Budget vs Premium Bike Lights: What do You Get For More Money? | Cycling Weekly
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- Being safe and being seen on the roads should be a cyclists number one priority and that’s true all year round but especially in the dark winter months.
However, when it comes to choosing the right bike light, there’s a huge amount of options available, including difference in lumens, wearable options and much more. The buying process can become a little confused - what features should you prioritise and how much should you spend?
We've made this video in partnership with Cateye to help explain what changes as you spend more money. You can see Cateye's range here: www.cateye.com/intl/products/...
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While this information is interesting, what I would find more interesting is a comparison between the more premium light and cheap far east equivalent. I've been running a planet x light, came free with a £100 order, for over a years commuting, and it's been faultless. It is aluminium housed, has a very sturdy and versatile mount, provides exceptional illumination, with good battery life. I am really intrigued to see if i would find any tangible benefit from paying for a more premium brand.
I have a cheap rear cat eye light, which I bought 25 years ago. It's still working.
That's great to know, it certainly speaks to Cateye quality... But both bulb/LED and battery technology have vastly improved over those 25 years and you might be shocked at how much better a similarly priced light now behaves!
has it undergone battery changes?
@@ivan0kurnia You're asking the real questions but then again I don't think much people will dive that deep to see if they have. It's just kinda expected that they last longer compared to this guy's light from $25 years ago. But maybe they made it worse cuz planned obsolescence exists so who knows for sure. No one talks about the the longevity of these lights as for as far as I've seen anyways.
Cateye are my go-to brand for bike lamps. I have had them for years
For me personally, a multi-mode bike light is the better choice for road driving. In this way, the lighting can be adjusted according to the environment to suit the scene.
I thought it was going to be looking at budget brands vs the more costly brands e.g. Planet X & Chilli Tech against Exposure or Cateye for lights claiming similar lumins etc. Looking at two lights from the same brand seems a little pointless as you know what the difference will be in brightness etc.
Remember folks, for Us who ride motorcycles, these Front white lights in strobe setting during the daylight are fantastic for cars to see you.
They are so conspicuous, you can’t help not to be seen.
I have them on both my Motorcycles here in NJ
I've used Cateye lights for years. I've probably still got most of them. I can't recall any ever going wrong or breaking. I stayed with that make so that their (then) near universal bracket would take any of their lights. Irkingly, that's no longer the case.
I ride on country lanes in my retirement now but I've never spent enough to have a front light to illuminate the road ahead in the way the more expensive lamps apparently do now. But people still rode lanes in the dark when it was a tinplate Ever Ready lamp with a torch bulb...and an equivalent rear lamp. I don't recall ever being shunted from behind and I just rode at a speed commensurate with the distance I could see. It's rarely if ever pitch black after all. Could it be that we are being tempted through the powers of advertising to spend larger sums of money than we need to for technology that isn't actually needed? Would the cheapest bike lights be good enough in 99% of riding conditions? I think they might!
Depends what you're doing where I ride you go through pitch black tunnel's and being able to see could be the difference between crashing into the side and not.
Yeah I agree. It just really depends on what you're doing, say mountain biking for example, going on a trail with a cheapo $8-$30 light won't do you much good and it will probably lead to you crashing because it won't illuminate that well so there's that. But if you're commuting in a well lit city at night, you don't need to be that guy who uses the power of the sun at night at $200 - $1000. Just go get one in the middle like around $50-$100 if you have the money and or care for it.
To bad you didn't mention the stVzo standard for those who's commuting in traffic when also Cateye has those lamps to offer also.
Currently my perfect front light : Enfitnix Navi 800
Front lights have rechargeable batteries. Eventually he implied it. Use 2 rear lights so if one goes flat you won't be riding blissfully unaware that you have no lights. In Germany it is the law to have the beam shaped with a flat cut off so doesnt dazzle other road users and uses the light to light up the road not the trees (many cycle lights are like strapping a torch to the handlebars. You need different lights for on road and off road.
Barrie......I think that kinda information might be too sophisticated for Rupert
Agreed on the spare rear light; there's a pretty inexpensive Sunlite TL-L505 I like. Mounts to most of my bike's rear racks and is a reflector in addition to being a light. It's not as bright as my Cygolite, but it's a great spare that's always mounted and there if I need it for some reason.
