DiNotte or Exposure Maxx

richardjallen

I compared the specs of about every light I could find in the 100-150 ish bracket and had decided on one of the new DiNotte 200 series because they seem better in all respects to the competition.

Now the specs for the Exposure Joystick Maxx are out and its 240 lumens compared to 200 and it does not require a battery pack yet still gets 3 hrs burn time on high power for 144 from Wiggle. So I'm back to deciding again.

The real bonus for the DiNotte is they sell the rear light and a second battery thrown in as well for 175. I would go for this because its such a bargain.

I could do without a rear light as I already have a cheaper one. So its whether to get a brighter compact front and stick with a cheap rear or get a not so bright front but much better rear that requires a battery pack.

aracer

richardjallen wrote:

Now the specs for the Exposure Joystick Maxx are out and its 240 lumens compared to 200

Don't get too worked up over that - Exposure are using claimed maximum lumen output from the LED, whilst Dinotte are using a slightly more realistic number (probably still high compared to what actually comes out the front of the light). In reality you'd be very hard pressed to spot the difference between 200 and 240 even if there was that much real difference.

steelo

What about the difference between the Race MaXx (480) and the Hope Vision LED (300). Do you think you would notice that difference. Only £18 between the two on wiggle.

aracer

Given that 300 lumen figure for the Hope is even more of a BS figure than the 480 for the Exposure (I'd expect in reality the Exposure to have almost double the light output), then probably, yes! You do have to be aware that the human eye works on a logarithmic basis though, so double the light output doesn't look twice as bright. The other difference of course is that the Exposure LEDs use less power than the ones in the Hope, so you'll get less weight or more runtime (can't be bothered to check the specs to find which). The Hope actually uses the same LEDs as the older Exposure Race and Enduro models, so you could always check what Exposure reckons the difference is.

The word I've heard is that Hope will also shortly be coming out with LED lights using the same "new" technology LEDs as Exposure (quotes used, since I've had a homemade light using these for almost a year, and the pace of change is such that you can now get LEDs for homebuild which are 25% brighter again).

simbil1

Someone recently recommended Lumicycle to me - they are a British outfit (for what that's worth when they are probably assembling far east components) and seem to have good bang for buck. There entry level road lighting is 280 lumens for £139

http://www.lumicycle.com

nferrar

Got an Enduro and Joystick Maxx on order myself, plan is to use Enduro on MTB bars + Joystick on head and Joystick on bars on road bike.

aracer

nferrar wrote:

Joystick on bars on road bike.

Good choice. I upgraded my original Joystick with the same LED they're using in the new one, and tend to use that on the road bike on its own, as it provides plenty of light for riding on unlit roads, whilst being very hassle free for fitting (I use the looped elastic band method to fit it to my bars, with a bit of pipe wrap round the joystick for padding).

richardjallen

aracer wrote:

You do have to be aware that the human eye works on a logarithmic basis though, so double the light output doesn't look twice as bright.

So 240 compared to 200 is not going to make any perceivable difference anyway.

The other difference of course is that the Exposure LEDs use less power than the ones in the Hope, so you'll get less weight or more runtime (can't be bothered to check the specs to find which).

The joystick is quoted as weighing about 80g and the burn time is 3hrs so I think the bias is on weight rather than runtime.

The word I've heard is that Hope will also shortly be coming out with LED lights using the same "new" technology LEDs as Exposure (quotes used, since I've had a homemade light using these for almost a year, and the pace of change is such that you can now get LEDs for homebuild which are 25% brighter again).

Great I'm looking at buying right when companies are bringing out new versions so really I should wait but I can't because its getting dark in the evenings now.


With brightness out of the comparison the exposure is more convenient as the battery is internal and weighs less but for £30 more I could have a quality front and rear lights from DiNotte. None else bothers making top spec rear lights it seems.

portuguese mike

simbil1 wrote:

Someone recently recommended Lumicycle to me - they are a British outfit (for what that's worth when they are probably assembling far east components) and seem to have good bang for buck. There entry level road lighting is 280 lumens for £139

http://www.lumicycle.com

Lumicycle lights are brilliant and for the record they don't use far eastern components, as far as i can remember the bulbs in mine are philips (dutch) and the batteries are norwegian - not that it would matter if they were eastern european components i suppose.

the good thing about lumicyle (apart from the fact that they're really bright - i can ride at daylight pace at night very comfortably on unlit rural roads) is that the lamps themselves are cheap to replace as most of the cost goes into the batteries. These are li-ion like the ones in mobile phones so they're very light and they also charge up quickly.

simbil1

I don't mind where they get there stuff from, I was just mentioning that although they are a British outfit, not much is actually manufactured in Britain these days.

Glad you like them, I'll be getting HID based night time MTB set soon

alfablue

I'm a Dinotte fan, but personally I wouldn't bother with the rear light, it needs an extension wire and draws from the main battery, both of which are downsides to me. Better to get a £13 Smart 1/2 watt Superflash rear IMHO.

edit - I think the AA tail light has it's own battery pack, but I think there is also a problem with mounting it on a seatpost as it wants to sit at 90 degrees to the post, which means it will point downwards.

chip42

I have the Dinotte front and rear set up and it is ace,it must be one of the brightest rears ever,really gives you confidence on the pitch black country roads I ride on.The front is excellent also and the battery life even with both lights is great,good enough for a 50 mile ride in the dark and still get to work and back for the rest of the week.

Andy

cougie

Damn it Alfa Blue - you beat me to it !

