using cree torches instead of bicycle lights

mickyboy

hi all

i recently purchased a front led light for my bike for £10 , ok in where there was street lighting, but no use really where unlit.

so purchased a dearer light from halfords (£35) a larger light ,4aa vs 4aaa but hardly any differance in brightness both on closer inspection are 1 watt.

there are topics re tescos cree torches 3watt, but these now seem to be unavaliable only 1watt vertions are now sold.

looking in millits they had lenser l5 l7 torches about £35 but 100 lumens, it seems some dedicated cycle lights are very expensive £250+



i noticed on ebay cree torch q5 250 lumens 4 123a rechargable batteries + charger approx £8 + shipping from abroad comes in at just under £18 but will have to wait a few days and figure out how to mount on cycle.

thank you :P

prawny

Just join the revolution

http://www.bestofferbuy.com/haiii-ssc-p ... 27282.html

I've got one, there's a load of people on here with one, they're seriously good about 600 lumens on full power but low is enough for unlit roads, and the batteries last for 3 hours on full.

Agent57

prawny wrote:

Just join the revolution

http://www.bestofferbuy.com/haiii-ssc-p ... 27282.html

Damn! That's a better deal than the one I went for. That's $79.00; I paid 81 cents more at http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25149 ! That was 12 days ago; it hasn't arrived yet.

Scrumple

P7's are not cree's. and they take lithium batteries with different chargers.

Crees use AA's, and normal chargers.

Depends what you want. Cree's aint as bright but you can buy batteries anywhere if you run out of light!

UndercoverElephant

This is my one:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.28546

I bought the rechargable lithium AA size (14500) batteries and a charger too. Superb, just superb. Build quality is amazing, and it's perfect as a bike light.

Flasheart

:idea: That looks like it would make a nice helmet light

Where did you get the batteries BTW, it doesn't take any of the rechargeable NI-MH that I have by the looks of it?

essex-commuter

Agent57 wrote:

prawny wrote:

That was 12 days ago; it hasn't arrived yet.

3-4 weeks is the norm from Dealextreme to Europe.

UndercoverElephant

Flasheart wrote:

:idea: That looks like it would make a nice helmet light

Where did you get the batteries BTW, it doesn't take any of the rechargeable NI-MH that I have by the looks of it?

Ideal indeed. A mate of mine saw mine and bought a couple for his and a couple for is wife's helmets. They like mountain biking in pitch black. It takes any AA size batteries, but the Lithium rechargables (available from DealExtreme, search for 14500, they also sell the chargers) give out 3.7V, which drives the LED to insane levels. On normal AA's it was brighter than another mate's Minewt.

Battery life on the Lithiums is about an hour, so I change battery each commute (40 minutes each way).

vorsprung

mickyboy wrote:

hi all

looking in millits they had lenser l5 l7 torches about £35 but 100 lumens, it seems some dedicated cycle lights are very expensive £250+



i noticed on ebay cree torch q5 250 lumens 4 123a rechargable batteries + charger approx £8 + shipping from abroad comes in at just under £18 but will have to wait a few days and figure out how to mount on cycle.

thank you :P

A B&M Ixon is probably 300 lumens ( the figures for it are in Lux, not lumens ) and is less than 100 quid

sarajoy

The only thing I have heard about having normal torches on your handlebars is that in some cases they can't cope with all the shuddering of the road buzz and go all flickery.

Might be better helmet-mounted as that damps the vibrations?

This is just what I've heard from 2 or 3 people, not my own experience.

Underscore

Scrumple wrote:

P7's are not cree's. and they take lithium batteries with different chargers.

Crees use AA's, and normal chargers.

Depends what you want. Cree's aint as bright but you can buy batteries anywhere if you run out of light!

You are correct that Crees are not P7. The P7 is an SSC (Seoul Semi-Conductor) (quad-chip) LED whereas Cree is a manufacturer of lots various LEDs. Neither has to run on any given type of battery (I have a friend with a home-made Cree XP-E light running from a Li-Ion battery pack) - it all depends on the product into which they are built. Likewise, what's brightest depends on the LED used and design of the product - if you can find something built around the new R5-bin XP-G from Cree, it will likely make the P7 look very ordinary.

