All I want to do here is show you the fairly cheap light setup I use. I find these adequate for riding an hour or two into the dark, in the countryside, including unlit paths and roads. They’re not absolutely the cheapest lights you can get – but for this purpose, I would tend to see anything less than this as a false economy. For visibility, I do also put on a reflective cross belt.

At the front:

  • A B&M IQ Eyro on the bike
  • A CatEye Volt 100 on my helmet

and at the rear:

  • A Lezyne Zecto Drive on the saddlebag
  • A B&M Secula (2x AAA-powered) on the mudguard.
A small headlight with a grey and black casing on the front of a bike, with a bit of handlebar bag behind it and a bit of mudguard below
IQ Eyro headlight
A black headlight mounted on a clip on top of a green bike helmet
CatEye helmet lamp
A small rear light seen from behind. A stadium-shaped red reflector occupies the middle; around it is a translucent ring of plastic, which would light up if the light were switched on. There is a tiny black switch with an on/off symbol at the top.
Secula rear light
On a loop of a saddlebag, a light with a square black plastic housing and a round red lens holding 3 LEDs. It is in bright sunlight and seems to be glowing slightly.
Zecto Drive rear light
A bike stands by the wall of a house in dimming evening light, seen from behind. We see two red lights at the back, one low down, one at the top of the saddlebag, and a beam of light from the headlight lighting up the path in front.
Bike with lights

The IQ Eyro is a decent straight-ahead headlight. At 30 Lux it’s not very powerful, but better than anything I had in my youth. USB-chargeable.

The helmet lamp is good because I can point it in directions I’m not riding in, e.g into a tight bend on the bike path or towards the scary rustling in the bushes. USB.

The Zecto Drive is a painfully bright rear light. I tend to ride in places where drivers are not expecting cyclists to be at night, and it’s to get their attention. It has multiple flashing modes of its 3 LEDs and also charges via USB. It needs a horizontal loop of something to hook onto, so it goes well on the Carradice.

The Secula is an excellent little basic/backup rear light, non flashing, and I think its optics are very good: it really makes itself visible over a wide angle and seems to be very noticeable from the side.

Each of these lights is available in the €30–40 price range. The longest I’ve used them for is probably a bit over 2 hours after dark. The front lights do limit my pace to about 20 km/h in some situations (dark with an uncertain road surface). Sometimes I use 2-way bike paths on the left side of the road, meaning I have oncoming traffic on my side. These headlights are not powerful enough to make that situation comfortable.

But I can get by with them, pending a proper dynamo-based setup, which would be a different price league altogether.