright part of the beam, so if that's excessively bright the area outside it is harder to see.

[mattc]

The B&M Ixon is more-or-less the "standard" for AA-powered lights with a proper shaped beam:
https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/b--m-ixon-iq-premium-led-headlight--80-lux-/aid:703598?channable=e8467.NzAzNTk4&gclid=Cj0KEQiAsf_BBRDMpoOHw4aSq4QBEiQAPm7DL1yzzqts2OzoEwvdTH-axEpgcul6LfIsjE6Ub3DMOV8aAh3U8P8HAQ
- High-power mode: 80 lux for approx. 5 hours
· Low-power mode: 15 lux for approx. 20 hours

Roughly £50 delivered.

I have happily ridden all night on the 15lux setting. I tend to want more light on fast descents, but that depends on the surface (e.g. PBP roads are nearly all smooth enough to descend by a full moon ), and how brave i'm feeling. And if it's raining

So I wouldn't rule out a 20Lux light. It's certainly true that bright lights reduce your night-vision (cos: SCIENCE ).

I managed most of 3 nights on the road - like hundreds of others before me - on PBP2007 with just AA-powered lights. LEDs have got raaaaather a lot better in those 9 years. The biggest problem is Other People's Lights!

[Kim]

What was the old Ixon IQ's low-power mode?  10 lux?  That was fine for most on-road riding, though the 40lux mode was much better if the surface was iffy.  IMHO the main improvement since then has been wider beams.

[mattc]

Looks like it:
"
The Ixon IQ with the revolutionary LED IQ technology shines with for approx. five hours with up to 40 lux!

· High-power mode: 40 lux for approx. 5 hours
· Eco mode: 10 lux for approx. 20 hours
"

(I think most people would struggle to tell 15 Lux from 10 Lux, if you sneakily swapped while they were snoozing. AOTBE ... )

Because I can, I tend to use the Ixon with a 2nd cheap "main beam" light on looooong rides. But other setups work fine.

[Hot Flatus]

But you ride really slowly.

If you ride at a decent pace long beams and loads of light suddenly becomes rather important.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

I descend fairly quickly and don't seem to need lights that melt tarmac. YMMV

[mattc]

But you ride really slowly.

If you ride at a decent pace long beams and loads of light suddenly becomes rather important.

You little devil.


Surprisingly, I go fastest downhill. And as you know, unlike yourself I don't see the need to use a sub-4kg modern bike, so I descend faster than you (but not quite as fast LWAB).

Another Flatus Fallacy!

[Redlight]

I descend fairly quickly and don't seem to need lights that melt tarmac. YMMV

Remind me again how many of your bones have been broken at various times 

[mrcharly-YHT]

The biggest problem is Other People's Lights!

I found this to be a problem when riding in groups.

Commuting by myself or riding by myself I found my fenix on the 10lumen setting was entirely adequate.

Riding with a group, there would be people behind me with Cern-accelerator-powered beams, and suddenly I couldn't see a damn thing, even with my fenix turned up to it's middle setting. On high setting I was struggling to make out potholes.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Never crashed at night. Daylight obviously brings too much confidence about my descending ability. My most recent crash was during a brevet that made the Netherlands look hilly.

[Ham]

The Road.cc comparator is pretty handy to understand real life differences http://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/212914-updated-your-guide-best-front-lights-cycling-beam-comparison-engine

They don't have Sigma, thobut.

[Kim]

Riding with a group, there would be people behind me with Cern-accelerator-powered beams, and suddenly I couldn't see a damn thing, even with my fenix turned up to it's middle setting. On high setting I was struggling to make out potholes.

Timely reminder that if conditions allow it's best not to ride immediately behind people at night, but slightly off to one side so they're not riding in their own shadow, and so you don't get intermittently blinded by specular reflection of your own front light off the plastic of their rear reflector.

And turn down the FRIKKIN LAZERS, obviously.

[mattc]

Riding with a group, there would be people behind me with Cern-accelerator-powered beams, and suddenly I couldn't see a damn thing, even with my fenix turned up to it's middle setting. On high setting I was struggling to make out potholes.

Timely reminder that if conditions allow it's best not to ride immediately behind people at night, but slightly off to one side so they're not riding in their own shadow, and so you don't get intermittently blinded by specular reflection of your own front light off the plastic of their rear reflector.

And turn down the FRIKKIN LAZERS, obviously.

Proper 2-abreast is even better. Most night-riding is on empty roads, so even moton-phobes should be OK side-by-side.

You then both get the benefit of each-others lights. It's a wonderful thing.

[Kim]

Absolutely, but if there's more than 2, it's still better if those behind ride slightly to the side.

[Bledlow]

I usually find that when riding in a group I can turn down my light, because there's so much light around. Except when there's someone with eyeball melter behind me, of course. There's then the dilemma: put up with it & try to keep to one side, or ride behind him (it usually is) & thus take the significant risk of being dazzled by an insanely bright point source red LED, these usually being associated with eyeball-frying front lights?

[keeks]

I found on a 600k while using a batt powered light, that I had factored in the amount of night riding , but what I hadn't was the iffy grey weather during that day that meant I had to use my light, for safety reasons. I know you get thingys for batt lights but having the dyno light on the crown makes the handlebars less crowded. My thought process after 800k may not let me consider changing my batteries when all I want to do is sleep. And finally these new dyno ain't much drag? Oo and I can charge my Garmin/ phone at the same time so even less faffing at controls

[Karla]

The YACF version of Godwin's Law: In any thread relating to lighting, the probability of someone bringing up the Ixon IQ tends to 1.

The Ixon was a shitty light, which projected all its beam into a tiny little box in the road ahead, so I couldn't see round corners and couldn't even see directly in front of my front wheel.  I was rather glad when mine broke do the the inherently weak hinge design, so I could send it back to B&M and sell the replacement to fund a new light. 

[Kim]

The Ixon IQ was a shoddily implemented battery version of the IQ Fly.  The same optics were used with a better LED in the 60lux Cyo, which is surely the benchmark for YACF audaxer lighting - most people seem happy with that beam.  The contemporary Cyo R solved the not being able to see in front of your wheel problem, but it wasn't until the Luxos and Cyo/Ixon Premium that they did something about the width (which TBH I only really found to be a problem on recumbents).

The Ixon IQ remains a useful reference point, if not a particularly good light by modern standards.  (IMHO it's as bad as the Hope Vision 1, for completely the opposite reasons).  The premium version is going to be respectable performance wise, but I'd avoid it due to the same battery compartment and bracket issues.

[Exit Stage Left]

This is a video still from the A group at PBP 2015, most have two battery lights.

[frankly frankie]

Very statement-making, those twin headlamp setups.

I recently acquired two Sigma Lightsters, each on a mount on the fork eyelets.  ...  You could use one in twilight and both during faster runs in the pitch black:

Am I reading this right?  It looks like a recipe for mashing your fingers in the spokes to me.