# The Best Mountain Bike Lights for Night Riding



## azrunner27 (Sep 30, 2014)

Interesting to not see Outbound Lighting in this list. Should be included in the list as they won multiple high praises from other high profile reviewers/publishers


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## dankendall6 (Aug 27, 2020)

Was hoping to see Outbound Lighting on here. I have tried Niterider and cheap amazon lights, but Outbound Lighting Trail and Hangover lights take the cake by a long shot! If you just need one light, then the Trail handlebar light is the best


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## Patrick_Richardson (Oct 14, 2020)

Same with Moon Cycle lights. I'm using a Moon Meteor Storm Pro, boost mode of 2000 lumens, non boost max lumens is 1700. Only cost me £72!


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## Bruno_Duque (Oct 14, 2020)

Nice lights but look at the prices... Pay 200 bucks for use 10/15 nights at year its too much. Next make a review for 30/40/50 bucks lights


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## Zayphod (Nov 11, 2018)

You can't talk about mtb lights and not mention Outbound Lightning.


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## David_Lloyd (Oct 14, 2020)

There is no mention of my FLUXIENT off road bike light. 4 modes, flashing, two dipped and one crazy, can't be used on ordinary roads as it blinds on coming traffic, LED. The battery will last 6 hours on low or flashing mode and 2 hours on main power setting. Price was £110. Very difficult to find a stockist who sells this bad boy now.


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## Zayphod (Nov 11, 2018)

You can't talk about about MTB lights and not mention Outbound Lightning.


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## TimTucker (Nov 9, 2011)

Sounds crazy, but I do night rides with a Ryobi P721 work light - if you use some gear ties it hangs securely over the bars using the hook designed to hang it from 2x lumber.

Beam is a super wide / bright 2400 lumens via a 20W LED chip. I can guarantee that it's going to be brighter than the inflated ratings on most imported lights. A 4ah battery keeps it going at full brightness for hours and it's easy to toss a spare (or two) in a bag to swap out.

Retail for the light without battries is $80, but refurbs run around $40 and Home Depot runs deals every few months where you can get a light and 2 batteries for $100.

A big benefit is that it's not a single purpose buy -- they come in handy for work around the house too. They use a hybrid design so that you can also plug them in if you're near a power outlet.

Only real downside is that it's about 5 lbs with a 4ah battery and not 100% guaranteed to be waterproof.


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## Brandon_Marshall (Oct 16, 2020)

FYI all,

I have 2 Niterider Lumina dual 1800's. One on the bars and one on my helmet. It absolutely does have a helmet mount option.


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## stanleyng (Mar 31, 2008)

Outbound lighting is not listed cos at <800 lumens (if i remember correctly) its not worth the money! All you need is for another rider to come up behind you with brighter lights and you will start seeing shadows instead of the trail! If you want to compare a similar light, the Specialized Flux 1250 beats Outbound hands down with lumens and runtime.


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## yourrealdad (May 17, 2012)

Huh? No Exposure? Then not a list of the best bike lights, because they are the best. If you are using a battery pack then you are doing it all wrong if we are talking the best.


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## edbenton (Nov 4, 2019)

You guys only hit the very run of the mill, or top end options. Magicshine has some lights in their lineup, like the MJ-906, that blow most of these other similar lights youblist out of the water. Don't call this a "BEST LIGHTS" list. It's more of a "Mainstream" or "we were paid to share these" lights list.


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## GrandRoyal369 (Aug 18, 2008)

Ah hello????? Outbound Lighting? In terms of build quality, warranty, performance and competitive pricing? And built in the USA????


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## Troy_Warnken (Nov 25, 2020)

I just picked up a M6 lucifer light and could not be happier with it. Build quality is second to none. Great comfort on the helmet or with the headstrap. Intuitive button for changing the intensity of the light. It took a month to get it from the day I ordered it until it got to my house. That is from Czech Rep to Ohio.


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## Mike97 (Dec 13, 2020)

Totally didn't mention outbound Lighting.
My trail evo is Amazing.
Didn't mention the baviaan extreme light

Didn't mention the best light for under 140 which is the NovSight light which is only 40 bucks on amazon...


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## inu (Dec 12, 2020)

It's just pointless to look for "the best" stuff before having to work out a definition for betterness. Convenience, lumens and appearance is one thing, but some customers prefers to have best illumination per amp. From that point, a good lamp is always a big lamp. A small lamp with 20-30mm lenses is inferior because its efficiency is compromised for the sake of convenience. With current LED technology, such small lamps are all less efficient. Aperture size, etendue, etc. Every optical engineer can tell more about that.


