Discussion: Ay Up Lights

http://www.ayup-lights.com/systems/lighting-system...

Just curious what light system people would recommend for some 24 hour AR's and MTB races.

They have the four "kits" listed so trying to narrow it down.

TIA!

I have used the V4 Adventure kit for two years with no issues. Low power is sufficient and will get you through most events. You may need some extra batteries for the Canadian winter night events...

The golden rule: Affordable, reliable, good... pick two.

I'm most impressed with the Light's and Motion Stella series. Good enough light, reasonable price and tough as all get out. You can probably get through a 24 AR with only one battery too, not likely for a 24 hr MTB race though.

Two years ago we were doing a ton of races and our whole team needed new lights. We were broke. Despite many cautionary tales we went to Deal Extreme and got the Magic Shines. $80 for the light, $30 ea for extra batteries, sub-$5 for extension cords and head harnesses. All three of us have had extraordinary luck with the lights. 10/10, would buy again! (Read up though, they have had some bad reviews. Apparently older models had trouble with overheating batteries and there were even recalls.)

I have heard lots of great things about ayups but have never tried them. I do not recommend the magicshines, as there have been lots of bad reviews BUT... we have been using them for 3 years and have never had any issues. There were battery recalls that ended up crippling geomangear, but again, we have had no issues either.

+1 for the Ay-Ups. Not as bright as the Light in Motion options but much lighter batteries with longer burn time.

The ay-ups are well made, but are a bit like a single speed bike. They have primitive drivers, with only 1 or 2 brightness settings, and no real Low. In AR we often need less light for much longer periods, sort of a granny gear.

Being a fiddler, I like to program 5 levels on my AR lights so I have a huge range of light and burn times. At minimum I'd like to see 3 levels, with a low that lets you trek and transition, a medium for AR biking and a high that's good for singletrack racing.

I posted a link to some lights on my log that I think are better than Ay-ups for AR.

They have multiple setting for higher power or longer burn than Ay-ups.

http://forums.mtbr.com/9442825-post4.html
This one is a work of art.

http://amoebalight.blogspot.ca/
The L-flex versions are awesome.

FWIW, Magicshine has some new reworked models that are a lot better than their original turkeys, but not enough brightness settings for efficient battery use.

Don't get me wrong, the Ay-ups are good, especially if you want a simple system that works like a headlamp.

The Magicshines we have are high, medium and strobe. The medium has burned for well over six hours for me WITH intermittent 'high' use.

I'm still cautious with it as Simpy mentioned, tons of bad reviews. I'm hoping that 'Bent has it that the newer ones are solid. Note: the recall issue with the batteries is a closed issue. None of the problematic models are in the market.

One way or another, my theory was that it was well worth the risk to even get a single season out of them. Three and counting...

Still, if money weren't an issue I'd have Lights & Motion Seccas all over me and I'd call myself the riding apocalypse.

This new Magicshine has 5 brightness levels, and should kick out a ton of light.
No longer cheap though.
http://magicshine.com/product_view.asp?id=103

Should have better batteries, but I can't vouch for the quality first hand.

Dollars per lumens that still a pretty good deal. I'll let some other folks try it out before I do though, that is a big jump from the one they seem to have dialled in now.

Hey 'Bent, Bash was telling me you are probably worse than me with making your own lights! I was doing some tinkering over the winter as well and made 4 lights using Lux-RC's 333 modules, actually somehow managed to fry one of the boards :(. Scary the advances they are making in those boards, makes me want to swap them all out and start over again!

DD11- One other thing to consider is what your teammates/friends have. I'm the only one on my team without A-yups so if my battery fails, I can't beg one off another teammate. Similarly, if I am heading off for a long race and estimate needing 40 hours of light and only have 26 hours it might be hard to borrow additional batteries for mine while A-yups are commonplace in Ontario AR. This mainly applies to multiday/xpd (i.e. "real AR ;)") races but an important consideration if you do think that might be something you'll eventually do.

While my lights are better (brighter, more efficient) that may not always be the best way to go...

Harps, did you get the AA battery set-up that's available for our lights? If not, I'd be happy to lend it for Scotland - or my rechargeables, for that matter.

I do have it - thanks though!

I did manage to pull apart my connectors at Eq Traverse though.

Wha? We forgot a checkpoint on the bike near here? Tecnu B is coming in, gotta go, lighten the "weight" on my helmet - pull off you damn.... riiiiiiiiippp! Effff!

Send 'em over and I'm sure I can fix it up, Harps.

