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Bright bike light

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Debstir Aug 2011 9:37am, 2 Aug 2011 3,660 posts	Quote Pin Debstir Can anyone recommend a decent, bright sub-£100 front light? I had looked at theCateye HL-EL600 on Wiggle wiggle.co.uk but wondered if anyone here's used it. Or if they have any that they can recommend. I have about 1.5m of unlit road to cycle on my commute and although I know the road like the back of my hand by now, it's always nice to be able to see where you're going
GregP Aug 2011 10:40am, 15 Aug 2011 50,781 posts	Quote Pin GregP Dibstir - many, many apologies - only just seen this. The EL600 would not be anywhere near my short list. Bear with me, I have three recommendations. Hopefully by bumping this now, others will come in while I compile them. I've got (I think) a £30, a £60 and a £90 option to recommend - two from my own experience, one from a cow-orker. Stand by.
GregP Aug 2011 10:42am, 15 Aug 2011 50,782 posts	Quote Pin GregP This is the mid-price one. wiggle.co.uk MrsP is on her second, and I used to have one. The reliability (we've seen off two in, say, three years) is iffy, and the bracket (standard Cateye) needs to be really, really securely mounted as they are top-heavy as sin.
GregP Aug 2011 10:45am, 15 Aug 2011 50,783 posts	Quote Pin GregP This is the expensive one. wiggle.co.uk Buddy of mine at work has one and loves it to an almost indecent degree. I will undoubtably buy one myself next time I come to replace my main light. Only downside is it doesn't fit on a Cateye bracket.
GregP Aug 2011 10:48am, 15 Aug 2011 50,784 posts	Quote Pin GregP This is the cheapest of my three: wiggle.co.uk Not as much cheaper than the 530 as I thought, and not quite as bright, but a lot more wieldy, for want of a better expression.
GregP Aug 2011 10:49am, 15 Aug 2011 50,785 posts	Quote Pin GregP SO that's my three recommendations. If you want me to recommend just one, and you said the budget was up to £100, I'd get the Hope.
MudMeanderer Aug 2011 10:54am, 15 Aug 2011 275 posts	Quote Pin MudMeanderer Sorry for the slight hijack, but it's closely related to what the op asks for. Are these the sort of lights that might be used for night/enduro style mountain biking, or are there any distinct features/lights that are more likely to be used for that purpose?
JohnnyO Aug 2011 10:57am, 15 Aug 2011 10,117 posts	Quote Pin JohnnyO I have this, which is great for the commute, and is also usable on a trail. I liked it as it doesn't have a big battery pack and so can just be slotted in my bag for work. totalcycling.com I think it has been replaced by this merlincycles.co.uk , which is brighter, cheaper, and looks like something ET might use on his space bike.
JohnnyO Aug 2011 10:59am, 15 Aug 2011 10,118 posts	Quote Pin JohnnyO X-post Battery life and the mix of wide beam and focus arre the key things for off road lights. Don't know much about it I am afraid. The Hope ones always used to have upgradeable batteries, as I recall.
Badger Aug 2011 11:15am, 15 Aug 2011 2,870 posts	Quote Pin Badger Grep, why do you dislike the EL600 so much? I had a 530 which didn't survive a one-foot drop & replaced it with a 600, and it seemed to me that the full beam is brighter and better spread on the 600. The darkest part of my commute is cycle paths across parks which aren't completely unlit, so I don't have a strong opinion on whether either is good enough for completely unlit road.