Light & Motion Vega- opinions?
 

Anyone have an opinion on this light? It appears to be a nice blend of brightness and compact size. I'd be using it for my commute on lit city streets and the local MUT. More to be seen than to see the road.
I've read a few favorable reviews, but would like some opinions from fellow commuters.

The thought of ceasing my bike commute once the sun rises later depresses me, so I need some lights. Affordable lights- I have to buy 2 sets, one for me and one for DH. If not the Vega, what else would you recommend?

Thanks in advance,
Becky

How well-lit and well-maintained is your MUT? Our is lit and maintained poorly enough that I need a light to see, not just be seen, or it would be Flat City (at best, and more than it already is). As far as I know the bottom dollar for something that's ready to go in that category is a 15W halogen like cygo nitro. Can probably jury-rig something equivalent out of fancy new LED flashlights.

I have one and it is all right for a general purpose light. Out in the burbs, I can usually find a path or side street to ride. One cautionary note is that you do need to slow down, I typically ride at 10-12 mph at night with this light, otherwise I feel that I am riding beyond the range of the light.

torgot

How fast do you normally ride? Obviously at night your speed is reduced. What speed do you wish to maintain at night? For daytime speeds at night you'll be paying out the nose. I've a mate that's more into the LED's and is doing LED R&D right now. He laughed at the Vega lights and saying something about the LED being overvolted to achive the 4W status. I'll have to check back with him on that. He told me it's not a good light to get given the LED advancements today. You can get more light for your dollar with other lights on the market.

There are a few downsides of the Vega.

1. No side light visiblity

2. The batteries are soldered into the unit requiring you to return the light to L&M should the batteries fail so you're left without a light.

3. If you're out of light you can't replace the battery while riding.


I've not used the unit before but from some reviews I've read it is a bit top heavy. While you do get the light you need to get from A to B not having a replaceable battery kind of kills the deal for me.

For a little bit more you can get a Dinotte 5W LED which is the older model and you can find it for cheaper online for just the light unit sans the charger if you have a charger already. You can also email Dinotte asking for the light sans the charger and get a better deal on the older model.

For the Dinotte 5W newer model you'll get 200lumens of light for $155 USD for the light only sans the charger that runs off 4xAA fromt he email I got back from Dinotte.

In the same price range of the Dinotte 5W 200L model you can get the Cygolite Dual Cross 300. If you want to save a little bit you can get the Dual Cross 200. The difference is 200 has an overnight charger. The 300 has a 4hr charger. Price difference is I think $30ish but I'd take the 4hr anyday.

Vega Reviews

Comparison of VEGA vs. other lights in the same boat.

It is me, Grun, and you probably already know my answer.
I like to bash the Vega and Cygolite, and for good reason. I have a flashlight that costs $20 and it ended up brighter than the Cygolite DualCross 300 that costed almost 10X the price. It made me sad.

Anyways, Fenix has a P3D CE that pumps out 160 lumens, about twice as bright as the Vega, and at about half the price. Vega gives only 85 lumens. The P3D CE is lighter and smaller than the Vega as well.

You can also check out Wolf-Eyes Cree Editions.

I have also successfully created mounts for tactical flashlights, without using velcro and TwoFish, as well, it has Quick-Release built into the mount mechanism. Power, function, lumens, weight and size were all advantages of the Crees, with the drawback being mounting a flashlight to the bike. That has been resolved.
Q5 Cree's will be out soon, and they will pump out more lumens. And Rebel 100's are being advanced.

That is correct, the Vega overvolts a luxeon LED, as does the Cygolite. If you can hack the Cygolite and mod a Cree Star in there, you would expect even more lumens than the Fenix! Essentially, a Fenix overvolted!

Grun,

I don't want to hijack this thread but what is this Wolf-Eyes Cree Editions you speak of? Do you have a link to that?

To the OP. Fenix flashlights is what Gruns talking about. You do get quite a punch of light for a cheap price.

Also check out http://www.dealextreme.com for thier flashlights. They have free S/H and many on the Candlepowerforums have commented on thier lights.

this is the site here: a bit pricier, but very tough and excellent build quality (used by SWAT and security)
http://www.pts-flashlights.com/category.aspx?uid=1-99

Whoa nelly. $85-$100+ for those flashlights? Only to get 10lumens more? Screw that, I'd rather pay $55ish for a Fenix Cree flashlight that pumps out 160lm then $100.

Tho I am a bit curious about the quality of those Wolf lights.

Yeah, different strokes. You can bash an assailant over the skull 10X and the light will still work. Different strokes, these are police/security level devices.

Thing is you can add a high pressure Xenon. Varies from 320-550 lumens. But run time is much much less than Cree achieving same lumens.

The Rebel LED is great. The colour temperature is supposed to be fantastic over Cree. Yep, that is the one big limitation with Cree LED, colour temp.

I personally consider the Vega old technology - it was good for its time but
LED technology has already moved on.

First there was the white LEDs. Then the white Luxeons. Now the big name
in LED is Cree and those suckers are bright - the new Tri-Newt by nightrider
is 500 lumens with 3 of those leds inside the housing. It's nearly as bright as
my HID (about 725 lumens).

What I did for a long time is use multiple LED lights. The Cateye EL300s
(discontinued now but still available at mail order sites) in tandem were
almost bright enough to use for commuting but in retrospect dimmer than
a single 1 watt Luxeon. The EL500 was a big increase in power but two
EL530s (rev 3 of the EL500 design) would probably be an ideal setup for
you.

See: http://www.amazon.com/Cateye-HL-EL53...6149326&sr=8-1

A single one of those is 1500 candlepower and two are 3000.

That might work for you. Personally, I was using two Cateye EL300s and
two Grip 28 led flashlights. I finally had enough horsing around and went
HID (Trailtech Eclipse 13w).

Been commuting using a Vega for 2 years - I like it because it is self-contained, has a blink mode for urban/suburban lighted streets and puts out what I consider the minimum acceptable amount of light for dark streets and paths. That said, I'll probably replace it this winter since there are newer lights out there that provide better light and run time for a similar price.