Osteo, I made some lights with L333s and L334s, but mostly use L-flex and XM-Ls for the last 10 or so. The L33Xs are hard to solder, they're so tiny.

Not hard to set up and waterproof a battery with Ay-up capacity for $30, so I often have a bagful at the transition, and an AA option. There's a lot to be said for a standardized battery.

The lights we set up for Bash, Harps, FB, Hammer and Tarno were MiniBlaasts.

http://www.xcleds.com/nightlightning1.html

And Urthbuoy. Never forget Urthbuoy.

These NL lights are big by today's standards, but still strong, durable and waterproof.

Harps does make a good point that it's not only about the light. Ay-ups also have very good complete kits of attachments for helmet, headband and bars, and their connectors and switches are simple and solid. Having interchangeable batteries within the team is also very handy.

The NL lights needed some fiddling on the headband mounts and batteries.

I have always been bothered by the price of extra batteries. This year I've tried a new approach. I have been using Zebra Light LED lights. I've been sticking to lights that run a 18650 rechargeable battery. The batteries can be had for about $10 each.

The one I used on my helmet was the SC600. It has numerous setting. The high setting runs for 2 hours at 500 lumens. It has a decent mix of spot and flood. I used a TwoFish holder to mount it to my helmet with no issues.

For trekking I use the H600. The only thing that sucks about their headlamps is the headband. I bought a different headband (don't remember the company) that works perfectly. The headlamp has numerous setting that work perfectly for trekking. The runtimes are 2.3hrs for 420 lumens, 7 hours for 170 lumens, and 18 hours for 65 lumens.

Boths lights use 18650 batteries so I'm not carrying different types of batteries for different lights. And both lights cost under $100 and are high quality.

If Magicshines are of interest, there are now other distributors of a similar/interchangeable product and price range. Check out the simple/less expensive models at mklites.com

We're using Lupine Bettys. Crazy bright, really nicely built, easy to use. Not cheap but I'm glad I splurged for them. Ordered them from Gretna Bikes in the U.S.
We'll be running them this weekend at 24 Hours, and the one light on the helmet is plenty (I only got one, to save weight, cost, and not need twice as many batteries). Used it to ride technical single track in Moab at night... First time on the trail and first time with the lights... No issues. Used it to ride down a BC hill/mountain that had no trail and waist-high grass at RTNX. Again no issues.

The battery packs I make up are just using 18650 lithiums cells and a protection circuit. 2 of these cells have the same capacity as the big Ay-up Li-po hardcase battery. I also have bigger packs with 4 cells. The tricky part is that many companies use different connectors.

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone. Gonna have to take some time and review the different options to figure out what's best for me considering all the different factors!

Exposure Lights for me every time. Reliable, bright, versatile and no wires. Piggyback batteries are also good for longer rides. I have a Joystick (worn on helmet) and a Maxx-D or Enduro on the handlebars. I tend to use them on the low setting for the majority of the time because this is bright enough most of the time. On a low setting they last forever.

Another good entry into the AR light arena- Glowwormlites from NZ.
http://www.glowormlites.co.nz/products?product_id=...

Multiple programs, massive output when needed or super-long burn time when lower is ok. One of the programs is specific for adventure racing.

Double downon, care to share what light you ended up selecting?

I can answer that as double_downon11 and I order the same systems to save shipping costs. We ended up going with the Ay Up V4 Kit. So far it is an excellent system with good battery life. Also the twin light system for both the handle bar and head mounts is handy as you can point the light towards 2 (or 4 if you have both on) different targets (i.e. for running I have one pointing 3 feet in front and one pointing more into the distance).

Thanks for chiming in Escondido. Yes, we purchased the Ay-Ups (V4's) before Wilderness Traverse last year and they are great! We ordered them on a Friday and I believe they arrived on Monday afternoon (from Australia). Easy to mount, easy to use and extremely reliable. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for lights for bikes/trekking (especially for longer races).

my 2 cents is for LnM seca 700 (few yrs old) and ay-ups. my LM has worked well for me over the past 4 yrs. great lighting and batt life is as advertised. generally for 80 % of the time I use the low setting and is way more than I need to trek and look at maps. only time I use high is for control finding and technical or fast descending. one batt can easily cover me for 24 hr event but I always have a back up plan.
my teammate (kpoire) uses an ay-up light setup for several yrs and seems to absolutely love it. its also bombproof and batts are lighter. batt duration is awesome and the flexibilty of switching back and forth between helmet and headstrap is super quick. both are solid setups. with maybe an edge going to ay-up.