Originally Posted by
gear
Along with lumens.
When considering a headlight for the purpose of seeing (as opposed to being seen), consider the beam of the light. Will you outrun it on a fast downhill? How wide is the beam pattern? If you outrun the beam it is useless, your now riding in the dark. If the beam is too small you will only see what is right in front of you, once you spot something to avoid, you will want to see to either side of the object to avoid so you can choose which way to turn to avoid the obstacle. A nice strong, wide beam is most desirable in a light.
Also features like easy charging (I had one setup that required removing the batteries each charge, this wore out in no time), good waterproof connectors (no connectors is better), mounting that swiveled in an accident (fixed mounts break off) and allow the lights to be moved to another bike easily.
That's where the lux measurement would come into play. A high lumen count and a low lux indicates a very broad beam such as a flood light. A low lumen count and a high lux indicates a very narrow spot light as does a high lumen/high lux. Unfortunately, you hardly ever find light companies listing both lumens and lux. If they do list lux, you have no idea how the measurement was made.
Something that I miss from my halogen lights is the ability to run different beam patterns. The Magicshine comes in only a rather wide floody beam. I'd estimate it at around 25 degrees. The halogens I used to run came in 35 degree, 22 degree, 12 degree or even 7 degree beams. At 7 degrees and 1500 lumens, I had to follow laser safety protocols
