Now it's summer I need bright lights. (?)

Larok

These mounts are good forgotrafe

£7 http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torches/lockblock.html



£8 http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/led_torches ... mount.html



Did you see this comparison shot of the Romisen RC T5 and Fenix L2D Q5 Zippy?

Zippy

Thanks for that (again), Larok. Yes, I did see it and was going to ask if those are both TwoFish Lockblocks you're using to anchor the Romisen. Do they keep it relatively steady and well-aimed; or after you've been over a stretch of bumpy ground is it only any good for spotting parachutists?

(Thanks for all your help; still trying to make up my mind.)

Zip'.

Larok

NP Zippy m8ty! The romisen isn't mine. I got the picture off the net.

They're both mounted with the lockblocks, the Romison has a second velcro tab to the stem of some sort to secure it.

Using the lockblocks with the L2D is fine. There is some slight wobble, vibration would be a better word, on bumpy terrrain but it is always held in the true position. No parachute spotting!. I did read that in the wet they can slip, strips of inner tube where recommended to resolve. The L2D can be easily re positioned up/down left/right on the fly as well. Plus a compact unit so I can stash the torches in the bag. The other plus point about the lockblocks is that they can be used for helmet mounting as well.

I wonder if the Romisen would mount in the fenix mount? Not to sure about the Romison though due to its size.

I'm sure the lockblock would mount your LED no problem, although I have no idea of the size of those. The fenix mount although bulky does look secure, vibration free perhaps?

Zippy

Cheers for that again, Larok. (Sorry: didn't realize the Romisen-on-a-bike wasn't yours.)

Thanks for the reassurance re the stability of the Fenix L2D Q5s in Lockblocks. I'm leaning towards them, and away from the Tesco 2C 3W. I'll probably take it back, for with no low-beam option it doesn't run long enough for my night/winter walks, nor for biking; and high beam isn't quite enough off-road on the bike, anyway. I think the £12 could be better spent. (And I'm in a bit of a snit over laddo in Winchester getting his for half-price, whinge, whinge.)

I think I'll have to post separately re the Joystick Maxx: see if that turns-up anyone using it as their main off-road light.

Larok

The L2D's only last 1.5-2 hours with 2 AA batteries on turbo. Just have as many rechargeable spares as you need.

Zippy

Thank you again, Larok. For how long do the Fenix L2Ds run on the setting below 'Turbo', please? And would a pair of them in that mode suffice for tracks with which one is familiar?

Zip'.

Larok

These are the run times.

12 lumens (55hrs) - 53 lumens (10.5hrs) - 107 lumens (4hrs) + SOS Morse Code Signal

Turbo Mode: 180 lumens constant (1.8hrs) + Tactical Strobe


You could run on the 107 lumen setting. I'd get these to run 180 though;

http://www.battery-force.co.uk/detail_FAAANI004N.html
http://www.battery-force.co.uk/detail_ENAANI004A.html

Zippy

Thanks for all your help, Larok. I would imagine that the commonsense approach is to try a Fenix L2D Q5 (or two) with LockBlock, first; then, if feeling nutty, that Romisen 4 x Cree thing. To paraphrase Jerry Lee I feel 'a whole lot o' lightin' comin' on'!

Zip'.

Larok

Yeah I would say the two Fenix's one bar and one helmet mounted. The Romisen just looks too big plus adding the cost of batteries/chargers/mounts for that stacks up the cost to £100 ish.

Dazzza

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=016

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UltraFire-Charger ... .m14.l1318

Im tempted with this badboy, the p7 emitters are 740-900 lumen. :shock:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Trustfire-SSC ... otohosting
When you think of the price some led bike lights are they are having a giraffe.

GOLDGPR

Hmmmm..

Looks good that trust fire for size but cant see that the battery will last long on 900lum
as only takes 1x 18650 battery.
But bet its mighty impressive! 3.6mile visbility now thats far!

G

GOLDGPR

Found this on the candlepower forums.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/sho ... p?t=193914

seems to run for about 45 mins but no problems with heat on a bike.

G

Dazzza

Well you have several modes on that torch anyway, id be surprised if anyone needed full power.

i-drive

ratty2k wrote:

I have a USE Exposure race turbo that I use, the flash mode is brilliant. I can see the reflective bits on road signs flashing 100's of yards away. Soild mode for the unlit roads gives a good light to see by and its all self contained on the bars... They have a newer better version of it out as well now that'll be even better.
No problems of reliability with mine. Another on to consider is the range from On-One- Dinotte. Very small lights with a seperate battery pack thats small enough to mount on the stem Great flashy mode and again bright enough to see on unlit roads and tracks.

USE light

i use both the joystick maxx & race maxx and are superb.
no cables to get tangled.very light & great burn times with a decent amount of light.

