Originally Posted by
rekmeyata
Not sure why your against self contained battery powered lights. With LED's you would only have to recharge once a week and even then, according to your useage, they would be no where near going dead. Cateye makes a couple nice bright LED lights, one is the Cateye Single Shot ($79 at Amazon) which uses a eternal battery and the brightest at this price, and the other is the Cateye HL-EL530 ($45 at REI) which uses 4 AA's which you could use rechargeables for it. If you want something really bright but don't want an external battery but don't mind spending a bit more, the Cygolite ExpiliOn 250 is very bright but cost around $112 on sale at REI right now. The Cygolite uses a self contained rechargeable battery that is user replaceable with a new battery from Cygolite.
Here is a web site that shows the beams of all the above lights for comparison, plus beams of quite a few others:
http://www.modernbike.com/light-comp...singleshotplus
I have had batteries not fully charge or not charge at all. I have had lights short circuit and drain the batteries, I have had lights get switched on accidentally and be completely drained when it was time to leave from work.
When it comes time to get on the bike and ride I expect to have working lights, a dyno hub is IMHO the best way to ensure that. I have upgraded to LED lights so I no longer have to worry about halogen/incandescent bulbs burning out. Over the life expectancy of a dyno powered LED head light and tail light system I would probably spend a couple of times over the cost buying replacement batteries. They do have a limited life cycle, then you have to deal with the left overs. I have dyno hubs that are over 35 years old still cranking out power, show me a battery system that will last that long.
Aaron
