I was quite excited to discover a new (and recently upgraded) dynamo lighting system produced by Supernova - a German manufacturer of premium lighting for bikes. This is their E3-PRO series LED lighting system. They now offer 3 models with considerably brighter LED emitters which now replace their earlier models from just a year or two ago. I'd love to build a front wheel with a Schmidt dynamo hub and use one of their headlamps for a fender mounted application.

So... I'm interested if anyone has actually seen or used one of their new dynamo powered headlights. Seems like it would be the perfect ultimate system for a touring bike or the non-stop 90 hour Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur race. Some models have already been successfully used for 24 hour MTB races. Best of all, for my purposes, I believe I could even mount the somewhat heavy but small lamp onto an alloy fender with rather minimal difficulty using their standard "multi-mount" pedestal as seen here: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/imag...-TripleMM.jpeg ... although it is really intended to bolt directly to a fork crown on a bike with cantilever brakes or onto front rack.

They offer one model with a single LED which uses a lens to direct the glare dramatically downward over a broad square road-washing pattern - intended to prevent blinding oncoming traffic: http://www.supernova-lights.com/imag..._blendfrei.jpg This version is still slightly in variance to German lighting laws, but comes very close. Probably my best choice...

Another version has the same single emitter but with a more conventional symmetrical circular beam pattern: http://www.supernova-lights.com/imag...ion_e3_sym.jpg

And lastly, there is a TRIPLE LED lamp-head (it uses the same CNC machined aluminum body as the other versions). This is said should NEVER be used for road use because of its extreme brightness and wide beam pattern. This is recommended only for off-road MTB race use only or perhaps only on low-traffic unlit country roads... but not for city commuting:
http://www.supernova-lights.com/imag..._e3_triple.jpg ... Not that I'm ever concerned about TOO bright a light, but it's bad karma to really piss off motorists (I'd still consider this model, even for fast road riding use - shame on me!)

The links above show the lamps illuminating a 14 meter wide road with a length of 100 meters (the length of a football field).

These are definitely NOT cheap LED lights (they sell around $250 USD). But, they would never require replacement batteries or even frequent re-charges. They even have an efficient internal capacitor to offer a "stand light" capability for several minutes when the bike is not moving. The Schmidt dynamo hub is state of the art and it too will cost another $250+ dollars.

From the examples of actual photos comparing the brightness of the beams they seem to approach the brightest of many powerful Halogen reflector-style (MR-11) bulbs... and even many HID lamps!

Peter White Cycles sells the lamps (among others) http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/supernova.asp and he offers his own actual photo comparisons of several lights illuminating a dark road beside his house http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp. And there are interesting comparisons of the various Supernova lamps on their website which is offered in both German and English: http://www.supernova-lights.com/en/products.html

The durability and long bulb life of LEDs are definitely worthy of the prices now that the technology has advanced enough to make them an extremely viable option. And with modern highly efficient dynamo hubs they may finally be the perfect bike lights I've been waiting for. They definitely seem more appealing that other comparable but less expensive modern LED dynamo powered lights - usually with ugly plastic housings such as the B&M or other lights: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/imag...ts/B&M171y.jpg

I'm very anxious to hear any opinions or impressions.

- Thanks in advance!