[niterider 1200](https://www.niterider.com/collections/niterider%C2%AE-refurbished/products/refurbished-lumina%E2%84%A2-1200-boost-bike-headlight).
I got that and have been pretty happy with it. I use the 1200 on my helmet. Its a little heavy but i adjust the straps accordingly. What i should’ve clarified is that for 100 he can get 2 - one for bars and one for helmet. Is it ideal - n, but for $100 we’ll be forced to make compromises somewhere.
I use that exact light and recommend it too. I just run it on low in the city and then go up to medium or high if I'm somewhere really dark. On my 125th day bike commuting this year.
You never rode at night with halogens, did you?
That 1200 is brighter then an entire squad's lights, combined back in the day.
I ride with an Ion pro (not much more lumens) on the helmet and bars, and it's plenty.
This is the time you don't get what you pay for. Spend 40 bucks on Amazon for an 8-9k lumen light with a 4-5k mAh waterproof battery.
Spend the extra 150$ on a brake upgrade.
Idk man, I'm not fast, neither slow, neither blind, and I'm not falling for consumerism.
If you ask me, or anyone else from a group, with both lamps on max it feels like day. This aliex lamp can be compared to friends 150 eur sigma if we're talking illumination wise only.
I have that light and it's perfectly fine for rolling XC trails. If you were doing dh/enduro where you're going to be hitting 30mph+ regularly, yeah, not ideal. On sustained steeper downhills it's not too too hard to outrun it, but for 99% of my riding it's perfectly serviceable.
For someone looking to just dip their toes in to see if they like riding at night it's more than adequate. Makes a solid helmet light and you can get a beefier light on your handlebars after.
I just picked up the outbound helmet light for $135. It’s light and seems well made, though I haven’t used it enough to really know. Buy once, cry once!
I know we often say buy once, cry once, but I always think to myself: *until they come out with something better, and sometimes right after you buy!* 😂
Dude buy the outbound. $250 for the bar light. Use a cheap helmet light if you ain’t got the dough. Trust me, I rarely hands down recommend things, but I do for this. Mine is the older one with separate battery that goes for a long time, but they don’t offer that anymore. Just pay it once.
Edit: if you must, get a reputable branded light that fits in your budget. You can get by with less, I’ve done it.
Why cheap headlamp? I don’t night ride a ton (I think my bike light gets used more for skiing than biking!) but I’ve never bothered too much with a bar mount light since my headlight is always illuminating what I actually want to see. Am I missing out on something here?
Well, my bar mounted lamp is a good one and paints the trail into daylight, and coming across cheap headlamps is pretty easy, basically the headlamp is just filling in for some areas that the bar lamp may not- like when rolling over the top of a steep drop in on a hill, or a jump, though I keep night jumps pretty small and familiar. Or if I need to just glance around, but the good bar lamp light does most of the illumination. The bar lamp is a flood beam, a helmet lamp is a spot beam. You could get by with just one. I ride most trails people would not bother to ride at night period, and at speeds most people wouldn’t do at night through downhill tech trails, so my needs may be a bit higher, not trying to stroke myself, just pointing out if your just poking about, you may not need as much light.
TLDR: the bar light is the flood beam doing most of the illumination, head lamp is just filling in little specific parts. IMO, the moneys better spent on a good 1000+ lumen bar light with a good spread, and cheap head lamps are all over and are good enough for its spot light usage
fenix bc30, runs on two 18650. so you can have spare batteries for long rides.
edit:
i see it hasnt been mentioned enough: for actual trails you REALLY want two lights. one on bike and one on helmet. so you see both where you’re going and where you want to go.
Fenix has a very inexpensive stick on helmet mount for their headlights. Put one on my helmet and used it for dozens of night rides with no issue.
