Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Recommend a good light for commuting + mixed-conditions urban riding?

Hello -

Yes, it's another (annoying?) thread asking for recommendations on a lighting set up. Yes, I've done some searching - mostly in the form of looking up the models/brands I've been considering. However, I noticed that there is a tendency/preference on this forum to recommend mounting flashlights with the lockblocks - and that may be an option, however I don't know which 'flashlight' would be best for my needs. Or even if I need a flashlight? Perhaps you'll be able to recommend a lighting system that would be ideal for this need:

-My avg commute is about 14 miles each way, however I often continue riding around for a few hours afterwards (just meandering, not on my true training set up). So the light needs to last long enough with battery power and light-giving for, say, 5 hours in one 24 hr period. For example, this scenario has happened a few times: Ride home from work (1hr), stop by house, ride to meet friends for dinner (30min+ riding), afterwards we decide to go to a concert (30+min more riding), then take a meandering route to homes, and drop people off... all the while a "slow" ride at an easy pace...so another 2 hours of riding there. Then, getting home, I've got about 3-4 hours of sleep to get before I get up and go to work again (1hr commute). Therefore, the light needs to last long - and if it does need recharging, it needs to recharge like a mofo.

Batteries (if not integrated) would be easily replaced (AA or AAA available even at your local Stop&Rob)

Mounting/Brackets.
This is actually quite important to me: I don't want any brackets. Period. Nor do I necessarily want to be carrying an extra 'object' either with me when off the bike or on my bike when I have it parked in a public space. For this reason I was/am looking at the KNOG brand of lights (BullFrog, Gecko, Toad, whatever) where the mounting system is the light itself. Taking it off leaves a clean look, no brackets. Nothing to lose. I'd also not like to 'detach' the lights and leave the battery. I have a set of Dinotte 200-LI that I use for my training rides at night. At one point early on in the ownership of them, I used them to ride to an art show in Chinatown. This is LA where things hardly ever get stolen... so I park the bike, detach the lights but leave the big-a** 4 cell battery on the bike. Come back 2 hours later? Battery is stolen. WTF?! Anyway, you get the idea. I love the dinottes (and the Knogs) for the ultra-simple use of a rubber or silicon ring/loop to mount the light.

(No, I'm not using my Dinotte for this purpose either. Mounting/dismounting them on a bicycle is not quick enough for me. I'd like to pull up to a place, lock up, and quickly grab the lights off my bike well under 30 seconds.)

Lighting conditions I ride in:
-LA Traffic
-Some areas have street lamps, other are as dark as the soul of a murderer. DARK.
-Road conditions vary from buttery-smooth-oh-my-god-I'm-about-to-have-an-Orgasm to was-there-a-war-here-recently? The latter means that the mounting system has to be really, really good at taking shocks and vibrations.
-Have a tendency to go from dense urban environment to utter-darkness up steep hills within minutes. I'm a fiend.


Riding style:
-I ride "brisk". My avg commuting speed is around 18-24mph, depending on how often I hit lights that I can't ease through.
-I'm entirely comfortable riding in Los Angeles traffic, so visibility is necessary but I do not feel the need to blind drivers with my shining magnificence ;)
-I do need the light to be modifiable in intensity, if it does that, so that I can view road conditions when they become former-war-zone territory.

Rechargability/Endurance:
-Lets just say I may not remember to charge the batteries every night. I'd like to be able to have it going for a while and change out the batteries/charge up once a week at worst.

Weight/size:
-Let's keep it light. :D
-Efficiency in small size is beautiful.

Budget?
-Let's aim for under $75 :D I can go to $100 for this though, for both front+rear lights and any possible recommended parts of the 'package'

Again, I really appreciate your recommendations for this!!!

Thank you in advance.



ps: mounting systems like the ones used on the Cateye HL-El410 aren't up to snuff. I've gone through 3 of those, with the mechanism to add tension/friction to the rubber bracelet breaking off in some fashion.

First off thanks for posting how you ride in detail and the speeds you ride at. That would help others greatly in trying to find products that would work for you.

At a budget of $75-$100 (assuming USD) and you want a front/rear light combo, shock resistant, flexible power option of AA/AAA batteries, bright enough for ~18-24mph, long runtimes, dimmable brightness for power saving, light weight, and I don't see you mentioning you want the kitchen sink as well. :roflmao2:

This is not a dig on you with this post but I'm sure everyone on the forums would love to see something like this as it would be a holy grail of lighting. At the budget you posted to be able to ride at ~18-24mph speeds I'm not even sure there is a system out there in that price range that is not a DIY setup.

You're going to have to give or take something with that setup you're thinking of. You can't have everything and expect light weight.