You could always point it down a bit
@@arbjful it's not about the direction of the beam, it's about the shape of the beam
that's kind of a counterintuitive law tbh, most countries even encouraged the lights to be AIMED TOWARDS (at) vehicles, it's incredibly important to be seen on road as a cyclist. I guess if you have a bright light that is used to illuminate your path, then sure, you should aim downwards towards the ground.
Newb question, but are there any headlights with a dimmer switch I can thread to my thumb area? I'd like to be able to dim my headlight and not have to lift my hands from the steering bar. Thanks! 🥦🦖
I have the AMPP1100 and it's stupidly bright. I've had several cars flash their lights at me presumably because its blinding them 😂Its quite a heavy unit too so if weight on your bike is important to you then don't buy it. The AMPP800 is more than capable.
Some good information thanks, actual comparison of lumes would be nice.
I wish I had these 80 years ago when I cycled across Australia 🇦🇺
Are you a centenarian?
@@Boopityboopy Yes sir!
Bro talking about 95 pound lights
I mean my whole cycle is worth 60 pounds😂
Why have you not shown them lit- in a dark room on shining on a dark wall.
I’m the description was helpful but if I knew nothing, a chart or comparison of the different lumens would help. This hasn’t helped me at all answer which light to get.
Agreed. It did not the information I was expecting from the title.
It’s easy to sit on the couch and talk about lights given to him for free and get views. Why make this an effective review…..
Just got the AMPP1100 as an upgrade and replacement for a cheaper 400 lum Rockbros light (2 years old. It did well, but only replacing because the elastic band _just_ broke). I'm only really after the low/400lum mode since that's about what most people need for most kinds of road riding, and it lasts 4 hours. The High and Med are welcome though for dark and/or sketchy stretches of road. Daytime Hyperconstant is pretty cool too, I definitely feel visible from the front AND the sides. Flashing mode is a bit too annoying though (could be slower), and I wish I can change from Low to Med without having to cycle through the rest of the modes.
My first Cateye was the Halogen one in the 90s I’ll never forget it! It used 4AA batteries for its time it was bright looked like a cars light obviously in todays world it’s outdated. After I had lost it I got dynamo lights I did not know how to set up the little rubber pin right so it became like a 3RD brake lol. Then after years I got a Blinki from the college I’m at. Then I got my first internal battery which is the Cygolite 700metro and the hotshot 100! My problem is that the batteries are soldered on! While that’s a good idea on paper not a very great idea at the end of the day if your battery dies which it will your done! Then December of 2021 after paying 100 to get my Cygolite resoldered for the 10th time I saw the Fenix BC30v2.0 2200 lumens it comes with a wireless switch! It reminded me of a modern version of my Cateye Halogen light! With dual SST-40s wireless switch and most of all replaceable batteries! I retired my Cygolite metro I use it as a walking light now lol. My Cygolite hotshot won’t be retired until I get the Cateye Fit I have 8 Eneloop pros and 4 10440s plus Dummy Cells! Side note you can use the 10440 on it but make sure you buy dummy (conductor) cells if you use dual 10440 your light is going RIP lol.
About 92 in Texas I met two guys who had a bright light and told me how. I made one lead acid gel and 20 watt halogen track lighting bulb halogen. Loved it. Moved away and 20 years later I went riding my old trail and saw the same guys and recognized them . I said you told me about your light. They were amazed because that was the first time they rode
I have the Volt 1700. Lights the road very good and I like the different modes. I am not a fan of the mounting bracket. Sooner or later it will come loose. Especially when on a bumpy road. They have to make a mounting bracket which you can tighten with an allen key, not by hand.
So true. I had a cateye light 10-15 year ago. Light was great, clamp was rubbish. It seems to me they are still using the same plastic clamp.
I bought a Cateye center fork bracket or my AMPP1100. The build quality is good as metal is sturdier than plastic. The light mount itself is screwed by an Allen screw with a nut.
@@user-ks9db9bq7l where do you buy the bracket? Is there any for the handlebar for more secure?
@@twosix_00 Got mine from Lazada.
@@twosix_00 CatEye lights include a bracket for most handlebars.
I'd like to see a comparison between premium and chinese website versions.
