Lights - again!

The Rookie

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CYCLE-LIGHT-CREE- ... 3cb3c12126

Same guy has a few similar for sale, less than £15 for 240lumens sounds almost too good to be true - discuss!

Simon

Mr Plum

You wont get 240 lumen from 3AAA batteries for very long. Looks alright for the price though.

You can get a Cree XP-G R5 light for about that price that will run off a lithium 16850 cell with a genuine max output of about 280-320 lumen.

I'm running a P7 light with a rated output of 900 lumen, but realistically it's more like 650 max with good cells - it's amazingly bright and a whole setup with cells and charger can be bought for around £35 from DealExtreme. Great value if you need that sort of light.

Sorry if this has all been said elsewhere...

The Rookie

My commute is 45mins a day so I'd use good rechargeable and charge overnight.

I have some Christmas money left so may go for it.....

Simon

ndru

Get a hub or bottle generator and a Basta Pilot LED lamp plus some tail lamp and you'll be sorted forever.

Berk Bonebonce

ndru wrote:

Get a hub or bottle generator and a Basta Pilot LED lamp plus some tail lamp and you'll be sorted forever.

Dynamo's are a bit too complicated for UK cyclists ... and your average LBS.

walkingbootweather

wot Mr Plum said.

Having researched this in depth I reckon pretty much the definitive flexible, powerful solution with respectible real-world performance for less than £40 is:

diy wrote:

Tail light - you can get from anywhere a couple of 3 quid CRC lights are fine.

1 of these
2 of these
one pack of these
2 of these

If you want it in a week pay for express delivery, if you can wait 2-3 dont.

This will give you 660 Lumen and be as good as a light package costing 150 quid.

Here are some beam shots 80ft approx
This is an SSC P7 in a Magicshine
This is a 501b XPG
This is 2 501b XPG

whyamihere

I'm not sure I trust the beam shot in that Ebay link. The edges seem far too sharp, for it to be spreading to an area that size I'd expect the edges to be a lot fuzzier.

walkingbootweather

Beam shots etc. provided by poster called diy. Don't know him personally but he seems a genuine, knowledgeble and helpful chap so I have no reason to disbelieve.

Lots more discussion on http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=16689853#16689853 if you can wade through 36 pages as I have.

XPG emitters are known to be quite focused. I understand that P7 and MCE alternatives produce a wider beam, and greater absolute output, but runtime is lower. You pays your money..... Some posters, especially those doing serious night-time off-roading, suggest mixing light types but for commuting I figured a focused beam and not dazzling other users was preferable

Sorry WAIH, I was justifying the beam shots linked from my post and I now appreciate you were refering to the shots in the OP ebay link. Yes I see what you mean..

cyberknight

240 lumens from those lights (OP ) , not a chance i had 2 of them and my commute on unlit roads was taken slowly and only then on roads i knew.

I just started using a p7 magicshine light with 3 settings, high,low and flash and for the money (£53) its a great light and will last 3 hours on full and maybe double that on low ( maybe 2-300 lumens ).The high setting is rated 900 lumens but many people say that most of these sort of lights are over specced and it comes close to 600 in real output .

Still its a great light and i can easily see to commute with confidence at any speed i can muster from my legs

Blue Meanie

As has been shown many times before...

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32589

plus batteries & charger & handlebar mount, 2-3weeks, no comeback.

Me got one, Mrs Meanie got one, Meanie Bruv'n'law got two! Huge amount of light for low price.

Valy

Berk Bonebonce wrote:

ndru wrote:

Get a hub or bottle generator and a Basta Pilot LED lamp plus some tail lamp and you'll be sorted forever.

Dynamo's are a bit too complicated for UK cyclists ... and your average LBS.

huh

desweller

ndru wrote:

Get a hub or bottle generator and a Basta Pilot LED lamp plus some tail lamp and you'll be sorted forever.

