Originally Posted by
PaulRivers
As I was saying, I definitely agree with you - it's waaaaaaaaay to much hassle with the Dinotte.
However, I do feel obligated to point out (if I have this right) that the P7 has around a 1 hour runtime, right? The Dinotte is 2 hours. If your ride length happens to be between 1 and 2 hours (which it may not, just saying "if it is"), you may be trading the hassle of rubber bands and such vs changing the battery mid-ride. This may change dramatically based on your ride (raining? riding in a group? snowing? -20 degrees?).
As I said though, I do certainly agree that the Dinotte AA version is a ton of hassle. How much did your P7 battery and charger cost extra? The Dinotte has the same thing - having to buy AA batteries, and often a charger as well - just asking. The lith-ion version of the light (probably intendtionally) is much, much easier to charge, as I mentioned you often don't even have to take it off the bike - but it also costs like twice as much.
I still think a decent AA battery case for the Dinotte AA version would make it much less hassle. :-)
I get an hour on High from my MC-E. Medium or low is much longer run time. It takes maybe a minute to change batteries. The MC-E is a standard flashlight.
P7's from Deal Extreme are about $30. Charger ~ $10 and Batteries around $10-15/pair IIRC. My MC-E was $65, and a good Pila charger is $45. Add batteries and that's still far less than the cheapest Dinotte.
I like this thread. I hope we can come up with an easier method of charging the AA's for a Dinotte.
Let's say you put a connector in line between the battery pack and the light. If you could leave the battery pack and the light mounted to the bike, then disconnect the light from the batteries and connect the batteries to the charger, then the problem would be solved.
What kind of charger would allow you to charge the battery pack through a cable while leaving the batteries in the pack?