Have you heard about the Garmin Varia RTL515? It has a radar that shows indication on your Garmin bike computer or Wahoo element of car's approaching you from behind
If you frequently ride in the dark, this is likely the worst place in bike gear to try to save a very small amount of money. More light is better and getting stranded because your cheap light broke is really dangerous. As a rule of thumb, get at least a $100 or £100 light. At that price point, you'll get plenty of light in a reliable package with a good mount. It's really hard to find a "bad" light at that price point.
No point investing in a cheap bike light with low lumen 'be seen'. It'll give you a false sense of security when the output is so low no can see you. Best to spend the extra $$$ and get something useful. Buy once, not twice as the expression goes.
Next, if you do get a light with good power output, angle it down a bit. You will still be seen but won't blind drivers (this is in your best interest too)!
I get the sense that this channel is sponsored by Cat Eye. I wish they’d inform us whether or not they’re sponsored in videos that praise their products.
At 00:05 if you look very carefully you might notice a hint.
How does Cateye's premium offers compare to Garmin's
**WARNING**. Advert for Cateye, NOT A REVIEW, how people be so stupid to think this isn't an. Overlong advert?
So helpful. Thank you!
I use a Magicshine front light with a separate battery pack on the rear, with a red lens i got of an old rear light - can be seen from Mars.
Extremely bright, when commuting on my own, motorist give me a massive wide berth because it is too bright to stay behind or come close to. I am sorry it has come to this but this last resort solution is the only thing that has worked for my safety.
Magicshine stuff is great. Inexpensive but reliable, well designed and powerful.
Many years ago, before decent lights were available, I used to build my own headlights because I was doing a lot of commuting at night. I started with a camping headlight that was focusable, replaced the globe with a 7 volt halogen globe, and put two 9 volt rechargeable batteries in parallel. The final touch was to mount it on my helmet.
Running the halogen globe at higher power meant it was BRIGHT, and it was focused. I knew it was bright enough when drivers 500 meters away flashed their headlights to dim mine.
These days we just buy a light. They are never as bright as that one though. Unless it's a case of rose coloured memory! 😂😂😂
@@hiro111 excellent lights. I'm vey happy with my Allty1000/2000 - RN1500... Seemee200 and Seemee180:)
Magic Shine if roughly fewfold more practical than their top 1100 AMPP model, good choice indeed.
I run BONETRAGER lights Buckhorn lights for side lighting my beach cruise as I ride all hours of the day or night plus weather allows me to to..
Finding out about fixed income first hand,my 1991 road bike has harbor freight and Wal Mart lights. Looking at taillights but most are packaged with headlights
You covered everything....spot on.cateye
Why you do not mention bottle dynamos or dynamos in general?
typically
You should watch some LED torch reviews for how to test these things, you are doing it wrong
Using Niterider Swift 300, quite good for its price. Have also used Sigma Buster 200 which lasted 4 years
Got a Sigma Buster 2000 HL front. 3 years and battery life is still amazing
Excellent
What I want is to be able to see at nite.
I also want to be able to swap easily between bike and scooter. With a full on run time of about 1.5 hours.
Why get 1100 lumens for £95 when you can get 1200 lumens for £35?
Great Product !!!!!!!
the best would be to show real life TEST. to see how much difference is in 400lm, 600, 800, 1200 lm. for me this is what i was looking for. not sure how strong the light should be.
Well, we are spoiled for choice these days. 30 years ago I had to build my own headlights to a decent output.
Three points you missed.
Always run two taillights, in case one dies.
Consider the effect of the flash mode on drivers. Too slow and the driver can miss seeing it as they quickly glance about. Too fast and you risk cause epileptic fits. Indeed AFAIK flash modes are outlawed in some countries.
Aluminium body is great for great for the life of the thing. Polycarbonite is light, but if it falls on the road it will not survive.
Extra point ... we don't need such a view of the presenter's crotch.
I'm a driver as well as a cyclist. I find when driving the flashing rear lights on bikes are dangerous. They act like a strobe and it's difficult to judge distance. I can see why they are outlawed in some countries.
@@tonyjones9442 Yes, the research does say it harder to judge the distance to a flashing light.
I think it's valuable to have a flashing light to catch the driver's eye. Many people run one on flash and the other steady.