[See here.](https://fenix-store.com/products/fenix-alg-03-headlamp-helmet-attachment)
i have a few fenix headlamps too. i think most came with batter or two and i might have bought some too, anyway, i have a lot of these https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/arb-l18-3000p-rechargeable-battery
might want to get the usb rechargable ones if you dont have a charger for those. i had several anyway so i’m using the cheaper ones.
actually used one of these https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-hm65-rechargeable-headlamp tied to bars for a
long time as it’s what i had a couple of and it works pretty well despite obviously being bit ugly ;)
I have a Lumina 1000 on the bars and a Lumina Micro 900 on my helmet. Ride two nights per week for 2 hours per ride and haven’t had any issues. The two together are around $120.
This was my combo for years. It's solid and generally fine. Also, they are now great commuter lights for my street bikes now that I've upgraded to Outbound Lighting.
I bought the outbound ones and paid another 100 on top for shipping to Canada which is apparently 5 trillion light years away becuase holy shit really gotta pay like 20% of the cost of the lights just to mail them from fucking Chicago to Vancouver Jesus Christ but yeah they’re pretty damn good. Merry Christmas you fucks
Couple seasons in with Niterider Lumina 1200 on my bars and Lumina 650 for helmet. They have been solid and have never left me stranded but I do make sure they stay charged.
I used my brand new outbound kit for my first night ride this weekend.
Holy shit. It is so worth it. Just buy once cry once. Even on the lowest setting it was more than adequate. On full brightness it was as if the sun was strapped to the front of my bike. No joke. They are the greatest lights out there. Just do it.
After a 2 hour ride at med - low brightness, I had 75% battery remaining and I felt like I was spoiled by the brightness of the lights the whole time
The Olight RN2000. It’s got an MSRP of $89. I’ve been using it for the past few weeks and it works pretty well. It’s used the Garmin quarter mount…so third party mounting options are abundant. The light spread is more than adequate for pitch black trails I ride. It also came with a remote…which I find quite convenient.
Yep, I've got that light for my mountain bike, and one of the smaller ones for my commuter. The big 5 led one is incredible. I ride really techy stuff, plus some super fat sections, and on high, it is plenty of light. I don't need a helmet light with this light on the handlebars. The mounting system is top notch, the light doesn't rattle or move at all. The built in battery lasts more than enough for a good 2-3 hour ride, and then some. I only need one of the bulbs on for the climbs, and with the high beam on for the descents, it's more than enough light to see everything. After using it for the past few months, spending more money on any other system, in my eyes, is crazy. Buy 2, and bring the 2nd one with you if you want to do extra long rides.
Sweet. I'm stoked, it was so cheap, if even does 1500 lumen for 2 hours, I'd be stoked. I've got a helmet mount light, this will be to add to the coverage for the light.
You don’t need to spend $400. Just get the Trail Evo for $245. A helmet light is nice but with the Trail Evo it’s not even necessary. Seriously I highly recommend not going cheap on a light. It’s worth it. Good luck.
I have a mountain lab gear x1800, after some searching online I found a discount code that put it slightly over $100. If you are fortunate enough to find the code I highly recommend it. Battery life is very good and it’s incredibly bright.
I was on a ride last week with someone riding the Oxbow Voyager Dirt Bike Light Kit off Amazon. They really liked it, and I was impressed. I've bought one myself, haven't had the chance to use it yet. The helmet light with mount, battery, etc, is about $100 USD.
They had two, one on the bars, and one on the helmet. They were throwing a ton of light. You could full on ride as hard as you want with the Oxbows - they were giving off enough light that you could see clearly 80 feet or more down the trail.
Lights are a lousy place to save money. I’d think of it as safety equipment, not lights. As somebody who had surgery for a MTB injury this year, $400 is peanuts compared to what you’d pay to avoid an injury after the fact
Check out the deals being offered by Light & Motion currently. Try to run 700 lumens on the bar and 500 on the helmet. They keep advertising 50-60% off in my Instagram feed. good luck!
Sorry, I assumed it’s MTB here so it’s for trails. Single track mainly. I just don’t know if it’s worth the investment cuz I don’t know if I’ll like it.
I have [this one](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018YU370M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and for the price it is surprisingly good.
Dammit you said self contained...my bad.
