abstractform20

i do not want to blind cyclists and drivers.

i want to be well seen, though.

is 400 lumens very good?

this is for an area with no street lighting.

speed 15-21 mph.

relatively flat.

no heavy traffic.

degnaw

If the light is aimed downwards to a reasonable degree, it shouldn't be any different than car headlights.

In the Electronics forum, many people use way more than 650 lumens.

abstractform20

oh. snap. thanks. i was just about to get some dual minewts for 150 yesterday then i

the deal for thie cree led 1500 lumen light. reviewers say it comes out to 650.

its under 150 with batteries, just needs a charger and bike mount.

whats a good lumen output for my rear light?

anybody ever use a flashing amber light?

it seems to me that or a nonflashing amber/yellow light would be great for attention as cars

would view it as another auto vehicle like construction of hazards...of course added to the red rear light...

thoughts?

CliftonGK1

400 lum. is plenty to see by at the conditions you've listed. That's slightly more than my old L&M Solo 13W halogen, and I was plenty comfortable with that light on semi-rural backroads with a few descents much quicker than 20mph.

When you start getting into the high lumen systems, it's less about "how much" and more about "how it's focused" that you should be concerned with. As degnaw pointed out, if the light is aimed correctly it shouldn't blind people too badly. The issue is that most high intensity systems are designed with wide symmetrical lenses, so if you point the center spot out far enough to get far roadways lit up, you're also projecting a lot of spill up top. (I admit that my Supernova E3 is a perfect example of this.)

I've never measured rear lighting in lumens, although I know that DiNotte makes 2 versions of their tail light at completely insane, retina searing intensities. I've been behind a guy with the 140 lumen version, and it was painful until I passed him. I can't imagine what reasoning they have for creating their 300 lumen twin lamp version.
A couple of PB Superflash lights has always done the trick for me.

cc700

650 is the whole beam.

650 in a spot beam in traffic's eyes is super blinding...

650 spread out in a 180 degree flood is not overly blinding.

it is great to see by but it's not exactly... well... it's probably not necessary under 20mph.

i'd get a P7 light and just mount it on your helmet. that way, unless you're looking into people's cars, the majority of light will go to the ground.

AEO

1 lumen /= 1 lumen

it's all in the beam pattern and how it is aimed.

crhilton

I agree with AEO. Beware cheap lights. Although the cheap ones are probably plenty for you.

Anyway, I get by with 120 lumens. With no lighting you actually don't need all that much light. Your eyes make up for quite a bit. But it's good to have a light with good throw (really bright center).

One of these days I'm gonna give a JetBeam Q5 light a try. Supposedly they've got great throw and they give a plausible 225lumens as their listed output. These would be under $150 entirely setup as well.

Most people with the P7's seem to be at least initially happy. Your light sounds similar. It's basically a good flood light. The disadvantages being that you can't see as far away as you could with a better designed light and that your wasting lots of power on light you aren't using. The advantage is that you can make out the ground in front of you perfectly clear (mountain bikers like this).

woodway

I ride with a Dinotte 600 lumen LED light in the winter. I bought the light for night mountain biking, and it's is an excellent light for that purpose. It's also an excellent light for commuting and I don't think it's too much. One just needs to be careful not to aim the light at motorists unless you are trying to get that particular motorists attention.

I also ride with a Dinotte 140L taillight year-round, and in the summer a Dinotte 140 amber Daytime Running light. The daytime running light is particularly effective, as I have watched many motorists begin to pull out of side streets or turn left in front of me, catch sight of the amber light flashing and STOP. I have also had several motorists pull up next to me at intersections and comment how easy I was to spot on the road.

Cyclaholic

No such thing as too much light.... ok, maybe when the bitumen starts melting in front of you.

abstractform20

yeah. there are some bad roads and random broken glass along my route, so at night i definitely
want to see the ground very very well.

i bought the light on ebay and if i dont like it i can return, only paying shipping; this would be

about 10 dollars at most as i live in the same state as the item seller.

abstractform20

just bought it w/batteries and charger for 110+9 shipping.

now i need a rear light and light mount..suggestions?

abstractform20

my bad. 9 bucks for CA tax. shipping is free. here is a link.

https://cgi.ebay.com/Tactical-6-x-3-w...%3A1|294%3A200

Cyclist0383

Thank god.

