Wow, that's a lot of paranoia and hyperbole. If things are so dangerous maybe he shouldn't be riding at all.......:rolleyes:

He was kind of kidding around a bit me thinks Ziemas. ;)

I basically told her the same thing, the more light the better for my safety. :thumb:

I get to try this baby out in about 1/2 hour.

First night ride results
 

Well, got my first night ride in last night. Started at 6PM and by 7PM is was dark. No moon last night and most of the ride was in unlit rural areas or the MUP (Balt. & Annap. trail).

I ran two MTE P7 8-modes mounted with LockBlocks hanging below my handlebars about 6 inches apart. I had my usual PlanetBike Superflash on the rear. I had to stop a few miles in as I didn't have the LockBlocks tight enough and the angle was slipping a little when I hit bumps. After that adjustment the rest of the ride they were fine.

Results and observations:
I started off with the one light on the medium frequency strobe. I've never run a front light before but I figured riding around sunset it would help oncoming traffic pick me up better.

As it got darker or on the darker sections of the MUP (B&A trail) I transitioned to a single medium steady light. The darker it got or the worse the trail was with Autumn debris made me crank up the power.

Not much to report the rest of the ride except that I got a total of 42 miles in (about 30 miles were in the dark). I was probably adjusting the lights through the various modes more than I needed to but I was like a kid at Xmas with new toys. I was also trying to get the most out of the batteries because I didn't have any backups to the two P7s and my ride was about 1.5hrs in the dark.

Maybe my opinions will change after a few rides but here is what I found:
<10mph - 1 light medium freq. strobe
10-14mph - 1 light medium steady
14-16mph - 2 lights medium steady
16-18mph - 1 medium/1 high
18+mph - 2 lights high

Two P7s on high was lighting the road plenty even on 25-30mph descents on twisty roads through the woods. I'm happy with them so far and would recommend them to anyone. Both lights still operated on high when I got home but I didn't check the voltages to see how much was left in them. :thumb:

I've read enough uber paranoid threads about the terrible dangers of cycling to doubt he was kidding.......

Taking the cap off my 2 mode P7 for the first time to put the battery in, the O ring came apart. Where does a guy get something like that? The local hardware store? I assume without it the water resistance would suffer.

the o-rings for my 5-mode fell apart too. It's strange how 2 o-rings on the 5-mode fell apart within a few days, but the 2-mode with a different design hasn't.

I had some spare 9/16 O-rings lying around so I used those. a bit tight, but stretches out to the proper size.

If you have some dielectric grease (typically bought at auto-parts stores to put on spark-plug wire boots), that's a good O-ring lube. Try not to get it on the bare metal parts of the flashlight that are intended to transmit electricity, though.

You could get a Dereelight DBS V2 with the 1S R2 pill and the smooth reflector, and show her what a bright light would really look like ;) Aim it at some trees 1000 feet away. "See, now I'm leaving the DBS home, dear, and just taking that other one... OK?"

In all seriousness, though, if you think it might be too bright, go do a quick 2-person reality check. Drive your car while someone rides your bike towards you in full darkness with the light aimed the way you like it, and see what you think.

I was playing around with the light, I took out the reflector cone inside the the P7 torch and I ended up with a super floody, no-hot-spot light.

so the hot spot at the center is caused by the reflector cone and not a result of the diode itself.

And the two MTE styles of housings use the same lens, which is ~34mm in diameter.

putting a different cone or lens in to replace the stock parts for something more cycling oriented should really help reduce the demerits of a P7.

Where are you all getting your twofish lockblock mounts?

I see 4sevens also has the 18650 batteries at a price of $16.00. It doesn't say, but is that for just one battery? I sure hope not!

Probably is. The cheapest 18650s are at DX. The two protected Trustfires I bought in September are still working fine.

Some have had problems with the DX batteries. I do not know how DX handled it. I have not had a problem yet. At less than half the price of one from 4sevens, I will keep taking my chances.

I've had problems with DX 18650s. Bought four and one of them was defective. Even then it's still way cheaper than any other place.

Yan,

Did you ever contact DX? If so how did they handle it?

Their support email system was having server problems that day, so I just gave up. Only $5 per battery, meh.

A month later my Trustfire charger started acting up. I contacted them (no problems this time) and they promptly sent me a replacement charger.

Very good customer service.

While I've bought plenty of stuff from DX and will continue to buy stuff from them, quality control isn't their strong point. One thing I won't cheap out on is batteries, especially ones like Lithium which can explode if defective.

That is good to hear.

I've got the same problem. ordered 4, 1 defective, it just heats up when charging and stays warm until it discharges itself.

I found that the Trustfire Brand worked a little better than the Ultrafire Brand in 18650 batteries..

The best performers I found are from a seller on ebay.. They are Japanese Brand he sells for 8.50 and free shipping.. The only catch is that are unprotected cells.. I found they have a 10-15% better burn rate than the Ultrafire or Trustfire cells.. When your light drops down a mode, time to pull the cell..

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rechargeable-3-7...d=p3286.c0.m14

On another note, found a real nice mount on ebay too.. Carbon Fiber but the mounting clips are alloy so it gives you a solid mount to your bars.. Comes with adapters so it will fit 25.4, 26.0 and 31.8 bars.. I was looking for a good mount for my GPS, that wasn't too flimsy like the FSA Carbon Mount and found one.. It would easily accomodate 2 full sized lights using the lockblocks.. Take a look..

http://cgi.ebay.com/CARBON-FIBER-COM...d=p3911.c0.m14

I am really confused on which P7 lights to get. I see many here get the 8 mode or 5 mode version. Looking at the DX site it appears the 5 mode is more expensive than the 8 mode...why?

i ordered a two mode. using my current small blinky instead of the 5 blinking modes of the P7. i ordered 2 weeks ago and it still hasnt shipped! who knows how much longer i gotta wait for shipping. i've stopped commuting because my 60lumen light just isnt cutting it.

How about a link to the light you ordered?

Here's the two mode I got. 10 days from order to arrival and I am happy with it.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12325

btw, I'm getting at least an hour run time on high so far. Haven't ran it til it dims yet.

two mode MCE
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16539

two mode P7
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15691

will post comparison when i get them.

they came!

My lights arrived today. I have two batteries on a charger now. The batteries already had a little charge to them but they annihilate the Blackburn System X8 (130 lumen). I took it into a dark room, the Low mode balances to be about the same as the two X8's focused on the same spot. High mode completely washed them out. These things are friggin awesome.

Are you sure it hasn't shipped? What does your DX account say about them?

I read this thread and ordered the 8 mode last night. I went ahead and ordered the batteries, and charger as well. Oh and the mount. Pretty reasonable price I think.

One question for you guys though. I have access to a TON of surplus laptops, if I wanted to yank the batteries out of a couple of them do you think it would cause any issues?

laptop batteries older than 2 years are suspect to having no capacity at all. they also might not be protected, might not have clearly marked +/- terminals and are usually soldered together.

otherwise as long as they're 18650 size they'll work.

I will just keep buying them then. Not worth the risk, they are only $5 a piece as you guys know. Thanks.