Originally Posted by
pdlamb
I guess we differ in that I think Enough is available now. I've got lights that are bright enough for me to see, and to be seen, with mounts that hold them securely, optics that light the road more than the trees, and I don't need no steenking batteries (dyno hub).
How long do you expect to keep your $120 of lights? Will you replace them next year, or two years from now, as LED technology develops? I see my lights as a capital investment, but many people expect them to last like a one-time capital investment, then find they're more of an annual, bi- or tri-annual, expense instead.
At $40 per unit, I'm not really concerned about the longevity of the lamps. I expect them to last for a few years but I also expect that the replacements will be better as were the Magicshines that replaced the LED flashlights that replaced some of the first generation LEDs that were really dreadful.
But that's not unlike the trajectory of other lights I've owned. I started with a 6 V lantern that I strapped to a front rack. I dabbled in dynamo lights for a short while...didn't like them. Then moved on to halogen bulbs and overvolted Cateye HL500 lamps that I did the TurboCat conversion to. I burned through a lot of bulbs. I then went on to NiteRiders and overvolted MR11s and on to overvolted MR16's. The MR11 and MR16 are incredibly intense but also heavy and energy hogs. Their saving grace is that they are cheap. But not as cheap as the Magicshines and the new crop of lights from China.
I will also never ride with a single light. I prefer 3 for coverage and redundancy. That adds up if the lights are in the $200 range and get out of date quickly.