Which one to get?
 

OK after reading about the great things said about the Fenix light I have decided to get one. But I don't know which one to get. On my bike now I have a Nite Rider Evolution Smart with a 15 watt Halogen which is mounted on my handle bars. And I am very happy with it. I also run a Light & Motion Solo. The Solo has a wider beam then the Night Rider. Both are on the handbars!!!
MY commute only takes about 20-30 minutes.
I want to use the Fenix on the helmet. I have been to the Fenix web site. But wanted some users input.

Thanks

https://www.fenix-store.com/product_...roducts_id=358

Pair that with 4 of the AW RCR123A cells and a charger, and you're set. You could also go with the l2d if you want to stick with AA batteries, but it will be heavier and have less light output. With the length of your commute, obviously runtime is not an issue (same with mine) :). I currently use a P3D CE (160 lumens) bar mounted with my Cygolite Tridenx alongside, and a P3D Premium 100 (200 lumens) on the helmet. The P3D Q5 I linked to will give you 215 lumens. Amazing how quickly LED technology is progressing. When I bought the P3D CE (I think in June) it was top of the line :)

FWIW I use the Tenergy 3.0V RCR123A batteries and their chargers sold at www.all-battery.com. The Tenergy batteries are much cheaper than the AW cells. I have 8 of their batteries and only 1 of them has a slight fit issue (a bit wider than the others...doesn't slide freely in the tube). If I put that battery in first, the light will be stuck in constant turbo mode when I screw the tailcap down. That problem is easily solved by unscrewing the tailcap, putting the other battery in first, and re-screwing the tailcap. I've never heard of anybody having a problem with the AW batteries that are sold at www.fenix-store.com, and they're 3.7v instead of 3.0v so that's supposed to be better I guess.

Go for the Ld2. I use two of them and they are wonderful. The main advantage over the P3D is that they take easy to find and cheap AA rechargeables, and work just fine without futzing around with them.

Weight isn't an issue for the one I have mounted on my helmet, it weighs just 117 grams with batteries. For comparison the lamp head of my Cateye DoubleShot weights 141 grams without the mount.

They also have a longer run time than the P3D.

None. IMHO with those lights you don't need anything else.

To be able to read the bike computer.
And also to be able to stare down someone driving a car when I come to a intersection.:D

L&M Solo on the helmet? You said you were running the other light on the bars and did not specify about the Solo. I repeat, why would you need anymore than what you have?

I got the L2D CE Premium Q5 because I do road riding and prefer the whiter light. Go for the Rebel version if you want a color closer to Halogen, or so others have said. No personal experience with the Rebel. I prefer AA's because I already had a charger and batteries and wanted at least a 2-hour runtime. You could get by with a 1-battery version for your short commute.

I prefer a helmet mount over a bar mount and now have both. It is nice to see where you are turning, street signs, and the computer and looking down to see which gear you are in. No negatives to a helmet mount for road riding as far as I can see and if I only could have either the bar or helmet I would go for the helmet.

Jeff thanks for the info.
I just bought the P3D OLIVE Premium Q5 and the Tenergy battery/charger.:D
They should be here by the end of the week.

It's not what I need, but what I want.:mad:

Please let us know how those batteries are. There have been many reports on CPF of them being vastly overrated as concerns their capacity.

NOTE on the P3D Premium - you won't get 1.8-2hrs runtime in Turbo off Rechargeables. Maybe 70 minutes or so.

Just want you guys to know. I bought the P3D's for the uber-power output, but they only get advertised "turbo" power on "primary" non-rechargeable cells.

If i had to do it again, I'd prolly go with the 2xAA version. About 20% less light but close to double the runtime on Turbo with good cells. As it is, with my 1hr r/t commute, the P3D Premium makes it with not much runtime room to spare.

Other than the runtime issue, I'm VERY happy with the P3D: small, uber bright, hi quality, great beam pattern. I also have a L2D (keep it in the toolbox & take camping) and am quite happy with it as well.

Cheers

I would go with the L2D Premium. It gets over 4 hours run time on high, 2+ hours on turbo. It is very light and bright, and as others mentioned, AA batteries are inexpensive and easy to recharge. Plus, you can buy AA batteries anywhere if you every get caught in a jam.

Background information: I own 2 Fenix P3Ds. I also just received 6 L2Ds in the mail, most of which I'm going to give out as Christmas presents to hopefully turn some people into flashaholics (see www.candlepowerforums.net for definition). Both of these lights have their positive and negative aspects. I think the L2D is better as a general use light, or for a person who doesn't know what they're going to be using the light for. The P3D is a bit more of a specialized light, and may not be the right choice in many circumstances.

I think alot of people failed to notice the light in this specific thread is going to be used as a helmet light for a maximum of 20-30 minutes at a time. In this case the P3D is clearly the best choice for maximum light output with minimum weight and size (when runtime is not an issue).