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## patski (Dec 12, 2005)

NY Creek Bridge illuminated by new Gloworm XSV/X2 combo


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## Fat-Tire (Feb 10, 2016)

Your omission of OutBound Lighting is inexcusable! They should be on everyone's short list!


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## biking_tg (Dec 27, 2018)

Fat-Tire said:


> Your omission of OutBound Lighting is inexcusable! They should be on everyone's short list!


I guess here is the answer why:


cxjordancx said:


> Mtbr is committed to finding, researching, and recommending the best products. We earn commissions from purchases you make using the retail links in our product reviews.


Outbound writes on his homepage:


> _Wondering why you can't find reviews on a lot of major biking sites?_
> The explanation is rather simple. We don't sell our lights on Amazon/eBay or through wholesalers so that means that websites or videos that create "best of" or "top ten" lists often will refuse to even mention our brand because they cannot generate an affiliate link to earn a commission off of recommending the "best" light.


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## Outbound (Aug 23, 2017)

Yep, you are correct.

It's an unfortunate side effect of the modern internet. It isn't just biking stuff, literally any product if you search "best" of the first 10-20 pages of a search result will be dominated by top 10 lists, "reviews" with affiliate links (check the URL, if it isn't a clean direct link to the companies product page, then guarantee it's an affiliate link). Or even fake top ten list sites that claim to be "expert reviewers" of a certan product, such as mattresses, refridgerators, washers, etc but really they are just owned by the company that's being reviewed as number one.

Getting really hard to find unbiased reviews these day. Pinkbike is one of the ones that does do unbiased and real testing. When they made us the Best Overall Light of 2019 it was a total shock to me because they had never reached out, never asked for free product, they just went ahead and purchased a light like a normal customer and I was none the wiser. 

We recently gave a discounted product to a reviewer thinking they were legit, they instead ranked us near the bottom of a list, made up problems claiming our customer service wasn't the best (got that corrected because I asked directly what went wrong and they claimed it was an editing mistake), and not too surprisingly the top ranked lights were direct affiliate links to an amazon page, and ours was the only one without an affiliate link. Why drive traffic to a site that isn't going to generate you money? 

It seems nowadays the best way to find an unbiased review of something is to search what you are looking for, and add things like +reddit or +forums to find where real people are talking about their real experiences. Thankfully we have the best customers who really do speak up and speak out, which is why we strive to make a great product, we know it'll sell itself in an era where it's impossible to sell a crap product unless you put huge amounts of money behind deceptive advertising, and in the end it never works out.


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## ToddM (Feb 3, 2004)

I have to applaud Outbound on their site, providing actual output/runtime graphs on their lights, and providing an adaptive mode and a real high mode and being up front about it. I remember back when regulation first started coming into products for LED's and it was wonderful, you could get 90% of the stated output over the full battery runtime in every mode. Prior to that we all hated that when you used a light it was dimming from 2 minutes after you started it and the last 50% of the battery output was pathetic. 

Unfortunately, somewhere along the line companies started using regulation to inflate lumen #'s to silly levels where you only got a few minutes of runtime. The FL1 standard, while created with good intentions, was the death of useable high beam ratings in lights since it let them quote runtime to 10% of brightness. A 1000 lumen bike light isn't very useable at 100 lumens, yet they get to quote their runtime to that level, it's the same crap that non-regulated lights did in the past. Marketing won out though, and consumers are stupid on average, just like for years and years all consumers cared about was how many megapixels cameras had. We see this in flashlights now, a company claims a 3000 lumen flashlight, but it's only 3000 lumens for 2 minutes till it steps down to 300 lumens, but they get to claim hours of runtime at that "lumen" rating. 

An example of the games FL1 allows companies to play:
They can claim a 3000 lumen light has 5 hours of runtime as long as when it starts after 30 seconds the max lumen output is taken, after that point they can step it down to 300 lumens for 4hr 59min, yet they get to call it a "3000 lumen" light with "5 hours" runtime. When what it really is is a 2 minute light at 3000 lumens, and a 300 lumen light for just shy of 5 hours.

Many companies have used the FL1 standard and regulation to turn expensive LED lights into what we basically had in the 80's with no regulation and alkaline batteries, lights that only perform at their listed max output for a few minutes, all for the purpose of being able to put misleading runtime/lumens #'s on their specs. So kudos to Outbound for not playing the game!


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## askjasonbowen (Apr 27, 2014)

I have the Magicshine ALLTY 2000 and been using it now for about 3 months.
Very impressed with the battery run time. I can two evening rides in a week and still have a bit of power remaining.
On full power mode, the light is plenty bright.