Run two tail lights? I disagree. In my opinion, it makes much more sense to run one tail light and carry the other as a spare. Theres no sense in running two tail lights at the same time and also no sense in having two tail lights attached to the outside of your bike exposed to the elements when one could easily be stowed away safe and dry in your pack.
@@norcal-ce7yk Everybody has their own view on safety. I run two lights in case one stops working. Since it's behind me I wouldn't know until the end of the ride. That may be too late. Cheers.
@@AndrewBlucher By that logic, if they both stopped working, you wouldn't know either. I personally periodically check to ensure my tail light is working when out on night rides, it would be very obvious if it wasn't. In which case, I could remove it and add the spare that is safely stowed away in my pack. I dont see the logic in running two lights at the same time and hoping that if one fails the other won't. It takes 1/2 a second to glance behind you and see if its still on or not. But yes to each their own.
Just brought the 80xc with the rear light also as a pack for £30 moaned all the way home about how much it cost then watched this video and u call it a budget light 🤦🏻♂️ lol
Brighter the better. Why not always get the brightest possible be as safe as possible
It's not that easy spread and shape also matters. Lux or lumens per square meter is often more important. At a lit area battery saving is more important.
Almost all that range is nearly useless even for 1 hour dark commuting, in case it involves a shortcut through a hilly trail in a forest. Their greatest1100 AMPP model is below what I deem as the lowest end compromise (costs nearly 100 quid but does NOT support external battery or swift battery replacement in case it discharges midway). All what is considerable is tiny nearly weightless white (to preserve battery charge and blinding of oncoming traffic from the main frontlight lamp) and red blinkers + some red backlights. Quite disappointing!
This video should be One light vs 2 lights. Because 2 budget lights adjusted at different focal points will often kick one expensive lights butt, as long as you don't go too cheep! I bet that my $25 and $45 dollar set of lights will beat most $180 dollar lights. Why I have 2 focal points one for close, one for distance... The real problem is most lights either give you great distance view or great close up view, depending on where they are aimed at. Having 2 lights with different aim often kills the competition....
Voice of reason, at last. You should be even better with a setup of 4: lowride lights at the bottom of your fork (knee-height), for-mounted dynamo powered light for 10 meters farther, then main battery powered floodlight+spotlight combo on your bar, and eventually a spotlight on your helmet, to peek around corners. + Cheap blinkers in front and rear, additionally, just to be visible when you have no need for lamps in a dusk.
@@morzh1978 Yes the more lights the better! I have 2, one so I can see pine cones on the dark asphalt right in front of me (they are really hard to see at night), and one for more distance. It really suck when you unexpectedly hit a pine cone!
This bike was really easy to assemble ruclips.net/user/postUgkxMesz3KOGEmwmvyKQfLfrRSUXLFzfVHZA and required very few adjustments out of the box. The wheels did not require any truing/adjustments. The frame had some small scratches, but nothing major.I did replace the seat though - the seat it came with was very uncomfortable. The tires need to be re-inflated every 4-5 days, but this appears to be quite common for the narrow 700x25 tires.Overall, in my opinion, this bike looks and rides like a much more expensive bike.
What do you get for more money? Nothing. They are all made in China so why not get the Chinese $40 light that's the same brightness as the top of the line Cateye? In fact the last Cateye light I owned was a 2 AA's 25 lumens light in the early 80's. Cateyes are certainly excellent don't get me wrong, but it doesn't take a crazy amount of technology to create an LED light. In fact the trickiest part of the whole thing is the batteries. I wish more lights would use LiFePo4 batteries instead of the older Lithium Ion. I'd rather have 2000+ charge cycles than 500.
Advertising aside, yet to own another garmin product that’s robust/premium. UT800 has been truly amazing.
In America we do not pronounce “bite like”. We like to use the word bike, it rhymes with hike.
WTF?!
Typically a sponsored video will be a bit pointless. No comparison to other brands, no pros and cons.
Tbf the cateye lights are genuinely decent at sensible prices.
Amazon lights are great and cheap
What about Enfitnix?
This is paid CatEye promotion, not a honest review.. Proprietary modified accu batteries are a big NO, Fenix DC30 v2 would be a lot more practical. You would not like to carry extra proprietary modded overpriced18650 cells with you which are pointless to power anything else rather than yet another overpriced Enfitnix product.
