buying a new front light-what lumens?

As high as possible as it’ll have a decent battery. I’d then run it on one of the lower settings. 250 is good for cities where there is street lighting

This one is great and the batttery lasts along time. Halfords Advanced 1600 Lumen Front Bike Light | Halfords IE

just run it on 240

Realistically anything above 50lms with decent patterns will be more than adequate for city riding. The rest is marketing.

You want usb rechargeable, with flexible mounting options, and a decent range. The smaller/neater the better too.

I would say Lezyne will have something for you.

That's what warranties are for.. :)

If the light is too bright then drivers have to look away and then won't be able to see where you are or judge how close you are - which is counter productive. It's like a driver driving in the city with headlights on. I'd say 50 - 100 Lumens...

I ride unlit backroads with 400 lumens. I use 800 if it's a darker, rainy night. I'd say something around 200 should be grand for being seen in the city. Too bright and you'll just be a bright white spot that people can't see behind, they won't see you and won't be able to judge your distance in a wing mirror.

this is far too bright for the city. I prefer oncoming traffic either bikes pedestrians or cars being able to see and not get completely blinded by some disrespectful cyclist having a strobe on and light pointing up in their eyes. That light is also huge and weighs a tonne and is used for downhill mountain biking. And youll spend ages cycling through the options getting to a low setting all the time.

having one on the handle bar, or front fork, one on the helmet and say an arm band is the best way to go and will be the best for bad weather in the wind and rain in winter. They dont have to be too bright 400 is loads.

Did you not read my post?

I said set it to a low setting. The main Advantage is that the battery is scaled for high power so at the lower lumen it’l last about 30 hours.

it’s easy to cycle through the settings. A big accessible button. And very handy if you do exit the city and end up on unlit roads

pre Covid my commute was 1 hr 15 each way. This was guaranteed to last the week. Unlike lights sale with lower lumens.

it’s also not that heavy, and has a much better light pattern

It really doesn’t. The three Cree light give a great pattern bottom two widening to light up the width too one to light up what’s ahead

The Garda campaign to use dipped headlights is targeted at those motorists who do not use any lights. They are not advocating dipped lights instead of full beams.

There's no law about how early to have your lights on, but there's also no reason to not have them on all the time. There are a variety of situations where lights on in daylight is beneficial.

Very strong sunlight and contrasting shade is one such situation, where lights on make a car more noticeable earlier. (Before anyone jumps in about not noticing a ton and a half lump of metal moving on the road, please note the use of the words 'more' and 'earlier' 😉)

There is no legal requirement to have lights on during the day but the Gardai are trying to encourage it (i.e. use dipped headlights) as it has been shown to reduce accidents. The reason that they say 'dipped headlights' is because a significant percentage of motorists seem to think parking lights are adequate.

Regarding the regulations - it's covered in statute instrument 189 of 1963 https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1963/si/189/made/en/print

Lights must be put on 30 mins after sunset.

Every Garda Commissioner will say that the primary function of the Gardai is to preserve life. Enforcing the law is secondary to that.

"There is no law i am aware of that states time to put lights in in the evening... "

'lighting up' hours - legally defined as 'the period commencing one half-hour after sunset on any day and expiring one half-hour before sunrise on the next day'"