Originally Posted by
Deal4Fuji
I bought one of Troy's Illuminati's and I think it's a good value for $27. I use it on strobe with a Cyglolite on steady for the front and it comes with the small red blinkie that straps easily to my helmet for a 2nd back light (it uses two 2032 pancake batteries)....so I have 2 front and 2 back lights for the winter. Good to have a back-up in case one should go down for some reason. Also it is quickly & easily moved from bike to bike with the rubber strap fastener.
Ditto, I've been using an Illuminati for about six months. It's an excellent to-be-seen helmet light in traffic, night and day. I can see that vehicles see me, particularly when I raise and turn my head to look directly at the drivers. The Illuminati's directional shaped beam is well designed for such an inexpensive light. And it's so lightweight I don't even notice it on my helmet. The button is easy to operate even with thin gloves -- when in doubt I can check the reflection in my chrome handlebar, compass, mirror or eyeglasses to be sure which setting I've selected. Usually I prefer the flasher to be seen in traffic, although I'll use steady low for group rides at night and on the local MUP.
However it's just barely adequate as a to-see light on steady high, but I've managed to get home a few times with just the Illuminati although it's not ideal for spotting road hazards such as ruts or stray small bits of debris if I ride faster than 8-10 mph at night.
Just today I received a
Serfas "True" SL-255 headlight, powered by a pair of ordinary AA alkaline or rechargeable batteries (as far as I can tell, it's the only Serfas model that uses AA batteries). I just took a quick 2-mile trip around the block at night and it appears to be adequately bright as a to-see headlight. Serfas claims the SL-255 is 50 lumens on steady low, 125 lumens on steady medium and 255 on steady high. Subjectively the Illuminati on steady high is somewhere between low and medium on the Serfas SL-255, so once again lumen doesn't appear to be a reliable indicator of apparent brightness.
The Illuminati is certainly nowhere near as bright on steady high (supposedly 300 lumens) as the Serfas SL-255 on steady high (reportedly 255 lumens). But the designs are very different, with the Illuminati somewhat comparable to the Busch & Muller Ixons with top-mounted LED reflected off a curved mirror for a directional patterned beam.
I'll add more observations about the Serfas SL-255 and some photos after using it for a few rides. But for the current price of
$32 via Amazon ($35 shipped to my state, including state sales tax but with free Amazon Prime 2-day shipping), the Serfas SL-255 appears to be a very good value, especially if you prefer ordinary AA batteries rather than USB rechargeable LiON or other internal battery.