Based on the MC-E that it's replacing (it draws 2.8A) I'm guessing somewhere around 45-50 minutes with an AW 2600.

Just curious,but what lumens is the cateye rated and similar bicycle specific lights? I just posted a thread in the introduce your self forum (feel free to move the thread to this forum MODS,as it seems I ranted more about the lights than introducing myself...) I mounted a 144lumen coleman on my commuter and couldnt be happier.

I've been testing my foil wrapped XM-L Solarforce drop-in on my bike, and it doesn't get hot at all, or even warm for that matter. Riding cools it down perfectly. It also has much better throw than the MC-E it's replaced, is considerably brighter, and has a nice white color.

Much like the people at audiophile know "what's what" when they talk about using their special pink noise CD to burn in the $300 cables that align the electrons properly. I'm sorry if it offends you but the folks at CPF do not have a private exemption from thermodynamics. Unless you clamp the foil on very tightly, with thermalpaste, and have it set up in such a way to vastly increase the surface area and you'll get some benefit because you basically just added fins. You need to get that good solid thermal connection though, just wrapping it bare is like setting a heatsink on top of a processor, try it sometime and see how it works...

Is the FOIL hot though?

OK,I have a few specific questions if I may...
The $1.80 universal flashlight mounts from dealextreme,link below...
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/univers...cle-mount-8274
Are they reliable/stable? Seems kind of crazy to put a $30 light on a $1.80 mount...
Regarding the lit/Ion batteries that are recomended,I have 1 coleman that takes 3AAA and ordering a romisen that also takes 3AAA's
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/romisen...3a-3-aaa-55750
How do the lith's compare w/nicad rechargeable and alk's in all regards?
I mean I can get a 4pack of decent rayovac alk's for $1 a pop from the dollar store,or an 8 pack of decent sunbeam batteries also for $1,so is it worth it to by the lith's or nicad's?
Pro's and con's?
And any remarks on the romisen?
Thanks in advance guys.
EDIT!!!!!!! I JUST SEEN THE RUNTIME RATED AT 40MINUTES FOR THE ROMISEN?WOW,MY 144 LUMEN COLEMAN IS RATED AT 6HOURS SO JUST GONNA GET ANOTHER COLEMAN.BUT STILL NEED THE INFO ON THE BATTERIES,THANKS.

As long as the light is the proper size for the mount, it's perfect. (And most of the 18650 lights are.)

It's very simple -- nothing to go wrong. Just buy it and try it.

In all regards? I'm not going to go into it quite that much ...

If you have the choice, go for the 18650. Rechargable AAA's are generally 700-1000 mAh, and the 18650's have the voltage of three AAA's and about 2000-2500 mAh -- so double to triple the runtime, and easier to install and remove to recharge.

NiCd have been largely replaced by NiMH. NiMH cells are good in that they're rechargeable, but it's really hard to beat the 18650 li-ion batteries -- they're cheap, low self discharge rate, have high capacity, only one battery to swap rather than three, etc.
Decent headlights use batteries up in a few hours or less, depending on just how decent they are.
At full power, that makes sense. So about $1.50/hr to use it?

A 18650 would probably give you double that. Also note that the 18650's are $8 for 2 -- so $4 each. So they cost almost 3x as much as the non rechargeable AAA's -- but you can use them a few hundred times. Well worth it.

OK DOug thanks for that in depth post man,much appreciated...Still a little confused here (please forgive)
1st I should have said NiMH,thats what I meant,just been so long since I bought rechargeables I said nicad(went to wally world yesterday and looked at rechargeables and lit/ions batteries,got confused on everything,and posted the question here) HAHA, but these 18650's you are refering to,I just remove the 3AAA holder from my light,and replace with one 18650?(I know this has to be a newb question,but I never even knew my light could run off of anything but 3AAA) But the lit/ion 18650 for longevity,or the NiMH 18650 for rechargeables?Got it.And is the 18650 recharger available at a regular place like walmart?Again thanks,and thanks for bearing w/me on all the newb questions.

