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RAVEMEN FR160 Daytime Visible Bike Headlight for Computer Mount

Now it's getting to the lights on for commuting time, has anyone got one of these? I'm attracted by the idea of keeping the cockpit tidy by being able to fix it under the Garmin, plus I like the none-dazzle design. The publicity makes much of its virtues as a daytime running light (which I like) but not much about its performance at night. If anyone has one they use at night would appreciate hearing about it, thanks! 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
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Just to update this, as it's not yet been reviewed on road.cc (unless I missed it), I have one of these now (a kind gift from someone who's obviously been reading my search history!) and I can thoroughly recommend it. Fits perfectly in the Garmin mount with a reassuringly tight click and the Garmin fits well into the light-top fitting. More than bright enough for urban commuting and in flashing mode makes an excellent daytime running light. The additional side coverage is far more effective than one would imagine from looking at it, looking at my reflection in windows it really does add considerable visibility at 90 degrees. Charges quickly and run times accord with the manufacturer's claims of four hours on highest beam solid. Been used in a ninety-minute deluge without any issues. Really tidies up the cockpit and it's nice not to have to worry about bands breaking or coming loose (used it on a 60km gravel ride without any problem). No negatives at all as yet!

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mark1a | 2 years ago
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I've got one, it arrived day before yesterday. Previously I've been running a Fabric Lumaray v2 and before that a v1 as I like the top & bottom quarter turn mounts. Now the Fabric is discontinued, the Ravemen FR160 looks like a perfect replacement now the Fabric battery is deteriorating.

Rather then fit the light between the head unit and mount, I use Garmin mounts which have either the old Varia style mount underneath, or the dual computer/GoPro mount with a GoPro -> Garmin male adapter. 

Haven't used it yet, will be going with it out later though. On first reflection, it seems decently made, charges quickly on USB-C and remembers which mode it was in last time when you switch it back on. 

I will probably only use it as a daytime running light as it's very dark in these parts (south Dorset) once you leave town, country lanes with no street lighting so tend to use a Garmin UT800 after dark. However it certainly looks bright enough to be seen with, as well as the bright, brighter, brightest solid settings it had two speeds on steady blink, and a sort disruptor mode where it's solid on, with a bright strobe flash. 

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Rendel Harris replied to mark1a | 2 years ago
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Many thanks for that, sounds very promising!

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mark1a replied to mark1a | 2 years ago
2 likes

Just to illustrate the "under mount" mounting:

Using the Varia mount:

 

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mark1a replied to mark1a | 2 years ago
2 likes

And now the GoPro mount with Garmin adapter:

 

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chrisrbailey replied to mark1a | 1 year ago
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Thanks for showing/posting this @mark1a - helped make my decision, and overall this is a great setup. One thing I'll note for folks with this, is that Garmin makes a couple of different "out front" mounts. The one I believe shown here (and my preference) is what they call the "Flush Out-Front Mount" - where the mount arm comes out at sort of the midpoint of the clamp. This puts the computer and your light parallel. They have two other mounts, the "Universal Out-front Mount (Varia)" and the "Extended Out-front Bike Mount). Both of those have the arm at the top of the clamp (meaning your computer/light will be higher in relation to the clamp/your bars). The only difference in those two (that I can tell) is that the Varia has this angled mount on the bottom for the Varia (and I'm not sure there is a bottom mount for the "Extended Out-front Bike mount - can't tell from the single picture that's only from the top). See my writeup on all this and more photos here.

All of this is to say that I'd factor in two things when choosing the mount:

1) Do you want the computer and light to be at the same angle? I think that works probably for a lot of folks where you want the light pointed straight forward, and are ok with your computer being "flat" as well. But, if you want to angle your computer up, then you may want the Universal Out-front Mount (Varia), so that the computer can be angled up, but the light still more forward (or slightly down - I don't think you can change the angle).

2) Do you want the computer higher up, and thus use one of the non-Flush mount, or lower down, which the Flush mount does.

Personally I'm favoring the Flush mount, as I like the computer close to flat, and that works best angle wise with the light (it's possible the Extended would do this, if someone can confirm that it has the underside mount). Anyway, overall, just beware that there are 3 of these (not to mention K-Edge and others make plenty of others too):

Flush mount: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/571684

Universal (Varia): https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/521668

Extended: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/136771

Edited 7-April-2023 to add link to blog and pictures of my setup.

 

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chrisrbailey replied to chrisrbailey | 1 year ago
2 likes

And here's a pic with the Universal Varia mount (note the angle difference).

 

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Chipsu90 replied to mark1a | 1 year ago
1 like

Nice setup. What piece did you use get the undermount? I currently have the Zipp stem mount that has a GoPro attachment. I want to replace that so the light can go there. Don't know what to purchase.

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mark1a replied to Chipsu90 | 1 year ago
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Thanks and yes, the bottom photo is the S-Works Venge stem with the proprietary out-front mount, so similar to your Zipp setup. It has a GoPro mount on the bottom, and then I used a GoPro <-> Garmin male quarter turn mount adapter to take the top of the Ravemen FR160 light (also works with the Fabric Lumaray / Lumaray v2 and the old style original Garmin HL500 headlight). 

The mount adapter came from eBay a couple of years ago, and the original listing is no longer there. However, this looks very similar:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166026486880

Also try searching for "Trigo TRP1936", just make sure you get the correct side of the GoPro mount. 

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Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
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(NB Commute is all on well-lit streets, so I need it for being seen, not for seeing)

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TheBillder replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
2 likes

Review imminent?

https://road.cc/content/tech-news/five-cool-things-coming-soon-296043

(I just thought "I've seen that somewhere before and not that long ago...")

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Rendel Harris replied to TheBillder | 2 years ago
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Ah thanks, must have missed that - shall look forward to seeing the review, on the face of it looks like a good product for a good price.

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