e-bike headlights 2025. What's good ?

[marka-ee]

I know, I know, there are other headlight threads, but things change rapidly.
For example, I have small rechargeable bike headlights from both Aldi and Lidl here in Europe, and they both feature the same type of new reflector design. The LED is on top, and it shines down onto a correctly optically engineered reflector, which then shoots the beam forward.
The key word here is correctly optically engineered. I've gone through plenty of headlights that have something that might look good on paper or in hand with nice little parabolic reflectors, but unfortunately the characteristics of modern LEDs are not the same as filaments ( LED emitters radiate mostly in one direction and are absolutely not close to being a point source which requires different design), so old reflector technology typically doesn't work very well at throwing the energy exactly where we need it.
I think the situation is improving for the more powerful e-bike headlights though. They are actually starting to use the proper LED radiance data and good optical engineering software to produce the correct patterns, etc.

But now I'm shopping for something a little more powerful. Does anybody have any... knowledge of something around the $50 range that puts out a good 300 lumens or so? At this point I only want to consider lights that have the advanced type of reflector that's specifically good for LEDs at this point.

 

[offGridDownUnder]

Some words about strategy...

Dedicated vs general purpose
Replaceable battery vs built-in

Grin sells lights that wire into the system and draw battery power - dedicated, and not easy to remove (hopefully). Single-purpose.

I use Lumintop B01. I can detach the lights and use them for other purposes. The batteries are Li-Ion rechargeable and replaceable. The light has a USB charging port built-in, and it will use 21700 or 18650 cells.

I don't like single-purpose - I think it's a waste of resources in a world that already has problems with waste and sharing resources.

I don't like built-in batteries. I don't like throwing away solutions when I could rebuild and recycle.

I am currently using a Tern Vizzy for the rear light, while watching for other options. If the battery fails, I might open it up and try to replace it.

 

[99t4]

At this point I only want to consider lights that have the advanced type of reflector that's specifically good for LEDs at this point

What type of reflector are you referring to?

ALSO: I have noticed near ubiquitous lumen exaggeration inflation in most all lighting marketing materials. And lumen output rating may not be the best indicator of useful lighting.

 

[marka-ee]

Well, the best way to describe the reflector design I'm talking about is when you look at the light and its output aperture, you don't see an LED in the middle of some kind of reflector. In fact, your first question is: 'where the heck is the LED?' Well, it's hiding in the roof of the internal housing, shining straight down to the ground and bouncing off the reflector to project the beam forward. This allows the light to be captured much more effectively from an LED emitter.
I agree that the lumens rating of lights, especially from China, are completely ridiculous and untrustworthy. For example, my 70 lumen light from Aldi produces about as much effective light on the road as my 1000 lumen generic Chinese light, which has three emitters with small parabolic reflectors. This is because the parabolic reflector light wastes a lot of the light going into the sky, for example. I do find that the ones with the structured reflector tend to be more honest about the light output numbers, perhaps because the force driving the structured light projection design is because of German or European law that makes these lights not shine into the eyes of oncoming traffic as much. Thereby, as a side effect of this design and making the light go exactly on the street where it should be, it's more effective, so it's a win-win situation.
Usually, any time I hear about some German law or regulation on something, it's a bad thing, but in this case it's a great thing.

 

[marvin78]

I just bought a proper AliExpress special, EOS630

I don't believe a word of their specs, I don't trust the claimed built in battery capacity either.

But, it's more then adequate for riding even streets without city lighting. I wouldn't go night riding on single trails with it, the model above it claims to have 2600 lumen ( lol ) and more important has additional led's and lenses for a much wider throw. In comparison video's though, a 1600 lumen light from a name brand was just as bright.. that name brand light was ~200 euro though.

The only video of the light I could find is in Indonesian, but the captions are pretty good and the video shows the light pattern pretty well both in dark and in night traffic.