The Romisen you're ordering says it'll take 18650 batteries -- probably it has an adapter of some sort to make it work. Using these would be better than anything involving AAA's.

Walmart doesn't sell anything for 18650's -- you'll have to order stuff. I suggest this --

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790 $7.88 two 18650 batteries
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251 $11.72 UltraFire 3.6/3.7V Battery Charger

Your Romisen probably uses one 18650 battery at a time, so if you buy this, you'll have one and a spare. It's pretty cheap to just buy four batteries and leave one in with your spare tube and swap it out with a fresh battery every few months.

If you've got a few extra dollars, this light should give you at least twice the light of your Romisen ...

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39359 $20 UltraFire WF-501B

Would a Shimano dynamo hub and B&M headlight give as bright/brighter/dimmer light than say a Magicshine? or how would it be compared to a Dealextreme P7 flashlight?

Pretty sure the answer to any question about a dynamo hub powered light's brightness is going to be "depends".

No, it wont be as dramatic, but it can be as useful. There are many threads discussing this issue - the nice Bumm.de dynamo lights or the Edelux or the new Philips night light focus the light very well. The Magicshine is a powerhouse that uses an average reflector and a lot of power. That equivalent power isn't available from the dynamo, but this is made up for with very good optics from those three offerings and also the fact that the magicshine and other cheaper non-bike lights are symmetric output so immediately 1/2 of their claimed output is lost by going up where it does nothing to help you see the road.

You can get very good results with one of the Dealextreme lights, the best throw wont be achieved with the p7 but it depends on what you need. What type of riding are you doing? Mountain or road, what speeds, hills, raining? etc.

Has anyone tried customising reflectors?

Think candlepowerforums will get you further if light customization is an option for you, but in summary : its not so practical and imaginably one of the reasons the bike dynamo specific lights arent nearly in the same price range as the more universal lights that have a much larger market (anyone wanting a light).

I am so happy with my Ultrafire WF-501B, the older one that I am going to buy 4 more of these newer ones- I actually really like the cheapo bike mount too

I was intrigued by the Romisen you mentioned, so I bought it. It just arrived today (I ordered it 5/22 -- DX was fast!)

I like the beam pattern -- it has a lens and the focus is adjustable, and it can be set pretty tight.

It definitely puts out less light than the P7 or M-BIN lights on high, but that just means the battery will last longer. (It still puts out a decent amount of light.)

It does indeed support 18650 and 3xAAA's with a sleeve that fits in to make the 18650 fit (when you remove the AAA holder). I would strongly suggest never putting AAA's in this -- got 18650 all the way. They'll last at least 3x as long for starters ...

It's a bit wider than the P7 lights (due to the sleeve inside) but still fits in the $1.55 mount (it's a bit tight, but it works.) So no worries.

I'm looking forward to using it on a ride. It might make a really good second light, where my main light has a wider beam pattern and lights things up close, and this light aims a good ways ahead of me.

I have used my 2 colemans now for a few weeks and I have no complaints.Long runtime,small,lightweight and throws like crazy...The mounts I use are kind of big ugly,and a DIY project,but they were cheap,durable and hold ROCK SOLID.
I used this setup a few days ago when my friend had lost his key during our run.I went back on roads w/no lights at all in dead dark and was completly happy.Didnt find the key,lol but planty of light!!!
Oh and I paid $6 for the materials for the mounts,and $40 for both lights,so just under $50 for dual headlights.

I think the MagicShine people had trail and or "slow road" use in mind when they picked the reflector for the MS900. If you are using an MS off road, you don't need as much throw as often as you need it when riding at high speed. And if you realize the remarkable spill and angle the head down a dew degrees - you still have some up-trail light spill.

