With winter coming and the darker afternoons/nights I need a headlamp of some type.
Any suggestions? I’m rural so don’t have access so that I can try before I buy.
http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_41&products_id=295
Mount it on your helmet, then it’s just like driving a car.
Don’t shirk at the price, do some shopping around and you’ll see that $90 is a deal.
I got mine last year, just before their big bettery recall. New batteries are back home just in time for dark season.
Riding with lights is a hoot, but only if you have some decent light.
Those silly camping headlamps suck!
Grip lights
http://www.jmldirect.com/uk/housewares/grip-lites/invt/g02gl10100000001/
I have these grip lights… they are the perfect size to wrap round the crown of the frame 
If you’re on a tight budget, you can try buying stuff from Dealextreme. But make sure to read the reviews first!
What kind of riding are you planning on doing at night? Are the lights so that you can see where you are going, or so that others can see you?
Are your trails open or tree covered? snow covered or not? technical or easy?
It all makes a difference.
If you are riding on a open road the MagicShine would be overkill, if trying to navigate a technical trail in the dark the grip lights would be far from adequate.
Personally I use one 120 lumen flashlight with a wide beam under my handle on my unicycle and a 70 lumen flashlight with a tighter beam on my head for mostly easyish snow-covered trails.
If you are venturing out into the dark in winter it is a good idea to have either two lights or a backup (flashlight) in your pack. There is nothing worse than crashing and braking your only light on a dark cold starless night.
In Southern California, we ride all year long and that means night rides twice a week for my MTB club. We ride everything at night that we do in the day regardless of terrain. Most of us have bought the Magicshine lights from Geomangear.com and are very happy with them. I’ve also done night muni on singletrack with it.
It’s better to have too much light and run it at a lower setting than not enough when you need it. But it once and buy it right or you’ll just end up buying it over. Geomangear also sells a killer taillight that comes with a Y-cable to plug into your Magicshine battery - I have it and it blows all the little LED blinkies away.
It’s worth noting that riding with a single light on your helmet will make almost all road features disappear because you don’t see any shadows. Even on the road, this can make a dip or bump disappear if it’s the same color as the rest of the road and it’s especially difficult off-road. I’m thinking of coming up with a chest mount for my Magicshine light.
When I ran ultras I did a lot of night training on rugged trails, used a modified headlamp that was chest mounted and a regular headlamp, thus combo helped to resolve shadows and give more depth perception. That said, I have not found shadows to be a problem with a super bright headlamp.
Seriously, unless you’re going to go big and get a high end light, don’t waste your money on “hiking/camping lights”, you need a lot of light to ride muni, esp right around dusk. $100 will set you up. Read reviews from MTBR.
I will suggest you LED fog lights