I'm quite happy with mine, though I would like to make it so it charges through my bike's battery. Currently got a powerbank strapped to my stem, since I already forgot to charge the light once and was literally left in the dark.

There are much better lights available I bet, especially if you really want to go off road in the dark. But for 25 bucks I think this is the best light to have on a commuter bike which might see some dark stretches if you want value for money.

The mount is sturdier then it looks, though I would have loved getting a spare because I know it's the part which will break if you crash. Even tried looking if I could order one, but so far can't find it unless in combination with the light.

For 40 bucks, the 640 model is the cheapest light available which will allow somewhat enjoyable night rides on single trail, as long as you combine it with a good head mounted light.

Btw, the lenses aren't great as evident by the 1600 name brand light being equally bright with comparable throw, but they are 100% comparable with anything under 100 bucks in the lbs. And they don't blind people coming towards me when you aim it slightly downwards while still preserving decent distance. At least I haven't had anyone complain or have a car flash their light at me. Which has happened to me with other even less bright lights.

 

[marka-ee]

My favorite sales gimmick is when they have a photo of their light shining out on a street. Of course, they don't tell you that it was shot with a DSLR with a 4 second exposure that could make a single 10 milliamp LED look like it lights up the entire universe.

 

[marvin78]

I'm btw still looking for the best value for money rear light with brake sensor, hoping people can make some recommendations.

 

[A-DamW]

Well, the best way to describe the reflector design I'm talking about is when you look at the light and its output aperture, you don't see an LED in the middle of some kind of reflector. In fact, your first question is: 'where the heck is the LED?' Well, it's hiding in the roof of the internal housing, shining straight down to the ground and bouncing off the reflector to project the beam forward. This allows the light to be captured much more effectively from an LED emitter.

 

[marvin78]

So, what's the actual benefit us such a reflector design, and more so do you have a link where this benefit is explained?

Afaik LED's just create a more focused light beam and I can't really grasp why it would be 'super beneficial' if this light source is placed above a curved reflector or below a curved reflector. A stream of photons don't really have an orientation afaik so the only reason the light would 'need' to be above is because you're using the curvature of the reflector for a desired scatter field ( opposed to doing this with optical lenses ).

The only real difference, when talking about reflectors and optics, between our old light bulbs and led's is that the light source is more concentrated. That doesn't dictate placement unless I am missing something?

 

[rafalg]

For me a good light is the one that has 3-4 selectable levels of power. Not worried too much about beam shape because I can adjust the flashlight angle if needed, but the beam should be well centralized, but not too sharp/narrow (you want to see that moose approaching you from the side). And i need to be able to adjust the brightness to match the conditions, terrain, my speed... You need a lot of light when going fast thru a forest at night, but it's too much for street ride - good if one flashlight can handle it all.
And powered with easily exchangeable 18650 or 21700 cell, as i can carry a spare or two in my pocket. This is enough for whole night of riding. Durable aluminium body, sealed/waterproof, no usb ports, no indicator leds or light leaks to the side because it just distracts when going in full darkness. And shock/rattle resistant (cheap ones sometimes switch mode / blink by themselves when ride is rough - not helpful at all). Strong mount that will not self-decompose after few months, or (better) a separate holder so you dont have to throw the whole lamp away when the mount bracket inevitably breaks. So, the model that works for me is Convoy S2 - very reasonable price for what you get, powerful but compact, trouble free for many years.

 

[E-HP]

I'm btw still looking for the best value for money rear light with brake sensor, hoping people can make some recommendations.

I use one of these. They run between $15-$20 on Amazon. It's rechargeable, turns on automatically when it senses motion, and gets brighter when you brake.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HQ4NLD2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[marka-ee]

So, what's the actual benefit us such a reflector design, and more so do you have a link where this benefit is explained?