I have the Dinotte front and the Smart 1/2 Watt Superflash. For the price I just cant see that its worth getting the Dinotte rear. For £26 you can get TWO Smarts for the rear - bung one on each seat stay and you'll look like a UFO.

richardjallen

cougie wrote:

Damn it Alfa Blue - you beat me to it !

I have the Dinotte front and the Smart 1/2 Watt Superflash. For the price I just cant see that its worth getting the Dinotte rear. For £26 you can get TWO Smarts for the rear - bung one on each seat stay and you'll look like a UFO.

The rear LED I have now is the Topeak UFO.

I've seen a photo of the DiNotte rear and it appears to be on a mount that fits onto the seatpost so there is a horizontal for the light to fit onto. Can you confirm this Chip42?

The set does come with two batteries as well as a Y lead so I could run both off the same 4 cell battery or have a 4 cell for each.

I think I would have it pointed slightly down so as to not blind people behind. A nice large red pool behind me would hopefully mean I do not get squeezed by overtaking cars.

If I don't get the rear DiNotte as well as the front then I would be very tempted by the Exposure as it does not have any cables or battery packs. I'm tempted already.

cougie

I dont believe there is an attachment for the rear dinotte unless its come along v recently. It sits on your seat tube, and is angled down slightly.

Oh that UFO does look good. In that case - you may only need one Smart light to go with it.

Can you tell I'm old school - from the days when battery lights were so rubbish that on any night ride - between three of us - we'd be doing well to have a working front and rear !

aracer

portuguese mike wrote:

Lumicycle lights are brilliant and for the record they don't use far eastern components, as far as i can remember the bulbs in mine are philips (dutch) and the batteries are norwegian - not that it would matter if they were eastern european components i suppose.

the good thing about lumicyle (apart from the fact that they're really bright - i can ride at daylight pace at night very comfortably on unlit rural roads) is that the lamps themselves are cheap to replace as most of the cost goes into the batteries. These are li-ion like the ones in mobile phones so they're very light and they also charge up quickly.

Not sure quite what anybody would think is wrong with far eastern components. A large proportion of the bits in the computer you're sitting at and also probably a lot of the bits on your bike are far eastern. Personally I'd consider far eastern electronic parts to be a recommendation, not a problem (the same goes for carbon bike frames, but that's another thread!) I'd actually be kind of surprised if Lumi batteries really were Norwegian, given quality LiIon cells tend to be either Sony, Sanyo or Panasonic - and guess where they're made!

Not really sure why the lights being cheap to replace should be seen as a particularly good point compared to LEDs which you don't ever need to replace as they don't blow, and it would take a lifetime of night riding for them to even become noticeably dimmer than a brand new one.

I'm actually a Lumi fan - have owned a set since 2000, and they work very well. However LEDs now perform better than halogen from an efficiency point of view, which means you either get less weight or longer runtimes (or even both - LEDs also have the advantage of efficient dimming from a single lamp unit). For the record I reckon Lumi claims are even more exaggerated than the LED ones - they reckon 650lm for a 20W, and my nominally 500lm home made LED light is definitely brighter. Meanwhile I've just checked the 12W Lumi (for which they claim 370lm) back to back with my Joystick (upgraded to effectively Maxx spec), and whilst the Lumi is very slightly brighter it's pretty marginal and you'd never tell without trying them back to back.

simbil1

I don't think Mike has a problem with far eastern components, he was replying to my post where I said LumiCycle are British but no doubt assemble far eastern parts to make there products. I don't have a problem with the source of components either, so long as they work and was just pointing out that LumiCycle being British does not really count for much one way or the other.

I'd be interested to hear about your home made lights. I've got a couple of old Li-ion batteries kicking around (old mobile and camcorder) and would like to put them to good use.

portuguese mike

Thanks Simbil 1, i wasn't trying to cuss far eastern components at all.

Interestingly although i'm not sure about the orgin of the battery the charger is definately made in Norway according to the box. (although, again, it may simply be assembled there).

aracer

You're right - my Lumi smart charger says "Mcanade in Norway" on it - how bizarre!

Here's my homemade light (though now using different electronics): http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... p?t=147395

portuguese mike

Aracer, they look cool, i like the compact dimensions

nferrar

Has anyone actually got any of the new Exposure Maxx lights yet? Ended up ordering mine from Wiggle as they seem to have the nearest expected date but just had an email saying they're now not due until November Wondering whether to switch to someone else like CRC hoping they have some stock allocated still (assuming Wiggle's initial stock has gone)or if everyone's initial stock is just delayed.

richardjallen

November :shock:

The internal battery exposure was becoming more attractive now it looks like pig poo.

nferrar

I cancelled my Wiggle order, found a couple of places that either have them in stock or are due next week, shinybikes.com and bigfootbikes.com (apparently the big mail order stores put their orders in a bit late so smaller shops have stock first). Can't vouch for either of those stores but both places seemed helpful (mine are on order with shinybikes as they were a bit more definite on getting the Enduro - this Friday and already had stock of the Joystick).

richardjallen

cougie wrote:

Can you tell I'm old school - from the days when battery lights were so rubbish that on any night ride - between three of us - we'd be doing well to have a working front and rear !

Talking of dodgy lights. The 1W LED I bought for my commuter does not switch off. I can see it glowing faintly and draining the batteries when it should be off. How hard can it be to make a bike light. Its really just a torch with a mounting bracket so what's the problem and why the great expense if its a bike light?