Should I buy two of each?
 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2012-3x-CREE...item3ccc0be535
This has three of the leds that are in my single LED Cree XML-T6 light which is already super bright. I'm thinking of buying two.

Also this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cycling-Bike...item231c7054c4
I'm thinking two for the heck of it just because they're so cheap.

Is it a good idea? I already have a super bright light, but it's like chocolate cake: I want more lights. MORE. MORE. Never can have enough. I don't just use them for the bike though; I use them for camping. I was thinking of having all three lights on a headlamp, so I can illuminate the entire campsite if I wanted.

Heck - buy half a dozen! Its only money and its such a good deal!

Except that the only warranty information I could find on that site was a 14 day return policy that doesn't cover shipping or international charges.

My existing light, which is of course a Magicshine chinese clone, said it was waterproof, so I submerged it into a lake and moments late the light flickered out. I fixed it though. One thing about these lights are that they're pretty simple to take apart, dry out, etc. So if one dies on me I'll just buy a new driver since that's probably the only thing that could go.

If you're happy with those - go for it. You probably represent the majority of people on this forum anyway. Reviews on the net are mixed and there are reports of units dying after a few months or a year as wel as people that said they have no issues and that its the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Personally I have no choice but to drive in heavy rain often (just the nature of weather here and a 7 day work week during the summer) and I got tired of drowning every light I bought. Yeah - most are easy to take apart and dry out - that didn't change that I was finishing the last part of my commute in the dark. Lights are a safety feature and some of that area has no lighting - as in no streetlights and no houses so no residential lighting either.

So I looked really hard for a light that not only claimed it was waterproof - but had a decent IP rating. IP ratings are used to define the level of sealing effectiveness of electrical enclosures against intrusion from foreign bodies and are defined in International Standard EN 60529.

So I found some last year from a US supplier and ordered a couple at $120 each to check out. And I submerged that light in a glass of water and plugged it in. An hour later it was still working. Two hours later it was still working. So I've been using those ever since and doubt that I'll ever have to buy another one since these have a limited lifetime warranty.

But the best part is that I don't have to give a second thought to commuting in whatever weather I have to deal with. During the past 15 years (and before going to serious light) I've had two minor encounters with automobiles. Minor in that I didn't recieve life threatening injuries, although in one case I did require stitches and in both cases there was permanent scarring.

However, in both cases the driver claimed not to have seen me before clipping me. In one case that wrote off a $900 bike and in the other it scrapped a $400 Marizzochi fork. In both cases I was lucky enough to have a police report and was successful in having expenses covered by the idiot's insurance company. And I wasn't killed like a few people a short while later in the same area.

So if those lights work for you - great! I definately agree that any light is better than no light at all. And relative to any accident costs - the most expensive light on the market is a pretty good deal.

Ooh! Ooh! I'll be Burton: (Switching on Burton mode) "Don't buy it because you haven't taken out a 30 year mortgage on the light and it doesn't have a millennial warrantee...way better than lifetime. It may be out of date in a year but if you want quality you have to spend the GDP of a good European country. Otherwise you've obviously bought crap and don't know anything about quality."

Poking aside, I don't know if I'd buy extra lights just for spares, masterofslience, because the technology is changing so rapidly and they are so inexpensive. Since you already have a light, use this one to augment that light and watch for advancements. Move the other light to your helmet.

LOL - if you or anyone else needs to take out a 30 year mortgage to pay for a $120 light - you're making less than the Chinese workers on the other side of the world. Your comments are up to their usual level of pointlessness.

No more pointless than suggesting $240 for "a couple of lights" that will be out of date in 2 years.

As usual - YOUR opinion and not reality. The design of what I'm personally using is already 5 years old, is still on the market, and probably will be for another 5 to 10 years. Since the company produces thousands of these every year for industrial applications - they certainly have the resources to keep up with the latest technology. Which they HAVE been doing and introduced a couple things that are only recently starting to show up on 'bike lights'. And a couple that still haven't.

My previous light did me 10 years and was only recently retired. If $120 is a lot of money to you - I guess you must cringe at the price of a Lupine - any of them. And I guess you're still paying off the mortgage on that previous set of halogen lights you were using - which cost a lot more than that and put out less light.