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## TylerVernon (Nov 10, 2019)

I like my Nitecore HC65 headlamp because it's great for biking at night but it's also just a headlamp which can be used for many things, not some bike specific piece of gear.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 1996)

Updating this article to add the latest from Outbound, Gloworm and others. Any other notable lights?


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## EchoTony (Nov 18, 2020)

Why did this out of date ad pop up in my email? 

There are newer and better lights out there.


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## hshapiro (Aug 28, 2007)

stanleyng said:


> Outbound lighting is not listed cos at <800 lumens (if i remember correctly) its not worth the money! All you need is for another rider to come up behind you with brighter lights and you will start seeing shadows instead of the trail! If you want to compare a similar light, the Specialized Flux 1250 beats Outbound hands down with lumens and runtime.


Might want to look at their Evo model.


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## thetoque (Mar 6, 2008)

lights


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## mtnbikerva1 (Feb 4, 2008)

The problem is trying to figure out beam quality, pattern, battery quality and heat soak.
How soon does it take before the system goes into a dim setting or shutdown, due to heat??
How much heat exchange, heat sinks, size of the unit(larger can handle heat better).
Does the all in one units like Niterider Lumina, Outbound lighting, Exposure light, etc always have shorter run times due to heat. And how much less?
I also get the impression the charging needs to be usb-c or proprietary to charge the light quickly. The micro usb, etc does not charge fast and is the connection more fragile, due to being so small?


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## EchoTony (Nov 18, 2020)

stanleyng said:


> Outbound lighting is not listed cos at <800 lumens (if i remember correctly) its not worth the money! All you need is for another rider to come up behind you with brighter lights and you will start seeing shadows instead of the trail! If you want to compare a similar light, the Specialized Flux 1250 beats Outbound hands down with lumens and runtime.


Total lumens has nothing to do with how the light performs. Most of the high powered cheap lights overheat and drop down to a lower power to compensate. The throw (beam) isn't designed to provide an even light pattern but instead blast as many lumens out of the LEDs as possible. You get what you pay for and as you spend more, the better the heat is addressed along with actual beam patterns and cutoffs that improve the quality of the light vs. just being really bright. Being all in one has engineering issues that have engineering solutions. How well they are designed and the materials used in production will dictate if they perform well or not. But there's a cost for quality.


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## barelfly (Jun 27, 2008)

My buddies have MagicShine lights. I have the Outbound Lighting Evo Downhill package and these are sweet lights! I’ve done a handful of rides already with them and they light up the path well! It’s great to be able to see the trail and not have harsh shadows, knowing where the bumps and undulations are coming up. I felt very comfortable riding and being able to see what was coming up. as for time before charge, the chart OL has on their site, it is very accurate. I think I got 4-5 rides using various light output settings before I needed to charge (started rides in daylight and ended in dark).

I’ll also comment on the customer service from OL - Tom himself - has been amazing. Quick responses to my questions, helping me get the right helmet mount for my setup And a few other questions I’ve had. And I know he’s swamped right now with the few MTB festivals he’s been at.

The last part - I really like that these lights are internal battery powered. Love just mounting the lights and going. Not having to worry about the battery pack as well. If you are really going to ride at night, you can’t go wrong with this Outbound Lighting setup.


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## mtnbikerva1 (Feb 4, 2008)

What lights are NOT made in China?
Thank yo.


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## mtnbkrmike (Mar 26, 2015)

I’m still trying to get my head around “ the best”. 

The best for what? Best bang for the buck? Best, regardless of cost? Best for me? Best for you? Best in the bitter cold? Best in desert heat? Best in twisty treed terrain? Best in open flat terrain?

Best to optimize views for this info ad masquerading as a post?


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## BadgerOne (Jul 17, 2015)

mtnbikerva1 said:


> What lights are NOT made in China?
> Thank yo.


Depends on what you mean by 'made in'. There are lights whose assembly and possibly housing/lens/reflector are made outside of China, but I believe it is literally impossible to build any electronic component assembly without sourcing some things from China.


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## hardmtnbiker (Feb 22, 2005)

dankendall6 said:


> Was hoping to see Outbound Lighting on here. I have tried Niterider and cheap amazon lights, but Outbound Lighting Trail and Hangover lights take the cake by a long shot! If you just need one light, then the Trail handlebar light is the best


I have really nice lights 2200 handlebar with separate battery and 850 helmet with batter. My friend has the Outbound Lighting DH combo. His combo is lighter, last longer and about the same brightness and his combo cost less than my 2200 bar light.
If I didn’t already have a really solid set up, I’d get Outbound Lighting DH combo. 2 other guys that ride with us just ordered


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## patski (Dec 12, 2005)

Gloworm X2/XS Combo.


