Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Cygolite Hi-Flux 100/200?

Hi there. I'm currently trying to find a lighting system around the <$120 mark, the Hi-Flux has some decent mention from doing a little research online, and i'm really considering the 200 model. Does anyone have any experience with the Hi-Flux 100/200 lighting system?

If not, has anyone got any suggestions for a lighting system around <$120 which allows for good lighting and run times over 5 hours? A friend of mine has a used Dinotte Ultra 5, but the run times seem too short to serve my needs.

Thanks for any advice!

Supposedly the new HiFlux models have Seoul LEDs, which are much brighter than the previoulsy used Luxeon LumiLEDs. Make sure that you get something produced recently.
I have the 100 model and did upgrade the LED myself and now the output is quite nice.

The positive points of the HiFlux are the long runtime and the cheap price.
I did replace the 4 C-cell holder with a 4 AA cell battery holder to be able to use my NIMH reachargeables - works without problems and they do last 5 hours.

Negative points are the unnecessary cable to the switch (a switch on the lamp itself would be so much better) and the less than great design of the velcro strap attachment point to the battery bag.

Was finding the right AA battery holder hard? I would really much rather go with the 100 than the 200 if it wasn't hard, i've got a bunch of NiMH in that size. It was the prospect of needing a new C size charger and batteries that swayed me towards the 200..

I take it that you want lighter weight, stock, store-brought bike stuff? For a few pounds extra you could build your own lights.

I'm not too interested in the DIY. I've seen some nice ones, but haven't the want to try much.

Was finding the right AA battery holder hard? I would really much rather go with the 100 than the 200 if it wasn't hard, i've got a bunch of NiMH in that size. It was the prospect of needing a new C size charger and batteries that swayed me towards the 200..

You would have to do some simple re-wiring (even soldering is not absolutely necessary), but it is straightforward. You can get the necessary AA-battery holder for about $2 at any RadioShack in the US. I guess this would apply to Canada, too.

Hm.. That sounds pretty good, soldering shouldn't be a problem either.

Lutz, do you find that the light is enough to handle around 15-20mph? Thats the upper speed range on my Xtracycle at night, typically. It sounds like a good light though, and with the AA solution i'm looking at getting the HiFlux 100.

For me, the Hi-Flux 100 with the new LED (Cree Q5) is certainly bright enough for normal road use (it was usable even with the old LED, but now the riding is much more relaxing). But the comfort threshold is certainly very personal.
One more thing, the clamp that came with my older HiFlux does not fit on the pretty common over-sized handlebars. I had to get an "Issimo Nob" to mount it on the fork.

There is another HiFlux thread here:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=382419&page=3

Anybody hot rodded one of these by putting in a smaller resistor?

I do not know anything about electronics; it was just my impression that it would be very hard to get to the resistor in case of the HiFlux. The LED was accessible, although my model was gooed up with way too much glue on the inside.


Anybody hot rodded one of these by putting in a smaller resistor?

I recently bought 2 100s and have been doing some simple mods to them. With the Q5's the light goes from about 80 lumens to 200 (combined at about 400lum). I also wired to the two lights together to work on one 4C battery pack. The upside for using C batteries is that if you run out and have to buy alkalines on the road, C alkalines will last longer than NiHM, while alkaline AAs would not last nearly as long as NiMH AAs. Altogether I've spent about $130 for a 400 lumen system that will last about 12 hours and can easily last longer by stopping at just about any convenience/general store along my journey's.

Also one thing to note is that the light doesn't come with a clamp that will fit oversized bars. I'm currently ordering a couple of 30mm issmo nobs to mount the lights on my fork. Together with the nobs, rechargeable batteries, and recharger I've probably spent closer to $200.

If you want to make the switch to AAs battery packs are about $4 at radio shack type places (you could also switch to Ds and get twice the runtime).

Anybody hot rodded one of these by putting in a smaller resistor?

I was thinking about this but from what I can tell, the light is already running at 1000mA which is the max recommended for both the Q5 and the Luxeon III. The resistor is not immposible to get to, the heat sink is glued to the casing so it takes some prying to crack.

Generally trying to hot-rod an LED is a bad idea, unless you're very sure of what you're doing. You can pump lots more energy into an LED and get only a marginal improvement in light output. The extra energy though, can easily cook said LED and as wel probably all know, LEDs are not cheap.