From what I understand it's like this. In the older designs where the LED is in the middle surrounded by a reflector, you are only basically gathering the light that's coming off of the sides of the LED and redirecting that with the reflector. A lot of the light that is being thrown off of the LED in the forward direction is going in all kinds of different directions that are not useful. With this newer reflector design, since the LED is up close to a reflector and pointing straight at it, then almost all of the light that the LED is producing is under directional control by how the reflector was designed. Therefore, almost all the energy can be put exactly where somebody wants it.

In the old days of filaments and short arcs, the light source produced light in almost a 360 degree radial pattern. So the capturing of the light by the old reflector design was actually more effective back then for that particular style bulb. But now with these new LEDs, the radiance angles are completely different and that's why we need this newer type of reflector design.

While a combination of a reflector and a lens can be more effective than just the old parabolic reflector, it's still very complicated because of the radiance patterns. And it's also a lot cheaper to deposit some reflective aluminum onto a piece of plastic and get exactly what you want.

 

[offGridDownUnder]

So, what's the actual benefit us such a reflector design, and more so do you have a link where this benefit is explained?

The standard is to make the bicycle a good citizen on the streets - it doesn't shine in other traffic's eyes:

StVZO bike lights: everything you need to know

The standard is not about riding in other situations such as off-road. It's about traffic.

 

[amberwolf]

My favorite sales gimmick is when they have a photo of their light shining out on a street. Of course, they don't tell you that it was shot with a DSLR with a 4 second exposure that could make a single 10 milliamp LED look like it lights up the entire universe.

You can often tell this was done by things in the background, or the quality of the lighting not provided by the advertised source, that is present in the image.

 

[amberwolf]

Afaik LED's just create a more focused light beam

If you mean bare LEDs themselves, then thats' not strictly true. If there is a lens built into the LED, then yes, but most don't have that.
Most just emit broadly in a wide angle that is defined by the physical construction of the enclosng plastic of the casing around the die, and any phosphor used over the die to translate the emitted wavelength into other wavelenght(s).

Because they are a fairly large-surface-area emission source (larger for more lumens, generally), and that emission is not a beam, a lens or reflector to put that light into a specific illumination pattern ends up a more complicated shape than that for "pointlike" (or "linelike") sources such as incandescent filaments.

 

[NexGen3D]

I use one of these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006808898787.html



Has a low beam mode with wide angle low cut reflectors with lower powered leds, and a high beam mode, with a spotlight high beam led, and a mode that combines both, awesome quality, all alloy, the mount is awesome and very easy to adjust its height so you don't annoy oncoming traffic, also has a seizure inducing flashing mode.

 

[marvin78]

From what I understand it's like this. In the older designs where the LED is in the middle surrounded by a reflector, you are only basically gathering the light that's coming off of the sides of the LED and redirecting that with the reflector. A lot of the light that is being thrown off of the LED in the forward direction is going in all kinds of different directions that are not useful. With this newer reflector design, since the LED is up close to a reflector and pointing straight at it, then almost all of the light that the LED is producing is under directional control by how the reflector was designed. Therefore, almost all the energy can be put exactly where somebody wants it.

In the old days of filaments and short arcs, the light source produced light in almost a 360 degree radial pattern. So the capturing of the light by the old reflector design was actually more effective back then for that particular style bulb. But now with these new LEDs, the radiance angles are completely different and that's why we need this newer type of reflector design.

While a combination of a reflector and a lens can be more effective than just the old parabolic reflector, it's still very complicated because of the radiance patterns. And it's also a lot cheaper to deposit some reflective aluminum onto a piece of plastic and get exactly what you want.

Makes sense, thanks for the explanation.

If you mean bare LEDs themselves, then thats' not strictly true. If there is a lens built into the LED, then yes, but most don't have that.
Most just emit broadly in a wide angle that is defined by the physical construction of the enclosng plastic of the casing around the die, and any phosphor used over the die to translate the emitted wavelength into other wavelenght(s).

Because they are a fairly large-surface-area emission source (larger for more lumens, generally), and that emission is not a beam, a lens or reflector to put that light into a specific illumination pattern ends up a more complicated shape than that for "pointlike" (or "linelike") sources such as incandescent filaments.

