Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - oem lighting vs cnc-made lighting

I notice a trend and thread about people have many difference opinion about " bicycles lighting " so that why i asking is that which is better " oem lighting or designer/hobbiest made lighting "

That depends on the skill of the hobbyist, doesn't it? Some people who have posted their efforts here may be electrical engineers with a side-interest in machining and building devices. Others are people attacking PVC pipe with a hacksaw and a bunch of duct tape.

When I built my DIY light about 5 years ago, though I was capable of doing a very nice DIY light, I really didn't have any interest in doing so, I just wanted a working light, so I hacked together a 20W halogen out of a SLA battery that I had lying around and about $10 worth of plumbing parts and an MR16 bulb. It was ugly but it worked as well as anything else out there and even today it's almost as bright as my new LED headlight, I keep it as a backup.

The main thing then was, it was cheap. I spent $10, but even if I bought everything new, it'd have been $50, and at the time I would have had to have spent about $250, IIRC.

These days you can get a really pretty decent light with great output and long life for $85 (Magicshine) - I think for the 'cheap' aspect that's going to replace the cheapo projects. There are still some people out there building very nice lights that are as good if not better than anything you can buy from one of the major vendors.

There's also the fun of building something yourself. I enjoy that myself though not so much in the realm of bike lights.

It also depends on your definition of "better".

Some of the DIY systems have every bit of the functionality and build quality of the name brands and often with a better price tag. Where they tend to lag is in aesthetics (square, odd looking etc). I dont know if that makes the name brands better, they are very often prettier.

I highly doubt that if you factor in personal labor costs, that you will be able to beat the light cost performance of a Magicshine, P7, or even Fenix-style 2xAA flashlights. If you want the easiest, lo-cost solution, choose one of these.

However, if you enjoy the DIY aspect of the lights (there are a lot of those folks here), you can definitely make one for very little money if you know what parts to buy and have time to spare.

If anything, I feel a bit bad for the DIYers - they used to dominate this lighting board, with some very creative and innovative lighting solutions, but once low-cost LED flashlights came out, interest shifted so much toward these pre-assembled systems that DIYers are definitely the in minority posting here. I do miss seeing and reading about their latest and greatest 1000+ halogen lumen lighting solutions.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa46/amticoman/BABY%20TROUT/lumen-liberator090.jpg

cnc-made light can be very nice, but then again, even commercial made lights are cnc-ed.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=538590&page=2

and nice light so can we post information * how to and where to buy * cnc made lighting i know about " dealextream.com " i never order it until i read from past customer experiences and from what i read is 50/50 from customer feedback and i did saw about " magic-shines " and is look pretties decent but too bad they don't make dual lighting

and i did some searching just search for " factory direct bicycles light " and you get a few company and i found a few and anyone heard of them

http://www.dinottelighting.com/index.html
http://www.turbocatusa.com/home.html
http://www.niteflux.com/default.aspx

and nice light so can we post information * how to and where to buy * cnc made lighting i know about " dealextream.com " i never order it until i read from past customer experiences and from what i read is 50/50 from customer feedback and i did saw about " magic-shines " and is look pretties decent but too bad they don't make dual lighting

and i did some searching just search for " factory direct bicycles light " and you get a few company and i found a few and anyone heard of them

http://www.dinottelighting.com/index.html
http://www.turbocatusa.com/home.html
http://www.niteflux.com/default.aspx

Another is Light On! They do the only American made production dynamo light and claim an output for it of 350 Lumens. I have one on order. They also do a 900 Lumens battery light.

http://lightonlights.com/dynolight/

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa46/amticoman/BABY%20TROUT/lumen-liberator090.jpg

cnc-made light can be very nice, but then again, even commercial made lights are cnc-ed.

That is one of the guys I had in mind with regards to functionality, fit and finish as well as a design comparable to mass marketed lights. The other is EL34's "Marwi P7" light. His website is a nightmare to glean high level info from, but if I were in the market for a new light, the P7 would be on a very short list. He can be found at MTB forums and CPF.

http://www.batteryspace.com/ledlighting.aspx

shameless plug

http://www.batteryspace.com/ledlighting.aspx

Are there reviews for that light? That is exactly the type of mount I want. It's 15deg swiveable..!

Are there reviews for that light? That is exactly the type of mount I want. It's 15deg swiveable..!

At the stated 8 hours runtime on a 4000mAH pack, it can only be drawing 1/2 amp. The Magicshine draws 1.5 amps at the same voltage (7.4 volts), so this light should be putting out about 1/3 as much light as the Magicshine, and it costs $35 more, PLUS shipping.

It does have a nice mount and what looks like a decent, water resistant (not waterproof) battery pack, but its light output is probably somewhere around 200 lumens, on par with the Magicshine on "low" mode (where the MS also draws 1/2 amp). But honestly, you could pick up the magicshine, the aftermarket swiveling mount for it, and put a little tape and silicone on the battery pack and have a light that put out 3x more light and still cost a bit less.