Harhir

I have a few LED lights which are bright and do a good job to be seen but they do a poor job in illuminating the street in front of me. They don't provide a focused beam. Some of the streets and paths I am driving are pitch black and I am looking for a light which helps me to detect potholes and other obstacles in front me early enough to avoid them.
I still do have a dynamo on my bike powering an old fashioned 6V headlight. This one has a decent beam but it is not very bright.
I am either open to replace that headlight with a brighter version or just add a battery powered one which is brighter.

Thanks

trainsktg

I urrently use a Cygolite 550. So far it ha s done a good job of detecting road obstacles up to about 20 mph but higher than that and I start outrunning the beam.

Keith

Fly2High

I have a NiteRider Lumina 700. One would be enough for seeing the road but for safety, I put one on the helmet in solid mode and the one on the bars in blink. It does have a more focused beam.

Looigi

One thing to consider is that when looking along the beam, as you would with a helmet mounted light, you can't see the shadows cast by that light. The illumination angle and viewing angle need to differ to be able to see shadows. Part of what makes pot holes and obstacles stand out more are the shadows they cast.

InTheRain

Today's dynamo powered lights are fabulous. I have a Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ senso plus from about 4 years ago. It keeps the road very well illuminated. The beam is very focused and low. You can actually see a cutoff. It does not "spill" all over the place. The beam does not shine into the eyes of oncoming riders and traffic. The lights have been upgraded since I purchased mine and they look to be better and brighter than what I'm using.

Peter White Cyles is an excellent source:

Busch & Muller dynamo bicycle lights

PaulRivers

If you want to stick with a dynamo, modern dynamo's with led bulbs provide much, much more light than older dynamo's did. Right now the best price for performance one is the B&M Cyo Premium for around $100:
Busch & Müller Lumotec IQ CYO Premium T Senso Plus - Harris Cyclery bicycle shop - West Newton, Massachusetts

There's a new one called the IQ-X that's coming out but it's not out yet.

If you want to go cheap, you can buy something on Amazon for $30-$60 that puts out a ton of light. Quality control is lower - but hey, you can buy 3 of them for the same price as a US made light.

This year I found out they make led lights with a "neutral white" color tint that's easier on the eyes. I just ordered a Fenix BC30R and BTR20 to try them out (the 30 has a wider beam, the 20 seems to go further down the road). Haven't gotten them yet though.

fietsbob

Schmidt didn't try to redesign the B&M reflector they just have them make changes to go in The E Delux II housing

Ixon Battery light from B&M uses same reflector technology.

I have the Eyc-T on my Brompton .. it's a bit closer to the ground, where It Mounts,



I have an Extra E 6 halogen set*, They are OK with older Bottle dynamos .. will sell cheap.

Use 2.4w bulb if also wiring up a taillight And 3W bulb if you run a battery taillight separately..

Primary has an on off switch , secondary the switch is either On or Bypass. 2 are wired in series.

DannoXYZ 

The problem with generic flashlight-type designs is the spill off thre front that's not directed by the reflector. This limits how much light you can generate as the spill will cause glare to oncoming traffic.

More transportation-specific designs like the Lumotec Cyo and offshoots use an offset parabolic which catches ALL of the light from the LED and aims it precisely onto the road. No spill, no glare and brighter lighting using the exact same LED.

Harhir

Thanks guys. I was looking at the lights from Busch and Mueller. Looks like they have some awesome models and I love their page where they show light beam comparison:
Busch & Müller: Lichtvergleich Scheinwerfer
I am going to order one in Germany as my mother in law will be coming over soon and they are a lot cheaper in Germany than here.

ItsJustMe

The only name-brand light I have is a Cygolite Metro 550. It's alright but it does not hold a candle to the cheap Chinese eBay light which I paid $30 for and put a beam spreading lens on. That has a fantastic pattern, probably about as good as it gets without actual proper optics, and is quite bright,brighter than the Metro, and the battery life is great. I save the Metro for use as a backup light; if I use it as my primary I have to charge it every day.

Fly2High

Got a link to the ebay light?

OldsCOOL

OP, I dont know if you already tried the Zephal "deluxe" combo or not but for 24.95 Walmart dollars, it works great for me on short rides on dark backstreets. I wouldnt hesitate to take it on the open road. At 180 lumens, it is fairly bright. Uses 3-AAA.