And there I was, going of the few led flashlights ect I have, which have all rather small led's. So my who assumption was that 'led represent a smaller point source compared with filaments'.

But yeah that's completely wrong, I'm just not used to high power high quality led's

The standard is to make the bicycle a good citizen on the streets - it doesn't shine in other traffic's eyes:

StVZO bike lights: everything you need to know

The standard is not about riding in other situations such as off-road. It's about traffic.

edit: btw, I always set my current rear light to blink pattern on purpose.. annoying for cars, well perhaps but less annoying then not being noticed. And if a car driver can't handle a blinking light as 'distraction' they shouldn't be licensed to operate a murder weapon imo.

Guess I should be happy I don't live in Germany

*Dutch police I guess has the same guidelines, light should be a solid and not blink, but they sure as hell won't stop you if you have your rear light set to blink. Or run more then one ( one on each seatstay, because I feel one light isn't visible when something is behind me on the other side ), which also isn't allowed according to the rules. I rather break rules and be seen, or I would have to remove my trailer hitch so I can put a bike light in the more expected seatpost position.

 

[Mclewis1]

It's understandable that there are areas where new lighting standards and enforcement are being implemented. There's a significant portion of the population who are affected by strong flashing lights (brightness and specific frequency dependant). In folks with the sensitivity some lights can induce everything from a momentary loss of focus all the way up to a full on seizure. While we usually have embraced the idea that for bike lighting "bigger is better" you really don't want a rear light strong enough to induce this effect in other drivers since even a moments inattention could be a real danger.

That said I've used a flashing red rear light for years, something that gets a driver's attention but isn't dazzling enough at a stop light to be really a problem. Late at night I had a car pull up beside me and the passenger leaned out and said "buddy, that's a really annoying light". To me that was all I needed to know about the effectiveness of the new light I was using.

 

[marvin78]

To me that was all I needed to know about the effectiveness of the new light I was using.

edit: and ofc 'blinking' does not mean a stroboscope inducing epilepsy in people who don't even have it

 

[Steakbroetchen]

I know it's not in your price-range, but if someone is interested in good lights that do not blind everyone else: Lupine and Supernova have great lights.

They are StVZO legal and the high-end models have a high beam, of course this should only be used if there is no one else you might blind.

But if I see some asshats with lights pointing in my face, well good look if I tap the high beams

Those are pictures from my Supernova M99 Mini Pro 25 km/h, shot by me with a Pixel 7A, no night mode, it really looks like that.
Low beam, 450 lm, 5,2 W:


High beam, 1500 lm, 21W:


Since the Bafang light output has only low power, I think 6 W, I installed an additional Mean Well SDM30-48S12 power supply, fed by the battery and providing 30 W 12 V output for the light.

I chose the Monkey Link version, this way I can remove the light if the bike is parking outside, it's mounted to a MonkeyLink AS-ML1-55 stem but there are handlebar mounting options, too.

Supernova M99 Pro 2 is even brighter.

Lupine lights have a more concentrated beam, not as wide as the Supernova, for trails the Supernova is better.

 

[rafalg]

It's really nice to read that cyclists care so much about other users of the road and will go very far to avoid distracting other road users, but it's IMHO going to far. Normal bike ligts, even of the stronger kind, are nothing compared to car headlights. Whenever i ride within car traffic my light is almost non-existent, it makes me visible but nothing beyond that. Basically every car going opposite direction blinds me to some extent, and i'd say half of them have somewhat misaligned ligts or overly bright LEDs. If i ride on the left side of a street, facing oncoming cars, i can see almost nothing. No matter how i set my flashlight - the cars flood everything with their lights and i can't see the path in front of me.
And still, some drivers complain about being blinded by a bicycle. No shit, you really have to strain your eyes to notice that single bicycle light among all the cars on the road but for some people one bike light is one too much. Maybe if there's no other lights around, no cars, just the cyclist in total darknes - maybe then someone could be blinded by that single light. Otherwise i'd say its all BS.

