Cateye Single shot front light.....what's the difference?

antonylp

As summer is over (did it ever start?) i am looking to buy a front light (for use on my road bike) that must be suitable for use in unlit country lanes on my daily commute.

I have noticed the following reviews on bikeradar for the same light or are they different?

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/accessories/lights/product/el-600-single-shot-25243

and

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/accessories/lights/front/product/single-shot-25059

Does anybody use one of these and if so which one and is it any good?

JamesB

No , but I`ve used the double shot which was very good indeed well lit up unlit roads with about 50m beam , although quite narrow

N0bodyOfTheGoat

http://www.thephotonshop.co.uk/page29.htm

These Fenix torches were raved about last winter, literally weeks after I slashed out on a 10+5W set of lights, with the Fenix being brighter and cheaper. Have a search of the forums (I think it started in the mountain bike section)

Rob Sallnow

NitrousOxide wrote:

http://www.thephotonshop.co.uk/page29.htm

These Fenix torches were raved about last winter, literally weeks after I slashed out on a 10+5W set of lights, with the Fenix being brighter and cheaper. Have a search of the forums (I think it started in the mountain bike section)

How does it rate against the light they sell at Tescos and is often talked about over at YACF? I seem to recall it has the advantage of running on a standard sized rechargeable rather than a CR123A

ris

one of the fenix units that is mentioned in the forum articles, i think it was the l2d cree q5, runs off rechargable AA's.

and there was something on the fenix buyers site about a possible rechargable option for units that used C123a's, although they were quite pricey.

fenix in forum search finds quite a bit...
bikerader mtb forum article on lights
similar from commuting forum
commuting forum, also mentions the cateye single shot


edited for poor tags. muppet! :oops:

alfablue

I can't praise the Fenix L2d CE Q5 more highly. I have tried many light sets, halogens like Smart lead acid halogens (cheap, but about 1.3kg), Electron 5w+10w, Vistalite 10w+15w (they weigh about 1kg with the heavy bottle batteries), Cateye ABS10 (lighter, but mounting fell apart), and LED - Dinotte 5w Ultra, Electron 1w Nano. The Fenix is a revelation, brighter than all the above, lighter than the Dinotte (about 100g), neater (one unit, no separate battery box), half the batteries of the Dinotte (2 rather than 4), more runtime than the Dinotte, less than half the price of the Dinotte. The Fenix is £37.95 delivered from The Photon Shop and is mounted to the bar with a Twofish Lockblock £6.95 and armed with some 2900mah AA NiMH batteries for £5.50 delivered from Vapextech this makes for an unbeatable brightness/price/weight/run-time package. It is perfect for fast rides on an unlit railway path. Even better, get two.

If money is tight you can get a cheap copy, an Ultrafire from Dealextreme, for around £10. I have one of each.

The Fenix also serves as a regular torch, and with the diffuser it also makes a perfect tent light. I will be able to take the fenix and a weeks worth of power on my tour next week.

The newer Dinotte 200L (for 200 lumens) is on paper brighter than the Fenix (190 lunens) however the difference is negligable (and probably undetectable to the eye), the Fenix still wins hands down on all other counts IMHO.

antonylp

Thanks for the advice everyone, Fenix it is then.

Found this bargain

http://www.glowgadgets.co.uk/fenix-l2d-q5-180-lumens-premium-led-torch.ir?cName=fenix-torches

alfablue

With the free Lockblock that saves £2 on the Photonshop price (free delivery). I have used Glowgadgets, good shop! I am sure you would use NiMH batteries normally, but note that run times are much poorer using alkalines with LED torches.

whyamihere

I've just ordered a Fenix L2D. I'd advise searching on ebay for VapexTech, they have some excellent 2900mAh Nimh AA batteries. Standard ones are 2100mAh, which should give you a lot of extra battery life.

alfablue

The Vapextech shop does 4xAA 2900mah for £5.50 delivered (or 8 for £10.50) here: http://www.vapextech.co.uk/acatalog/Hig ... eries.html

I have used them often, a reliable company, they always deliver next day.

Note that the actual capacity is likely to be around 2550mah - I have tested them (it is normal for batteries not to achieve the stated rating, these are no worse than any others, and realistically around 2550mah is as good as you can get at the moment).

I recommend the Vapextech LCD,WORLD (110v/240v) ,ULTRA FAST 1 HOUR CHARGER £14.95 on the same page. It is a smart charger, it charges each cell individually and will take good care of your batteries. It has an LCD display, and has Overtime,Overload,Overheat,Over Voltage Protection, Non-rechargeable battery detection. Although stated as 1 hour, that is for one cell, 4 will take about 4 hours. You can buy 15 minute chargers of various brands, but these will rapidly reduce the performance of your batteries (as I know to my cost).

antonylp

Once again, cheers guys for the info.

Have just ordered the L2D and the batteries recommended.


One happy forum member

dunker

just got my Fenix L2D CE Premium Q5 with Orange Peel Reflector. testing out "high" runtimes with 18 month old heavily used ansmann 2700nimh, so far it's at 2hours 40 mins with the same brightness so that's my night rides sorted plus i'll carry two spares just in case. the beam and falloff? is sooo much better than my cateye el-530 which never had me running into trees on pitch-black trails and lanes but it has a tight hotspot and not alot of falloff that i had a few which way does the road go moments heh.

the spread on this is soooo smooth really glad i went with the orange peel

it says to lube the o-rings, would bike teflon lube be ok on the rubber? not that i ride in the rain anyway but the metal threads could do with some i guess?

update; 4 hours 16 minutes and just starting to dim now, well pleased with that

alfablue

I'm glad it's a success, I get around 4 hours on high. I put Teflon grease on mine, seems fine.

dunker

after 5 hours the output has dropped to that near the medium setting, just a little bit better than the cateye 530 and a bit more useful cycling falloff light, what a brilliant little light

northpole

I went for the single shot + model which chucks out plenty of light and is rechargeable. Not so sure about the weight of the light unit though!

Peter