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## CHROMAG19 (Mar 12, 2014)

These prices are a joke.


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## Thoreau (Jun 15, 2017)

azrunner27 said:


> Interesting to not see Outbound Lighting in this list. Should be included in the list as they won multiple high praises from other high profile reviewers/publishers


not interesting at all. Outbound doesnt sell on amazon or any other retailer (save for the occasional LBS stocking them.) No way to publish a referral link and get a cut of the sales.


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## Hollis (Dec 19, 2003)

best lights ever Truck Nuts


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## kapusta (Jan 17, 2004)

Sorry, but any list without the Outbound Trail EVO on the Top 5 short list is not worth reading. This is the best bar light (as part of a bar/helmet combo) for single-track riding I have ever seen. These guys NAILED it!


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## SVO (May 25, 2005)

*"Update: 9-14-21:*
We are updating this list to add the best new lights available today. Outbound Lighting, latest Gloworm, new lights from Lezyne and Light and Motion are the candidates."

REALLY? How come they are still not present then??? What a joke.


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## mtnbikerva1 (Feb 4, 2008)

I wonder if Lupine is out of business? I called 2 numbers that previously always worked in the USA, no answer or call back. Maybe just the USA sales is dead?


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## robj20 (Apr 24, 2011)

I use one of these on my bars. Had it for years still as good as the day i got it.

Holy Moses with Green LED's – Four4th


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## kasperilio (Oct 27, 2006)

cxjordancx said:


> *The Best Mountain Bike Lights for Night Riding*
> ​For most riders, we hit the trails during the daylight hours, but what if you work during the day? Better yet, what about the winter? We'll you'd be surprised, but some riders prefer to ride in the twilight hours. Its cooler, peaceful, and riding at night can turn your local trails into a full new riding experience. You will need the right gear and what may work for a jaunt to work may not be the right lights to hit the woods. We've compiled a list of the best and brightest lights that are available. These mountain bike lights range from the super tech to affordable push-and-play models, so don't think that riding at night is out of your price range or your tech ability.
> 
> 
> ...


Please delete this article and start over. How lazy can you be? These lights are completely obsolete.


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## kapusta (Jan 17, 2004)

The ommission of Outbound Trail Evo says all you need to know about the uselessness of this review.

Edit: seems this is an older review. Not sure when the Trail Evo came out.


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## Fat-Tire (Feb 10, 2016)

Outbound is #1... Hands Down!


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## baymoe (Jul 23, 2011)

Wish there were more reviews out there for Outbound lights. I'd be interested in a set of their DH combo. Sounds intriguing.


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## kapusta (Jan 17, 2004)

baymoe said:


> Wish there were more reviews out there for Outbound lights. I'd be interested in a set of their DH combo. Sounds intriguing.


Plenty of reviews on this site.

What makes the Trail Evo so good IMO is the beam pattern. All the lumens in the world don’t help if the lighting is not evenly spread, as hot spots just make the rest harder to see. These folks got it right with this light. You get a wide blanket of light that does a very good job of lighting short and mid distances EVENLY, even off to the sides a bit so you don’t have tunnel vision.

The other thing they get right is the quality of the light. I am not sure if it is the temperature (seems on the warmer side) or some other quality, but it’s easier to differentiate colors with this light than other lights I’ve used.

Long of the short is that I’ve tried light setups with more lumens, but this actually lets me SEE better.

Pair this with a more focused head lamp for distance and you are golden. Hangover seems good, but others will also do fine.


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## hardmtnbiker (Feb 22, 2005)

robj20 said:


> I use one of these on my bars. Had it for years still as good as the day i got it.
> 
> Holy Moses with Green LED's – Four4th


Looks really nicely designed! , take a look at my YouTube and let me know if you want me to test it on my NiteRides


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## robj20 (Apr 24, 2011)

hardmtnbiker said:


> Looks really nicely designed! , take a look at my YouTube and let me know if you want me to test it on my NiteRides


Well they're so far the best I've come across after trying so many cheaper alternatives.
Going to be adding their OMG as a helmet light at some point as well.


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## BarryR (6 mo ago)

kapusta said:


> Plenty of reviews on this site.
> 
> What makes the Trail Evo so good IMO is the beam pattern. All the lumens in the world don’t help if the lighting is not evenly spread, as hot spots just make the rest harder to see. These folks got it right with this light. You get a wide blanket of light that does a very good job of lighting short and mid distances EVENLY, even off to the sides a bit so you don’t have tunnel vision.
> 
> ...


Yup. Love my Outbound Lighting Downhill Package. I haven't had other top tier lights to compare but from what I've read, these should be VERY high up on anyone's list


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## biking_tg (Dec 27, 2018)

mtnbikerva1 said:


> wonder if Lupine is out of business? I called 2 numbers that previously always worked in the USA, no answer or call back. Maybe just the USA sales is dead?