Using an L2D instead of a P3D would simply add size and weight, and slightly decrease light output, for extra runtime and a more common battery which is unnecessary in this case.

Here's a quick comparison shot of the 2 lights/battery types:

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...parison003.jpg

You've already bought the P3D but here's another thing you can do. Convert the NR light into a 12V system. Right now you're probably getting 300+ lumens with that light (similar to the L&M Solo); converted into a 12V system with the right components you could easily more than double that output (up to 700+ lumens).

Here's what you'll need:

1) a 14.4-14.8V battery. There are some options here. Li-ion will be the lightest and will run about $30-60 depending on the capacity (plus $30 for the charger). An alternative is to build it from 12 NiMH AA batteries. If you have a lot lying around, this would be the cheapest way to go, since you probably already have the charger. You can get battery holders from mouser.com for <$2 each (you'll need 2x6AA holders and glue them together yourself since they don't carry a 12AA). Still another option is to wire together two 7.2V RC car batteries.

2) a 12V 15-20W MR11 halogen lamp. I suggest JetLites' version for $20 available from their website.

With this upgrade, you'll add about 400 lumens for potentially very little money (depending on how you build the battery).

What weight difference? One weights 1.7 ounces without batteries and the other one weighs 2.0 ounces. Their is only 1.3 inches difference in length. They are virtually the same, especially for a helmet mounted bicycle application.

As I see it the only difference is the battery. Why would a flashlight with CR123A batteries be chosen over one with AA's? I did a search and found an overwhelming preference for AA's over CR123A's in camera applications. I did not know there were so many different battery sizes until I started looking at the Fenix flashlight and researching rechargeable batteries. The number of sizes is perplexing and I could use a little education!

With flashlights this small and light, battery weight is a significant portion of overall weight. A rechargeable AA from all-battery is about 1 oz. A rechargeable cr123a from all-battery is about 0.6oz. That makes the weights with batteries about 2.9 oz for the P3D and 4.0 oz for the L2D. I guess not an extremely significant difference, but maybe noticeable.

So the L2D is 27.5% heavier, 22.5% longer, and puts out 16% less light than the P3D (180 lumens for the L2D Q5 vs. 215 lumens for the P3D Q5). Of course the L2D has at least 100% longer runtime than the P3D, but if you don't need the extra runtime then why have a larger, heavier, dimmer light on your head when the price is about the same (P3D costs $5 more I think). I guess if the op already had some rechargeable AA batteries and a charger laying around it could make sense as a compromise to save money. Otherwise I'm not seeing the point in this situation.

The L2D Q5 also does a weird turbo flash when turning on/changing modes in general mode. The P3Ds I have (P3D CE and P3D Premium 100) don't do this. I don't know if the P3D Q5 does that or not. I know when I tested out the L2D Q5 gift flashlights I bought, I found that little flash annoying (just a little thing I guess).

I have heard lithium batteries perform better in cold weather than NiMH batteries, but haven't confirmed this personally since I very rarely ride in weather below freezing, and all my current front lights use lithium batteries (4 RCR123a, one proprietary 7.6v li-ion battery pack). All of my rear lights use rechargeable AA and AAA NiMH batteries (8 AAs and 8 AAAs), and in the mid-30s temperatures I've been riding home in recently they all seem to put out plenty of light.

I run my P3D's on strobe on my daytime ride to work (about 20 mins), use one at work (usually it just sits in the belt holster, sees maybe a minute of use as a flashlight in a normal night, around 10 mins or so on turbo if I have to go into a warehouse with the lights off), then use both on turbo mode on the ride home (about 20 mins). I haven't had a problem with the runtime using the Tenergy rechargeable batteries.

Flashlights were an interest of mine before I started bike commuting, and I already had alot of cr123a primaries. Most high performance flashlights use lithium batteries. The main benefit of the lithium batteries are longer shelf life, smaller size, and higher voltage per cell.

Well that just kind of rambled everywhere, lol. That's what happens when you get me talking about lights :)

1.3 ounces and 1.3 inches. 180 lumens versus 215 lumens. Are you kidding me? You could not tell the difference in a blind test. Changing batteries twice as often would be a pain, however.

I guess if I did not already have a AA/AAA/C/D recharger I would have done more research and have a better understanding of these different size batteries/chemistries. But on the surface it holds no appeal to me. Especially with the continual and rapid advancement of NiMH battery capacity and the development of NiMH hybrids.

Thanks for your comments. Battery University does not get into all these details.

Well the P3D finally got here. Man is it ever bright.:beer: :love:
I am glad that I took JeffB502 advice on the light and the rechargeable batteries.
I batteries and charger has not gotten here yet. So I went to radio shack this morning to get 2 batteries and talk about price shock 9.99 ea. and that was for their brand name. :o
At that price the rechargeable will pay for them self after the second uses.:D
Now I got to figure a way to attach it to my helmet.:roflmao: