MTB Lights - How many lumens, really?

wheezy

wheezy

Member
So, no BS, how much light do you really need to ride at night? It's DARK by the time I get home this time of year and I'm looking to buy a light or two.

What do you run? Wish you had more? How much is enough? One on the bars, one on the helmet?

Help me out. It's been many years since I rode in the dark.
 
I tagged along on one of @Faust29 's nighttime jaunts up Black Star. We came back down in the dark. My first ever ride at night.

I have one Niterider Lumina 750 (750 lumens strangely enough :confused:) on the handle bars. It was enough light but it didn't look around curves. Really had me wishing for one on my helmet.

When I save enough pennies I'm getting another one. It's a great light.
 
I recommend two lights. One for the bars and one for the helmet.

I personally use a Night Rider Lumina (older model) 700 Lumens on the handlebar.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3QGXMU/?tag=imtbtrails-20

For the helmet, I use a Night Rider Lumina 220 Lumens.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3VMDPW/?tag=imtbtrails-20

I night ride pretty regularly, most times twice a week and this set up has worked fine for me. Some people prefer more lumens.

For the climbs I set the lights to the lowest brightness setting and for the downhills I set them to the highest. Never had an issue of running out of battery.
 
I have/use custom built flashlights modded to produce max output using high drain batteries.
They all use a single 18650 cell. No external battery packs, no wiring.

Helmet light is a triple XP-L max output 4000 lumens (actual measured, not estimated).
Bar light is a quad XP-L max output 3000 lumens.
I also have single XP-L lights making 1600 lumens that are my backup and loaner lights.

Obviously I don't run them at high at all times. Usually mid modes on the climbs to conserve battery. Only
on high for the descend. I've done several night rides w/ the Irvine Conservancy without needing
to change batteries altho I carry spares.

This is the single XP-L light:
http://www.banggood.com/Astrolux-S1-XPL-1600LM-7-4modes-LED-Flashlight-18650-18350-p-1012721.html

It's essentially a "modded" light from the factory as the specs were created by flashlight modders and took it out to bid. The only reservation I have with it is that it's not modded further to handle vibration on a bike so it may not last on the bar. But would work great on the helmet, I use 2 16" velcro strips. The mods consists of JB weld or something similar to the circuit board, upgrading the springs.

I use this Fenix bar mount:
http://www.banggood.com/Fenix-ALB-1...-AF02-Upgrade-Type-p-922668.html?rmmds=search

Let me know if you want to give them a try.
 
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Just a quick tip, There are 2 different types of cree lights available. Multi led and single led. Try to buy the single LED version because the dimmer stretches your battery life longer. The multi LED lights suck up more juice as it turns on 1-3 leds to increase brightness which draws more amps from the battery.
 
Mikie said:
An excellent subject. We have discussed in the past. I have added a forum for Lights so we can collect them. Moving this thread to the forum "Lights". :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Where it will never be seen again. LOL. Got the info I needed though. Also, fwiw I searched, but didn't really dig in the results. Also FWIW I just scored an 1800 pro on pinkbike for $190 delivered. Probably overkill, but I like that I can run it on a lower setting and get plenty of run time for longer rides, or possibly even a ride when I forgot to charge it! (the latter being the more likely scenario). Gonna pick up a "cheapy" for the helmet. And dude, where's Dino and the Fully Loop Night Ride Group! It's probably been 10 years since I've done that ride.
 
wheezy said:
Where it will never be seen again. LOL. Got the info I needed though. Also, fwiw I searched, but didn't really dig in the results. Also FWIW I just scored an 1800 pro on pinkbike for $190 delivered. Probably overkill, but I like that I can run it on a lower setting and get plenty of run time for longer rides, or possibly even a ride when I forgot to charge it! (the latter being the more likely scenario). Gonna pick up a "cheapy" for the helmet. And dude, where's Dino and the Fully Loop Night Ride Group! It's probably been 10 years since I've done that ride.
Click to expand...
But as you will note, it has already been populated with two other threads that relate to the same thing... Why? ...cuz I care. :inlove:
 
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Amazon cheapies for the win! 500 Chinese guesstimated luminajiggies. :D

I have three of these... Two of them are a couple years old now. And one is at college with the kid... I put two of them on the bars. One on the helmet would probably be smarter, but they work fine for me. I usually run one on the way up and both on the way down. I've run them on high for 3 hours without going dead, but I really don't know how long they last.