I can't think of anything right now in that price range but will check back later. You might want to bump up another $100-$150 and more options would open up.

4-5hrs with brightness for speeds of 18-24mph would mean a huge battery for more Ah.

Only thing that comes to mind right now for a quick on/off unit is the Light and Motion Vega but it has 4xAA NIMH soldered to the head unit. It is a quick on/off from all the reports I've heard off but it's brightness is somewhere in thr ~85lumen range IIRC what other flashaholics saying before. I'm not sure if you can mod the unit to go brighter. The unit is a bit top heavy and given your speeds and lighting areas from pitch black to city bright it won't be bright enough for that ~3-5second heads up hazard-to-reaction time.

Indeed, you've got a tall order. But alright, here goes... *inhales*

I will suggest for the front: (2) Coleman MAX 2AA lights, each on Twofish Lockblocks. Individually, the lights are not adjustable in brightness, but you can light up just one for "low", and use both for "high". 200-ish lumens isn't blindingly bright, but it should be sufficient in a pinch. I've run a 3-light setup that felt very comfortable at 20-30mph in the city. Sling the lights under the handlebar rather than above, this helps avoid too much shifting around when it gets bumpy. Removal, undo the velcro strap at the handlebar, carry the lights off with the lockblocks attached to them.

The lights themselves run about 3-4 hours (I think, haven't tested) - you're gonna have a tough time finding anything that runs bright for 20 hours on AA's in a portable package. But running 1 at a time under streetlight conditions will help extend your runtime.

You can further extend your runtime by augmenting w/ a front blinky like a Planet Bike Beamer5. Run the Beamer when you can see the pavement fine (urban conditions) - flip on the two Colemans as you hit dark stretches. Depending on how long those stretches are, you might get a few days out of the lights before needing a battery change on at least the Colemans.

That puts you at $95 for the front lights, less if you can catch things on sale. (2 x $25 for colemans, $15 for two lockblocks, $30 for Beamer5) For the rear, Viewpoint Flashpoint ($15-19) from Performance Bike, puts you at $115. About as close as I can get you to your desired pricepoint.

Prend,

BTW do you lock your helmet up to the bike or do you take it with you? If you take it with you then you can go with a flashlight mounted helmet light with a Twofish Lock and either a Fenix L2D (uses 2xAA and ~175lm) or a DealExtreme P7 flashlight on the helmet. Then for the handlebars well...put a P7 flashlight or the Dinotte on it (once you get a new battery. PITA what happened to you and the battery getting stolen :( ). Tho the lighting would get a bit spotty which I would think is ok on the roads but once you hit the pitch black trails/offroad you would soon realize that you want something with a bit more flood so you can see around you while you're riding. I did a DIY lighting myself thinking all spot/narrow beams is good and while it is good for majority of the riding I do (city/road) when I took the trail/offroad shortcuts or dark roads with lighting not on (like WTFF is with that? One side of the city has the lights on and the other side of the city has it off on the SAME road -.-;; Yah I know I'm bordering two city lines but WTF!? Can't the other city turn thier lights on? -.-;) I quickly realized my 5 degree optics while good for long range lighting I was not having enough mid-close range flood lighting to see around me so I put in some 15 degree optics which allowed me to open the light up a bit more to see around me while still having more forward lighting.

Hey guys, thanks for responding - I do appreciate it! :)

Yeah, this was a bit of the holy-grail of lighting request, I'm sorry.:o
Zero, you brought up a very good point that I didn't realize: the width of the light allowing for side-view when going through the really dark patches. That is important.

Wyeast's suggestion of the 2 colemans and fishblocks sounds like a good idea. How is the range of the beam on them? I took a look around (Google) and failed to see an example of the beam.... Is it too focused?

Which then lead me to biting the bullet in some ways, and considering this scenario:

On the front: Fenix L2D-CE (the famous one, apparently!) with lockblock. Do you think I could get 'by' with just one? The thing is pretty big (6" long!) with the lock block which means a little bit more 'volume' to be carrying around. What if I went with 2 smaller versions strapped using the Cyclopblock?

[Side note on the TwoFish lockblocks: it seems that it is shaped for a normal round handlebar tubing. If the upper sections of my handlebars are 'wing' (it, more flat than round), this may not work. Does anyone have experience with the Cyclopblock? ]

I'll also need to look into a charging system for Litium 2AA batteries. And, likewise, improve my personal upkeep with keeping track of the batteries being charged! ;) Does anyone have recommendations for a charger set up? (+ where to buy it?)

On the back: Knog Bullfrog? I like it because of the mounting system + durability (inherent in a silicon-rubber based strap). Will it do fine for a rear?