 

[Steakbroetchen]

Basically every car going opposite direction blinds me to some extent, and i'd say half of them have somewhat misaligned ligts or overly bright LEDs.

I have your problem but with other bikes. In my city we have some designated bike paths not directly next to a road, and I experienced exactly this with every second or third bike.
Now with the good light I have, they can blind me only a bit, and I can still see the path.

Of course, many cars do blind me, too. Especially the new laser lights and LED matrix are insane, this crap should be illegal. Combined with the SUV trend and lights being positioned higher, it really sucks.

But what help would it be, if I'm permanently blinding others, too? Then I'm just another one of the asshats. And contributing to other bikers being blinded. This would be a cycle resulting in no one caring about others anymore, only blinding other more and more, because they are blinding more and more, too.

Another benefit of not blinding others is the fact, that you will see more of the path in front of you, if the light is actually concentrated and pointed right. All the light directly reaching other people's eyes is lost and does not help you see the path.
This is exactly what marka-ee has already posted, and there is little argument possible, those are facts.

This is because the parabolic reflector light wastes a lot of the light going into the sky, for example. I do find that the ones with the structured reflector tend to be more honest about the light output numbers, perhaps because the force driving the structured light projection design is because of German or European law that makes these lights not shine into the eyes of oncoming traffic as much. Thereby, as a side effect of this design and making the light go exactly on the street where it should be, it's more effective, so it's a win-win situation.
Usually, any time I hear about some German law or regulation on something, it's a bad thing, but in this case it's a great thing.

 

[amberwolf]

While we usually have embraced the idea that for bike lighting "bigger is better" you really don't want a rear light strong enough to induce this effect in other drivers since even a moments inattention could be a real danger.

In the years of experimenation I've done with lighting on my bikes and trikes of various types (from normal pedal bikes to low-and-long semi-recumbents to "huge" cargo trikes), I've found that "bigger" really is better---when "bigger" literally means larger surface area, not just "brighter".

The smaller the light is, the more concentrated and "brighter" the light must be to do the same job as a larger surface area light, and that does a few things:
--it looks farther away than a bigger one, and can cause someone to react as if they had more time than they really do to deal with a situation
--it is harder to look at (can be painful especially if the rest of the bike and surrounds is darker, causing the eye to be unable to deal with the contrast), and that means someone may look away from it, which can cause them to react as if it were not in their path or not there at all***
--(other stuff I forgot after JellyBean came in to tell me it was playtime)

A bigger surface area can give you the same lighting, and it:
--looks closer, becuase it's bigger
--can trigger the reactions of "car in front of me slow down so I don't hurt my car" rather than "squishable bike in my way kill it kill it now",
----(other stuff I forgot after JellyBean came in to tell me it was playtime)


***these things are parts of how our brains work, and while some of them can be retrained to whatever degree, that's not something typical people do. Some of the stuff is just trained into the brain by driving in traffic (or riding with others, or even riding a bike, etc), and seeing how other vehicle's lights look in various situations.

Anything that "we" can do to avoid triggering the wrong brain reactions (that can kill us) and to cause triggering of the right ones (that help us) are probably better to try.


FWIW, this also applies to headlights and turn signals; the larger surface area they have, the "better". As well as having the light from headlights directed to the road surface you are trying to see, instead of wasted shining on stuff above the road, and/or making it hard for others on and near the road to see, which causes problems for them to avoid hitting the things they now can't see because your headlight was shining in their eyes.

Sure, it's bad that their lights shine in your eyes, but it doesn't help anyone for yours to shine in theirs.

 

[Papa]

Basically every car going opposite direction blinds me to some extent

Not an issue for me in over 50 years of night driving....

 

[NexGen3D]

+1 for the amber lenses, I have worked many a nightshift on oil and gas rigs, and these glasses cut down glare from bright light sauces and improve visibility at night.