Any recommendations for lights for trail riding in winter?
I bought a cheap one a few years back and am ready to upgrade - the battery has died on me mid ride too many times.
I’m willing to spend to get something with an excellent battery and brightness for winter riding.
Thanks for input.
Sean
I use Lezyne lights mostly. For trail riding, I’d suggest a handlebar unit and a helmet mounted unit. Provides redundancy, and allows you to look through corners.
I can’t recommend Outbound Lighting highly enough. They are excellent lights with great battery life and are a great company to deal with. You definitely pay for all of that though.
I would second Kev’s recommendation for running two lights (one on the handlebar and one on the helmet). But if only running one light I’d recommend going with a helmet light since the ability to see through a corner is pretty critical when riding fast.
My boys and I have been running Cyglolite Metro Pro 1100 and 600 lumen lights for several years and have been happy with them. Although the mount is a little annoying since there is a screw in the base that gets lose which results in the light pointing sideways. Trivial to tighten but I’m sure there are better designs.
With a headlight mount and >1000 lumens we have found it is possible to ride the hydrocut at similar speeds as in the daylight. Although the difference between the 600 lumen Cygolite and the 1100 lumen isn’t as much as I would have expected. They are good for a 1-1.5h ride at full brightness.
The Cygolite metro design is now a few years old though. I’m happy with them overall but after 2-3 years the light intensity has degraded a little. If we needed to replace I’d probably consider a Niterider Lumina 1200 or one of the many options from Lezyne (like the Lezyne Helmet Lite Drive 1200+)
I like the Bontrager 1300 lumen light. Have run it in 18 degrees from 7pm to 10pm in pitch black on an intermediate setting and not had to charge it/ replace with a charged light. Plus it will connect to ambient light sensing garmins for auto on/off if you’re into that.
I will second on the having two lights… If two higher end lights aren’t in the budget definitely get two cheaper ones with quick release attachments so you can keep a spare one near your body heat when it’s cold out and throw it on just in case.
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