I need to upgrade my light(s). A couple riders I ride with use outbound lights and they seem great. While the cost seems reasonable compared to some other systems I've seen, I'm thinking there has to be comparable and less expensive options from China/Ali-Ex. Looking to see what lights people are using for actual singletrack riding. Handlebar mount only? Bar and helmet combo? How accurate are lumin claims? Battery life?
Helmet AND Bar light 100%.
Here is a link to all my lights I or my buddies have; https://imgur.com/a/cheap-lights-that-work-81mEKUh (I set up this Imgur post to answer this super common question in reddit since they hate AliEx links. Its got all the photos, links and my thoughts on the products in one place)
I use the light bar at the top of the link and the helmet light at the bottom of the post. (But the company who sold the helmet light is out of business and I don't know where you can find them anymore) My night group rides are usually around 90 minutes and i have never had a light die mid-ride.
My light bar is sold as a 5200lumen, but that's a lie. Its really like a 3-4000 lumen light. The helmet light is sold as 4000 lumen and matches the light bar almost perfectly. I have to be doing some very very fast downhill biased riding to even approach outrunning my light setup. I ride with a big night group ride every week and several have the high dollar Outbound or MagicShine lights.... my setup is 97% as good for 10% of the price. After last season nearly a dozen people in the group ride have grabbed the light bar I have to use.
One of my buddies grabbed one of these recently; https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807611944300.html ; But, I haven't seen it in action to know how good it is compared to my lights.
I keep the second and third light on the imgur post as spares in my truck to loan to people who show up with really low power lights. The 6000Lumen light bar isn't as crisp as the one i usually use, but plenty bright, and the 1800 lumen helmet light is kind of heavy, but easy to use because no wires and it is plenty bright for spirited night rides.