Originally Posted by Merriwether
You have to compare like with like, if you want to perform a useful comparison. One of the problems with the light comparisons on this site is the constant switching of topics-- from cheaper per lumen to "brighter" to "more convenient or whatever. The discussion here is informal, so this is to be expected, but to get the best overall picture you really do need to keep in mind that there are various factors that matter to riders and different kinds of commercial lights represent different tradeoffs of those factors.
The commercial HID lamps seem to think that riders look at things differently. L&M seem to think that the 675 lumens their ARC puts out is enough for most riders, on or off road. So, their lights are a lot lighter, more convenient to deal with, and have a longer burn time than halogen lights that put out the same amount of light at at time. Again, reducing these properties compared to halogen is possible because of the basic fact that HID provide more light per unit of power than do halogen lights.
If you don't care about weight, size, and convenience, then halogen have no disadvantages compared to HID. But most people do. So, using halogen will result in some disadvantages for most people.
I learned about the lights from a pro who has all of the tools to measure lumens and beam angles and such. he has tested most of the HID setups and his home made halogen and some of the LED setups. it is really the only way to really know unless you can buy the systems and try them out side by side.
so I knwo what my setup can do.
I could have went a different way hindsight is 20/20 and gotten the same sized sells most HID setups have. I would have just used a 20 watt bulb and overvolted it to 16v and I would have gotten 40 watts of light out. it would give me a longer runtime then my 35 watt light.
going by the lumens L&M says that the light puts out will lead you astray. most light companies make claims that they could never meet. but thats typical of marketing in general.
my battereis fit in a water bottle and a lot of HID and regular halogens do the same. though my cells weigh 2# vereses mabye 1# or more for a HID setup. the light I use is bigger but it puts more light on the road and I can use a wider beam then you can with most setups. so i can light a whole lane really bright. and I light three other lanes off to the sides at the same time. so cars have no problem seeing me at all.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ADME:X:ON:US:2
though mine does not have the display. I can charge from 4 to 8 cells of different types so it will charge a lot of packs. tells me if a pack is bad too.
light systems in general are way too expensive for the average buyer. I seldom see anyone with a good light commuting. they just cost too much. a spare slow carger for my L&M commuter light I started with was 50.00 I could get one from rat shack for 12.00 a space battery pack is almost as much as the whole light. L&M will not even sell you cable extensions so you can't mount the cells where you want.