I just had an message exchange with the guy that posted a "reflector" thread sticky on CPF. Essentially, I was asking why no flashlights use an oblong reflector to create a more uniform beam pattern when pointed at an angled surface. (such as pavement or the trail in front of you)

You'll notice many off-road automotive accessory lights use rectangular reflectors for just that reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyUZwes_4ew
or even..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZSg4...eature=related

how cheap is that??

Alright sorry to break all this technical discussion... I just bought a bike for college and I need a bike light! Colleges are notorious for thieves jacking things from bikes so I plan to take the bike light off whenever I'm off the bike... Which is perfect because I also want a flashlight that I can use as an every day carry flashlight.

Recommendations?

See post #402 for two valid proposals, and some other posts in last two pages for batteries / charger / mounts if you dont already have them. Just buy both of those lights listed there instead of spending hours looking. :)

For about 4 years now I have been using the Photon Freedom Fusion led headlamp from LRI. I wore it ....where else ....on my forehead with my helmet and it worked fine with no complaints. As far as lumens go.....forget it...the Photon Freedom Fusion will give out about 15 on high mode. But I didn't get it illunine where I am riding. I ride in the city and streetlights are adequate . I ride a variety of routes and pretty much know the hazards (uneven pavement, etc) Not long ago I was thinking of getting a Fenix E21 or reasonable facsimile to mount on my helmet as I ride mostly in early morning darkeness. Wanted to mount the headlamp on my helmet but couldn't figure out how to do that. The Photon Freedom Fusion is designed so the straps can be detached easily.
One day browsing bike websites I saw how a rider had mounted a Surefire tactical flashlight to his helmet using rubber bands.
I thought ...hey maybe I could do that with the headlamp as well.
Wouldn't ya know it. I got me some rubber bands (bout half a dozen) and took off the straps from the Photon headlamp and mounted that puppy very securely to the top of my helmet running rubber bands on both sides and to the front and rear of the lamp through the helmet's vent holes.
As I said before I got the Photon so motorists can see me as I use the highly visible strobe mode. \

The concern I have with the smaller flashlights ....is their limited battery times. For example I noticed the Fenix E21 has but 2 hours in high mode. Yeah, I know you get bookoo lumens but here again I want to be seen more than to see. And certainly the Fenix and the likes are much lighter.
And I am not panning that flashlight as I know it is a quality item but ...with the Photon I can ride highly visible to motorists and don't have to recharge my 3 AA"s for at least 8 days....that's riding an average of an hour to an hour and a half a day each day of the week. (in fast strobe mode there is also a medium strobe mode)
It is waterproof...essential here in Seattle...has smart technology so it doesn't go dim but instead uses every last ounce of battery energy with red light led warnings when its just about pooped out. The thing is ruggedly constructed. Only knock is its a tad heavy but I don't mind.
Am glad I saw that riders rubber band mounting on the web....wished Ida done that long ago.
Oh, almost forgot...the Photon Freedom Fusion headlamp is $24.95.

Would you recommend an XM-L light?
 

I am looking for a good light for bike riding. I read through some of the forum posts with lots of info on other(older) recommended lights (p7 etc). But the XML is new. Is this the better light one can get now? I have looked through a few XML on dealextreme but not sure what to get.

thanks

Yes, the XM-L is the latest and greatest emitter.

FWIW I'd recommend buying from Shining Beam or Solar Force as DX is slow and their quality control is quite bad in my experience.

And even among XM-L lights - you should understand that the reflector determines the "beam." The MS900 has the most "even flood" of any bike lights I know of. All flashlights have "hot spots" in there center beam -this can be bad or good -depending how you can aim the light for your current needs.

What type of flood would be best for commuting? Occasionally I ride an unlit bike path along the river that is quite dark and the condition of the roads is poor making it difficult to avoid potholes. That is why I am upgrading from a light that helps me be seen to a light that helps me see. An xml led flashlight with the two-fish lockblock attached under my stem is what I was thinking of. But I am not sure what particular flashlight in this category is best.