Recommendations for bike lights

[Septbaby]

Hi there

Hoping someone can give me some recommendations for bike lights for mountain biking at night. DH has said he would like to try a local mountain biking group when they do weekly night rides, but has to have lights and up until now we haven't had any spare cash to get some. I've had a little extra from work and would like to treat him to some. I'm looking at under £50 really and they need to be bright and stable enough for bumpy conditions.

TIA

DH is constantly banging on about Lezyne lights. He often rides at night after work. Although he apparently "needs" the heinously expensive ones with various controls, read outs and huge battery life. I didn't realise Lezyne made reasonably priced lights till I looked them up for you!

He also needs one for handlebars and one helmet mounted (for going fast in forests).

Sept - at this time of year you can get away with out lights (unless he is thinking of bikepacking or 24hr races), although take a head torch incase he gets benighted. It will also give your dh time to make some mates who will more than likely have a spare set he can borrow to see if he likes in the dark riding. I know really experienced riders who hate it....

My bike hounds are currently using USE Exposure ones which are great because they have a really long battery life and and are light (weight & lumins), but aren't in the 50 bracket.

Look over on the Singletrack or Bearbones forums- there is loads of great advice on all things MTB. Just don't ask about tyre choices.

If you search ebay for 'Cree xml xm-l t6 led' they come from Hong Kong usually and they're knockoff versions of magicshine lights. One of the guys we go out with has them and the battery isn't as good as magicshine but you can buy spares and take them with you. You can get ones that have different light settings so you can use them getting home on the roads too without blinding drivers.

The seller my friend got them from isn't going anymore but there's a lot of sellers who do them.

Cree lights from eBay are under £20 and superbly bright for the money. The rubber attachments can slip so you might need to bodge them a bit but they are excellent value. However, do not charge them unsupervised or overnight as the charger units are poor quality and I have heard several tales of them going on fire. Also take care re the connection port and consider taping it together because if it works loose at high speed in the dark that's not good

Oh, forgot to mention the cost, they're cheap, about £15 on average. You do get what you pay for to a certain extent but they're pretty good for that price.

Amazing thanks so much everyone! Unescorted it seems to be a condition of riding with the group even in the lighter months that you must have lights present, but I'll check with them :)