Product review - Solar Storm twin XML bike light
Comments
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If any of these do rotate on the bars, a bit of old inner tube underneath can help. I do that with mine (not solar storm but same O-ring mount).0
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apreading wrote:If any of these do rotate on the bars, a bit of old inner tube underneath can help. I do that with mine (not solar storm but same O-ring mount).
I had problems with it slipping round (because the mount is designed for standard width bars, but I was attaching it to an oversized area of mine, so it had limited contact area) - Brushed a little modeller's latex onto the parts of the mount that actually do make contact, and all good now.0 -
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Couldn't resist, have just ordered!0
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Lightmalls doing them for a ridiculous £8 (12.55 usd) without the 4 x 18650 pack if you have an old one knocking about:
http://www.lightmalls.com/solarstorm-x2 ... -lamp-only
Just ordered two, one for bars, one for helmet
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In contrast to the above - I've recently noticed some on ebay with two battery packs for about £20 odd. Might be a worthwhile investment if you do a lot of night riding, as it will buy you more time between recharging cycles, or let you ride with one pack whilst the other is charging.0
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Hi guys, reding this post and my question is:
Do they give wider light rather than spot-light ??
I have already got one spot light but looking for something bit more diffuse ?
Has anybody got any photos ??0 -
kinioo wrote:Hi guys, reding this post and my question is:
Do they give wider light rather than spot-light ??
I have already got one spot light but looking for something bit more diffuse ?
Has anybody got any photos ??
My post from another thread:I wrote:Quick comparative beam shot at short range:
Beam on right is the 2-LED Solarstorm unit with 4-cell battery;
Beam on left is a single-LED handtorch-type light using the same type of LED chip and one cell.
Both on full charge and maximum brightness setting.
As you can see, the single-LED torch has a very "flat" beam, with quite pronounced edges (it also has an obvious secondary halo, separated from the main beam by a darker ring, though you can't see these features in the photo) this gives very little "punch" down the trail, and the eye is instead drawn to the edges, where features closer to the rider, but to either side of the trail, are more brightly illuminated.
In contrast, the double unit has a much more progressive intensity spread, giving a really good "punch" in the centre, down the trail, and a more diffuse periphery. The overall effect is far superior for trail riding.
Personally, I find the beam is as wide as I would want for trail riding, especially when used in conjunction with a head-torch (for seeing round corners).0 -
jimothy78 wrote:kinioo wrote:Hi guys, reding this post and my question is:
Do they give wider light rather than spot-light ??
I have already got one spot light but looking for something bit more diffuse ?
Has anybody got any photos ??
My post from another thread:I wrote:Quick comparative beam shot at short range:
Beam on right is the 2-LED Solarstorm unit with 4-cell battery;
Beam on left is a single-LED handtorch-type light using the same type of LED chip and one cell.
Both on full charge and maximum brightness setting.
As you can see, the single-LED torch has a very "flat" beam, with quite pronounced edges (it also has an obvious secondary halo, separated from the main beam by a darker ring, though you can't see these features in the photo) this gives very little "punch" down the trail, and the eye is instead drawn to the edges, where features closer to the rider, but to either side of the trail, are more brightly illuminated.
In contrast, the double unit has a much more progressive intensity spread, giving a really good "punch" in the centre, down the trail, and a more diffuse periphery. The overall effect is far superior for trail riding.
Personally, I find the beam is as wide as I would want for trail riding, especially when used in conjunction with a head-torch (for seeing round corners).
Cheers mate.
Yes, I do have one spot light which will be mounted on my helmet to look a bit further but need something to mount on my bars - so this double-set looks good - may give it a go.0 -
jimothy78 wrote:kinioo wrote:Hi guys, reding this post and my question is:
Do they give wider light rather than spot-light ??
I have already got one spot light but looking for something bit more diffuse ?
Has anybody got any photos ??
My post from another thread:I wrote:Quick comparative beam shot at short range:
Beam on right is the 2-LED Solarstorm unit with 4-cell battery;
Beam on left is a single-LED handtorch-type light using the same type of LED chip and one cell.
Both on full charge and maximum brightness setting.
As you can see, the single-LED torch has a very "flat" beam, with quite pronounced edges (it also has an obvious secondary halo, separated from the main beam by a darker ring, though you can't see these features in the photo) this gives very little "punch" down the trail, and the eye is instead drawn to the edges, where features closer to the rider, but to either side of the trail, are more brightly illuminated.
In contrast, the double unit has a much more progressive intensity spread, giving a really good "punch" in the centre, down the trail, and a more diffuse periphery. The overall effect is far superior for trail riding.
