Commuting - Headlights for commuting

Check this out. A new LED light.

http://www.lupine-lights.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1155

I have always been of the opinion that LED lights are lights to be seen by... not to actually see by. In total dark a hologen light is one of the the better options.

But, that Wilma light looks pretty impressive, I actualy ride along a path similar to the photographs posted... I think my VISA is going to be hammered after looking at this. I will tell my wife tis all your fault.

I have always been of the opinion that LED lights are lights to be seen by... not to actually see by. In total dark a hologen light is one of the the better options.

But, that Wilma light looks pretty impressive, I actualy ride along a path similar to the photographs posted... I think my VISA is going to be hammered after looking at this. I will tell my wife tis all your fault.

Blame me, I will tell her anything you want. :D

I too am sour on LEDs based on the ones I've used in the past (including a 10W LED I tried a few months back). Looking at the center of those pictures, the LED does look as good as the HID. However if you look at the bottom, the ground directly in front of the light, you'll notice that the HID seems to light it much better. Casting light to the sides/down, particularly in a situation like the one pictured (I.E. no other significant light sources) is pretty important.

Cadfael, if you buy it, I'd be very interested to hear your opinions.

The beauty of LED lights the ease of homebrewing your own. More than about 5-8 Watts of LED doesn't make sense though, because that's about the crossover point in efficiency with halogen, IIRC. 15W? Yeesh, are they trying to start a fire or something? :P

This Wilma light is not cheap, at about $335! Seems like a lot of money to spend just so you can have LED technology. For cryung out loud you can get 16.3 watt Cygolite for $90; or if you just gotta to have LED technology Cygolite makes the DualCross 300 with 20 watts of illumination for only $190.

Speaking of bright lights, have you seen this taillight? http://www.powerflare.com/ for less then $50 it's the brightest taillight on the market.

I recently put one of these http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1446 on my bike and am superimpressed...good spill and tight hotspot out to 60 metres. No issues with heat, and I picked up several rechargeable batteries and a charger cheap from the same place. Attached via interlinked hose clamps. Cheap and very effective.

This Wilma light is not cheap, at about $335! Seems like a lot of money to spend just so you can have LED technology. For cryung out loud you can get 16.3 watt Cygolite for $90; or if you just gotta to have LED technology Cygolite makes the DualCross 300 with 20 watts of illumination for only $190.

Speaking of bright lights, have you seen this taillight? http://www.powerflare.com/ for less then $50 it's the brightest taillight on the market.


Lumens is what you pay for. Watts means nothing. The cygolight claims that light is about equal to 20 watts halogen. The Lupine is equal to aproximately 55-60 ish watts halogen, 900 lumens is equal to 65 watts of halogen. The Wilma is 830 Lumens. Maybe around three times as bright as the Cygolight. You get what you pay for, all the light makers know the price of the competition.
They price according to what the lights have in power, features, and quality. You get what you pay for. There's no free lunch.

The best lights list the Lumens because they have plenty. The less expensive lights that don't list the lumens in the ad copy, don't have as much. It's a selling point, if you have plenty of lumens it will be in the ad copy to sell more lights.

Same for tailights that don't list lumens or compare to others in some way. There's a few tailights that claim they are the brightest. Ad copy means nothing, and often is very, very, misleading. Have you compared that tailight to the Dinotte tailight yourself? Or what did you compare it to? I'm not saying that is not a bright tail light, it may be the brightest, but I have no idea what it compares to. They did not list the lumens as Dinotte does, that's a bad sign.

Watts do mean something - they give you a hint about how fast your battery drains. ;) You've got to be careful with light units, since the angular distribution pattern, spectral profile, eye responsivity and other things can be important in understanding the unit. For this purpose Lumens is about the best measure of light output that you can wrap up in a single approximate number. "Candlepower" is an easily abused unit we see a lot. Some of the advertising is indeed tricky stuff.

I have the wilma - it's comparable in beam throw distance to my trucks low beams only much brighter in the spot. It does not have the spill though. It works very well indeed. I posted some rushed and not so good comparison photos not long back. I'll try to post some better photos soon.

Watts do mean something - they give you a hint about how fast your battery drains. ;)


400 watts really means something. :D