hey I remember those!!!!!!

All this talk about these German lights and how godly they are is making me want to try one.

I remember those as well. I also remember how useless they were.

you read the Dutch webpage?

I do find it hilarious that people still push for huge battery backs and such. If I live in a non-urban area, I would def go dynamo full-time, but there's street lights everywhere, so I just go with flashers to be seen on the SS.

With LEDs becoming so efficient and even batteries getting large capacities. As far as I can tell, the biggest obstacle is heat sinking for these lights. Having a large battery pack or >500 lumen light is for special purposes or situations. You don't even need a dynamo light for longer trips anymore.

Another reason why I shun bicycle specific lights is, they tend to cost more (features, runtimes, brightness, overall quality), ones with built in battery are bigger and bulkier (many with questionable heat sinking), crummy beam profiles, few options in neutral white, very few state ANSI lumens, or IPx waterproof ratings and etc... Oh, and I haven't seen any bicycle specific lights with selft contained battery that have a lock out switch!

So, what type of non-bike-specific lights have you tried that work better or have the features you mention? Mounts? Pricing? Thanks!

4Sevens AA Quark tactical (cool white, neutral white and warm white versions), Zebralight H51c and H600w . All lights I am using is a two fish block. I just use the H600w now. Zebralights are a little extra more $$$ but it has everything I want for a bike light, camping light, utility light, headlamp, EDC and emergency light.
Seems they have discontinued the H600w for the H600w mkII. Damn, those run times.

Very, very interesting... I wouldn't mind trying one on my helmet. Are the batteries rechargeable? Do you use a bar mount too?

Thanks!

I use a two-fish block as a bar mount. Yes, the batteries are rechargeable, the H600 lights use Li-ion 18650, the H51c uses AA (low self-discharge NiMh lights are highly recommended; Sanyo Eneloop, Maha Imedians).
This is a twofish block.
Protip: for heaver lights or to lock any bike light mount into position (sometimes handle bars and bikelight mounts do not work well together) use rubber splicing tape to hold in position.

For *#&^ sake. JUST BUY A FREAKIN LIGHT AND RIDE!

The search for the perfect solution prevents you from getting anything down. There will be no perfect light. Just get something that puts out enough light to be seen with, and, if needed, for you to see with.

back when I first started commuting again, I was hesitant to buy lights. Things got a lot better when I bought some. There are so many good lights out there now, I don't think it's that easy to make a mistake

>>>>For *#&^ sake. JUST BUY A FREAKIN LIGHT AND RIDE!<<<<<

(From the OP) Yeah, that's the problem. I wish it were that easy, like when we were kids and there was the Schwinn bike light and the Schwinn bike light to choose from. Usually, you'd end up with the Schwinn bike light and you'd never think about it again.

As I said in the original post, I'm not looking for advice on which light to buy. I've got way more information than I'll ever need on that subject. The statement in my thread title simply reflects the premise of a book called "The Paradox of Choice," which basically explains why too many choices - and the fear of making the wrong choice - often lead us to abort making any choices at all. That's where my pannier shopping led me, and that's where my light shopping has led me. So nobody benefited.

As you said "The search for the perfect solution prevents you from getting anything down (sic...I think you meant 'done?'). There will be no perfect light. Just get something that puts out enough light to be seen with, and, if needed, for you to see with."

If I ever buy a new light at this point, this is probably the way I will do it.

Never had a problem with the "Paradox of choice" perhaps it only effects some people? I want to try everything.

Huge battery? A 2S2P 18650 lithium ion battery pack weighs in at a portly 120 g. The lamps weigh between 60g and 120 g. I carry 3 lamps and 3 batteries so I'm hucking around 720g. That's just so much weight to have to carry around...

Unless you consider that a Shimano DH-3N70 dynohub weighs in at 720g and the lamp probably weighs about the same as my lamp. So which one is "huge"?

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

You really are making this harder than it really should be. Do yourself a favor. Spend $25 on one of the lights I linked to. Take it (at night) down to your local REI or bike store that sells lights. Compare it to any light that they have in stock. Then compare the price. If the expensive light at the store is 4 to 8 times as bright, buy it and be happy. If it's just as bright, install the $25 light on your bike and ride. Good is usually good enough.

