I use Ayup (http://www.ayup.com.au/) lights and swear by them. The first time I rode with them, it was like night and day (ha ha, get it?) compared to my original lights.

On my first ride out with them, I was able to discern the presence of a Path Ninja at 100m. At 50m, I was able to determine what exactly it was (Path Ninja = pedestrian wearing nothing but black, in the middle of the night, with no lighting whatsoever), and take steps to avoid them. With my other light, there’s no chance I would’ve seen them.

On that same ride, on the tail end of the ride which goes through a shopping centre, cars actually gave way to me. These bright lights command respect, yo.

With a handlebar light directed about 10m in front of me, and the helmet-mounted light giving me visibility whereever my head happens to point, these lights are a winner.

The lights are very bright indeed. Ayup have just released a flashing battery pack, but unless you want to induce seizures in other road users, I do not recommend using these lights in flashing mode. Even those little blinkies sometimes do my head in (literally).

Now, I know what you’re thinking.. this is an Australian product! You want to buy local! Well.. I hear ya. I’m sure there are alternative products that are local to you. On the other hand, don’t let geography limit you.

Check out their YouTube samples

As for the back.. I use a Basta superflash. True to its name, it's super-bright. It does the job, but now that I'm going to be commuting, I think I'll need to get another rear light or two - particularly something that can attach to my backpack.

Max