Stormy

Found this thread extremely helpful (thanks everybody) and after reading up on the bewildering choices / configurations / opinions of contributors decided to opt for a Fenix but which one?

Thought I’d more or less made my mind up, and felt a couple of LD2’s would be perfect for blasting around the New Forest trails after sundown. But the best laid plans of men & mice etc, Fenix have now released the TK11 which seemingly outperforms the LD2 on run times, lumens, dimensions for not much more, and according to the spec sheet accepts an 18650 rechargeable cell giving 2.7 hours at 225 lumens on turbo mode.

Soooooooo I’ve ordered one for now with the bar mount /charger/etc. if it checks out there’ll be another following in fairly short order. I’ll let you know how it performs if anybody’s interested once I get my mitts on it.

Larok

nice one, let us know how they go.

TonyS

Got one of the Tesco 2AA Crees to play with and my comments are:

- Bright enough as a torch, certainly better than a Maglite
- Must be regulated as 2xAA NiMH only gives 2.4v, not enough forward voltage for the LED
- Cullimator is standard so can be replaced to change beam pattern
- Current drain is around 600ma err .6 x 2.4 does not equal 3W (W=VA) more like 1.5W, could be my cheap multimeter but to be 3W @ 2.4volts the current drain would be >1A

So it's more likely to be a Cree 3W LED driven at 50%, not bad for 10 quid. Toss the battery tube and hardwire a decent LiPo battery and you get a decent backup light weight well under 100g.

psilocybe

Stormy wrote:

?
Soooooooo I’ve ordered one for now with the bar mount /charger/etc. if it checks out there’ll be another following in fairly short order. I’ll let you know how it performs if anybody’s interested once I get my mitts on it.

Very interested in reading if you made a good purchase, I'm condisering a set of Ayup lights but it is gonna stretch my wallet a little further than it wants to go.

pocketsprocket

Dazzza wrote:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=260260668670&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=016

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UltraFire-Charger ... .m14.l1318

Im tempted with this badboy, the p7 emitters are 740-900 lumen. :shock:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Trustfire-SSC ... otohosting
When you think of the price some led bike lights are they are having a giraffe.

Have you looked at http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12623

I was thinking of getting one of these and modifying it to use this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lithium-Li-Ion-18650-3-7V-6600mAh-Battery-Pack-with-PCB_W0QQitemZ260262691271QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260262691271&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

6600 mAH 2.7v protected 18650 battery pack.... should give a run time of about 2 hours on MAX!

Stormy

Been waiting a while to try out my newly acquired Fenix TK11, finally got around to it last night testing it out on some well known trails through the New Forest (nothing too demanding), but pitch black through some dense woodland. Finally riding the return journey home along some twisting unlit country lanes…………

The torch itself measures around 13cm long, and on this ride was fixed to the bars using the Fenix adjustable bar mount (more of that later). Also onboard was a spare 18650 rechargeable cell, two Blackburn Mars 3.0 rear lights, and an emergency/supplemental Electron Nano LED commuter blinky/steady light.

The Fenix has two settings a power saving 60 Lumens (12 hour run time when used with an 18650 cell) fairly average brightness, not good enough for unlit trails, no problem on unlit roads. The next setting is turbo mode, that’ll give you the full 225 lumens and around 2 and half hours worth of light when used with one 18650 cell. You switch between the two settings by rotating the bezel of the torch, and there is no “off time” between settings, the torch itself switching on and off via a switch at the opposite end. It also comes with a removable shaped collar which prevents the torch from rolling on flat surfaces.

On full power the beam is extremely bright and white, illuminating cat’s-eyes far down the road, cars were often aware I was there before they rounded bends etc by dipping their lights beforehand, road signs threw back an almost blinding reflection when near to them, and I was able to pick out the eyes of the Forest ponies from probably half a mile away a very penetrating long distance beam indeed.

The beam however whilst powerful is pretty tight and spot like in its appearance, that said there is a useful halo effect which picks out the immediate path ahead which lies to the side of the main beam, but not in great detail and when bar mounted doesn’t start for about one meter or so if you’re aiming the light at a reasonable distance ahead. This light does not produce a wide flood like beam field, it’s probably best suited as a helmet mount, where I would imagine it excels.

Disappointing is the only word I can use to describe the bar mount it was absolutely pants, easy enough to fit and install (although it was too small to fit near the centre of my bar) the ideal location, so I had to make do, locating it about half way along the bar. The lower section grips the bar, whilst the upper section grips your Fenix, the idea being that you swivel the section holding the Fenix 360 degrees on the horizontal plane, a series of locking plastic clicks is supposed to ensure the light stays in the position you select. You can also push or pull the whole assembly up or down increasing or decreasing beam throw into the extreme distance or just over your front wheel.

