I haven't posted in a while, but playing with this new Klarus XT20 that I got from GoingGear to use as a bike light has me wanting to share a bit. This is supposedly a 1200 lumen light (as stated by the manufacturer), and although I leave it to others to do actual measurement/testing in that regard the XT20 does put out a lot of light.
I haven't treated myself to a new bike light in some time, and although this is technically a flashlight my intent in purchasing was almost exclusively to use it on my bike.
The mount I rigged up is done with a pair of TwoFish lockblocks and a two ViewPoint Spacebars. This is basically the same stuff I always use, but I repositioned the spacebars to provide two locking points for the flashlight, which has about an 8.5-inch length (listed as 218mm). The way I've used the spacebars seems to make for a really solid mount, seemingly not very susceptible to light bounce/shifting/unwanted movement. I won't vouch for it in hard riding off road, but it seems to work fine for me.
I think this rig works out for an interesting setup and the XT20 certainly puts out good light and supposedly has long runtime on high (I tested it for only about a half hour, though).
A few specs on the XT20:
• Runs on two 18650 batteries (or four CR123A)
• Two CREE XM-L U2 LEDs
• Three lighting modes and one flashing mode
• High: 1200 lumens (2 hr)
• Medium: 370 lumens (5.3 hrs)
• Low: 10 lumens (205 hrs)
• Strobe: 1200 lumens (4 hrs)
From what I'm seeing the price seems to be about $160 for the XT20, but I applied the GoingGear CPF discount and got it for $144 with free shipping.
Anyway, I'm experimenting with it. I'm not much on being one of the first to try a new flashlight like this (much preferring to let others do testing and only purchasing later based on good user reviews), but I had a pretty good feeling about The XT20 based on other Klarus light reviews and how I thought this one would fit my plans for use on a bike. I'm also big on purchasing lights that can be used for multiple purposes, so I have quite a liking for using flashlights on bikes.
Here are a few shots to show how I chose to mount the XT20 (various angles for clarity).
