Originally Posted by abshipp

I have fortunately been spared the misfortune of having a sidewall generator. I've heard that they are not the most efficient things in the world, although I've heard great things about this modern counterpart.

I keep going back and forth between whether I want a hub dynamo or not. I don't ride at night all that often, and when I do I have battery lights that work well enough, but I'm always a bit worried about the batteries, especially like last night when my light had a partial charge and it was very cold. So in that case, having the dynamo light available would be a nice peace of mind.

I've found that the price of a dynamo hub plus headlamp with a nice beam pattern is roughly equivalent to a really nice battery light. So financially it's a bit of a wash. Especially since I am already planning on building up a wheelset with some rims that I have.

My main hesitation is that if anything goes wrong with the dynamo hub, it would be a PITA to remove from a built wheel and replace it relative to just popping on a new battery light. I also wonder if I will trick myself into thinking that I can feel the drag from the hub. Everyone says that it's imperceptible, but if my brain convinces itself that it can feel it, well there's not much I can do about that.