Commuting - LED Headlights

Does anyone have any experience with the new (to me, at least) LED headlights, like the CatEye EL300 (http://www.cateye.com/detail_mod02.php?products_id=91)? Seems like a good idea, if it's bright enough.

Hi; I have looked at these lights (specs), but have not tried one. I do use an eternaLight flash on my helmet, which as 4 LEDs. It lights up the roadway right in front the bike, but does not have a lot of reach (something I do not need as most of my route is well lit). I suspect the EL-300 will have similar limitations...ie. the HID lights with external battery packs have much better range.

The other thing which I did not like about the EL-300 is that it is rated to go only 20 some odd hours in steady mode. I guess you could use rechargeable batteries, but suspect you would get far less than 20 hours on a charge.

In comparison, the eternaLight can go two seasons on 3 AA batteries. Information aobut the eternaLight can be found on www.techass.com and can be purchased at www.theledlight.com.

Roadbuzz,
There was a thread on this light just a month or two ago. Sounds pretty good though obviously not as bright as, say, a 10W light. I plan to try one sometime.

Thanks for the reminder about the old post...I had totally forgotten about them. One positive of LED based lights is that LEDs will still produce light, even when the batteries are almost dead.

Let me know if anyone has an online retailer with the EL-300 in stock. I would like to give one a try. Thanks.

I don't know about these bicycle grade LED lights, but I use a Petzl Tikka headlamp when its dark out. Its no halogen, but they last for a really long time on the batteries.
I also use a red blinking LED for the rear.
I recommend LEDs.

Originally posted by RainmanP
There was a thread on this light just a month or two ago.
I figured there probably was, but every time I tried to search on "LED headlights" the search engine complained about my search string having less than 3 characters. I guess it didn't like "LED." Anyhow, thanks for the heads-up. I'll go back and find it.

Aha! (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14492)

I a big fan of LEDS too, i use the same as Dwagenheim, a Petzl tikka.

www.petzl.com, only 24,95 Euro, five year waranty

Black diamond makes real pretty ones, but expensive also, www.bdel.com

cheers :beer:

Very impressed with the EL 300 in terms of brightness (far brighter than the old EL 100) but it is quite a directional light and needs careful horizontal positioning to maximize visibility to oncoming vehicles.

Richard

just picked up the cateye HL-EL300 today, it's really bright (400+ candlepower). i haven't had the chance to try it out yet, but tonight i'll be out and about. i don't think it's going to be as bright as my niterider, but being over $100 cheeper i can't complain. plus it's burn time is amazing!

E...

Yesterday, I bought the EL300 on Performance Bike. It is back ordered, but I should have it within a few weeks. I have the EL100 and while it doesn't light the road worth a darn, it is quite visible to motorist. I am looking forward to having an LED light that both motorist and myself can see.

I really like Cateye products. Their service is absolutely great too - many thanks to their Customer Service Manager Tom.

I have not used the EL 300 specifically, but I have used three-bulp LED lights for about a year. My experience with LED lights was that they were "OK" - not great and not really able to light up the road. It seemed effectivel, perhaps to identify yourself to motorists.

That said, Cateye claims that their unique feature is the reflective technology they use which directs the light most effectively. That may be true - haven't tried the Cateye EL 300 yet.

Just a quick update. This is my third year rounding year round. I keep trying different things for front visibility and making myself seen from the rear. My current set up includes two Cateye EL-300s on the handlebars. I have one set slightly higher than the other, so get plenty of coverage for the road ahead. I have an eternaLight Ergo marine on top of my helmet facing forward and set to rapid blink mode. This allows me to turn to drivers approaching from side streets and definitely catches their attention. For the rear safety factor, I am pulling a Burley dlite trailer which has a long silver reflective strip on the back edge below the flap. I then have two 7-LED blinkers on the back bumper of the trailer and two DOT rated yellow reflectors hanging from the back flap. And the best thing I have done, is that I recently added an eternaLight Raven to my helmet, which is behind the Ergo Marine and is facing backward. As with the Ergo Marine, this flashlight has 4-LEDs, but instead of all white LEDs, it has one green, one yellow, one red, and one blue LED. I set it to random firing of each LED. It is quite a light show and according to the specs, can be seen from up to 3 miles away. I had an SUV ask if I was a bike policeman on my ride home tonight. And I must say, cars slow way down when approaching me from behind and give me a wide birth. I think I appear to be a bunch of cop cars at an accident scene. A picture of my helmet from the rear is attached.