Seems like Cat Eye prices are a bit of a piss take.
Buy Rockbros -thank me later, when your wallet will feel lighter :)
Gaciron
As I understand UK legislation flashing lights are not legal primarily, because they confuse depth perception for drivers of approaching vehicles. Also lights should be attached to the bike.
Many LED bike lights dazzle drivers putting the cyclist’s safety at risk. There are very few which block upward light.
Excellent video.
He continues to say use a cheaper light in town to be seen, well just got hit by a car, riding my bike cause the driver didn't saw my 600 lumen light...
thats the drivers fault then how can he not see the light ?
Nite rders are better they have higher lumens
What is this? A Cateye advert? Pass.
Cateye what a small range in some respects just last and last. I have Leyzne who h I good but my strip drive just stopped working after only 2 year's of modest uae.
Lol premium at £95.... try exposure lights, or lupine .... that’s premium
I have the volt 6000 is that premium enough
"Typically" counter...
Ok boys and grls pls dont try this ur self. This is my take on rear tail lites i run a very higjh lumens taily it keeps thosr sico motorist grom getting too cloes it actually works hah hah ha
sell out weekly
I don’t think you comment is fair to weeks
How do you suppose they pay their staff/run the business model? Where's the money coming from?
@@extrospective Ads rev share with YT and Native sponsored content. The concept and low quality of the native content though is sell out here, not its existence.
Duh. No real world comparisons or opinion?
We all know the obvious... so why bore us with it.
Useless, I’ve never spent more than a tenner on a bike lamp, go to pound stretcher, and forget about all this bs.
Strangely, reliability and price don't seem to go hand in hand and Cateye in my experience have poor reliability.
Much as I HATE Fenix as a company (for their support of animal abuse (read: hunt'n lights)), I will admit the likes of CatEye, Lezyne, Garmin (also hicks supporting animal abuse), BlackBurn, MagicShine, My favourite (the grossly overpriced!!!) Exposure Lights, the even more ridiculously overpriced Lupine and the remainder of the lot have a thing or two to learn from Fenix. That thing is called "battery duration". And there's another: battery replaceability. And I suspect (don't quote Me on that), faster charging speeds.
Compare any of these established brand headlights to the likes of Fenix PD36R (a 1600 Lumen flashlight with add-ons for cycling use) or the Fenix BC26R bike headlight. Both provide up to 1600 Lumens of illumination in the highest setting and 2.9 and 3.5 hours of battery life (in the said setting) respectively. The former will render 800 Lumens of illumination for 5.9 hours. The latter's battery will last up to 9.5 hours at 600 Lumens. I am not saying there exists a headlight with nearly sufficient illumination - or that will provide acceptable levels of illumination for sufficiently long - no - the tech has a long way to go - but that both Fenix lights put the more expensive competition to shame on both the battery duration and easy battery replaceability counts. Beside the obvious - the price.
You tell Me: why would anyone shell out a hundred to two thousand (that is the price of the Salsa WarBird frame or two excellent Accent Freak frames. Or an entire eTap AXS groupset. Or a set of top-tier carbon wheels!!! Whom are they joking???) for a bicycle headlight! Instead of $65-100 for something as capable as all but the most powerful of cycle lights, with twice to four times the battery performance and removable batteries!
Lezyne best !!!
I've had two Lezyne Strip Drives (100 and 150 lumen) and they are the worst lights I've ever owned. If you fully charge one and not use it for a week it will barely turn on. Quite expensive too
@@johnhabjan4248 I was thinking of buying that model, do you think it is a good idea to choose Cateye?
@@twosix_00 Never buying Lezyne again. Utter garbage. They self-discharge very quickly whether you use them or not. 100% charge to 0% in a week or two without even turning them on. If they stay at 0% for a couple of months (because you've given up using them) you can't recharge them at all. Same thing on several StripDrives and KTVs. Bad circuit design. Opposite end of the quality spectrum to Cateye.
this guy says Z instead of th lols
I got bored before the end.
Typically I did too.
Very unprofessional company they are.
better than GCN
plastic cheap shit, buy aluminium body headlight with 21700 battery thank me later
Dislike these "reviews"
This is straight up a sales commercial for cateye. Shills