For sure not out of business. Here is the most recent contact data:





Contact - Lupine Lighting Systems







www.lupinenorthamerica.com


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## BarryR (6 mo ago)

baymoe said:


> Wish there were more reviews out there for Outbound lights. I'd be interested in a set of their DH combo. Sounds intriguing.


As you might note from my post above, I've become quite the fanboy.
Although there are very few "official" reviews, look at the reviews on their website.
For the DH set: 481 5-star reviews out of 496 (of the remaining 15, 8 are 4-stars).
It also looks like 3/3 of the 1-star reviews are in error as they are all raves!
I had to add this: the guy who wrote the 2-star review actually says, he wants something from the company to write a review so he'll start at 2-stars and rate them better if they give him something for it! Wow- what an A-hole!
They also have great customer service. If you ask a question, you'll get a response from one of the two owners, usually within a few hours.


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## barelfly (Jun 27, 2008)

baymoe said:


> Wish there were more reviews out there for Outbound lights. I'd be interested in a set of their DH combo. Sounds intriguing.


I don’t have any experience with other lights…that said. I won’t need any other lights. This DH combo is a perfect set up. I bought my wife the DH set up as well, she’s a new MTB rider and feels comfortable with the light each provides, which i think is saying something. Most new riders without the proper light would probably freak out. 

And as BarryR says, the customer service has been wonderful! I haven’t needed it for the lights, but more the mounts for my helmet. They answer emails almost immediately and work to make sure they set you up.

you won’t regret the purchase.


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## kapusta (Jan 17, 2004)

baymoe said:


> Wish there were more reviews out there for Outbound lights. I'd be interested in a set of their DH combo. Sounds intriguing.











Outbound Lighting --- TRAIL EVO --- Discussion


TRAIL EVO When we developed the Trail Edition back in 2017 we set out to use the same principles from car headlights and bring them to bikes. Focusing not on big lumen levels but rather a high quality beam pattern that is optimized for twisty singletrack. Over 4,000 customers and...




www.mtbr.com


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## prj71 (Dec 29, 2014)

Kapusta,

Thanks for the review on the Outbound lights. I was just exposed to them on a friends bike last week. They were really nice.

I'm currently using this one which works pretty good, in conjuction with a cateye volt on the helmet.









Fenix BC30 V2.0 Bike Light


The Fenix BC30 V2.0 bike light has been fully upgraded and improved. This bike light emits an impressive 2200 lumen max and five lighting modes.




www.fenixlighting.com





Having a difficult time justifying spending what Outbound is asking for a light though. 😲😲


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## prj71 (Dec 29, 2014)

Yeah. That's my problem. $245 for a flashlight mounted to the handlebar is a bit expensive for what it is.


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## dysfunction (Aug 15, 2009)

So don't buy them. 

Problem solved.


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## BarryR (6 mo ago)

prj71 said:


> Yeah. That's my problem. $245 for a flashlight mounted to the handlebar is a bit expensive for what it is.


It's not "a flashlight mounted to a handlebar" if it was $20 would suffice.
IMHO, if you're going to ride a MTB at night on anything at all challenging, you need fairly good lights.
It'll cost you no matter what the solution.

I started with Nite rider 1100 Lumen for the bars and 850 for my helmet. It was OK for easy stuff but I never loved it and always felt like it was far inferior to riding in the day.
With the Outbounds, it was a different experience and I could almost ride like it was daytime even on more challenging terrain.

If you want good lights, ride at night & can afford it then you've justified it. Costs less than a trip the the Emergency Department.

PS: It's really more like $365 as the set is great.
PPS: Last year they had 10% (or was it 15%?) off around Black Friday.


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## prj71 (Dec 29, 2014)

BarryR said:


> It's not "a flashlight mounted to a handlebar" if it was $20 would suffice.
> IMHO, if you're going to ride a MTB at night on anything at all challenging, you need fairly good lights.
> It'll cost you no matter what the solution.
> 
> ...


I've been riding at night for quite a while and zero crashes. First with an ItuoWiz20 that I accidentally broke and now a Fenix BC30. I've been using a cateye volt 300 light on the helmet.

No doubt the Outbound is nice. But compared to all the other available bike lights out there it's $100 to $150 more than some of the other ones. Mentally I have a hard time spending that much on a light. Is it really $150 better? More than likely the higher price is because it's coming out of Chicago and not China.


