I have both and if I were to only get one, it would be the Fenix.

I use the other around the house.

Thanks. I have no battery rattle in the Fenix. Still, the Romison looks like a pretty good buy for the money.

How does the LD20 compare to the L2DQ5? Isn't that the Fenix replacement for the L2D?

This thread is so stuffed full of jargon I can't make much sense of the good information contained within.

Is there an idiot's guide that just says "Here is the light, recharger, batteries, mount, total price and where to order it all for under $50ish?"

I know that would make it a whole lot easier, besides it appears you have all done tons of work figuring it all out, why should I do tons of work figuring out what you decided.

The fenix doesn't rattle, the Romison can because its cut to hold the slightly larger Cr123 battery.

I am not on the LD20 v L2DQ5, I believe it's the "new and improved" which means you just pay more.

In anycase keep it simple, if the Romison doesn't do it for you, someone will buy it here or keep it in the car.

Without a doubt. :thumb:

I have a Romison and the Fenix is kinda out of my price range but I'd like to grab another light that has a flashing mode. Is there a flashing/high-mode light like the Romison that is about the same price that is recommended?

After reading the comments, I did as suggested and went off to find a flashlight. I went to Lowes and bought the brightest Coast LED Lenser they had. Nice flashlight. Adjustable beam. Got to try it on the 1.6 mile St. Paul Tunnel (Route of the Hiawatha), twice. (Dark. Cold. Wet. Wear fenders. Wear fleece. Wear jacket.)

It worked just fine. Enough light to light up the whole tunnel. No vertigo issues. I scooted thru the tunnel. No issues. (While is nice, since there are two culverts to avoid). Adjust the beam to suit and ride on. It is hose-clamped to my Planet Bike LED headlight holder. That one was dim enough to give me vertigo in the Bizz Johnson tunnels.

Just in case, I had a headlight attached to the helmet with velcro straps thru the air vents. Plus spare batteries. Not needed.

Part of the problem is that people don't agree. And when you're arguing about why yours is better, the buzzwords tend to come out.

But my advice?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.13060 Light, $34.16
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790 Batteries, 2 for $8.18
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8274 Mount, $1.54 (get one for each bike)
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1251 Charger, $12.30
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18307 Backup light, $7.43

Total: $63.61 (no tax, shipping is free, but takes about a month), plus you'll need 4 AAA batteries for the backup light. Being that it's a backup, alkalines should be fine -- it shouldn't be used much.

This will give you a really bright light that will last 8 hours if you use in low mode, or about 90 minutes in high mode. However, this light is a bit fragile, so I also suggest getting the backup light. (I've had things vibrate loose inside, but it's never broken so badly that I couldn't fix it in a few minutes.) I'm serious about the brightness -- other cyclists will be amazed at how much light you've got, unless they 1) have about the same thing or 2) spent hundreds of dollars on something else.

Here's a cheaper charger --

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.22576 Charger, $4.39

But I've not tried this one. If you must be under $50, you can get there by getting the cheaper charger and skipping the backup light. But I'd suggest having the backup light.

The backup light is pretty impressive for what it is -- pretty well made for the price (unlike many of the DealExtreme lights), puts out a decent amount of light. The first light is still much brighter, but the backup light is adequate.

If you're on a smaller budget, get two of the backup lights (skip the other stuff) along with 8 - 16 rechargeable AAA batteries and a charger. Aim one light a bit ahead of your front tire, and the other light further ahead.

i.e. get this --

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18307 Light, $7.43, buy two of them.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.72 AAA batteries, $2.39, buy four packs.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29177 Charger, $5.99

... for a total of $30.41. You can save a few bucks by not buying the spare batteries, but it's nice to have a full set of spares, so you're never waiting for batteries to charge.

If you need a rear light, I'm pretty happy with this --

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3639 red tail light, $3.67

EDIT: updated because I was wrong about the batteries used by the backup light.

In addition, what one considers to be sufficient lighting is highly dependent on the time of year, location, amount of traffic, and other factors.

Doug, any issues with the combo above? I have the 13060 flashlight along with this 15642 mount. The mount doesn't fit the light perfectly.

I made it work by strapping a rubber band onto the flashlight. Another annoying issue with the mount is the fact that I have to unscrew the tailcap to get the light onto & off the mount.

That may not be a problem if you leave your light on the bike 24/7. I lock up my bike on a daily basis and need to remove the flashlight on a daily basis.....it gets tiring.

No, it works great.

I regularly take my light off the mount -- I just pull it straight up and it comes right out -- no need to take anything apart. And it's held in strongly enough that it's never fallen off. (Though I stick to roads -- if you go mountain biking it might not be adequate.)

I imagine that every time I pull the light out I weaken the mount a tiny bit, but it's going take hundreds of times before I need to replace the $1.50 mount -- it's already been over a hundred time and while it's a little looser than it originally was, it's still plenty secure.

I have an L2DQ5.

Some brands of rechargeable batteries rattle in it. Others do not at all.

There are slight variations in battery size across brands.