I've owned far too many rear-blinkies over the years, and eventually the one factor that became important was the ability of the light to not shatter when it fell to the ground. The roads here are rough, so sometimes the blinky would go flying and then shatter-open across the road. Not good!

That lead me to the BlackBurn Mars 3.0 light - which I still use sometimes on my bag or jersey. I chose that one because it had a very solid build and a screw-shut casing, which means it didn't shatter-open when it inevitably came off its mounting system. Then the Knog came around, and out of experience with their dinky-little frogs (the 1-led-almost-worthless-by-itself-light), I found that their strapping system prevented the light from falling off in the first place, which was a very nice touch.
So that being said - I may not lean towards the Viewpoint Flashpoint, but thank you for the suggestion. wyeast :)

Again, I really appreciate your responses - it's been very helpful so far. Also a bit insightful, as I end up asking for the 'ultimate' straight away ;) Thank you.

Wyeast's suggestion of the 2 colemans and fishblocks sounds like a good idea. How is the range of the beam on them? I took a look around (Google) and failed to see an example of the beam.... Is it too focused?

Which then lead me to biting the bullet in some ways, and considering this scenario:

On the front: Fenix L2D-CE (the famous one, apparently!) with lockblock. Do you think I could get 'by' with just one? The thing is pretty big (6" long!) with the lock block which means a little bit more 'volume' to be carrying around. What if I went with 2 smaller versions strapped using the Cyclopblock?

[Side note on the TwoFish lockblocks: it seems that it is shaped for a normal round handlebar tubing. If the upper sections of my handlebars are 'wing' (it, more flat than round), this may not work. Does anyone have experience with the Cyclopblock? ]
Re: The Coleman's beam pattern - Ask, and ye shall receive (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=441808&highlight=beamshots). It's a fairly soft focus, not too narrow. The Task Force is a much tighter beam - kinda useful for long throw in the woods, but not terribly useful for seeing the road in the city.

The Fenix you can "get by" - it's a popular light for a reason. It will be a little brighter than the Coleman (bear in mind the eye responds logarithmically to light, so twice the intensity doesn't appear twice as bright to the eye) with similar focus. However, as mentioned, you do get a little more flexibility in being able to point two separate beams the way you like (either wide pattern, or stacked one in front of the other). I'm also a big fan of redundancy as you'll never know when you'll find the batts have gone flat or you take a spill and possibly lose/break the light.

Regarding the "wing" handlebars, I don't think that'll be too much trouble. The tips on the lockblock are flexible, as the whole thing is made of rubber. You don't need full contact to get enough friction to hold it in place so long as the velcro straps are tight. The only issue may be trying to aim the lights off-level if your bars are really flat on top (or bottom). You may get some wiggle as you ride. I usually just tweak the position as I'm riding if it slips out of position.

Yeah, the Flashpoint isn't terribly durable when dropped. I was mostly trying to get you in as close to under $100 as possible. I like the Mars 3.0 a lot too - although you'll definitely want to keep on top of batteries as the screw backing can be a pain if you find the light's gone dim in the middle of a ride.

Hope that helps!

Keep in mind that a P7 on medium (not even high) will be brighter *and* have better battery life than an L2D on high.

It will also cost considerably less.

If it's the one that runs on (1) 18650 cell, the runtimes are going to be insufficient, even at reduced power for him (5hrs/day) - made more of a drag by having to carry spare cells rather than picking up more AA's at a store en-route.

Prend,

Not sure if you have any tools around. If you do you could try and DIY a light or modify a light to get it to work the way you want. I'm lucky I own a soldering iron, drill, hacksaw, etc to name a few name tools you'll need.

If you don't perhaps see who else in your circle of friends has such tools. If all else fails find out what local colleges/universities are around you and check if they have an electronics program. Show up and talk to the students around with your ideas and plans. Students need the extra money for food and those in the electronics courses tend to have the tools and can work with you to build something more geared for what you want.

IMHO to have a 'holy grail' light with everything you want you have to DIY. If you buy off the shelf or even look out for other products you're going to have to to take 2/3 of your requirements and go with that as you're not going to have the full pie. What I mean is to have something 'perfect' is very hard to come by.

One thing about riding in pitch black trail/offroad/dark-roads is that with a spot light or all spot light system your eyes will be over powered by the intensity of the 'hot spot' thus making things around you seem darker. Go out with a friend of a few friends throught a small short revine with a tight spot light on the bike and you'll seee what I mean. The extra friends are more for protection and company but if I was riding myself I'd go full power and fly out of the revines to avoid any chances of trouble in there.