Doohickie

This. ^ At least for now.

My old light had a less-defined beam that more gradually cut off on the edges, and I was quite accustomed to that. It also had two LEDs and the beams overlapped a lot in the center of the collective beam which gave a nice bright spot. The new light has a single LED.

As of right now I have the beam aimed up enough to light street signs. I don't know if it's bright enough to be a problem to oncoming traffic; I'll have to wait and see. It is certainly adequate for my commute. I don't know if I really prefer the old light, but I was definitely used to it. This might be a learning curve thing, just getting used to how things look with the new light, and maybe adjusting the aim to get the best view. I considered going with a halogen light but everyone seems to think LED is the way to go.

Oh, another thing I thought about... my old light was set up on my handlebars so it was more in line with my eyes. The new light is on the fork crown so it's at a different angle. That's another difference. The funny thing is I just looked over at the Peter White website and it says there the Lumotec Fly IQ which I got has one of the wider beams so that tunnel vision effect is supposed to be minimized. But compared to my old lights, it's definitely there.

Looking back at this thread which started when the Lumotec IQ Fly was first introduced, I think I understand the lighting a little better. The optics on the Lumotec deliberately create a well-defined beam of near-constant brightness. The CygoLite has a hotspot in the middle of the beam, then the beam gradually falls off without a hard cutoff. I think my eyes were "calibrating" on the hot spot, thus the impression that the light is not as bright. I still think it isn't as bright as the CygoLite, but understanding that the light is more evenly distributed kind of makes sense. From what I read in the other thread, it sounds like the Lumotec IQ Fly is one of the best lights available for the money, so I guess I did okay.

A couple of features I really like about the Fly- the beam can be aimed up and down by clicking the light in its housing to one of three positions. I used that feature this morning when I got on the MUP- from the maximum lighting position for riding on the street, but angled it down while on the mup to avoid blinding joggers on the trail. The other feature is that the switch is easy to get to and operate with the light mounted on the fork crown.

The tail light seems very bright, perhaps almost as bright as a PBSF. It only has one mode, though: Steady on. I like using to lights, one steady on and one flashing, so I suppose I'll keep the PBSF.

tatfiend 

On all of my Dynamo hub bikes, three so far, I have included a PBSF flasher mount in addition to installing a dynamo taillight. All use rack mounts as I also have racks on most of my bikes. BTW the PBSF mount is identical to the Radbot 1000 version so the two taillights are interchangeable.

Doohickie

After a late commute home, I have to pronounce the Lumotec IQ Fly a success. It does light up a little less than my CygoLite, but really most of that is on the fringes. The area lit up in front of the bike is probably just about as bright as the CygoLite. I can discern no extra rolling resistance from the dyno, nor feel any ratcheting, even at slow speeds. The dyno works so wheel that I get full illumination from the Lumotec by merely kicking off and before I even start pedaling. When they say it only needs 5 mph, they're not kidding.

vantassell

Doohickie, this has been so informative. I want to thank you for all your reports so far.

Why'd you decide to go with the senso version? I would be a little worried about it turning off under streetlights/headlights during the commute.

I thought the same way you did originally about taillights, thinking that I'm fine with battery blinkers. But it seems like a lot of the more serious guys around here like the steady dynamo lights. I think i'd run the same way you're running them now, a solid dynamo and a cheap PBSF blinking as well. It'll be interesting to see if you convert to thinking solid taillights are better.

I think the three-way switch to augment the beam position has convinced me to go with the IQ Fly. I have one big hill (well a couple of smaller ones too) that during the day I can easily get to 45-50, at night this hill is a little of a challenge. It's really straight, but I still don't feel too comfortable going that fast when I can't see very far ahead of me. I'm thinking that the three-way switch oughta help me out and adjust for the steeper hills I encounter.

Doohickie

Ummm.... cuz Peter White was out of the non-senso version. The senso version has three switch positions: Off-On-Senso, so if you're worried about turning it on and off from street lights (which I haven't checked but I bet it won't happen), you can put it on the On position. Also, I checked and it says in the instructions "Auto- The headlamp and rear light are automatically switched on in twilight and darkness." Note it doesn't say anything about turning off. Maybe it stays on until you stop riding and the standlight goes out.

Doohickie

Some pics of the finished product:

LeeG

I forget the hours the LED will last but it's a very long time. With Halogen the bulb will burn out some time right when you need it. The problem with halogen is how inefficient it is in comparison. I've wasted $200 on two Schmidt headlamps that use a halogen bulb. Wonderful beam but the drag is more noticable especially at low speeds than the LED lights and the output is much less.

I"ve got another LightOn! head/tailight set-up on order. The tailights are very bright. I wish the beam was more focused but it works well enough and is very bright.

Doohickie

I've seen on some vintage generator lights that there is a spot for spare bulb storage. I guess I know why now.

I ended up going with the LED. So far I'm lovin' it. It's hard to evaluate the drag; the tires I had on the bike with the old wheelset were 700 x 25c; the new wheelset has 700 x 35c. There is a difference it drag but I'm pretty sure it is mostly due to the thicker tires. Even with the wider tires, I think I did a personal best on the way home yesterday, averaging over 14 mph including time at stoplights.

tatfiend 

The claims I have seen for LED life are 50,000 to 100,000 operating hours. Depends on how well the LED is cooled and how hard it is driven. The small low voltage halogen bulbs have a reported life of 10 to 100 hours and that seems to be dependent on vibration level they are subjected to and luck. Larger size tires are bulb friendlier due to reduced vibration.

Doohickie

Wow, that's a big difference. I wonder how much voltage actually gets to the LED, especially considering the LED goes to full brightness at a walking pace. What is it seeing at 25 mph?

canopus 

Hey tatfiend, how do you like the asymmetrical E3? I went with the symmetrical last year because I wanted to see the road signs so I am happy. Plus I was thinking about a future upgrade to the E3 triple which doesn't have an asymmetrical beam pattern any way.

sjt78

Cool bike you got there and great light set up. I think I might pick up the same combo now that I read this thread.

Doohickie

I got the SON hub, which costs about $250 I think. It just happened to be built into a wheelset I got for cheap. The bike shop I got the lights from said they've had good luck with Sanyo generator hubs which run more like $50. Maybe someone else can chime in with their experiences, or maybe there are old threads kicking around that discuss hub generator options.

Not the Slowest

Peter white sells the Sanyo hub, so that's good enough for me.
https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/sanyo.asp

Doohickie

My LBS, by the way, orders through Peter White. In addition to selling retail, he also wholesales. We picked out my lights by surfing over to Peter White's site from the shop.

The LBS charged me the prices on Peter White's site with no shipping or handling. I think they ordered lights for me and another person, and maybe ordered some other stuff too so the shipping cost per pieces was enough that they ate it I guess. Just something to think about.

canopus 

I've been happy with my SRAM i-Light hub. I preferred it over the Shimano because it has sealed cartridge bearings and was about $10 to $20 cheaper. I would like to try a SON just to see how it handles higher speeds vs the SRAM but I believe the efficiency is about the same.