</geek>

My point is, it is more meaningful to talk about products rather than LEDs. The LED is only one part of the overall product.

_

cougie

I bought a fenix torch last year - a major breakthrough in brightness for me.

Until I tried the P7 torch - which blew the fenix away.

Now you can get P7 bike lamps - bigger battery so 3 hours on max - fantastic.

Never had a problem with flicker ?

The discussion has been done to death over in MTB buying advice (and road buying advice) for a year or more now.

prawny

Agent57 wrote:

prawny wrote:

Just join the revolution

http://www.bestofferbuy.com/haiii-ssc-p ... 27282.html

Damn! That's a better deal than the one I went for. That's $79.00; I paid 81 cents more at http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25149 ! That was 12 days ago; it hasn't arrived yet.

That sucks, I paid even more for dhl shipping because it was already dark it came in about 10 days, with one failed delivery attempt, cost about £67 all in, but it's worth it. I'm getting another one when I've got some spare cash.

UndercoverElephant

sarajoy wrote:

The only thing I have heard about having normal torches on your handlebars is that in some cases they can't cope with all the shuddering of the road buzz and go all flickery.

Might be better helmet-mounted as that damps the vibrations?

This is just what I've heard from 2 or 3 people, not my own experience.

In general, you'll be better with an LED based torch, bulbs used to do this a lot more. Mostly it depends on the torch's build quality. Mine is surprisingly well built, considering it's cheap and from Hong Kong. Definitely for the quality end of the market. Also the number and weight of batteries can cause issues. Mine has a single, AA sized battery and I've seen not even a slight flicker.

Wallace1492

UndercoverElephant wrote:

This is my one:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.28546

I bought the rechargable lithium AA size (14500) batteries and a charger too. Superb, just superb. Build quality is amazing, and it's perfect as a bike light.

Undercover,

That looks good value, could you get rechargeable batteries here for it? The charger will have US plug? Which charger did you get for it, and how do you mount it? (oo, err missus) Sorry about the questions but looks super.

UndercoverElephant

Wallace1492 wrote:

Undercover,

That looks good value, could you get rechargeable batteries here for it? The charger will have US plug? Which charger did you get for it, and how do you mount it? (oo, err missus) Sorry about the questions but looks super.

I've not seen 14500 batteries over here, but the DX ones are cheap anyway. The charger comes with a mini-IEC lead (US), but if you have a CD player with a figure-of-eight lead, that fits perfectly. It works on UK voltage too.

Lithium batteries: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19771 (I bought four in total)

Charger: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4151 (note, some reviews mention it explodes - mine hasn't and doesn't even get warm)

Mount: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8274 (Doesn't quite hold the torch, but does a great job if you move the rubber strip from the bar clamp to the torch grip and cut it down a bit.)

mickbrown

Mounts - these look excellent

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Twofish-Torch-Loc ... _624wt_732

Headhuunter

sarajoy wrote:

The only thing I have heard about having normal torches on your handlebars is that in some cases they can't cope with all the shuddering of the road buzz and go all flickery.

Might be better helmet-mounted as that damps the vibrations?

This is just what I've heard from 2 or 3 people, not my own experience.

Yep, I had exactly that prob with the Tesco CREE torches. Bought 2 and was v impressed... For about a week then they both developed bad contacts and constantly flicked on and off, one of them is now completely broken and the other stays on, flickering a lot, til I hit a speed hump or something, then off it goes. Obviously very cheaply made. The only way round may be to get a full susser or lower your tyre pressure.

I bought a Fenix L2D and so far it has been brilliant. I've had compliments from passers by at how noticeable I am, although a car driver moaned at me that it was too bright.

Not really interested in anything brighter as can't be bothered with fitting an external batt pack which I would have to remove every time I locked the bike in public. Too much of a faff....

Twofish lockblock fixes torches to the bike very well

Agent57

essex-commuter wrote:

3-4 weeks is the norm from Dealextreme to Europe.

I won't start worrying yet, then.

