By way of a handy supplement to our existing buyer's guide articles discussing battery and lamp technology, here's a quick and dirty rundown of what sort of lights you can expect to lay your hands on for what sort of money. Obviously there are a lot of lights out there and there'll be plenty that don't fit into these categories by virtue of offering either exceptionally good or disappointingly poor value for money - these are just average specs to give you some idea whether what you're looking at stacks up.
 | Under £50 | - LED or halogen commuter lights
- Basic halogen rechargeable systems
| |
| £50-100 | - 20W halogen, NiCad or NiMH batteries
|  |
 | £100-200 | - 32W halogen, NiMH batteries
- 3W SLED, Li-ion batteries
|  |
 | £200-350 | - 32W halogen, Li-ion batteries
- 9-10W SLED, Li-ion batteries
- 10W HIDs, Li-ion
|  |
 | £350+ | - 10-28W custom HIDs, Li-Ion batteries, microprocessor controls
|  |
In a nutshell, the more you pay the lighter, brighter and more sophisticated your lights get. Occasional users should look towards the cheaper systems, serious night-ride addicts or year-round commuters towards the pricier ones. As with most things, for most riders the optimum price will be somewhere in the middle - most of the lights that you can get for around £150 will be perfectly satisfactory for nocturnal off-road antics without you having to slow down too much...