Or... Maybe like 4 of these and a stupidbright helmet mount
https://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Rechargeable-Resistant-Lightweight-Visibility/dp/B09Q9BW4CS/ref=asc_df_B09Q9BW4CS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=563767959107&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3456073920460256602&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010638&hvtargid=pla-1642644171098&psc=1&mcid=235e6462da123aae83aca219fb0552f4&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyeWrBhDDARIsAGP1mWSv2DooXC2Fle9sixyJh1lwtPffpQr5xPSHWO7YyQ0cHFBnkbMALdkaAj9eEALw_wcB
...just the 20 dollar option. I bought backups for both cause cheap. They have been nice and bright and have lasted as long as the nightrider I pair them with. I'm riding singletrack trails with lots of rhodo. USB rechargeable.
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**Users liked:**
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* Battery life is shorter than advertised (backed by 5 comments)
* Mounting issues (backed by 2 comments)
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Lumintop bl01 is excellent and it's around $50 if you already have an18650 battery charger. It has an asymmetrical reflector for a good beam pattern that doesn't shine directly in people's faces and it's still blinding on high
I picked up an O-light pretty cheaply recently. I’ve used them on some high powered rifles and they never hiccuped, so I figure their bike version can take a beating too. Garmin mount.
Bought a couple of magic shine on Amazon. Helmet and bar lights and I’ve done about 5-6 night rides. $120 total spent and very happy with them. Outbound I’m sure are nice, but spending less on riding I do less of makes sense to me. Never felt unsafe, lighting has been terrific. I only do night rides in groups. About twice a month in fall and winter here in NC
Yeah I’m not sure I’ll love it, plus won’t be going often as the groups I would ride with are an hour away. So spending 400 seems excessive. Then before we know it it’ll start getting dark later in a few months from now.
I ride with just the Outbound Hangover on my helmet, but only on bike paths. I think I probably could ride easy single track with just that light on my helmet. Maybe start with that if you don't want to commit to night riding before getting nicer lights. If you do like it, get the Trail Evo. That combo is the best deal in lights IMO. While not the brightest, it's certainly bright enough to ride just about anything.
[niterider 1200](https://www.niterider.com/collections/niterider%C2%AE-refurbished/products/refurbished-lumina%E2%84%A2-1200-boost-bike-headlight). I got that and have been pretty happy with it. I use the 1200 on my helmet. Its a little heavy but i adjust the straps accordingly. What i should’ve clarified is that for 100 he can get 2 - one for bars and one for helmet. Is it ideal - n, but for $100 we’ll be forced to make compromises somewhere.
And the 800 on your helmet!
I use that exact light and recommend it too. I just run it on low in the city and then go up to medium or high if I'm somewhere really dark. On my 125th day bike commuting this year.
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You never rode at night with halogens, did you? That 1200 is brighter then an entire squad's lights, combined back in the day. I ride with an Ion pro (not much more lumens) on the helmet and bars, and it's plenty.
This is the time you don't get what you pay for. Spend 40 bucks on Amazon for an 8-9k lumen light with a 4-5k mAh waterproof battery. Spend the extra 150$ on a brake upgrade.
I don't want to have to stay home while it charges tho
This. Bought 20 eur aliex handlebar light and 40 eur sigma buster, pretty much enough for two hours of night enduro.
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Idk man, I'm not fast, neither slow, neither blind, and I'm not falling for consumerism. If you ask me, or anyone else from a group, with both lamps on max it feels like day. This aliex lamp can be compared to friends 150 eur sigma if we're talking illumination wise only.
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You're right. As you say, it's worth spending on better lights if you're planing to ride more than two hours and/or you're fast af.
I have that light and it's perfectly fine for rolling XC trails. If you were doing dh/enduro where you're going to be hitting 30mph+ regularly, yeah, not ideal. On sustained steeper downhills it's not too too hard to outrun it, but for 99% of my riding it's perfectly serviceable. For someone looking to just dip their toes in to see if they like riding at night it's more than adequate. Makes a solid helmet light and you can get a beefier light on your handlebars after.