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## wayold (Nov 25, 2017)

prj71 said:


> No doubt the Outbound is nice. But compared to all the other available bike lights out there it's $100 to $150 more than some of the other ones. Mentally I have a hard time spending that much on a light. Is it really $150 better? More than likely the higher price is because it's coming out of Chicago and not China.


I'm not an Outbound fanboy. Several other brands beat them by a wide margin in lumens/dollar and in maximum output available - both factors that matter to me. That said, I respect what they're doing in emphasizing beam profile. That kind of design takes lots of engineering time and that time costs money, which is reflected in the price they charge. So while the value proposition of Outbound's lights doesn't work for me I don't think they are necessarily overcharging for their products. They're simply offering a high end niche product that won't appeal to all of us.


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## kapusta (Jan 17, 2004)

Is seeing better worth $150? Thats up to you. Its a no brainer for me. But it may not be for others. But to not include it in a “best of” roundup is inexcusable.

Lumens are basically irrelevant at this point. There are a gazziluon cheap light setups that will put out north of 2200 lumens.

Its where you put those lumens and the quality of the light that differentiates good lights from crap.

My last two light setups put out at least as many lumens as the Outbound Trail Evo. Yet I see what I need to better with this one.


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## prj71 (Dec 29, 2014)

wayold said:


> I'm not an Outbound fanboy. Several other brands beat them by a wide margin in lumens/dollar and in maximum output available - both factors that matter to me. That said, I respect what they're doing in emphasizing beam profile. That kind of design takes lots of engineering time and that time costs money, which is reflected in the price they charge. So while the value proposition of Outbound's lights doesn't work for me I don't think they are necessarily overcharging for their products. They're simply offering a high end niche product that won't appeal to all of us.


I get that. And with that said, what lights are you using? I prefer self contained units. Not battery packs with wires. Over time, the wires eventually fail and the lights no longer work.


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## prj71 (Dec 29, 2014)

kapusta said:


> Is seeing better worth $150? Thats up to you. Its a no brainer for me. But it may not be for others. But to not include it in a “best of” roundup is inexcusable.
> 
> Lumens are basically irrelevant at this point. There are a gazziluon cheap light setups that will put out north of 2200 lumens.
> 
> ...


I appreciate the feedback only because I am considering buying an Outbound. But having trouble with sticker shock.


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## kapusta (Jan 17, 2004)

prj71 said:


> I appreciate the feedback only because I am considering buying an Outbound. But having trouble with sticker shock.


I think sticker shock is a healthy reaction to make one assess if an expenditure is truly worth it. Just because something is better does not mean we should spend a bunch of money to have it. Sometimes good enough is good enough.


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## wayold (Nov 25, 2017)

prj71 said:


> I get that. And with that said, what lights are you using? I prefer self contained units. Not battery packs with wires. Over time, the wires eventually fail and the lights no longer work.


If you want high output, self-contained (and reasonable operating time) your options are limited. Battery availability and LED efficiency are pretty much the same for all manufacturers - which means output x runtime will be similar for most self-contained lights of a given size. The highest output self-contained bike lights I know of are based on a pair of 21700 cells giving about 10,000 mAh capacity - and in turn something around 2-3 hours burn time and 2000-3000 lumen output. Both the Outbound Trail Evo and the Magicshine RN3000 fall into this category. There are some monster flashlights that put out more than this, but AFAIK none really suited for bike use.

In any case between the Trail Evo and the RN3000 I actually think the Evo is the somewhat better bar light (even though I own the RN3000 and not the Evo). The bar mounting system on the Evo is quite solid while that of the RN3000 is a bit shaky for rough trail conditions (I use mine on my road bike). Also, the RN3000 puts out a fairly concentrated spot - so much so that in full darkness I only use it at half power. While again I don't own the Evo, I believe its more uniform beam distribution allows for more comfortable use at full power. I don't necessarily buy Outbound's obsession with beam profile over output in all cases, but with the Evo they provide both reasonably high output and a clean beam in a nice package. The downside: you can buy an RN3000 every day for $70-80 from Asian distributors (I got mine for $50) while even during the annual sale the Evo still costs over $200. The Trail Evo has to be a whole lot better to justify 3-4x the cost. It certainly is for some folks (judging by the ardent defense of Outbound these threads always seem to generate) but it isn't really to me.

Personally I just bite the bullet and go with external battery lights for MTB. Sure I'd prefer the convenience of self-contained, but external battery lights give you lots of options, lots of output and better weight distribution (at least for my applications).


