No problem Chris. I'm thinking of building that Dinotte style as well. Been looking around on CPF a bit, checking DX, etc. It looks like the project is within my abilities, and it would be nice to have that setup. I'm also thinking that style may work on a helmet for summer night riding on the real trails, which would be cool (especially when combined w the TF on the bars). In the winter I tend to ride slow and wear layers, and a brain bucket is rarely part of the ensemble. So I'd need it to work both on the bars and on the skid lid.

Let me know how your project turns out, if I haven't gotten around to doing it by the time you do that may be the bit of encouragement I need to push me over the edge. Past few weeks I've had other things eating up my $ & time, but with winter rolling in I foresee the time becoming available.

There are four Lowes stores in the Milwaukee area. Two of them don't even carry the 60X brighter flashlights, one is sold out(I got the last two), and the fourth store on Rawson Ave has about 8 left. Needless to say, the Rawson Ave store is farthest from my house. I bought two TF lights at the Rawson store yesterday, giving me a total of four lights. Two are mounted on my handlebar and the third is on my helmet. They replace a PrincetonTec Switchback 2 which I bought in March 2008. They are substantially brighter than the PrincetonTec at less than half the cost.

Will do. Though I won't be getting to the Dinotte light for about a month at the very soonest. I just started gutting our bathroom for a full remodel!

I am looking at the Cree MC-E led though. Up to 700 lumens depending on the driver. It will be a little more with this led, but I think it is worth it for the extra output.

Chris

Just wanted to say thanks for the tip on the Task Force light. Picked up two at the local Lowe's today, and on sale for $25 to boot. Bright and fairly light. Mounting one on my helmet and the other on the bars. Tried it in my two fish but it is a little wobbly and so will be using a couple of hose clamps opposing each other which works really well I find and is cheap. Keeps the light on the bike just in case loose finger Louie happens by also, unless he has a screwdriver.

You're welcome, no problem.

That said, forget the hose clamps, check this out
https://nordicgroup.us/s78/images/homemadebracket.jpg
https://nordicgroup.us/s78/images/barbracketcree.jpg

Total cost under $2, all parts can be had at a hardware or local industrail supply store. Details here https://nordicgroup.us/s78/flashlights.html

I've currently got a hacked bike light clamp & a zip tie holding my TF on todays ride, but am using that design to hold my mini-mag along with the TF, and 1/2 that design as a camera mount. Also using that design to hold the TF on my road bike, and will be replacing the cheesy bike light mount on the bike I took today w/ one of those as soon as I get another clamp.

Here's what it looks like on my setup, although I only have that bracket deal set for the mag at the moment. Will have the same on the TF by the end of the week. The lonely bracket is a camera mount.




Also, I plan to trim the bolts to make it neater. I think I'm going to use a wing nut to secure the light, so I can remove it for trailside repairs easier. That bike isn't left locked outside, so theft is not a concern.

Well, good news, arrived at circuitously.

I bought the flashlights through Lowe's online, by the model number. And got the right ones.

Shortly after pulling the trigger, I read the rest of the thread here and saw the details about the model number being schizophrenic. The product online description was 30x brighter, etc., all signs pointing to it being the wimpy light. I tried to cancel the order, no online option for that, tried by phone but a day later they sent me a nice note that it was already downrange, sorry, I could return if I wanted to but it was coming.

However, they arrived as the spiffy 60x model, just what I wanted. And free shipping on orders over $49, which worked out as I got 2 @ ~$25 each.

So here is the deal with my task force lights. I bought two at the local Lowe's in the 60x brighter packaging. I mounted one on my helmet and it gave off a nice hot spot which was exactly what I was looking for. The other I mounted on my wife's bike and turned her loose with it but a few days ago I was heading out in the evening and thought I would try hers handlebar mounted on my bike. When I got on the road it looked like the handlebar light was running out of battery compared to the helmet light, a much weaker beam. When I got home I checked the battery voltage and it was ok and swapped out the batteries between the two lights and the weaker light remained weaker. So I think I got the 30% brighter model in the upgraded packaging, but how do you explain to Lowe's that is the case? My wife is happy with it for her morning commute so I will keep it on her bike anyway as I am on to a brighter future for mine!

tell them their made in china bull$&!# needs to go back where it came from and you want your money back or you're gonna sue. j/k

those places rarely question a exchange for the same product. tell them you got a dud and you would like to swap it for a winner.

