Darkness is coming - could we have sensible front light use?
Comments
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The unlit NSL country lanes I commute on require "massive lights" to be safe, and when I do the longer loop home via Nottingham (also not a suburb of London) which takes me through a nature reserve, I damn well *need* several hundred lumen to see. The ducks, voles, geese and squirrels haven't complained yet. The swans might be, but they're just damned unfriendly at the best of times.
Oh balls. I do part of my commute on unlit roads including through a wood with deer, badgers, foxes etc. you don't need "several hundred lumen". A single well-engineered light is more than enough. I use a B+M dyno light which works by bouncing the LED off an engineered mirror so it floods the road rather than carving a tunnel of light. There are a few single tracks through the woods which are popular for MTB night rides. Every now and again a MTBer with several hundred lumen appears on the road in order to sear my retina. These hugely powerful but crudely shaped lights may be essential to pick out roots, branches and rocks on twisty single track but on road its like a surgeon using a chainsaw rather than a scalpel.
Unless you cycle at about 4 mph I don't see how (pun intended) a dynamo light could give anywhere near enough light for properly dark unlit roads.
Surely a dynamo LED one would work?
Looks like there's the perfect one here...
http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Exposure-Revo-Mk1-Dynamo-Front-Light_67083.htm0 -
Unless you cycle at about 4 mph I don't see how (pun intended) a dynamo light could give anywhere near enough light for properly dark unlit roads.
Have you used a dynamo light recently, or not for about 30 years? They're much better than they used to be. They also generally now have capacitors/batteries to keep them going when you stop.
Old lights were crap because they were based on incandescent bulbs. LEDS are massively more efficient and work miles better, whether powered by batteries or a dynamo.
I was one of the presumably many who picked up a Philips Saferide 80 when rose had them cheap last year - excellent commuter light. Brilliant beam shaping means the road is lit evenly, no hot-spots, sharp cut off means that you don't blind oncoming traffic.
Most front lights are fundamentally crap unfortunately.0 -
I'll admit I haven't used one recently but he said that you don't need several hundred lumens and his was from B&M (B&M bargains maybe?!) so i can imagine how bright it is!
that one linked above is 800 lumens (although it does look really good!) so that's out.www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes0 -
I'm eating a lot of carrots in preparation for the darker months.0
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Jesus my 480 lumen light was just about enough for a fair few winters, including unlit NSL roads. I've since upgraded to the Mk5 Strada with 800 lumens and it's more than enough. I'd have no problem with that Revo. In fact my next set of wheels might have a dynamo front....Sometimes parts break. Sometimes you crash. Sometimes it’s your fault.0
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I'll admit I haven't used one recently but he said that you don't need several hundred lumens and his was from B&M (B&M bargains maybe?!) so i can imagine how bright it is!
that one linked above is 800 lumens (although it does look really good!) so that's out.
Er that would be Busch & Muller, with the rather amusing URL http://www.bumm.de/ - a well respected bike light company.
German front lights are generally better buys as they are legally required to have shaped beams so as not to blind oncoming traffic. Unfortunately they aren't allowed flashers in Germany, which makes their rears less effective.0 -
Its not about Lumens, HIDs can put out well over 2000 genuine lumen per headlight, its about lumen/mm2 of the light and most importantly where its pointing. 200 lumen is really annoying if its not reflected and pointing right in your eye.
I'll happily use a couple of genuine 800 lumen lamps on road without any risk of dazzle, just set them up the way car headlights are set (dipped away from oncoming vehicles) and choose a head with a reasonably small reflector to match the tiny LED and you wont have a problem putting out high lumen. If you do, then a small amount of opaque tape on the lens on the right hand top corner should do the trick.
What is vastly more important than high output is having a flasher to get you seen and reflective tabs. to pick up the light others put out.0 -
Just to point out (as I originally said at the start of the thread) 808e (Magicshine) and a Hope Vision 2 at the front.
Also... the magicshine has an adapted lens that flattens the beam, so it is across the road and not a bloody great circle blinding all and sundry.
It's also very useful for those people that do not dip their lights... A little flick to shine it straight at them (a la main beam flash) and their lights go to dipped
Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
2011 Trek Madone 4.5
2012 Felt F65X
Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter0 -
i used mine to melt the ice in front of meRule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.0 -
The old quad core Magicshines are still pretty good even by today's standards, the P7 and MCE LEDs give a nice flood even in a larger head. Its the newer XP-L and XM-L LEDs that need a bit of management, due to the small surface area. The upside is they are extremely efficient.
I Still find these hard to beat at 6 quid for a light that can push 800 Lumen on full and a sensible 100-150 on low.
http://www.lightmalls.com/ultrafire-wf-501b-cree-xm-l2-5-modes-led-flashlight-torch-1-18650
You can easily mount them with 4 loops of old MTB inner tube. They'll run for about 3 hours on medium or well over 10 hours on low.
LED technology changes so fast - couple of years ago you'd be looking at 250 lumen for a 2 hour run time out of a single cell, now you can get 600 easy.0 -
Unless you cycle at about 4 mph I don't see how (pun intended) a dynamo light could give anywhere near enough light for properly dark unlit roads.
Have you used a dynamo light recently, or not for about 30 years? They're much better than they used to be. They also generally now have capacitors/batteries to keep them going when you stop.
Old lights were crap because they were based on incandescent bulbs. LEDS are massively more efficient and work miles better, whether powered by batteries or a dynamo.
I was one of the presumably many who picked up a Philips Saferide 80 when rose had them cheap last year - excellent commuter light. Brilliant beam shaping means the road is lit evenly, no hot-spots, sharp cut off means that you don't blind oncoming traffic.
Most front lights are fundamentally crap unfortunately.
I give a +1 to the Phillips. Shaping of the light is superb and it hits a good price point.
I think that the problem comes from buying based on big numbers like lumens and not how well the light is built and/or caused by people using uber powerful lights in 'be seen' configurations ie pointing forwards and up towards traffic, or set to strobe when they are now too powerful for that.0 -
I'll admit I haven't used one recently but he said that you don't need several hundred lumens and his was from B&M (B&M bargains maybe?!) so i can imagine how bright it is!
you are seriously out of date - I have one of these
http://www.bumm.de/produkte/dynamo-scheinwerfer/lumotec-iq2-luxos.html
http://www.bumm.de/uploads/tx_bummprodukte/70_Lux_600_px.jpg
Second link is a pic of the beam on an unlit road0 -
Unless you cycle at about 4 mph I don't see how (pun intended) a dynamo light could give anywhere near enough light for properly dark unlit roads.
Have you used a dynamo light recently, or not for about 30 years? They're much better than they used to be. They also generally now have capacitors/batteries to keep them going when you stop.
Old lights were crap because they were based on incandescent bulbs. LEDS are massively more efficient and work miles better, whether powered by batteries or a dynamo.
I was one of the presumably many who picked up a Philips Saferide 80 when rose had them cheap last year - excellent commuter light. Brilliant beam shaping means the road is lit evenly, no hot-spots, sharp cut off means that you don't blind oncoming traffic.
Most front lights are fundamentally crap unfortunately.
To be fair, I have both a SafeRide 60 (Dynamo-powered) and a brace of SafeRide 80s..The 60 is ok, but the 80 makes 20mph+ on unlit roads notably easier on the eyes. The £20 DX 'cone of melt' is a hoot on the off-road stuff, so I can appreciate their appeal, but wouldn't use it on road unless almost vertically downwards.Location: ciderspace0
