Originally Posted by
01 CAt Man Do
I've listened to the pros and cons between both battery and dynamo set-ups till the cows came home and nothing I've read so far can really convince me that one is particularly better than the other.
As I see it someone that prefers a dynamo is usually concerned about having unlimited run time. To me this is it's biggest advantage. However if you typically ride at night no more than three hours a battery set-up is probably the easiest/least expensive way to go.
I've been riding with battery lighting for a good number of years now. When LED/Li-ion set-ups came out I was over-joyed. They are small, light weight and in most cases attach to a bike in less than a couple minutes. I now just leave the lamp head on the bike most of the time unless I plan to leave the bike outdoors unattended for more than a couple minutes.
I've never tried Dynamo lighting. Not because I don't like them but because I'm not convinced that I would be satisfied with the beam pattern/ output level. The lights I use now cost me very little and meet most of my expectations. If I went through the trouble of having a wheel built with a dynamo hub I doubt that I would be able to return the wheel/hub if I ended up not liking the resultant set-up. Dynamo lamp heads are another issue. There are many to choose from and I'm picky about having a lamp that provides a beam pattern that covers the WHOLE road ( from directly in front of the bike to a good distance in front of the bike ). I don't like "dead zones" in the beam pattern.
All that said, I think I'm relatively intelligent enough to find a dynamo system that would work for me but it would involve a lot of shopping around on-line and reading a lot of reviews. If I ever decide to do a road endurance event where I spend more than six hours riding at night than I would prefer a dynamo. Since I'm not into such events I'll likely continue using battery lights because they are less expensive and also work very well. With a good two cell I can even get over 2 hrs run time if I watch how much I use the high beam. Since I ride with lower output levels most of the time anyway this is really not a problem for me.
I don't think that anyone is arguing that one particular type of lighting is better than all others for every person in every situation. The good news is that all of the options appear to be getting better over time and that prices are coming down substantially. I remember thinking about dynamo lighting maybe 5 years ago and concluding that the lighting I could afford would not really meet my needs. I was surprised to learn how much it had changed when I bought my current system. That said, I'm still going to hold onto my cheap rear blinky on my helmet and the matching headlight as a backup or supplement.