john bono
09-05-07, 11:20 AM
I had planned on buying or building an upgrade to my 20+10w halogen light setup recently. It had good light output, but battery life was only about 2 hours, which isn't good enough for much of my night/winter riding. Originally, I had planned on upgrading the setup from a 6v 4Ah SLA battery to a 12V 7AH setup, but when the switches for both the left and right bulb bought the farm, I decided to just go out and get a new light. I looked at the gearreview.com review of high end LED lights, and the Switchback 3 had the best combination of price, battery life, and light output. The light came yesterday, so I charged it for about two hours, and did a two hour ride last night to try it out.
The first thing I noticed was the lack of an off switch. You can turn the light on, but there is no way to power off, except by unplugging the light. It wasn't really an inconvenience, but I found it kind of odd.
As far as light output, I would say that the SB3 puts out slightly less light than my 20W halogen, and has less spill to the sides. I found that my experience with the light is that it is dimmer than the photo on the gearreview.com website would suggest. It is still bright, still a good light to see, rather than be seen, but I don't think it qualifies as a HID style "night into day" type light.
The battery is designed to be mounted under the top tube. On a Spec Sequoia I found this to be problematic for two reasons. First, because the tube is tear-drop shaped, with the pointy part facing down, the battery doesn't seat on the tube very well. second, because it has compact geometry, the battery wants to slide back towards the seatpost. I found that mounting the battery under the crossbar portion of my drop bars was a more than adequate location instead. It had a side benefit of making the battery meter much more visible than the top tube location.
I initially mounted the light on the handlebars. About 2/3rds of the way through the ride, I changed the mounting to the top of my Swinggrip, which sits about 5" above my handlebars. The light worked a lot better from this location, and the sides were better lit.
Battery life was excellent, as far as I can tell by my one ride. Even though I had failed to initially charge the battery properly(the manual says 3-4 hours, I charged an hour and a half), I still had at least four hours of battery life on full power. The meter didn't register under 50% charge until I had just about completed my two hour ride. From what I saw, I'd say the manufacturer's claims of 6 hour runtime at full charge to be accurate.
The light has four modes, high, medium, low, and flash(high). The medium mode has 12 hours of battery life, at about 25% less light. For someone doing a Randonnee or all night ride, medium is probably the way to go. Only in midwinter and the arctic would it not provide enough light for an all-nighter. Low power is very low. It is at best marginal as a to-see light. With 100 hours of life, as an "Oh ****!" mode of lighting, it will work. I wouldn't want to be in that position for long, though. The flash mode worked, but I'm not a big fan of my main light being a flashing light.
Overall, I think the light worked well, especially when mounted high, but I'm seriously thinking of getting a second light as a helmet light, or use the SB3 as a helmet light with a handlebar light as a semi-flood. The lack of spill gives the feeling of riding in a tunnel, and I'd like to be able to see a bit more to the sides a bit more. Overall, I'm satisfied with the light.
The first thing I noticed was the lack of an off switch. You can turn the light on, but there is no way to power off, except by unplugging the light. It wasn't really an inconvenience, but I found it kind of odd.
As far as light output, I would say that the SB3 puts out slightly less light than my 20W halogen, and has less spill to the sides. I found that my experience with the light is that it is dimmer than the photo on the gearreview.com website would suggest. It is still bright, still a good light to see, rather than be seen, but I don't think it qualifies as a HID style "night into day" type light.
The battery is designed to be mounted under the top tube. On a Spec Sequoia I found this to be problematic for two reasons. First, because the tube is tear-drop shaped, with the pointy part facing down, the battery doesn't seat on the tube very well. second, because it has compact geometry, the battery wants to slide back towards the seatpost. I found that mounting the battery under the crossbar portion of my drop bars was a more than adequate location instead. It had a side benefit of making the battery meter much more visible than the top tube location.
I initially mounted the light on the handlebars. About 2/3rds of the way through the ride, I changed the mounting to the top of my Swinggrip, which sits about 5" above my handlebars. The light worked a lot better from this location, and the sides were better lit.
Battery life was excellent, as far as I can tell by my one ride. Even though I had failed to initially charge the battery properly(the manual says 3-4 hours, I charged an hour and a half), I still had at least four hours of battery life on full power. The meter didn't register under 50% charge until I had just about completed my two hour ride. From what I saw, I'd say the manufacturer's claims of 6 hour runtime at full charge to be accurate.
The light has four modes, high, medium, low, and flash(high). The medium mode has 12 hours of battery life, at about 25% less light. For someone doing a Randonnee or all night ride, medium is probably the way to go. Only in midwinter and the arctic would it not provide enough light for an all-nighter. Low power is very low. It is at best marginal as a to-see light. With 100 hours of life, as an "Oh ****!" mode of lighting, it will work. I wouldn't want to be in that position for long, though. The flash mode worked, but I'm not a big fan of my main light being a flashing light.
Overall, I think the light worked well, especially when mounted high, but I'm seriously thinking of getting a second light as a helmet light, or use the SB3 as a helmet light with a handlebar light as a semi-flood. The lack of spill gives the feeling of riding in a tunnel, and I'd like to be able to see a bit more to the sides a bit more. Overall, I'm satisfied with the light.