If looking at a HiFlux 200 system and box, how do you know whether it has the earlier or later LED?

Generally trying to hot-rod an LED is a bad idea, unless you're very sure of what you're doing. You can pump lots more energy into an LED and get only a marginal improvement in light output. The extra energy though, can easily cook said LED and as wel probably all know, LEDs are not cheap.

From the 5hr AA runtime numbers it looks like its actually running only around 300mA(has anyone measured this?). Bumping it up to 500mA would give a good increase in brightness. In Goodwins case this might mean only needing one light instead of two.

If looking at a HiFlux 200 system and box, how do you know whether it has the earlier or later LED?

You might want to ask the manufacturer Cygolite; they are responsive.

From the 5hr AA runtime numbers it looks like its actually running only around 300mA(has anyone measured this?). Bumping it up to 500mA would give a good increase in brightness. In Goodwins case this might mean only needing one light instead of two.

):

OOPs, sorry for the bad spelling. Not more posting before coffee.
Seriously though, at 300mA you are getting only around 100lm.

OOPs, sorry for the bad spelling. Not more posting before coffee.
Seriously though, at 300mA you are getting only around 100lm.

(No worries, just a personal vendetta against the Goodwins). I really don't know the actual mA or lumens, I've tried finding exact answers but I've just made guesses. The light I get with the Q5 is comparable to my fenix L2D Q5 which is about 180lum. The Hi-flux is said to be around 80lum (http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=176131) with the original Luxeon III which runs 80lum at 1000mA. The Q5 (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2394) is supposed to run 228lum at 1000mA so I'd suppose my modded light should be around 200lum. I really don't know too much about electronics so anything I do or say about the subject could be well off.

Was finding the right AA battery holder hard? I would really much rather go with the 100 than the 200 if it wasn't hard, i've got a bunch of NiMH in that size. It was the prospect of needing a new C size charger and batteries that swayed me towards the 200..

This (http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=187631) light may suit your needs better. It's supposed to run on AAs but it a bit confusing. Reading through the translated korean and bad english was doing my head in.

I'm going to go with the Hi-Flux 100. I looked at some other ones today, like the L&M Stella 180N, but i'd like to be able to use rechargeable AA batteries, and it doesn't sound hard to do so with the Hi-Flux. It should have enough light set up stock, I guess:

But is this Cree Q5 upgrade hard to do? I don't really have electronics experience, my knowledge in soldering comes from jewelry making :) it would be nice to try, at least.

This (http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=187631) light may suit your needs better. It's supposed to run on AAs but it a bit confusing. Reading through the translated korean and bad english was doing my head in.

Hm.. That one seems like it could be okay too. I suppose there might be two to pick from. They'd both be around the same price point after I found the Cree LED and AA battery holster for the Hi-Flux, I wonder if the Hi-Flux chassis and design would be better than the Scolo, or not, after the mods?

I'm going to go with the Hi-Flux 100. I looked at some other ones today, like the L&M Stella 180N, but i'd like to be able to use rechargeable AA batteries, and it doesn't sound hard to do so with the Hi-Flux. It should have enough light set up stock, I guess:

But is this Cree Q5 upgrade hard to do? I don't really have electronics experience, my knowledge in soldering comes from jewelry making :) it would be nice to try, at least.

I was worried about that too, my soldering experience comes from soldering guitar patch cables. Just remember which wire is positive and which is negative, desolder, and resolder (make sure not to leave the iron on the board too long or I think you could burn it). The chassis is a little tricky to get open because it's glued and you have to break the glue.

Ordered the Hi-Flux 100. Thanks for the feedback on these lights, very helpful!

I'll put some review on it here when it arrives, check out how it does "stock", and potentially look into that Cree Q5 upgrade afterwards :)

Would it be possible to test this by simply using 5 AA batteries instead of four?
Perhaps the heatsink would not be effcient enough either?


From the 5hr AA runtime numbers it looks like its actually running only around 300mA(has anyone measured this?). Bumping it up to 500mA would give a good increase in brightness. In Goodwins case this might mean only needing one light instead of two.

I think the cygolite is designed to run off 4AA batteries. This means it can handle 6V max. At 6V its around 500mA = 140lm from a Q5(I think its a 5ohm resistor in there)
Assume from this the heatsinking can handle 500mA.

