operator
06-15-08, 10:24 PM
Considering purchasing this as my main light for the upcoming fall/winter seasons. I already have the 200L and the two things that bother me about it is
1) engine mounting system
2) battery mounting system
I know the 600L solves issue #1 but what about 2? The dinotte webstore gives several options like:
3x4 cell
2x4 cell
2x2 cell
2 cell and 4 cell
batteries but it doesn't explain what any of them mean. Is there anything that you _don't_ like about the light?
mechBgon
06-16-08, 12:08 AM
Considering purchasing this as my main light for the upcoming fall/winter seasons. I already have the 200L and the two things that bother me about it is
1) engine mounting system
2) battery mounting system
I know the 600L solves issue #1 but what about 2? The dinotte webstore gives several options like:
3x4 cell
2x4 cell
2x2 cell
2 cell and 4 cell
batteries but it doesn't explain what any of them mean. Is there anything that you _don't_ like about the light?
The 4-cell batteries have twice the endurance of the 2-cell batteries, and they're letting you pick how many battery packs you'd like (for example, the default 600L package comes with two 4-cell batteries so you can have a spare ready, so that's what they mean by 2 x 4-cell). The pics below show the 2-cell and 4-cell packs (please excuse my blue bike's temporary lack of handlebar tape). The outdoor photo shows them mounted under the stems, which may not work out for short stems. I'm running 130mm and 135mm there.
My primary dislikes about the 600L:
1) the runtime is not quite as good as they claim. The light will switch to strobe mode for a few seconds, then switch its high-beam button from blue to red backlighting to tell you that you're running out of battery power, and I've never gotten the 3+ hours that DiNotte says I should get from the 4-cell pack.
2) I feel that they could come up with a little more sophisticated, elegant mount to go with this nice of a light. But the flip side is, the mounts are cheap enough I could plunk down for several more, and quickly slide the light engine onto any of my bikes.
3) there is no protective lens over the plastic optics, which might be an issue for bikes that get plastered with mud, or road slime flying off the top of the front tire.
4) switching from the regular steady-burn modes to the strobed modes is a pain. First you must hold the right-hand button for 6 seconds, then the light goes out, then you have to turn it back on with a double-tap and pick the mode you want. If you use strobe quite a bit, one good compromise is to leave the light in strobe mode, but hit the left (high-beam) button to run solid high beam, and the right button when you want strobe.