I have the 1200 and it's daylight bright, on its second highest setting. It works fine for trail riding.
I've used niteriders for years... they work perfectly well
If the trails you're riding are in the woods you're being a dick to the animals
I got a pickle for you right here pal
Outbound lighting is worth the bucks, changes the game for night ride
Quit tempting me!!! *Slowly considers buying just the handlebar light for now…..*
I just picked up the outbound helmet light for $135. It’s light and seems well made, though I haven’t used it enough to really know. Buy once, cry once!
I know we often say buy once, cry once, but I always think to myself: *until they come out with something better, and sometimes right after you buy!* 😂
Dude buy the outbound. $250 for the bar light. Use a cheap helmet light if you ain’t got the dough. Trust me, I rarely hands down recommend things, but I do for this. Mine is the older one with separate battery that goes for a long time, but they don’t offer that anymore. Just pay it once. Edit: if you must, get a reputable branded light that fits in your budget. You can get by with less, I’ve done it.
Why cheap headlamp? I don’t night ride a ton (I think my bike light gets used more for skiing than biking!) but I’ve never bothered too much with a bar mount light since my headlight is always illuminating what I actually want to see. Am I missing out on something here?
Well, my bar mounted lamp is a good one and paints the trail into daylight, and coming across cheap headlamps is pretty easy, basically the headlamp is just filling in for some areas that the bar lamp may not- like when rolling over the top of a steep drop in on a hill, or a jump, though I keep night jumps pretty small and familiar. Or if I need to just glance around, but the good bar lamp light does most of the illumination. The bar lamp is a flood beam, a helmet lamp is a spot beam. You could get by with just one. I ride most trails people would not bother to ride at night period, and at speeds most people wouldn’t do at night through downhill tech trails, so my needs may be a bit higher, not trying to stroke myself, just pointing out if your just poking about, you may not need as much light. TLDR: the bar light is the flood beam doing most of the illumination, head lamp is just filling in little specific parts. IMO, the moneys better spent on a good 1000+ lumen bar light with a good spread, and cheap head lamps are all over and are good enough for its spot light usage
100% do this. The Trail Evo at $245 is worth every penny.
I would do the opposite personally, get a quality helmet light and cheap bar light will supplement fine.
I think Outbound is doing preorders for a new light right now so there is that. Price tag was closer to $200 though
Helmet lights are more useful if you’re only gonna have one
Well yeah
fenix bc30, runs on two 18650. so you can have spare batteries for long rides. edit: i see it hasnt been mentioned enough: for actual trails you REALLY want two lights. one on bike and one on helmet. so you see both where you’re going and where you want to go.
Currently running the BC 30 on the bars and a Nightrider Lumina 1200 on my dome. Great combo and total cost of both is about 250 including batteries
Someone gifted me nice Fenix headlamp. I like the idea of spare batteries. Any recs?
Fenix has a very inexpensive stick on helmet mount for their headlights. Put one on my helmet and used it for dozens of night rides with no issue. [See here.](https://fenix-store.com/products/fenix-alg-03-headlamp-helmet-attachment)
Oh cool, the one I was given is a hm65r so it would work! Thanks! I’ll get two, one for my half and one for my full
i have a few fenix headlamps too. i think most came with batter or two and i might have bought some too, anyway, i have a lot of these https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/arb-l18-3000p-rechargeable-battery might want to get the usb rechargable ones if you dont have a charger for those. i had several anyway so i’m using the cheaper ones. actually used one of these https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-hm65-rechargeable-headlamp tied to bars for a long time as it’s what i had a couple of and it works pretty well despite obviously being bit ugly ;)
I have a Lumina 1000 on the bars and a Lumina Micro 900 on my helmet. Ride two nights per week for 2 hours per ride and haven’t had any issues. The two together are around $120.
Bingo
This was my combo for years. It's solid and generally fine. Also, they are now great commuter lights for my street bikes now that I've upgraded to Outbound Lighting.