In practice however it just doesn’t work, once you have selected the desired position in the horizontal plane clicking it into position etc, you notice that there is still movement or play between the two sections of the torch holder. It’s not much when you look at it in isolation, but add a torch with a beam throw of around 200 meters and that small amount of play is amplified to unacceptable amounts of movement, and furthermore it started bloody rattling.

It’s also extremely difficult because of this slack play to alternate between low and high power without completely screwing your carefully set up beam position (the bezel is quite stiff and you really have to grip it hard, maybe it will loosen with age)

So in summary, massively powerful torch for the money, tight beam more suited to a helmet mount, or maybe one bar and one helmet mount. Avoid the Fenix torch mount (unless mine is broken in some way)? I’m returning the mount in exchange for a Lockblocks holder, and yes I will be ordering another TK11 once I know the Lockblocks holder keeps a solid grip.

Just as an aside, my cheapo Nano Electron was rock solid on last night’s ride, and with seemingly no appreciable beam pattern gave a useful close quarter’s glow which helped out quite a bit.

Larok

That's great Stormy any chance of a beam shot on your next night ride? I think you'll like having a second mount on the helmet - useful for going round corners!

Stormy

Thanks Larok, no problem but the only cam I have is on my phone (Sony K800i), think it's something like 3.2 mega pixels - but it should if I can get the settings right give some kind of idea re: beam spread etc. Give it a few days and I'll see what I can come up with, I hear you regarding the corners too, I think a helmet mount will really improve things

In the mean time I'd appreciate anybody giving some input regarding Fenix torch mounts......

iknowgungfu

This thread makes some very interesting reading (never thought I would find a DIscussion thread on lights interesting!). However, I am quite the bike newbie and have just purchased a MTB. I am planning to introduce myself into cycling along the trails (nothig too hardcore though) but I also use my bike to road cycle to friends houses etc.

I am looking for a light that would cater for the times I am cycling home at night over well lit roads and poorly lit roads. I doubt I will be doing any night riding down any trails or anything.

What kind of light would suit me? I was looking at the Cateye 320:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Cateye_EL320_And_LD600_Light_Set/5360025773/
or the Cateye 135:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Cateye_EL135_Front_Light/5360025763/

What do you folk think? These lights are a fair bit cheaper than some of the lights that are mentioned here, while I don't want to spend too much money I am willing to play a little more for quality.

Cheers in advance for anyone who helps this total Noob.
[/url]

Chris`I

Having recently bought a Fenix L2D, I can wholehartedly recommend it! From an AA powered tourch the light output is simply amazing! Add to it a bar mount and you'd be well set for a ride. Added benefit is you can turn the power up and down to suit conditions and you can obviously use it off the bike.

iknowgungfu

Hmmm...up until today I had never considered strapping a torch to my handlebars instead!

I am warming to the idea actually as I am going to Centreparcs soon ( I know, I know....don't groan its more for my GF really) but it may prove handy walking around the place as I am not sure how well lit it is. Saying that it's hardly a campsite is it

On the Fenix website the L2D are quoted as being £39.95? anyone know of a place to get them cheaper?
!

Also, any recomendations on a relatively cheap rear light? Or am I ok just to get pretty much anything for cheapness (given my requirements for lighting listed in my poost above).

Cheers!

GibboGT

I don't think you'll need a torch to cycle around centreparcs, they are pretty well lit at all times.

I stayed in one when we went to the lake district, used it as a base. Was a bit shocked to find out that they didn't have any local bike routes, maps or anything? So all you could do was drive the bikes somewhere or cycle round the compound. The customer services woman was a little shocked when we asked for a map to local bike routes that we could get on from the site. I don't understand what people do with all the bikes that are in those places then?!

on the subject, i've just bought a blackburn set from merlin cycles, not got it yet, but gets great reviews, and its only £18 for front and back right now.

Chris`I

Got my Fenix from fleabay for £37.95, inc delivery and a free latern thing (goes on the end to turn it into a lanter - normally about a fiver). Look up the seller glowgadgets - brilliant service and price!

iknowgungfu

We are staying in the Sherwood forest one....from what i can see there a re a few trails near there to cycle along.

Still torn for what i should buy! Will keep looking

Chris`I

We were recently at Longleat where they run their own "Mountain Bike Trek". I was very sceptical, but it turned out to be an ok ride. OK so its not Wales, but it was good enough to kill a morning with. Still a rip off at £17 a pop but I think that was inc their bikes which were reasonable specs Treks only a month old! You can bet your house on it that they wouldnt tell you about that route without doing the paid trek!

Here is the route on BikeHike - www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=970

salerules

ive got the less powerful version of these and there fine so these should be good
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... ryrn_31362