El Capitano

I've got a couple of the Tesco 3W torches, bought them last year. I also bought a fitting from somewhere - bear with me whilst I find the link...

*Logs on to different forum...*

Won't be a minute now...

Here we go...

This is the mount for the Tesco torch:

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

This is how they look mounted on the Commuter Stead:



(Yes, I know their mounted upside down, but that worked fine)

Now have one of them mounted to the helmet, bit of a bodge with cable ties, but it works:



Weight is noticeable when riding:



At 162g, pretty heavy addition to the helmet.

cougie

Easy to fit torches onto a helmet. You just need an old innertube underneath the torch and then a hairband to go through a vent and out another one. Then put the torch thru the loops. The torch wont budge.

mickyboy

thanks all for replies,

i cannot seem to find the company name i purchased my cree q5 from on ebay to post a link,

searching on ebay cree q5 torch, mine comes up as cree q5 uv 3.7volt +batteries +charger
+holster £7.69 seller/vendor cyberport888.

bit rusty on how to post links etc hardly ever use ebay. but it seems some uk companies are a bit expensive re postage costs.

thank you :P

blorg

vorsprung wrote:

A B&M Ixon is probably 300 lumens ( the figures for it are in Lux, not lumens ) and is less than 100 quid

It is nowhere near 300 lumens, more like 60 at best. It is probably comparable in brightness to a TK11 on low mode. TK11 on turbo (225/240 lumen) is substantially brighter. The Ixon has a better beam pattern though and won't dazzle oncoming motorists. Not so good for speedy descents.

Have an order in for a MagicShine myself but to be honest I suspect it will be too much for the likes of commuting (I suspect it will dazzle oncoming drivers.)

blorg

cougie wrote:

Easy to fit torches onto a helmet. You just need an old innertube underneath the torch and then a hairband to go through a vent and out another one. Then put the torch thru the loops. The torch wont budge.

This mount is also a good option from DX. It is identical to a lockblock, just inline rather than 90 degrees and a lot cheaper.

Dazzza

Scrumple wrote:

P7's are not cree's. and they take lithium batteries with different chargers.

Crees use AA's, and normal chargers.

Depends what you want. Cree's aint as bright but you can buy batteries anywhere if you run out of light!

"pedant mode"

Technically they are cree, yes they are ssc but they business end the phosphor is still a cree.

cougie

Some good beamshots here : http://fonarevka.lux-rc.com/

Northwind

One thing worth mentioning is that for road use lights are as much about being seen as seeing. Unless they're actually shining in your eyes most torches aren't very visible, quite narrow view angles. A well designed road light (ie, not an offroading mtb light) doesn't generally make all that much light but it'll generally be more visible. I have an old Tesco 3W cree (which, incidentally, is about a year old and has seen constant use on and off road, not a single reliability issue) and a Cateye of some sort on flash to get a mix of both.

The big P7 lights aren't very good for road use IMO, wild scatter so quite glarey. Once you get up to this sort of brightness you need to start thinking about where it's pointing and the effect it might have on other road users.

prawny

blorg wrote:

vorsprung wrote:

Have an order in for a MagicShine myself but to be honest I suspect it will be too much for the likes of commuting (I suspect it will dazzle oncoming drivers.)

I use mine on low beam everyday and have not been flashed or moaned at, I do point it pretty low though.

Guisamo

Like el capitano, I've got a couple of Tesco's cree, used one on the bars one on helmet using fenix mounts. Recently bought a Magicshine for the bars, (its really bright), and still use one of the crees on the helmet for direction beam - ideal MTB set up IMO for £60!

giantsasquatch

You can go buy a cheap 2xAA LED torch from a UK DIY for under £10. Mine cost £5.

Then replace the LED with the TLE-5Ex MiniStar2 drop-in. Gives you 140 lumens. Brighter than the original Tesco 3W Cree.

Total Cost £22

http://www.thetorchsite.co.uk/TerraLUX_TLE-5EX.html

Northwind

Which is still far too much to spend for what's a fairly low power torch saddled with AAs (and won't give you the claimed output even with full fat, fresh AAs as it's undervolted at 3V, with the typical 2.4V you get from fresh rechargables it'll be lower still)