I have a Knog Blinder usb light. 3 hours stand on, 50 hours blinking. Bright light, love it. About to order the back light. You can find it online for $35 I believe.

That's up to you. USB is now everywhere, so you have choices.

Probably will depend on your 'charging environment'. I imagine people who work in a cubicle in an office setting would have an easier time finding an available USB port on a PC than finding an electrical outlet that doesn't require them to be a contortionist.

I've been using a Light & Motion Urban 500 as my primary commuting light for about 6 months. It's a nice bright light, convenient to install and use, and easy to recharge. Before the Urban 500, I was using a L&M Stella 300 and before that a Fenix LD20 flashlight (which is now mounted on my helmet).

In my experience, the USB charger doesn't take any longer than a regular charger, but I use a socket-mounted USB port rather than my computer. My Urban 500 initially had very poor run times, which turned out to be a software issue and L&M fixed the light at no cost. It has worked well since then but run times are still a little shorter than advertised, but not way off.

The advantage of the USB charging lights is simply convenience and light weight. My Urban 500 weighs a little more than 100 grams with the self-contained battery. It takes seconds to install or remove, and it is very simple to charge from my computer at work or wall-charger at home. I prefer it over the Stella 300 because it's a lot lighter, nearly as bright, it has no long cables to get in the way, and it frees up a bottle cage that was being used to carry the battery.

However, if buying another such light, I would probably get the Lezyne Super Drive. It runs off 18650 batteries that are not proprietary, so you can buy a supply of spare batteries (about $15 for two) to extend run times. If money is an issue, however, you can buy some very nice 18650-powered flashlights for $20-35 that will serve the same purpose.

I like having the standardization of everything using mini or micro USB for charging. Easy and conveninent. I hate proprietary chargers. I do use a USB wall charger from Lenmar. Dual USB ports, folding plug, and I have Retractable mini & micro cables on it. Very handy.

Beats me! USB chargers are low voltage low output chargers intended for small low capacity batteries. Small low capacity batteries can't run anything except a small low power light for any amount if time. Sone people are apparently OK with that - I'm not.

I want waterproof, high output and long runtimes. So currently I'm running multiple 10W high end P7 LED's from Vision X driven by 12V RC Lipo batteries. About the size of an iPhone and so far this week I've not yet charged it even using it during the daytime on the way in as well as in the evening on the way home.

One helmet mounted light is usually enough when the weathers good. But nothing seems to suck up light more than wet black asphalt. So when the weather gets messy - I'll add an addittional 4 element lightbar into the mix. May sound like overkill but light intensity varies with the square of the distance so to simply double the intensity at any given distance you actually need 4x the output. But those lightbar modules have shaped beams and may put out more effective illumination than an automotive headlight, but won't bother oncoming traffic when mounted low.

I notice that most of the people that say "runtimes are not as stated" are from Northern climates while those that say "mine works great" are from warmer climates, like Texas and Florida. Batteries generate current by chemical reactions whose reaction rates are a function of temperature. Considering that most of us run lights at the highest power in the dead of winter are of course going to be demanding the most from our batteries when they are the least able to perform. Manufactures will certainly spec their lights at the optimum temperature regardless of whether or not those conditions will mimic actual usage.

I have had good experience with dinotte 4xAA lights as well as the L&M Urban lights, but my expectations are tempered by the weather that I ride in. I also tend to use lower outputs where possible (and appropriate) so I don't hit the batteries too hard.

As far as the USB standard goes, I really like it, because those chargers are everywhere. Everybody and their dog has an iphone, and the wall USB charger puts out one amp, plenty enough to top-up for the ride home where I can leave it to charge overnight. I just need to have a USB cable in my seatbag if I run into an unforeseen need to charge my light.

>>>I imagine people who work in a cubicle in an office setting would have an easier time finding an available USB port on a PC than finding an electrical outlet that doesn't require them to be a contortionist.<<<<

Ahhh, now THERE's an answer! Thanks, no1mad!

Think outside of the box (computer)

I dont have a USB bike light, but I see the appeal. I charge my phone and my ipad with a USB charger (different cables thanks to Apple not following the standard EVERY other manufacturer has adopted) - they are already at my desk. I dont want to deal with new proprietary chargers for every electronic thing I get. I rarely plug anything into a computer, but I may use the charger that came with my Garmin, or the one that came with my wife's phone, or the one that came with my old phone that got wet and ruined, or maybe even the one that came with my phone If I had a light, I know I have chagers at work, at home, and even in the car already that will work.

solution to lights moving on bar: fold together some duct tape so that you create a double-sided sticky surface and wrap around contact point. my main problem with bracket mounts is that they break at the mounts.

I sometimes think that people crow about their expensive lights because they're too embarrassed to admit how economically ripped off they feel.