I am currently using a combination of a 2.4W halogen (CatEye HL1500) and one of the new `opti cube' white LEDs. The halogen only gives 3 hours, but the LED is good for 100 hours. Having 2 lights is great because it means I don't have to be too obsessed with recharching the NiMH batteries for the halogen and I have a backup.

The Cateye EL110 white LED is very bright, but not really something you can ride by. I angle it slightly up so that oncoming cars get a great flash of light.

The EL100 really does need 1.5V AA batteries - the NiMH are normally on 1.2V and this is not enough to make the LEDs really work.

Having said all that, it is still not quite summer here, so you have to have missed out on 14 hours of sunlight before needing to don the lights :]

I have the EL300 and it's really quite bright...BUT the beam is tightly focused. This is good and bad. The "spot" it illuminates it illuminates well...it's just small. Also, for visibility, it's just not very bright unless it's "pointed right at you". I use it for visibility at dusk, as a backup to my main light, and as a flashlight. You could get home with it, but, IMO, it's not good enough for fast night riding.

Now that I have the EL-100 and the EL-300, I find they work well when used together. I use the 300 to see the ground ahead, and I point the 100 to shine directly at cars. I still commute with my Vistalite 15W, but around town the LED's are more than adequate.

Originally posted by Richard D
Very impressed with the EL 300 in terms of brightness (far brighter than the old EL 100) but it is quite a directional light and needs careful horizontal positioning to maximize visibility to oncoming vehicles.
Richard
... and Mssr. Moorer1 also weighed in with a pretty fair assessment on the new Cateye.

Performance delivered my 'cat about a week ago and it's seen a few hours of use. I agree with what the above two guys said.

My 2 cents: good build quality, good ergonomics, projects an even and consistent beam, it's mountable on other Cateye handlebar brackets, mounts securely w/o rattling or shaking, makes a capable handheld flashlight which I employ for my cycling/geocaching expeditions, and it appears weather resistant. I would not worry about getting caught in brief rainshower with it (from a roadie point of view), but would not take it out on a muddy singletrack or on the road in really crummy weather. Heck, I don't even take myself out in really crummy weather.

This light is not suitable for fast pace road riding. For that you gotta have a bigger, brighter beam. It's just dandy for my evening cruises at/below 15 mph. Speed work is best done during the day anyways.
This light is probably not suitable for dirt riding, for that I would think you'd need much more light, but it would make an excellent spare.
This light is probably not suitable for a be-seen light, for that you need photon torpedoes :eek:
A good investment would be to replace your bikes front reflector with a Cateye Reflex LD-500 which sports a clear lense LED flasher. It also acts as a reflector and it's flashing action (visible all 360 degrees) will get you noticed by most drivers.

The Bottom Line - it's an excellent product, for what it is.

Originally posted by greg360

A good investment would be to replace your bikes front reflector with a Cateye Reflex LD-500 which sports a clear lense LED flasher. It also acts as a reflector and it's flashing action (visible all 360 degrees) will get you noticed by most drivers.



I agree with you summing up of the EL 300 but personally i can't recommend the LD-500 - it's a great idea but I found the original, and the replacement weren't waterproof enough to be at all reliable, and once water got in the switches became unreliable.

Richard

by the by, for attaching lights to helmets, I've figured out a pretty easy way.

attach the light fitting (ie the bit that shld go on the bike itself) to the helmet using plastic cable ties (ie the one's with notches that only allow you to tighten them). just loop the cable ties thru the many holes in yr helmet.

then just clip the lights in and out when needed

I've tried sticking them on etc before,m but you can never lock the helmet onto the bike that way, which is a bit of a pain...