Personally, I find the beam is as wide as I would want for trail riding, especially when used in conjunction with a head-torch (for seeing round corners).
I ordered one !!!!
If Its not good I will kill you jimothy78
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Mine just arrived. So far feels solid enough & looks very, very bright. For the money I would say it has to function for less than a year to be worthwhile.0
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Still waiting for mine.....
Edit:
Just arrived.
Blimey, its tiny !!!
Will it provide enough light ??
Will find out tonight.0 -
I sold mine... Lots of light but a pretty poor beam pattern- very bright, narrow centrespot, fairly narrow wider beam (the hotspot is bad news since your eyes adjust to the brightest point of vision- so you end up with less usable vision outside of the hotspot. Very chase-the-dot. Pisspoor charger and pretty rough battery. That's all pretty negative comments, but for the price it's still a good buy imo, especially if you have a safer charger you can use. You read a lot about people buying the Solarstorms then buying a new battery and charger, that makes zero sense though.
If you can afford to spend a little more, it's well worthwhile doing so IMO, you don't have to spend a fortune- lights like my Magicshine MJ872s are still under the £100 mark and are proper quality units not bargain basement, with decent chargers and batteries and a much superior beam. But if you want to spend a very small amount and get out night riding that's cool too, I wish these had been around when I'd got my first night lights (which cost more, and were rubbish)Uncompromising extremist0 -
That's quite odd - I found the beam on mine to be much wider and more uniform than say the typical single LED MS clone. Though I agree on the battery, mine degraded quickly. I wonder if there are different lensed versions about?0
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Hmmmm, tried it last night and must say I was expecting it ti be a bit wider.
I compared it with my single light and it is slightly wider but not as you'd expect from double unit.
Cant comment on the battery / charger as yet.
I am still on the market for some light with much WIDER/SPREADED light...but will not spend £100+.
Chris0 -
kinioo wrote:Hmmmm, tried it last night and must say I was expecting it ti be a bit wider.
I compared it with my single light and it is slightly wider but not as you'd expect from double unit.
Cant comment on the battery / charger as yet.
I am still on the market for some light with much WIDER/SPREADED light...but will not spend £100+.
Chris
Put some privacy film over one of the lenses....0 -
Hi All
How hot do these lights get, I see they have cooling fins on them, I want to get something helmet mounted.0 -
supersonic wrote:That's quite odd - I found the beam on mine to be much wider and more uniform than say the typical single LED MS clone.
It is much better than the single XML magicshine, but then they have horrible beam patterns, step back from the P7 those imo. Always seemed weird that, I never saw a single XML with a beam I liked, they all went for laserbeam. Apparently there's fake Solarstorms out there, that's when you know you've arrived as a cheap chinese light maker, someone even cheaper copies you.
TBH I think the P7 lights got the beam down really well but just lacked the power, the Solarstorm's pretty unrefined but still bloomin effective.Uncompromising extremist0 -
Ouija wrote:kinioo wrote:Hmmmm, tried it last night and must say I was expecting it ti be a bit wider.
I compared it with my single light and it is slightly wider but not as you'd expect from double unit.
Cant comment on the battery / charger as yet.
I am still on the market for some light with much WIDER/SPREADED light...but will not spend £100+.
Chris
Put some privacy film over one of the lenses....
Where I can get such a thing from ???0 -
Woohoo got mine today! Pretty impressed with lightmalls.com - ordered 8/11, shipped 16/11, recieved 20/11. 1 x ss2 + battery, 1 x head unit only, $43 (about 27 quid). Cant wait to go and test them out!!0
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kinioo wrote:Ouija wrote:kinioo wrote:Hmmmm, tried it last night and must say I was expecting it ti be a bit wider.
I compared it with my single light and it is slightly wider but not as you'd expect from double unit.
Cant comment on the battery / charger as yet.
I am still on the market for some light with much WIDER/SPREADED light...but will not spend £100+.
Chris
Put some privacy film over one of the lenses....
Where I can get such a thing from ???
B&Q, Wilko etc. It's just finely dimpled clear tape that comes in sheets for covering up windows.0 -
Ouija wrote:kinioo wrote:Ouija wrote:kinioo wrote:Hmmmm, tried it last night and must say I was expecting it ti be a bit wider.
I compared it with my single light and it is slightly wider but not as you'd expect from double unit.
Cant comment on the battery / charger as yet.
I am still on the market for some light with much WIDER/SPREADED light...but will not spend £100+.
Chris
Put some privacy film over one of the lenses....
Where I can get such a thing from ???
B&Q, Wilko etc. It's just finely dimpled clear tape that comes in sheets for covering up windows.
Cheers0
