Lights

tambrown

Afternoon all,

Just looking for opinions on these type of lights:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111145887856? ... 1438.l2649

Obviously they are not going to be as good as the top end stuff but if anyone has used them any info would be appreciated

Tam

Uli

I have never owned one but it is Far East import so don't expect much. See comments about quality...

cooldad

Massive thread on lights. They work fine, but seriously, are you planning on shooting Hun planes down during the blitz?

The Rookie

On full power the battery will last just over 1 hour.

The single Cree T6 version of that is what I use (same one for 3 years just to dispell the "it's from the far east so will fail" doom mngers - noting that when they first came to the UK they were reassuringly expensive at £150, fine for riding in a group or commuting, but you need 2, one bar and one head mounted for riding solo, that one is overkill and will get very very hot on full power, and if you aren't going to use full power you may as well get a cheaper one! Nor can it produce 6000lm with that battery pack, you'd need a lot more current for that.

kajjal

The far east sellers are cheap for a reason. The product quality and quality control are general poor and variable. This is why you get at random, failures, overheating, poor battery performance, fake quality marks on the lights etc. The upside is they are cheap. I ended up getting a proper branded light as I want to go for an hours blast out in the country in the pitch black and did not want lights that fail.

It just depends what you want

The Rookie

Except of course that many of the expensive stuff is fully assembeld in the far east and comes in slightly dearer boxes then they charge you ten times as much.

We have three of the generic XM-L T6 'magicshines' and never had an issue.

cooldad

The torches are generally fine - I've had a few for years and they work perfectly.
Cheap batteries can be dangerous though, so I only buy name brands from proper UK sellers like Torchyboy, and Xtar chargers.

kajjal

The Rookie wrote:

Except of course that many of the expensive stuff is fully assembeld in the far east and comes in slightly dearer boxes then they charge you ten times as much.

We have three of the generic XM-L T6 'magicshines' and never had an issue.

If you check out the reviews on them they are all over the place. Some like yourself are very pleased and others get defective and even dangerously faulty goods with illegally used quality standards marks on them. The more expensive stuff is made and inspected to higher standards as many of the tear downs of lights show. Just depends on your budget and risk level.

hainman

I just bought one of the 501b torches from C&B Seen,9quid for torch and 15vquid for the Xtar battery plus usb charger,and a 6 cell battery pack for my 3 cree XML lamp.

morepower

I just got this...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251327001864? ... 1497.l2649

I charged it up and tried it out last night... I ignored the 5000lm claim as most of the others claim it is about 2000lm and to be honest for the price I took a chance on it... I am glad I did.. It is bright, VERY bright on full power (Lasts about 1h 10min when I checked it after its first charge so it my be a little better after a couple of charges) on the mid power level it lasted 3 hours almost exactly and is more than bright enough at that level for most rides. Battery packs are quite cheap so having a second pack with you is not expensive or really heavy if you put in in a saddle pack or your back pack. It is water proof too as I dropped it into water and under a running tap. I am more than happy with it...

stellamandude

morepower wrote:

I just got this...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251327001864? ... 1497.l2649

I charged it up and tried it out last night... I ignored the 5000lm claim as most of the others claim it is about 2000lm and to be honest for the price I took a chance on it... I am glad I did.. It is bright, VERY bright on full power (Lasts about 1h 10min when I checked it after its first charge so it my be a little better after a couple of charges) on the mid power level it lasted 3 hours almost exactly and is more than bright enough at that level for most rides. Battery packs are quite cheap so having a second pack with you is not expensive or really heavy if you put in in a saddle pack or your back pack. It is water proof too as I dropped it into water and under a running tap. I am more than happy with it...

Any beam shots ?

morepower

Not sure if this will work... I made a little video... The "Shed" at the bottom of the garden is about 25 meters away and the trees behind it are over 35 meters away.. I did the video on my phone so it is not great and in real life it is pretty bright.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151848905007114

stellamandude

morepower wrote:

Not sure if this will work... I made a little video... The "Shed" at the bottom of the garden is about 25 meters away and the trees behind it are over 35 meters away.. I did the video on my phone so it is not great and in real life it is pretty bright.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151848905007114

That's good enough for me, cheers buddy

morepower

stellamandude wrote:

morepower wrote:

Not sure if this will work... I made a little video... The "Shed" at the bottom of the garden is about 25 meters away and the trees behind it are over 35 meters away.. I did the video on my phone so it is not great and in real life it is pretty bright.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151848905007114

That's good enough for me, cheers buddy

No problem.. For less than £25.00 it is great value and spare batteries can be had for less than £10 too....

RandG

Where did you find a spare battery ? I have the same lights x2, one of the batteries is fine, the other runs down much quicker.

The fact that they screw on to the battery makes them different from the other chinese ones.

Ouija

Almost got one of those but went for this instead as it's a XM-L2 emitter, so brighter and more efficient. Get over two hours from the four cell pack, instead of the traditional 1hr i'd expect from a typical XM-L T6 or U2. Also has a remote switch so you don't have to take your hands off the grips to change modes. Only £29.

morepower

RandG wrote:

Where did you find a spare battery ? I have the same lights x2, one of the batteries is fine, the other runs down much quicker.

The fact that they screw on to the battery makes them different from the other chinese ones.

http://www.lightmalls.com/new-4-18650-b ... rew-thread

This one may also work as it has a thread too... But email them first..
http://www.lightmalls.com/8-4v-12000mah ... with-pouch

Maro

Ouija wrote:

Almost got one of those but went for this instead as it's a XM-L2 emitter, so brighter and more efficient. Get over two hours from the four cell pack, instead of the traditional 1hr i'd expect from a typical XM-L T6 or U2. Also has a remote switch so you don't have to take your hands off the grips to change modes. Only £29.

I'm thinking of going for one of these, have you used it yet? How does it fare?

Ouija

Maro wrote:

Ouija wrote:

Almost got one of those but went for this instead as it's a XM-L2 emitter, so brighter and more efficient. Get over two hours from the four cell pack, instead of the traditional 1hr i'd expect from a typical XM-L T6 or U2. Also has a remote switch so you don't have to take your hands off the grips to change modes. Only £29.

I'm thinking of going for one of these, have you used it yet? How does it fare?

Yeah. Actually just bought another one as i like it so much. Small, light, economical on battery usage, click lock connectors, waterproof battery, soft rubber case (not dirt soaking fabric case, like most others), remote switch with easy to read drain indicator, reasonably good bar mount and the all new super XM-L2 emitters. All for £29. I think one or two of those features makes it the best of the current twin head designs floating around ebay (though i got mine from Manafont as there is no postage cost).

Not that the others are bad, but simply that they use older T6 or U2 emitters and have shorter run times, basic or specialized connectors, no remote switches etc. An those multi-emitters in a single head unit designs that are popular on ebay at the moment (4x, 5x etc) tend to have no decent way of controlling the brightness and, being XM-L T6's, tend to gobble up the batteries that come with them in less than an hour. So never even looked at buying those.

Maro

That was a lot more comprehesive than I was expecting, awsome thanks.

Maro

Just ordered one from the same place, seems I got a better exchange rate, £26.80. BOOM!!