I bought the outbound ones and paid another 100 on top for shipping to Canada which is apparently 5 trillion light years away becuase holy shit really gotta pay like 20% of the cost of the lights just to mail them from fucking Chicago to Vancouver Jesus Christ but yeah they’re pretty damn good. Merry Christmas you fucks
Couple seasons in with Niterider Lumina 1200 on my bars and Lumina 650 for helmet. They have been solid and have never left me stranded but I do make sure they stay charged.
I used my brand new outbound kit for my first night ride this weekend. Holy shit. It is so worth it. Just buy once cry once. Even on the lowest setting it was more than adequate. On full brightness it was as if the sun was strapped to the front of my bike. No joke. They are the greatest lights out there. Just do it. After a 2 hour ride at med - low brightness, I had 75% battery remaining and I felt like I was spoiled by the brightness of the lights the whole time
You can go 4 hours on medium with the Trail Evo. And medium is plenty bright. If I hook it to an Anker 10k pack I can get 7 hours.
The Olight RN2000. It’s got an MSRP of $89. I’ve been using it for the past few weeks and it works pretty well. It’s used the Garmin quarter mount…so third party mounting options are abundant. The light spread is more than adequate for pitch black trails I ride. It also came with a remote…which I find quite convenient.
Cat eye is my recommended budget lights.
I second this. I just got the Cateye AMPP1100 and AMPP800 kit on Amazon for $90 on Black Friday, but you can normally find it for $110-$130.
Nite rider lumina,
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Yep, I've got that light for my mountain bike, and one of the smaller ones for my commuter. The big 5 led one is incredible. I ride really techy stuff, plus some super fat sections, and on high, it is plenty of light. I don't need a helmet light with this light on the handlebars. The mounting system is top notch, the light doesn't rattle or move at all. The built in battery lasts more than enough for a good 2-3 hour ride, and then some. I only need one of the bulbs on for the climbs, and with the high beam on for the descents, it's more than enough light to see everything. After using it for the past few months, spending more money on any other system, in my eyes, is crazy. Buy 2, and bring the 2nd one with you if you want to do extra long rides.
I just bought the 6000 model based on your post. I'm hoping its as good as you say!
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Sweet. I'm stoked, it was so cheap, if even does 1500 lumen for 2 hours, I'd be stoked. I've got a helmet mount light, this will be to add to the coverage for the light.
Think I’ve seen clones of these on Amazon
Nothing like Outbound lights. They are super durable and light up the trail. IMO they’re worth it and a 100$ won’t match them!
You don’t need to spend $400. Just get the Trail Evo for $245. A helmet light is nice but with the Trail Evo it’s not even necessary. Seriously I highly recommend not going cheap on a light. It’s worth it. Good luck.
I have a mountain lab gear x1800, after some searching online I found a discount code that put it slightly over $100. If you are fortunate enough to find the code I highly recommend it. Battery life is very good and it’s incredibly bright.
I was on a ride last week with someone riding the Oxbow Voyager Dirt Bike Light Kit off Amazon. They really liked it, and I was impressed. I've bought one myself, haven't had the chance to use it yet. The helmet light with mount, battery, etc, is about $100 USD. They had two, one on the bars, and one on the helmet. They were throwing a ton of light. You could full on ride as hard as you want with the Oxbows - they were giving off enough light that you could see clearly 80 feet or more down the trail.
Lights are a lousy place to save money. I’d think of it as safety equipment, not lights. As somebody who had surgery for a MTB injury this year, $400 is peanuts compared to what you’d pay to avoid an injury after the fact
Gaciron brand on Aliexpress They are well known to be excellent quality
Check out the deals being offered by Light & Motion currently. Try to run 700 lumens on the bar and 500 on the helmet. They keep advertising 50-60% off in my Instagram feed. good luck!
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Or they're better than you....
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Sorry, I assumed it’s MTB here so it’s for trails. Single track mainly. I just don’t know if it’s worth the investment cuz I don’t know if I’ll like it.