For 4 NiMH rechargables typically you will run at only 4*1.2v = 4.8V.... current around 300mA and 92lm.
Peak at 4*1.4v off fresh cells and 400mA = 120lm

Numbers here are just estimates. Resistors are pretty cheap so throw one in with freshly charged AAs and measure the current to find the right value, will depend on individual LEDs too as the differences in Vf is significant here (might be a 0.3v difference between LEDs).


5 Batteries?
The NiMH will peak at 1.4v = 7V = 700mA = 185lm! :eek:
This is significantly more power than standard so yeah, heat might be a problem.
Putting 5 1.5V cells in there will make the light very bright and very hot too so you are limiting your battery choices by optimising for NiMH.
5 is a funny number to charge too.

Well, I totally didn't realize that this light was designed specifically for disposable batteries only: that would've completely swung me against buying it completely, had I known ahead of time.

Unfortunately, that wasn't really clearly stated on Cyglolite's website! In fact, on their website they state:
4 "C" size NiMH on their comparison chart right here:

http://cygolite.com/products/LED/HiFlux100.html

But when you get the box and packaging, it states that the light is designed for non-rechargeable batteries. Complete misinformation on their behalf here. I really don't want to deal with *5* rechargeable batteries, but it seems some people are getting along fine with 4 (lutz)..

I suppose i'll see what can be done, and call Cygolite tomorrow to see if the light is indeed only really supposed to work properly with Disposables..

On the light itself though, I really like it. The hardware is pretty good for its price range, and changing the little battery pack over to AA size wasn't hard at all.

Well, I totally didn't realize that this light was designed specifically for disposable batteries only: that would've completely swung me against buying it completely, had I known ahead of time.

Unfortunately, that wasn't really clearly stated on Cyglolite's website! In fact, on their website they state:
4 "C" size NiMH on their comparison chart right here:

http://cygolite.com/products/LED/HiFlux100.html

But when you get the box and packaging, it states that the light is designed for non-rechargeable batteries. Complete misinformation on their behalf here. I really don't want to deal with *5* rechargeable batteries, but it seems some people are getting along fine with 4 (lutz)..

I suppose i'll see what can be done, and call Cygolite tomorrow to see if the light is indeed only really supposed to work properly with Disposables..

On the light itself though, I really like it. The hardware is pretty good for its price range, and changing the little battery pack over to AA size wasn't hard at all.

The only difference is that NiMh batteries will have slightly less power (brightness) but the 0.3V/battery is probably not noticeable and also that they will have about 75% runtime average C NiMh compared to average C Alkaline or 200% in the case of AAs (another 200% C NiMh compared to AA NiMh).

Just curious, why do the NiMH AAs last so much longer than Alkalines, while the C situation is the opposite?

After last nights testing, I found the Hi-Flux was certainly better than my old Shark one, but its still not comfortable enough for me. I'll be trying to install one of those Cree Q5 emitters when it arrives. Thanks for the input on this so far guys :)

I'm going to make a comprehensive review page with each step of the changes as it goes.

Just curious, why do the NiMH AAs last so much longer than Alkalines, while the C situation is the opposite?

Hi Abneycat, I guess you misunderstood the calculations: NiMH AA's will have about 70% of the runtime of the much heavier Alkaline C batteries, according to Godwin.

Hi Abneycat, I guess you misunderstood the calculations: NiMH AA's will have about 70% of the runtime of the much heavier Alkaline C batteries, according to Godwin.

No, I think he understood correctly, AA NiMh batteries last longer than AA Alkalines while C NiMh batteries don't last as long as C Alkalines. I don't know why this is other than it's to do with the different chemistries of the batteries and their mAh ratings. My C NiMh batteries have an mAh rating of 5000, while Alkalines are typically 7500mAh and AA Alkalines are around 1500mAh.

Wow, this is indeed very weird !!!
Panasonic is still selling 3000 mAh C sized NiMHs when the AA cells apparently have reached already 2900 mAh. Can anybody make sense of this ( .. other than nobody cares about the C batteries)?



No, I think he understood correctly, AA NiMh batteries last longer than AA Alkalines while C NiMh batteries don't last as long as C Alkalines. I don't know why this is other than it's to do with the different chemistries of the batteries and their mAh ratings. My C NiMh batteries have an mAh rating of 5000, while Alkalines are typically 7500mAh and AA Alkalines are around 1500mAh.