Upwards of $200 spent on something that frequently fails can make one feel like an idiot. Poor attachment systems, constant battery failure, cold weather failures and the fact that the system goes out of technical vogue so fast that you can't get replacement parts and "must" replace it every year or so just starts looking like a major scam to those of us who have more basic lighting systems. LED, Halogen, USB chargers, wall chargers- yeah, that's the ticket, let's fill the land fills with more chargers, plastic and chemicals until someone builds the "perfect" light. And we should all buy the latest and greatest so as not to be left behind in the great search for the material nectar of the light gods. Let us be slaves to the marketing masters that tell us of the need for ever more powerful light.

Boycott expensive poorly designed and produced crap. Must consumers be the beta testers for everything?

I've been using a NiteRider MiNewt 600 Cordless without complaint till now. I just picked up a new bike and decided to splurge on a new "wireless" cyclocomputer. Mistake. Turns out the NiteRider, and I would suppose any LED light for that matter, interferes with the wireless transmission frequency. And when I say interferes, I really mean it doesn't work! I bring this up as a warning to others who may not know about this incompatibility. I'm reinstalling my "wired" computer.

Matt

Is it feasible to use the MiNewt 600 as a helmet light moving it further away from your wireless computer?

>>>>Boycott expensive poorly designed and produced crap. Must consumers be the beta testers for everything?<<<<<

I'm with you on that, Buzzman. But I don't think we have much of a choice these days when it comes to buying any kind of technology. Manufacturers need to keep inventing if they are going to stay in business. Unfortunately, this means they sometimes have to keep RE-inventing the wheel and calling it something else. And to ensure their continued survival, they often take away the old "wheel" that was serving us just perfectly.

I've had a Nite Rider light for about 10 years. It cost about $120 all those years ago and was bright enough to fry an egg from 50 feet away. I only really needed that kind of light of a handful of occasions, but when I did, my Nite Rider paid for itself within the first few minutes. Without question, the more basic lights that were available at the time would have been useless in these situations. Even today's brighter LED lights that run on basic rechargeable batteries couldn't get me home in pitch darkness on a road full of potholes.

So, the bottom line is that you can only buy what's available to suit your needs at any given time. Right now, we've got lots of basic lighting systems from which to choose and few of them are much more than glorified reflectors. If we need something brighter and more reliable, we're stuck with the undependable, eco-unfriendly stuff at the local bike shop. I'd love to see manufacturers settle on one design and stick with it for eternity so we might actually be able to find replacement parts after six months of ownership, but I don't think that's where the trend is going.

I have no problems with my USB rechargeable lights. I have a NiteRider MiniNewt 600 and I get the run time listed on their website(1.5hrs at max brightness). Even after running it for 1hr 15min in full brightness, there is plenty of charge for the next morning(full sun) going in the blinking mode(1hr15min ride). They also informed me that replacement batteries for $25 and could be done at home. I have a Cygolite Hotshot rear light and I charge it maybe once a week(about 12.5hrs of use), but mostly just to be safe. I have had more people ask what kind it is then any others I have used. I have a ton of the USB cables already for other devices. I get to work, plug my light, and helmet camera in while I am at work. When its time to go, they are all charged up and ready to get me home. Rinse repeat.

I'm thinking that the people that get ripped off the most and the most often are the die-hard bargin hunters. And my opinion is that they have no-one to blame but themselves. I'd like to think that anyone thats literate enough to participate in a forum has at least basic math skills but seems more like the average 'consumer' is expecting to win some kind of lottery. Light 'manufacturers' simply assembly a product using components available from other manufacturers and therefore performance should be as predictable as 1 + 1 = 2. But nope - seems like theres long lineups to buy from
anyone that posts BS like 1 + 1 = 5. Should be an obvious scam, and people like that used to be called 'snake-oil salesmen', but I guess lots of people still believe in the tooth fairy.

Yeah - I'm talking specifically about things like lighting products that advertise 4,000 lumen outputs from an 18W triple LED array that the LED manufacturer claims can only deliver 1000 lumens per LED with 100 lumens per Watt efficacy. So that should be either 1,000 lumens x 3 and 30 watts, OR 1,800 lumens and 18 watts. Minus losses for lens ineffeciency and driving an LED at below its peak capacity. But that not whats being presented.

And the justification for co-operating in this kind of scam is: "Yeah - but its so CHEAP!"

Lets stop blaming manufacturers for everything. Until consumers actually decide they're willing to pay for something worth buying - lots of reasonable companies are going to continue to close their doors.

Yes, I suppose the further away you move it the better, but I prefer my light on my handlebars. I haven't done any actual distance checks but if anyone's interested I will.

Quick test results. Lowest setting requires the light and speedo to be at least 4.75 inches apart. On high beam this number practically doubles. Since my bars are 48cm wide and I only use low beam (plenty of light for my old eyes) it may just work for me. Thanks CommuterRun for knocking me out of my pessimistic pattern :>)

Matt