Bike Lights

[jack]

I can't figure out how, but I've officially lost my bike lights. Does anyone have any recommendations for buying replacements? Desirable features include:

* Rechargeable and easy to charge
* Bright enough I can cycle carefully along badly lit roads and occasional unlit paths (but not necessarily)
* Safe to leave on bike (this is probably impossible?)
* Not so expensive I'm not constantly terrified they'll be stolen (although that value has gone up a lot in the last decade :))

I realise those may not all be compatible. Any suggestions, or should I just go to a bike shop or a website and buy the top recommended ones?

Or, any suggestions where my previous ones might be hidden? As best I remember, I removed them from my coat before I packed it to go away for a week. But I can't find them anywhere in the house, in any safe drawers, under any furniture, in the shed, or at work. My best two theories are "I forgot them on the bike and they were stolen and I forgot that I did" and "they're somewhere obvious I've been completely oblivious to"

Comments

[pseudomonas]

I had some Cateye ones when I was cycling (AA batteries powering LEDs). They seemed pretty satisfactory.

[naath]

I think that battery lights left-on-bike are liable to get stolen pretty often, being small and easily removed and useful. If you want to leave lights on the bike you could look into dynamo lights which generally bolt onto the frame rather than clip on (which makes "stealing them" much much harder but "removing to recharge them" would also be much harder, supposing they made battery lights that attach that way), you can power them with a dynamo (the hub ones are better but much more costly) or you could use a battery pack (IWINOLJ does this and if asked will probably tell you all about the battery).

[ewx]

I have USB-charged lights, which makes them particularly easy to charge. Several years old now so I expect the state of the art has superseded the particular model.

[mathcathy]

I use USB charged lights too ... well, for the front.

I should have got USB charged for the back too, because the ones I did get, although expensive and bright, keep flicking themselves on when I'm cycling in daylight and they're bumping about in the pannier bag, so when I come to use them they're dead.

[damerell]

If I didn't have a dynamo, I'd always prefer lights with removable rechargeable batteries - low-self-discharge NiMH. An internal battery will fail. (You might ask IWJ about his scary-looking lead-acid arrangement).

For riding in the dark a headtorch is no bad idea. Some of them still run on 3xAAA.