the one personal exception i can think of actually happened at lowes... i bought a li-ion dremel that was mispriced. they honered the price at the register. sweet! get home and it doesn't work. bummer! when i tried to exchange it for another that worked, the ASM stood by her overinflated ego powertrip lack of common sense decision to only offer me a refund at the original purchase price. woman, i bought the thing 30min ago, its not my fault your employees mislabled the product and i got lucky. i wouldn't have bought the thing had they not mislabled it. im now wasting my time, transportation money and blood pressure because you enjoy playing napoleon. long story short, she was having some sort of psycological issue and the general manager gladly exchanged it for a new item the next day when he was in..

Well thanks to sonicj's push in the direction of returning the light I went up to Lowe's, on my bike of course, and attempted the return of the light. Without receipt nor packaging. I did not use the @#$%^ type language and had to deal with 3 different people to ultimately get it done. The biggest stretch was remembering what day I bought the light so they could check my card against their files which has to happen on a day by day basis. Luckily I hit it the first try, guess actually, and they didn't have any more lights in stock so they just gave me my money back which was fine with me as I want to build up an overvolt halogen system as described elsewhere on this forum instead.

The TF has a lifetime guarantee - and should have presented no problem on the return.

An added sidenote, you can give them (Lowes) your telephone number when they ring it up, and tie the receipt to that number. Thenceforth, no receipt will ever be needed for a return.

I have two of them hanging on the bottom of my bars, and love them. Next stop will be rechargeable batteries for them.

I could not find the TF @ my local Lowes so I tried the MiniMag Lite. But the pictures in this thread convinced me that the TF was the way to go. I had to search 4 Lowes till I finally found them and got myself a pair:



The mounting is temporary, till I find something better:



And now the tests!

MiniMag alone, flooding a few feet in front of the bike:


One TF alone:


MiniMag & two TF:

After reading this thread on and off and being a gadget loving guy, I decided I had to have one. Went to my local Lowes and picked up the 60X for under $25. All I can say is "WOW"! They had the 30X also at a reduced price of about $14.
This ain't your fathers flashlight, that's for sure.

I dunno if anybody else noticed but the 60x is about 1 1/8 " when you slide off the rubber sleeve. I took my old stem that came on my hard rock cut the fork mount part leaving the threaded side intact. Slid the light in and screwed the cut piece back in. Mounted the handlebar clamp on my bars and wahlah, light mount.

Has anyone tried this mount for the Lowe's light. The description for the mount says it holds up to 3cm in diameter. Is this about right for this light?

Wow! I bought one last night and used it this morning before sunrise. It was incredible. I have a cateye el-220 that I use on my road bike, and this really outshines that. I used the conduit clamp mount and it works very well so far. Its hot in the middle, but it also has a nice halo that works well for what I need. I usually ride on pitch-black bike trails and there isnt much better that I have found yet. It so happened that I passed someone else this morning and I couldnt even tell he had a light on until I looked at him. There was that much difference. Big thanks to the OP.

I picked up one of these lights and realized it needed a diffuser. My solution: the cap from a 32 oz. bottle of Gatorade G2. It's an opaque white plastic cap and it snaps over the top of the Task Force flashlight perfectly. There's a rubber gasket around the top of the light that helps hold the cap in place. I think it diffuses a bit too much so I'm playing around with cutting some grooves into the cap with a Dremel. The way I figure it I might as well experiment. Caps are gonna go into the recycle bin anyhow.

Nice find ...

For a few bucks more ($37) you could get a Fenix E20 that uses AA's and doesn't blink when you shake it

Ok, I am now on number 3. I'm taking it back. I thought the light pattern was great, but I cant keep them working. I left for a ride yesterday at 4am and about an hour into it (and away from home) I was riding on dark paths in the middle of trees and the damn thing quit working.

I'm checking Fenix now. Thanks for the find, but I cant keep them going.

Mine haven't failed me once, in almost a year.

My only problem seems to be keeping my wife's hands off them....... and then spending time searching them out....

Thats good, but like I said, I cant keep them going. After 3 tries, I need something that isnt going to fail me like this. To add to it, I also tried swapping out batteries in the different cases.

I have just bought a TF at my Lowes and used it tonight for about an hour, so far I'd say this is a great light. How have you that mount it to your helmet made the attachment? Velcro is what I have been considering.