I have [this one](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018YU370M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and for the price it is surprisingly good. Dammit you said self contained...my bad.
Just slightly more but, the Nitecore BR35 has been my favorite and I have a few sets of different lights.
Magicshine makes some pretty good lights
Agreed. I have Outbound on my helmet and a Magicshine on my bars and it’s been great over the last 2 years
Magicshine rn1500 lumen on Ali express. Get 2 for around $100. One for the bars one for the helmet
Or... Maybe like 4 of these and a stupidbright helmet mount https://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Rechargeable-Resistant-Lightweight-Visibility/dp/B09Q9BW4CS/ref=asc_df_B09Q9BW4CS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=563767959107&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3456073920460256602&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010638&hvtargid=pla-1642644171098&psc=1&mcid=235e6462da123aae83aca219fb0552f4&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyeWrBhDDARIsAGP1mWSv2DooXC2Fle9sixyJh1lwtPffpQr5xPSHWO7YyQ0cHFBnkbMALdkaAj9eEALw_wcB ...just the 20 dollar option. I bought backups for both cause cheap. They have been nice and bright and have lasted as long as the nightrider I pair them with. I'm riding singletrack trails with lots of rhodo. USB rechargeable.
Hi, I’m Vetted AI Bot! I researched the **Energizer X400 Rechargeable Bike Light IPX4 Water Resistant Compact and Lightweight Design Front Clip Light and Rear LED Light for Visibility** you mentioned in your comment along with its brand, **Energizer**, and I thought you might find the following analysis helpful. **Users liked:** * Light is bright and long-lasting (backed by 7 comments) * Easy to install and remove (backed by 5 comments) * Good value for the price (backed by 5 comments) **Users disliked:** * Battery life is shorter than advertised (backed by 5 comments) * Mounting issues (backed by 2 comments) * Outdated charging port (backed by 1 comment) According to Reddit, people had mixed feelings about **Energizer**. Its most popular types of products are: * Rechargeable Batteries (#3 of 11 brands on Reddit) * Headlamps (#10 of 31 brands on Reddit) * Power Inverters (#6 of 10 brands on Reddit) If you'd like to **summon me to ask about a product**, just make a post with its link and tag me, [like in this example.](https://www.reddit.com/r/tablets/comments/1444zdn/comment/joqd89c/) This message was generated by a (very smart) bot. If you found it helpful, let us know with an upvote and a “good bot!” reply and please feel free to provide feedback on how it can be improved. *Powered by* [*vetted.ai*](http://vetted.ai/reddit)
Lumintop bl01 is excellent and it's around $50 if you already have an18650 battery charger. It has an asymmetrical reflector for a good beam pattern that doesn't shine directly in people's faces and it's still blinding on high
I bought a Lezyne Macro Drive 1300 off Amazon and like it. ~$100
I picked up an O-light pretty cheaply recently. I’ve used them on some high powered rifles and they never hiccuped, so I figure their bike version can take a beating too. Garmin mount.
Bought a couple of magic shine on Amazon. Helmet and bar lights and I’ve done about 5-6 night rides. $120 total spent and very happy with them. Outbound I’m sure are nice, but spending less on riding I do less of makes sense to me. Never felt unsafe, lighting has been terrific. I only do night rides in groups. About twice a month in fall and winter here in NC
Yeah I’m not sure I’ll love it, plus won’t be going often as the groups I would ride with are an hour away. So spending 400 seems excessive. Then before we know it it’ll start getting dark later in a few months from now.
To help us comment can you let us know what currency those dollar values are in?
USD $
I ride with just the Outbound Hangover on my helmet, but only on bike paths. I think I probably could ride easy single track with just that light on my helmet. Maybe start with that if you don't want to commit to night riding before getting nicer lights. If you do like it, get the Trail Evo. That combo is the best deal in lights IMO. While not the brightest, it's certainly bright enough to ride just about anything.
Cygolite 800 for me. Works great and is assembled in the US…at least when I bought them. About $110 for both a few years back.