carlspeed

I posted this in another thread, but this thread is in the appropriate forum. I'm looking at the Planet Bike Superflash and Blaze 1w set. I found it for $46 shipped new, and before I pick it up I wanted to make sure that it's substantially better than the stuff that the local places like Walmart have... This probably sounds stupid, but I've never had a light before, and I am going to end up doing most of my riding in the evening and I want to make sure the bike is legal to prevent any potential issues... Visibility for me isn't the most important, more importantly people should be able to see me. Thanks in advance.

dougmc

They are better than what you'll find at Walmart.

Both are excellent bicycle lights. The Superflash is hard to beat without spending a lot more money, though there are some cheaper lights that are 80% as good, such as this one and a lot cheaper.

The Blaze 1w is one of the best lights of it's class. Rugged, bright, etc. But you can get a whole lot more light for a little more money by going with the P7 flashlights but it's less rugged, or triple the money and get 8x the light with a Magicshine.

Ultimately, you've picked a good light set, and that's a good price for the set.

carlspeed

Cool, thanks. I don't really need anything crazy because the places I am going to ride are lit, I just want a nice set that will be better than the minimum requirements for legally riding at night here in Florida. Easy to install helps too. :-)

subnoob

What is flood to throw?
Im interested on this light https://www.shiningbeam.com/servlet/t...8-II-Q5/Detail since it has 3mode. Strobe a must

Robert C

DealExtreme has quite a few lights and I am left with a question. It looks like I want two, single, 18650 lights. One of them should have a narrow beam and three modes off>low>high (off>high would be fine). The other should have a wider beam and have four modes, off>low>high>strobe (SOS strobe is just plain silly). Of course I want them to be bright on high.

I only have about a twenty minute ride on my evening commute; so, run time is not as important (I just have to remember to recharge the batteries every night). Which lights should I be looking at?

dougmc

OK, but the DealExtreme lights don't really let you pick your beam width. In general, most of their 18650 lights have the same reflector and similar emitters and therefore the same beam, and I'm not sure you can change the reflector very effectively. At $35 or so each, it's really not that big of a deal, if you don't like what you got you can give them away and spend a few hundred on what you really want.

That said, I think this one is the one to get -- it's got the newer emitter and is therefore a bit more efficient than the older models. As for modes, skip the two mode one (it uses a resistor to dim the light - inefficient) and all the 5+ mode ones have low, medium, high and flash, plus some useless stuff like SOS.

I have been tempted to make a small black cone for my sku 16501 light to reduce the beam width a bit so I can aim it a bit higher without blinding people, but it's not that big of a deal.

As for runtime, buy two lights and four batteries and keep a battery in your pack, just in case. In medium mode, they last about 4 hours, and in low mode about 8. I leave mine in medium mode most of the time. When the battery gets weak, the light gets slowly dimmer -- you're likely to not even notice it until it gets bad, but when it does, you'll want to replace the battery.

davidad

Try this one. The emiter is accually a XP-G R-5 and is almost as bright and will run 2 hours on high. I use one as a flashe\ing front light and it runs up to 6 hours.

mrbubbles

For flashlights, I got this. $20. MC-E m bin.
https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39359

Pair it with this smooth reflector.
https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.05937

For less than $23 bucks, you got a flashlight that's brighter and spottier than P7 c-bin (have those as well).

EsoxLucius

What does one buy to attach such a flashlight to the bike? If I missed this information in these 15 pages of posts I apologize. Thanks.

Firepac

So what would be better than the Fenix? And also what's a good mount?

speedlever

Twofish lockblock.

except search the site and look for the 3 pack for $15.99.

Reta

I bought these to mount my yet to arrive SST-50 flashlight

https://www.photonlight.com/products/...LASHLIGHTBLOCK

Reta

For more creative ways of strapping your lights on to your bike check out https://www.ruscelli.com/biking_fenix.htm

jt4703

I like the conduit clamp mount to keep the lights under the handlebars. Cheap and easy to make.

https://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/flashlights.html

Firepac

anyone get the chance to use the Fenix AF02 bike mount?

https://www.fenix-store.com/product_...oducts_id=2404

Cyclist0383

There is a good review at CPF.

Firepac

how do they compare to the original 360 mount?

scoatw

inexpensive flashlight mount

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrfZhEzjWwg

Robert C

What is "CPF."

Cyclist0383

Candle Power Forums. The uber light geek forum.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/

trx1

that links is invalid

trx1

got me a old schwinn then GOT a free generator set for it.
so now i dont need 2 worry about lights on my ride

Cyclist0383

It works just fine. Maybe the site had some downtime.

dougmc

If it's one of those generators that looks like a coke bottle and rubs the side of the tire and has an incandescent light (at least that's what I think of that goes with "old schwinn") then the only advantage that thing has is not having to worry about batteries -- it has many disadvantages over more modern lights, both generator and battery powered.

If it's a modern hub generator with a LED light, nevermind -- you got the good stuff!

lac29

From what I've read the Romisen RC-N3 CREE Q5 seems to be the best budget flashlight-turned-headlight.

However, I had a quick question about bike lighting in general ... is the general convention to have a headlight (in my case the Romisen) and a red blinky? Or do I need one more white blinky in the front? What's the "normal/typical" setup?