Edit: forgot to add that they are USB rechargeable. If I needed them to last longer, I could always carry one of the spare batteries we have for the phones.

719ySQl7isL._SL1223_.jpg
 
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I'm no modder but I'm told that the led output vs amp draw at higher amp is a diminishing return. So it's actually
better to run multiple leds at the most "efficient" amp level to maximize output vs amp.

Most cheaper lights are very low draw so they do not maximize output and not built to withstand the heat of high output.
Also, be careful with the cheaper lights with battery packs using recycled laptop-pulled batteries and chargers that overcharge them.

And check the LED type, XM-L is older (lower output, higher draw), XM-L2 is newer, as is XP-L.
 
I use two Niteriders, a 1200 Pro on the handle bars to see in front of me and a 700-750 lumina on the helmet to see side to side or whatever the bar light does not pickup. This is a great setup for my area since its really super dark where I ride in the dark.
 
Depends on where you are riding.

Places like Blackstar/Maple/Harding/Motorway/Luge you can get away with one 800 lumen light.

Places like Holy Jim/San Juan you are going to want two 800 lumen lights.

Wide open trails I just run a single light. I run a 400 lumen Niterider, a 1200 lumen Niterider and a 5000 lumen(claimed, but acutal is less than half that) Magicshine.

I used to run a helmet light as well....but over time I just got tired of it. On trails that are dusty, it is really hard to see especially if you are riding behind another rider.

Trails with tight switchbacks....a helmet light is almost mandatory.

The more you ride at night, the more comfortable you get....so I find that the brightness of the light doesn't matter as much to me.
 
I have 6 of these for the various bikes in the family.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-2000-Lu...569?hash=item1e854f7799:g:eek:4UAAOSwwPhWlx5o

Yes, they are the Chinese knock-offs of the original Magicshines. Three of them are more than 2 years old and they still work great. My night rides usually don't exceed 2 - 2.5 hours, but there is always plenty of charge left. I don't know if they are truly 2000 lumens, but they are so bright I have had cars flash their high beams at me. I usually run one on my bars and one on my helmet (I like to look ahead through corners).
I have paid from $17 to $25 (free shipping and no tax) on Ebay for them. I keep telling myself "At this price, I don't care if anything happens to them", but they have been bullet proof.
 
Tons of good input here.

I like two lights on the bar, each pointing a little outward. 350 lumen on the helmet. I have a 1800 plus a 700 – it's overkill but good redundancy. Two 800 would be ideal for what I do.

If you plan on riding in the cold, a remote battery pack could be easily wrapped with a chem hand warmer. I have not, but def would next time. My run time suffered last time below freezing.
 
mike said:
Tons of good input here.

I like two lights on the bar, each pointing a little outward. 350 lumen on the helmet. I have a 1800 plus a 700 – it's overkill but good redundancy. Two 800 would be ideal for what I do.

If you plan on riding in the cold, a remote battery pack could be easily wrapped with a chem hand warmer. I have not, but def would next time. My run time suffered last time below freezing.
Click to expand...
As do dropper posts.



DeeeeeeeRAIL!


@wheezy, what's a snub?



POW! My 700 on the handlebar and 800 on the helmet are good up to 15 mph. Then I wish I had another 1600.
 
Serfas T-1000 (lumens) with taillight integrated into the battery for Handlebar and
Light and motion Stella 150 for helmet.

The Serfas light comes with a wired remote thumb switch to knock down the lumens or change modes.
 
I'm using new magicshines (1200 lumen) and the chinese amazon knockoffs, probably about the same. I find them more than bright enough. As an emergency light I'll often bring my camping headlamp which is 240 lumens I think. It's bright enough to ride with as long as its not a really fast trail.

Bright lights are great but they can be pretty obnoxious in places where there is long distance visibility, and they are counter-productive long term when there are expensive homes nearby and the trails people are riding aren't exactly legal.
 
I recommend two lights, one on the bars and one on the helmet. Even if that means you have to purchase two lower output units. I like that option best for singletrack trail riding so I can keep looking forward down the trail, but wide open aka fire-roads it probably doesnt matter.
 
Should we talk about tint? :)

Most lights come w/ very cool tint, 6500K - 8000K. Cooler tint led is cheaper, makes slightly more lumens than a neutral or warm tint, appears to be much brighter to the eye. I've tried various tints and prefer around 4500K - 5000K but planning to try even lower, around 4000K. Using differing tints between the bar and helmet is rather distracting and annoying.
 
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