There is a huge difference between a light that allows you to simply ride the trail and a light that allows you to ride the trail at near the same pace as with daylight. The Outbound Lighting Ultimate Downhill Package is definitely geared toward the later.
Many lights out there make bold claims about their specifications. Overinflating actual lumens, run times and LED quality seem to be common practice. So how do you figure out which light to buy? That’s not always easy. Even the reputable big brands put out questionable lights with poor beam patterns and overall quality.
The idea with this package is that you run one light on the bars and one light on the helmet. I normally don’t choose to ride with a helmet light mainly due to the added weight on my helmet. For most of my night riding on familiar trails a bright and wide beam on the bars is good enough. If I was really wanting to ride as fast at night as during the day though, this two-light setup would be mandatory.
As trails get rough, I’ve always found that the added weight on the helmet requires a more than comfortable tightness of the helmet retention to keep it from moving. The key is either having a really lightweight all-in-one battery/light head unit or to use a light like this where you put the battery in a pack. Anything much more than a quarter-pound on the helmet is more than I like.
Outbound Lighting Trail Edition/Ultimate DH Package | $200 for Trail Edition or $390 for Ultimate DH Package – 2 lights | 1500 lumens/per light | 2.6 hour burn time on high
Outbounds Ultimate DH Package is composed of two different lights – ” The Trail Edition on the handlebars for that up-close and mid-range fill light, a Road Edition to go on your helmet that gives a wide but punchy light throw that with their powers combined, creates the Ultimate Downhill Package.” The “Trail Edition” beam pattern is about as wide as they come and offers a great view of the trail without turning your bars just to see what may be lurking beside you. Below is with just the Trail Edition displaying the broad and bright beam pattern.
By comparison below: The NiteRider Lumina 1100 Boost OLED’s beam pattern may be great for paved bike paths but not so much for riding trails.
With most battery packs, frame protection (rubber or tape) between the battery to prevent paint damage is required. There is absolutely no reason to do this with the Outbound battery pack since its in a soft stretchy neoprene pouch. This not only takes away that step of protecting your frame but also makes it super easy to get a tight and secure install. The Outbound battery pack with its elasticized velcro is the easiest battery pack installation I’ve experienced.
What do I like and dislike about the Outbound lights?
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- Super easy installation. You can securely install the light in less than 20 seconds.
- The light head is simple and the modes are easy to switch through while riding.
- Beam pattern is very wide and transitions smoothly from the center to sides
- Long burn times – with up to 2.6 hours on high and over 3 on medium-high, burn times are excellent
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- If you don’t pay close attention to getting the light mount really tight, I did notice the light migrates down in super rough terrain.
Final thoughts
The Outbound Lighting Ultimate Downhill light without a doubt lives up to its name. While running the bar and helmet light, I never felt the need for more light. Compared to the more expensive Lights and Motion Seca Race and Glowworm X2 (with wide optics) the Outbound single unit isn’t quite as bright but the differences aren’t massive. Where the Outbound light shines is with great burn times and a high-quality beam pattern. The Ultimate Package is really all the serious trail rider could ask for with everything you need for many hours of fun in the dark. Running the “Trail” light alone on the bars
We did an extensive light test last year that tests a wide range of lights from different companies. I find that this shootout to be very relevant as far as comparing the industries BEST current lights. Check it out here – Mountain Bike Light Shootout
This Post Has 5 Comments
So do you now prefer the outbound trail over the L&M seca enduro?
Have you compared any of them to the
new magicshine 8000 lumen in hybrid mode?
I prefer the OB Ultimate DH package with two lights over the L&M, but if I just wanted to run one light, I still would choose the L&M. A couple of notes: the OB battery pack is super easy to mount with its stretchy neoprene wrap and you don’t have to worry about it damaging your finish. The light mount is also easy, but if you don’t really wrench it down (almost felt like I was going to break the mount) it will migrate down in rough terrain. The L&M battery pack mounting isn’t as nice and I use a piece of rubber tube around it to prevent frame damage. The light mount however is easy and rock-solid (does not move). I haven’t used the Magicshine yet.
Hi,i need help choosing between ob trail vs l&m seca race 6cell..i just want to run one light on my handlebar.thank you
If you’re just choosing one light I would choose the Seca Race with the standard 3-cell since I find I can easily get well over 2 hours of ride time with my old Seca Race 2500/3-cell. I would bet you could get a solid 2.5 hours with the newer Race 2000 by dimming the light on the uphills/slower terrain. If you need more run time than that, look at the Seca Enduro 2500 with the 4 cell battery. Compared to Outbound, I believe that Light & Motion Seca has a brighter and broader overall beam pattern. As I have said before, Light and Motion handlebar mounting is my favorite since it’s so easy and super secure. The Outbounds is also easy, but you have to be very careful to really wrench down the mount or the light will slip down in rough terrain. On the flipside, Outbound’s battery is the easiest to attach very with a stretch neoprene cover that requires no extra frame protection.
Thank you for the help sir☺️