Yeah I'm looking at this. There's a great thread over on YACF with a superb lights test.

http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=11751.0

The Rookie

cyberknight wrote:

240 lumens from those lights (OP ) , not a chance i had 2 of them and my commute on unlit roads was taken slowly and only then on roads i knew.

I just started using a p7 magicshine light with 3 settings, high,low and flash and for the money (£53) its a great light and will last 3 hours on full and maybe double that on low ( maybe 2-300 lumens ).The high setting is rated 900 lumens but many people say that most of these sort of lights are over specced and it comes close to 600 in real output .

Still its a great light and i can easily see to commute with confidence at any speed i can muster from my legs

Thanks CB, I'll probably save my pennies then....

Simon

jedster

Just on the hub dyno point. I've been running one of these for 4 years and really believe they are the best solution for commuters.

Recently my front light failed (B+M Lumotec IQ CYO) which is a bit disappointing but has been on the bike in all weathers for about 3 years. While I was waiting for a replacement to arrive I bought an Exposure flash which I am using with the rechargeables for maximum output (110 lumen I think). It's very impressive in that the light is surprisingly powerful for its tiny size.

That said, this morning, I had the chance to compare my new CYO with the Flash. The CYO provides way more light (rated at 60 lux - dont know how that compares to lumen). Also it is designed with the LED bouncing off a shaped reflector which makes the pool of light that it creates much more useful that the round spot of torch type light.

walkingbootweather

Probably a case of horses for courses as some of the newer dynamos have impressive performance.

I'll stick with a couple of xpgs which give me redundancy if one fails, offer various modes, and can be mounted on bars or helmet. Tremendous power and versatility for less than £40.

I want some light to see what I'm doing if for instance I need to fix a flat in the dark, and to walk to the lock-up where my bikes parked.

jedster

Oh, I think it's a good idea to have a back up battery light for all sorts of reasons. I'll be using the flash for that from now on but I reckon i'll be leaving it in my bag until I need it - it doesnt really add anything used in parallel with the CYO.

Dynos are so convenient - no battery changes, no battery charging, no removing lights from the bike when you lock it up (they bolt on). It used to be that they couldn't compete for visibility but with LEDs that is no longer true.

Anyway, I don't expect many poeple to be converted - I see hardly any bikes with hub dynos fitted. Seems that few people can be bothered to give them a try.

The Rookie

Hub dyno's are a bit of a pricey install though, wheel rebuild is £20 on top of the dyno'.....plus even pricier if you want disc brakes as I do!

Simon

rolf_f

The Beginner wrote:

Hub dyno's are a bit of a pricey install though, wheel rebuild is £20 on top of the dyno'.....plus even pricier if you want disc brakes as I do!

Simon

Plus for 8 months of the year, for most folk, they are dead weight. I think I'd go for it if I needed lights all year round though.

jedster

Plus for 8 months of the year, for most folk, they are dead weight. I think I'd go for it if I needed lights all year round though.

Good point. I come home quite late so use my lights year round.

walkingbootweather

If I had just one bike that I used for everything then I might be more tempted to invest in a hub dynamo, but when you are are chopping and changing between 3 and a half bikes (3 are mine and I occasionally 'borrow' Mrs wbw's folder), the convenience to clip on and go is pretty compelling.

CarlosDSanchez

Just got one of these

http://www.bike24.com/p214244.html

It's a German web site, took about 3 days to deliver and worked out at £85 ish. Good commuter light, got the shaped reflector to throw more light on the ground (like a car headlamp) and not dazzle on coming traffic. It's bright enough so that you don't get the moment of blindness after cars pass you and in fact it's a good bit brighter than the lights of the cars overtaking you (unless they have HID lamps)

Can recharge it off the usb port of the work pc so although it's got a pretty short run time (2 hours on high - 8 on low) it suits my 24 mile round trip commute pretty well.[/url]

alfablue

Its another overpriced, overstated, underpowered light I am afraid. Why not read The New what lights discussion thread.