Originally Posted by
landdnl
+1 for the eneloops. I've been using the AAA's for a couple years now on my tail lights, including winter, and haven't noticed that much of a difference between temperatures as far as the frequency of charging, although tail lights take a lot less juice than an 80 lux headlight. Thanks PaulRivers for the battery life info. It seems there's not a huge change in battery life between Gen 1 & Gen 2 in this regard. I tested at 1.7 hrs. before going to Eco-mode and you had 1:53 before noticeable dimming. What you said about the purplish tint was another factor against the Ixon. I still can't get use to some of the car headlights that exhibit this.
Glad to hear my post was useful. I'm planning on testing eneloops out this winter on my porch when it gets cold (I live in Minnesota), so we'll see what that shows. :-)
There's a few big changes between Gen 1 and Gen 2. I own lights from both (mine is roughly Gen 1.2, I got it off amazon us) -
1. Color Temperature. Gen 1 is 5500k and it's a stark white. I'm torn on how I feel about it - you feel like you can see a lot, but it destroys your ability to see outside the beam. Gen 2 is a lower color temp than that, and so far I prefer it. You can still see things fine, and it's easier to see outside the main beam.
2. "Low" mode on the Gen 1 is more of an "emergency backup" mode in my opinion. "Low" on the Gen 2 is a higher and very decent amount of light. I usually have no problem riding most of the time on "Low" on the gen 2 version for the whole ride. When I turn the light on on Low sometimes I forget that it's not on high. Etc.
3. It sounds to me like you've already using a Gen 2 light if you actually make it to 1.7 hours. The Gen 1 light has a hard limit at 1.5 hours where it drops out of high mode to low mode - it's a timer, not a measurement. Either you're off by 0.2, or you do have a Gen 2 light. Gen 1 lights won't go back into high mode after it drops without removing the batteries and putting them back in again (or plugging into a charger). Gen 2 lights, you can hit the power button to go back to high mode if you want.