Some brands are even slightly larger than the non-rechargeable standard and I've needed to peel away some of the plastic covering near the ends so they fit in other devices. Those are the ones that don't rattle even with a bit of plastic peeled away. The ones that easily pop right into other battery holders are the ones that tend to rattle in the L2D.

Fast, cheap and powerful.

I recently bought a flashlight at Lowe's for $25 that shines an impressive 150 lumens. I notched a piece of v-shaped wood molding lying around the garage, tastefully covered it in black electrical tape and strapped it to the handlebar (may post photo later ...). A length of Velcro tape holds the flashlight in place. With a set of throw-away batteries, my investment was about $30. This compliments a so-so LED blinkie light in front.

The reason I did it this way is that I wanted the light now. Didn't want to fuss with online places that can take weeks. The thing may end up devouring batteries but I plan to buy NiMH rechargeable batteries and charger soon. Drawbacks: It doesn't flash or have a low mode. It's slightly clunky/heavy.

Here are the specs. It's a "Task Force" 3 Watt Cree LED, available at Lowe's. It was recommended at this comprehensive site on bike lighting: http://nordicgroup.us/s78/flashlights.html. Runs on 2 C batteries. If you go this route, make sure to check the website because there's apparently a similar light that's less powerful and easily confused for this one.

Having read some more of the threads about lights ... I can see 150 lumens isn't all that powerful or impressive. But it puts a good spot on the road, and it was cheap and fast. Will report on performance down the road.

I ordered some lights from Deal Extreme on Oct 15th- still not here :)

Be prepared to wait a lot longer. The US based high zoot light shops ship a lot faster and have much better quality control for just a few dollars more.

My order of the P7 flashlight, charger, batteries and mount came in 2.5 weeks after placing the order.

Got my "order" 2 lights, 2 mounts, 2 batteries but no recharger.............I am conflicted in what to do?

EMAIL THEM, Sometimes they can come in seperate shipments

They split orders when something is out of stock. What's the item number of the charger?

Oh sorry I didn't mean to confuse- They shipped a slip that said it was out of stock and it would be on it's way separately. My problem is wondering what I do in the mean time, since I can't very well use the flash lights more than once or twice before the batteries die, so do I go buy a recharger or just wait until it arrives?

My commute takes me along a very dark path along a very dark lake. Before Monday, I was certain that there were lights long that path. Wrong.

So... I bought this: MEC Shark One Watt LED Light for $12.50. Meh.

Then...i bought this: NOMA High Output Cree 3W Flashlight for $29.95 at Candian tire. Strapped it to my helmet.

Holy Hanna! That's a lot of light! 140 lumens. it was a bit like that scene in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Don't buy this light if you don't want to see the shiny/creepy/relective eyes of all the critters silently watching you spin along...

That's the risk you take when you buy from DX. The charger could ship tomorrow, it could ship in eight weeks. FWIW, Light Hound in the States has the UltraFire charger for $18.

http://www.lighthound.com/Ultrafire-...er_p_2279.html

Just received a Terralux LightStar 220 from Battery Junction. Most cost efficient AA light I'm aware of.

Despite my lengthy wait and the fact that I haven't received my charger yet I am happy with my purchase.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790 X1
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8274 X2
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16240 X2
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4151 X1

grand total of $52.07

Tonight was the first night riding with these and wow does it blow away the former "bike light" I have been riding with and there was a clear night and bright moon. I wish the battery life was better but since I don't have a recharger I just turned it off when I was in well lit areas on my 10 mile commute home and hope to make the batteries last....

got one for me and one for my girlfriend, she doesn't get to use it until the recharger comes :)

Be careful with that charger and keep an eye on it while it's charging. Check out the posts about it on the bottom of the DX page.

I'm doing a fair bit of night riding now and I really need to get some lights because I almost killed myself or dog or an annoyed lady the other night because I didn't see them until I was nearly hitting them. Good thing there was this patch of grass on the side and I swerved to the grass otherwise I probably would've killed a cute little puppy.

What's a good cheap light? I don't want to wear it on my head since that just looks goofy and I plan on using the Livestrong band method to keep it on (that way I can take it off easily so it doesn't get stolen)

See post #265. :) It runs on good old AA's is the nice part.

So does this setup give plenty of light for single track riding? I am thinking of going this route.

Just got a Magicshine. Initial impressions:

Cripes. On the brightest setting, that thing is bright! I'd say it has plenty of light for riding on dark streets, even on the lowest setting. Those P7 LEDs are astounding.

The flashing setting is kinda lame ... the frequency is so fast, it's seizure inducing. Not sure I'll use that setting. And ditto with the SOS setting. My old Niterider Digital Nite Owl had that SOS setting too. Thought it was useless then, think it is useless now.

The headlight mount seems secure ... we'll see. The battery pack is small ... we'll see what I think of the mount for that.

The instructions are anything but complete. Much improvement could be had there. For example, the green LED in the back of the light appears to glow any time the light is plugged into the battery pack. Is that normal? Unless I missed something, the instructions don't mention that.