Check out the Planet Bike SuperFlash or the Blackburn Mars 4. I use the Mars 4 as I also run a flashing light in the daytime, and I've found that during daylight hours it's more visible than the PBSF. At night the PBSF seems to be more visible, but in reality it's all academic.

Cyclist0383

Wait a second.....that light is MASSIVE and HEAVY! Just how do you plan on mounting it to your bars? It doesn't make any sense as a bike light.....no sense at all.......you've asked so many questions, got so many good answers, and then bought something totally inappropriate for your intended use....'bigger' or 'more light' isn't always better......

EDIT: There is no way that you'll get the claimed 3.5 hours of runtime with two 18650 batteries, it's just not physically possible. I'd guess you'd be lucky to get around an hour, tops.


Length - 9.44” or 240 mm
Tube Outside Diameter - 1 1/8" or 27 mm
Weight - Just 13 ½ ounces with 2 18650 installed (382g! )

tatfiend 

600 lumens is less than a single auto headlight puts out but they have more controlled beam shape than the LED flashlights typically do. Also per my understanding many of the Chinese LED flashlights are grossly overrated for light output. In a lot of cases you are lucky to get more than half the claimed Lumens. Even so aim it carefully when installing it.

IMO any high intensity light for regular bicycle use should have rechargeable batteries or they get expensive to feed.

socalrider

what baffles me is that the same seller sells a P7, single cell light that I gave glowing reviews too.. The P7 from that seller is by far the longest P7 I own but puts out a great amount of light and has great runtime too.. The light you just bought is huge by comparison.. You are going to have to go to home depot to find something to mount that on your bike, it is just huge for a bike light..

The thought that you are going to be blinding riders and cars is way overblown.. I use 2 - p7 to ride all the time, probably putting out over 1000 lumens in total.. You aim your best flood right in from of you and your best thrower to the outer edge of the flood and for me this is ideal lighting for fast nightime training.. There is absolutely no reason to be aiming to your light straight down the road, everything you see will be 10-20 feet in front of you..

abstractform20

socalrider are referring to this one: https://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/...&productId=415

i didnt think that 3 more inches is that much.

i thought it would work fine with this:

https://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/...&productId=171

socalrider

yes that is the P7, it is not just the length it is the extra weight of the flashlight + extra battery... That light mount is not very good, you will have to figure something out that is more sturdy for the 6x cree light you bought..

It is twice the weight of that P7 and like I said it the biggest of the handful of P7's that I own.. I have 2 P7's that are under 4 ounces without batteries..

abstractform20

...hm. what DIY can i pick up for it? or do you think im better off trying to call and trade orders
since i have not yet transferred the money; you know, maybe swap out the current one and get what you have and a mount and something else to balance deal?

socalrider

The P7 he sells is a great light.. He also sells batteries and a charger.. The batteries are very good but they are unprotected cells which is not the best.. The charger he sells is a DSD charger which is fine..

If you bought that as a package to get started it would be fine.. I would just order some of the Ultrafire 3000 mah cells.. These cells will make that light a workhorse.. It will give you close to 2 hours of useable light..

https://cgi.ebay.com/Ultrafire-Rechar...lenotsupported

CCrew

That isn't what she said

Neat light, but I'll agree, it's a honker in the size dept.

bugly64

I had my P7 mounted with a twofish on strobe and I was glad it was 900L because it was pooring down some serious rain. My planet bike superflash was doing it's disco thing on the back of my Surly NIce Rack also.

Unknown Cyclist

Looks great, it's almost exactly the same size and weight as my Aurora P7.



I use this mount:



https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15642

It fits the torch perfectly and is very stable.

Couldn't be better - 10/10.

Cyclist0383

Those 3000mah cells have gotten some bad reviews for high drain use. It seems that they are good for low drain use, but flop when used in a high drain light like a P7.

Check out this thread of 18650 reviews, especially the second page. https://light-reviews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=513

Cyclist0383

The lack of a quick release seems like a deal killer. It would be a PITA to have to unscrew the thing every time you locked up.