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## BarryR (6 mo ago)

If you base it on lumens / dollar, Outbound loses every time and cheapo Amazon lights would win.
The beam pattern is really important though. If you have a very bright spot in the middle that you're looking at then the area beyond the beam edges becomes very hard to see as your eyes accommodate to the bright spot resulting in tunnel vision that is typical of many setups (I think). When I went from my Nite Rider combo to Outbound DH, it was a totally different experience. It's very natural and comfortable. My attitude changed from "I'll ride at night if I have no other choice" to "this is fun and visibility / confidence is almost as good as daytime.

I never had a different $350 set to compare with but based on everything I read, Outbound will compare very well.
Don't focus on the lumens (kinda like how horsepower doesn't tell you everything about how a car handles!).

They do have a 30 day money back guarantee & they'll even pay the return shipping.


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## cmonkEP (Nov 12, 2006)

Two year old initial post with sentences like this:



> Runs 20 hrs at 100 lumens in Walk mode 6 hrs.


No mention of Glowworm (good small lights that are not too expensive) the MJ906, nor any discussion of which light mounts are suitable for 35mm bars. C’mon, you can do better than that.

I miss the old light shootouts 😔


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## FatboyFarleyFuse1977 (Jan 29, 2020)

I have two Niterider 1800s, and they sure as hell do have a helmet mount! The standard Lumina helmet light mount. I run one on the bar, one on the helmet.


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## BarryR (6 mo ago)

FYI: As expected - Outbound has a sale now (I think they only do one sale annually for Black Friday).
The Downhill Package is $40 off.


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## biking_tg (Dec 27, 2018)

prj71 said:


> More than likely the higher price is because it's coming out of Chicago and not China.


Nope, the price is justified by the beam engineering (Software costs ways above 10 grand USD) and time needed to develop a proper beam pattern)


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## mtnbkrmike (Mar 26, 2015)

$532 CDN for the Eco DH Package (a self contained bar light and helmet light). And that’s Black Friday pricing 😳

I’m rocking an 11-6, 3 We Are One wheelsets and plenty of other goodies, but yikes. These are self contained lights, presumably with a reduced run time relative to wired, separate cell lights.

Think I will stick with my separate cell Gemini bar and helmet lights, which were significantly less expensive and plenty good enough for me. They saw 5 weeks in a row of nightly use each night last winter and were stellar (except that I did get one battery replaced on warranty because I was apparently a little rough disconnecting it and broke the wire).

I applaud the Made in USA thing and the incredible engineering, but not sure whether these may be over-engineered for me, and I am a year round night rider.


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## dysfunction (Aug 15, 2009)

You can run em on external batteries as well, as they support pass through charging.


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## prj71 (Dec 29, 2014)

The "stick-on" helmet mount of the OB lights leaves a lot to be desired. The helmet mount should be a strap so it can me moved from helmet to helmet. Like this...









CatEye Helmet Mount


CatEye Helmet Mount. CatEye has a full range of battery or rechargeable headlights, safety lights, cycling computers, small parts. Buy direct at cateye-america.com




www.cateyeamerica.com


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## kapusta (Jan 17, 2004)

The stick on mounts cost $5. You can easily just buy another one for a different helmet.

I like the idea of it because it is super low profile, so there is no issue just leaving it in the helmet, and then the light snaps in easily.

But I guess you have to be committed to the light since the stick on is hard to get off from what I hear.


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## prj71 (Dec 29, 2014)

That's just it. New helmet = have to buy a new mount.

My friend just bought the OB light system. He's thinking the stick on isn't going to hold up this winter with the cold weather and if the light happens to catch an overhead branch which happens often it may not stay stuck either.


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## dysfunction (Aug 15, 2009)

I have helmets that have no holes you can use those straps on. Can't please everyone.. Or possibly, anyone.


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## prj71 (Dec 29, 2014)

All helmet lights I have seen come with a strap. OB is the only one I have seen that is stick on.


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## dysfunction (Aug 15, 2009)

It's also the only one I've had stay put, but as I said...


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## kapusta (Jan 17, 2004)

prj71 said:


> That's just it. New helmet = have to buy a new mount.
> 
> My friend just bought the OB light system. He's thinking the stick on isn't going to hold up this winter with the cold weather and if the light happens to catch an overhead branch which happens often it may not stay stuck either.


Again.... $5. Non-ssue, IMO. 

What your friend thinks might happen is pretty meaningless. This light has a ton of feedback on this site, and the mount coming off does not seem to be an issue. If anything the opposite seems to be more likely to be an issue (not being able to remove it without breaking something). I know two guys with these that ran them a lot last winter. No problems.

I am not trying to hard sell anyone on the Hangover. The lower run time compared to the Trail Evo (which I would be pairing it with) is problematic to me, and the beam pattern is not the game changer like it is on the Trail Evo.


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## damiendada (Mar 3, 2021)

It's the perfect light but look at the price, it's very expensive.