Papa Tom, I think your problem is that you want to make this purchase only once. Since you are an overthinker, as I am, you're going to have to do a few iterations. Start with something moderately priced, not cheap, not outlandishly expensive. You might be satisfied. Then you might be able to refine or modify it. Or replace it entirely. If you have more than one bike, that's not such a bad thing. Learning is worth some money, anyway.

I use battery lights on some of my (too many) bikes and dynamos on two so far. I'm collecting dynamos and will be putting them on other bikes, including one or two of my wife's. You've learned about the stress of not knowing when your battery will crap out.

One way to get the best of both worlds is to use both types at once. I sometimes use a battery light and a dynamo light, just because I can, or because I want to be extra cautious.

Some of those proprietary battery packs have 18650 cells in them. These cells are still a little odd but they're available individually, and you can get chargers for them. I happen to like flashlights that use this type of cell. In fact, I believe many laptop computer battery packs have these cells in them.

This, seriously consider it. I've heard a lot of good things about them and a great value to boot.

IIRC NiteRider hits the nail on the head in that case. Fantastic lights.

Can you tell us a little more about them? I'm intrigued, but their website is a little short on details and they are too expensive to just try on a whim. For example, how do they attach?

Sure. I own the Whitezone 5 and Redzone 4 lights, which I understand corresponds to 5 watts and 4 watts of output - approximately 400 and 300 lumens respectively, but blasted all around.

Here is a video of these lights mounted on my folding commuter bike, tested out in a car park near to my place. The Redzone is about 6 months old in this video, whilst the Whitezone is new.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKGL6lmqtrE

The Whitezone is set to a "fast blink" sort of mode, whilst the rear kind of "strobes". The blink settings can be changed fairly easily. Both lights are on full power. In Singapore where I live the roads are well lit and so lights "to see" are not necessary. But on the other hand there are a lot of vehicles on the road with plenty of background light pollution from shops 'n such, and I also read that cyclists are more likely to get hit side-on as opposed to being rear ended, so I thought I'd opt for all round power in order to clear that light "noise".

These lights do a good job, but if my Redzone 4 were to die out on me I might upgrade to the Redzone 8 as a replacement. Maybe not to run at full power but at a healthy 5 or 6 watts, a tad more than what the Redzone 4 blasts out.

The lights are well made, and nigh well weather proof - even unto heavy rain, but maybe not water proof. I received the lights with a velcro strap and cable ties. The velcro goes around the light on to whatever u want to tie the light on - it is shape independent. The cable ties are little short to go around much - I haven't figured out their purpose yet.

Charging is by using a micro USB cable (provided). Removing the polyurethane caps to expose the charging input can be really hard for the first several times of use. Niteflux recommends using vaseline to make this easier. But too much vaseline can cause the cap to fall of with vibration if it is mounted vertically - so just the minimum to be applied I think. The polyurethane cap yellows after a while on exposure to air. This is natural and it has happened to my Redzone in the video. The brightness of the light does not seem much effected. The white light may become yellower with time I guess.

I'm guessing that with time the batteries will lose their capacity to hold, but looking inside it does not seem overly complicated to replace. The caps will also lose their elasticity, but Niteflux sells replacements. Basically it's a simple light with lots of light thrown everywhere. Easy to mount onto anything. I have not really come across anything similar to it in the market.

I checked up their Luminas 500 and 550 today.

They are still kinda on the bulky side, no neutral white option, no water resistance rating, and they do not have the most efficient battery life (assuming they are using the latest 18650 cell), the beam profile is a bit on the narrow side.

They do not have their lights ANSI tested but they do claim OTF lumens, they do have a lock out mechanism. So, I will give them kudos for that.

Same here. The $100 I spent on a flashlight, battery charger and rechargeable batteries was money well spent back around 2007 or so, and I still use the flashlight at work on occasion. Since then the prices have dropped so much while the performance has increased so much that you could cover your bases with buying several sets of lights/batteries/chargers and end up with way more performance for the same or less money. And discover that having multiple lights is the way to go.

A wheel with dynamo hub is around 100 euros.

Good front and rear light: another 50 euros.

That's 150 euros locked outside. If it wasn't for thieves, I'd go for it. This way - I carry lights, with rechargeable AA batteries. Front and rear. Take lights with me when parking (and during day time, of course).

It's also called paralysis by (or of) analysis.

I bought a light after realizing I could not see in the dark ...