Originally Posted by cyccommute

While I will admit that the light output for the less expensive Cree lights is not 1200 lumens, I would question a result that says that the light only puts out 350 lumens. That's a very dim light and, in my experience, these lights are a lot brighter than that over several brands and models I've used. Perhaps they only tested it in the lowest light mode and either didn't report that or didn't know. The give away that there was something wrong is the run time. On full output, an 18650 battery pack will last about 2 hours. Theirs lasted 4 hours. Something is fishy here.

I have a Cygolite Expilion 850. We Test Lights has tested this light and says that the output is about 800 lumens. I have compared it side-by-side to several of the Chinese Crees and the Cygolite is somewhat dimmer than each one I've used it with, hence my statement that the Chinese Crees put out about 800 lumens.

There are about 10,000 Chinese Crees to choose from. Most of them are worth the money you spend on them and will give excellent service for very little money. They are way better...and usually cheaper...than any "be seen" light and are a pretty good way to find out if you want to ride at night without sinking a lot of money into lighting systems. If you find that you like riding at night, then you can certainly upgrade to more expensive lights. Personally, I tried the "upgrade"...that's why I have the Expilion...and found that the expense didn't provide me with better lighting. It just gave me a flatter wallet.