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## Picard (Apr 5, 2005)

All high quality lights cost money.

Cheap lights will be crappy

What do you want to use as bike light? 

Sent from my SM-S908W using Tapatalk


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## kapusta (Jan 17, 2004)

Here is an interview with one of Outbound's owners. The discussion around production was interesting ( in particular, designing and manufacturing domestically vs overseas), but his explanations of how our eyes work at night and how we perceive things and how that goes into the design is especially enlightening of you have not considered these things before.



https://thegravelride.bike/matt-conte-outbound-lighting


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## prj71 (Dec 29, 2014)

TLDR.

As I mentioned earlier being manufactured domestically is probably one of the reasons for the high price. Having a hard time justifying it, so just going to stick with my Fenix BC30 for now. It's been working great for 3 years now and if I'm on a ride longer than the batteries will last I can swap batteries during my ride.


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## kapusta (Jan 17, 2004)

prj71 said:


> TLDR.
> 
> As I mentioned earlier being manufactured domestically is probably one of the reasons for the high price.


Perhaps a small reason, but not really. And the product would not be the same, so it is hard to compare. If you care to understand why, listen to the podcast.


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## wayold (Nov 25, 2017)

The podcast is interesting, even for non-Outbound-fanboys. It goes into some detail about how founder/designer Matt Conte really hates the beam profiles provided by simple parabolic reflectors (he calls every light of this type "just a flashlight"). If you don't share his disdain for these beam profiles then Outbound lights are probably not for you.


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## BarryR (6 mo ago)

wayold said:


> The podcast is interesting, even for non-Outbound-fanboys. It goes into some detail about how founder/designer Matt Conte really hates the beam profiles provided by simple parabolic reflectors (he calls every light of this type "just a flashlight"). If you don't share his disdain for these beam profiles then Outbound lights are probably not for you.


As we know from my posts, I'm a fanboy but:
It's not about disdaining beam profiles just because (I think). It's the fact that a sharp cut off far from the edges of your visual field mean that it's very hard to see in the periphery because your eyes adapt to the bright center.

I never owned a different $350 light kit but compared to my Nite Rider 1150 Lumen on handlebars & 850 on helmet, this is a totally different experience. The tunnel vision feeling is gone. The first time I rode with my Outbound Lighting was an Aha moment.

Someone who's used other highish end lights could comment on a comparison.


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## wayold (Nov 25, 2017)

An interesting point was that he also strongly favored small area LED emitters over the larger, higher output ones used by other manufacturers. He's certainly correct that it's easier to precisely direct the beam from a small emitter (one reason why the better 'throwers' usually use smaller emitters). However, the very imprecision of the larger emitters tends to broaden the beam, smear the light around and reduce the harsh beam edges he seeks to avoid. Use several of these larger emitters (as many bike light manufacturers do) and the beam is smoothed out even more. Whether that is 'enough' beam uniformity is a matter of individual preference.

I don't own an Outbound Evo, but I'd also like to see a head to head comparison between it and some modern multi-emitter competitors.


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## prj71 (Dec 29, 2014)

BarryR said:


> As we know from my posts, I'm a fanboy but:
> It's not about disdaining beam profiles just because (I think). It's the fact that a sharp cut off far from the edges of your visual field mean that it's very hard to see in the periphery because your eyes adapt to the bright center.
> 
> I never owned a different $350 light kit but compared to my Nite Rider 1150 Lumen on handlebars & 850 on helmet, this is a totally different experience. The tunnel vision feeling is gone. The first time I rode with my Outbound Lighting was an Aha moment.
> ...


That's the nice thing about my fenix light. It's not like a flashlight. It projects light to the front and sides of the trail. Coupled with the CatEye Volt on the helmet and I'm getting pretty good vision on the trail. 

My interest in Outboind came about from a friend I rode with that had one. Then I saw the price...

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk


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## angerdan (Sep 18, 2017)

BarryR said:


> It's the fact that a sharp cut off far from the edges of your visual field mean that it's very hard to see in the periphery because your eyes adapt to the bright center.
> 
> Someone who's used other highish end lights could comment on a comparison.


Depends on the alignment and effective reach of the cut-off beam headlight.
The Supernova M99 Pure gives a good reach withoud influencing your eye adaption, if you align it for a range of 50m/165feet.

Maybe this thread can give some insights.








Supernova M99 MiniPro-25 Review


I purchased a Supernova M99 MiniPro-25 in June of 2018. I am not affiliated with the manufacturer. I had to purchase separately all mounting hardware and power plugs as it was sold to me as a light head only. The manufacturer supplied 1 meter long integrated light head power wire is a measly 22...




www.mtbr.com


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