buying advice: commuter light lezyne super drive vs moon xp5

hoper101
hoper101 Posts: 10
edited December 2011 in Commuting general
Hey guys first time poster,

I have been looking at buying a commuter light for mainly city cycling and fairly often jaunts into the countryside. Both retail at about 85 on a good day and I'm just after some help in choosing between the two or finding something similar in terms of lumens and build quality.

Any opinions/suggestions are greatly welcomed.

Mike

Comments

  • hoper101
    hoper101 Posts: 10
    Sorry its the lezyne super drive and the moon xp500
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Are you wanting something to light the way in total darkness? Both offer 450-500 lumens, which is not too bad compared to some others out there, but can certainly get more for your money. They have the advantage of being quite small and light, but this drops the runtimes a bit: consider the torch option too as in the MTB Buying Section forum for great set ups for peanuts.

    If want a powerful unit with longer runtime and good back up, take a look at this:

    http://www.magicshineuk.co.uk/products/ ... ne-MJ-808E

    But you can get practically the same thing from Deal Extreme UK for a paltry £33:

    http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t6-waterpr ... -904482510

    The main difference is the beam on the latter is tighter ie less of a flood. Both are head and shoulders above the Moon and Lezyne though for output and runtime.
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  • hoper101
    hoper101 Posts: 10
    supersonic wrote:
    Are you wanting something to light the way in total darkness? Both offer 450-500 lumens, which is not too bad compared to some others out there, but can certainly get more for your money. They have the advantage of being quite small and light, but this drops the runtimes a bit: consider the torch option too as in the MTB Buying Section forum for great set ups for peanuts.

    If want a powerful unit with longaer runtime and good back up, take a look at this:

    http://www.magicshineuk.co.uk/products/ ... ne-MJ-808E

    But you can get practically the same thing from Deal Extreme UK for a paltry £33:

    http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t6-waterpr ... -904482510


    The output looks great but there seems to be so many complaints in terms of life of components and build quality. I want something that Will last for years. Can anyone vouch for magicshine longevity and surely the lower power batteries only kick out 600 lumens max?

    The main difference is the beam on the latter is tighter ie less of a flood. Both are head and shoulders above the Moon and Lezyne though for output and runtime.
  • DrLex
    DrLex Posts: 2,142
    Almost exactly on budget is the Philips LED light, available for £80 + £5 postage from rosebikes.co.uk
    It's a robust metal all-in-one unit with a wide beam and two levels of power for city & unlit. Benefits are that it uses 4 AA batteries and has a USB port for recharging (mains charger included). 3 lights on top show power remaining, and like most decent lights, will switch from high to low automatically when power reaches a certain level.
    I bought a DX MagicShine, but wanted a better beam, less bits hanging off the bike and easier recharge (can use PC at work), plus stories of robustness concerned me so I've put the 'shine on my MTB as a spare.
    Location: ciderspace
  • Joffff
    Joffff Posts: 26
    hoper101 wrote:
    Sorry its the lezyne super drive and the moon xp500

    I've got the Super Drive and would happily buy it again (or maybe go for the slightly cheaper Power Drive), but I've been looking for a slightly cheaper light for the wife and the Moon X-Power 300 came up in my search so I'd be interested in seeing how that compares to the Lezyne for beam and build quality.

    For me, the run time isn't an issue - the commute is 30mins each way and just plug the Super Drive into a USB by my desk when it's getting a bit low on juice. But I can appreciate this isn't an option for some.
  • hoper101
    hoper101 Posts: 10
    Bought the super drive yesterday and my LBS price matched the cheapest i could find. Rode a section of pitch black muddy track from a train station and its easily bright enough to confidently ride. having come from a light to be seen with it seems perfect for the job. the moon was going to be out of stock nearly everywhere for three weeks and i start a fairly grueling commute on Monday. dead chuffed with the super drive. I'd recommend it too.
  • stifflersmom
    stifflersmom Posts: 177
    Joffff wrote:
    hoper101 wrote:
    Sorry its the lezyne super drive and the moon xp500

    I've got the Super Drive and would happily buy it again (or maybe go for the slightly cheaper Power Drive), but I've been looking for a slightly cheaper light for the wife and the Moon X-Power 300 came up in my search so I'd be interested in seeing how that compares to the Lezyne for beam and build quality.

    I'd recommend the XP300 - the build quality is good and it is USB rechargeable. You can find them for less than £50 online, so significantly less than the Lezyne Power Drive. I've not compared the beam pattern of the Power Drive and XP300, but the XP500 and Super Drive are very similar.
  • simon_e
    simon_e Posts: 1,706
    http://road.cc/content/review/47544-lez ... ront-light

    Click the pull-downs to compare beam shots and graphs. Super Drive has better spread than Power Drive but Moon 500 trumps them both. Moon 300 is excellent value at £50, though I would be happy to pay a little extra for Lezyne's design and build quality.
    Aspire not to have more, but to be more.

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