Why not take a break from your usual disagreeable self and make an effort to post something actually useful.

I'm laughing so hard right now...

Anyway, yeah. The light I have right now is good enough as far as waterproofing goes. It can handle an occasional splash, and definitely a heavy rain. Anything will behave a lot differently when submerged though. When something's underwater, water loves to find it's way in.

I would go for it.. Make sure you have a place to put TWO battery packs.

There is an active thread over at MTBR forum on a similar light. Reviewers are reporting that the dimming of the light are switching the amount of LED being turn on. In other words, medium mode will only switch on two of the three LED. It will change the beam pattern somewhat but maybe only at stand still as it was reported being not as noticable while moving. Otherwise, everything else is pretty good.

The only issue I see is that the more LED's running, the shorter your run time. I ordered the (1) LED version for that specific reason.

Yeah - I agree that most people don't need the level of waterproofing I went for, and in case you thought otherwise - I was actually serious in my suggestion to buy half a dozen of those. As long as you are aware of the limitations - its really your call.

As per the seller, buying multiple units will save you shipping fees. It'll also get you spares or back-ups, and is probably the most cost effective way to buy extra battery packs. And of course in the event that you end up with a dud, you'll still have several units that are operational while you return the other.


I can understand that people want to fork out as little as possible for a functional lighting system, but didn't get the impression that you were so strapped for cash that you'd have to mortgage your house and sign over your kids just to make a purchase of a couple hundred dollars by buying more than just two. :lol:


Its also very possible that there'll be something newer and better out on two years. More likely next year. But there's a limit to how many lumens is actually a practical limit for any on-road cycling use and you'll already be there so it really won't matter.

Sorry for interrupting, but I'd like to know what everyone thinks: If you have a fixed amount of money (which may not be the case with OP), is it better to buy 1 each of extra bright head and tail light, or buy multiple of inferior ones? I would prefer the former. Comments?

My Cateye 3 led head lights work great, good quality, small,,yes I got two,,for a total of 6 Led's.

They are not very powerful but they work for me.
they each came with a 3 led tail light,,so I also got 6 led's out back,,

Both Kits cost together the same as the ONE head light the OP found on Ebay
and the Batteries last along time,,80 hours full on up front,,,320 out back.

First I do cringe at the price of Lupine lights. I always buy and use multiple lights...usually 3 sometimes 4...so buying 3 lights that cost $1500 each would make anyone cringe. Spending over about $100 per light makes me cringe.

Second, the halogen lights I built cost about $100 per headlight and put out more light then you can get from LEDs until just recently.

Finally, if you are going to tell me to 'post something useful', why don't you follow your own advice. Posting "Heck, why don't you buy a dozen?" isn't all that helpful.

I don't see it as an either/or situation. I never depend on a single light. Stuff happens and a single light can quickly leave you in the dark. Independent of the redundancy, having multiple lights provides more illumination.

There is also an assumption that the less expensive lights are inferior. Magicshines were the cheap...supposedly inferior...lights of a couple of years ago. Now they are the standard by which other inexpensive lights are measured.

At the cost of the current Chinese lights...around $40...it's not like you are risking much by trying one of the less expensive lights. If you are careful about where you buy them (do check the returns policy before you hit the "pay" button), you can even return them if they don't meet your expectations.

Yes I agree with you on never to depend on one light. Guess what I meant was that if you are to get 2+ lights, make at least one of them a very good bright one. IOW it would be absurd to be equipped with 5 weak lights none of which is visible from distance.

Re return policy, it's only practical within the country. For most of them you would have to send it back to China, Hong Kong, etc., not worth the shipping cost unless the item is >$100, plus the waiting time. (I'm still waiting for one of my orders, Hopefully it will arrive before I forget it and orders something else :()

If you're going to quote somebody - GET IT RIGHT! My suggestion was to buy HALF A DOZEN. And it was a serious suggestion. You're the first one to suggest redundency and multiple lights - but apparently only when it suits you.

Oh gee - lets look at one of your past posts where you described your little DIY project that you considered 'Retinal Burners':
And that doesn't include the $70 each you bragged about spending on three seperate chargers. And you only got what? A 1.5 hour run time? Now here you are criticizing ME for spending $120 per light for something that puts out more light than ALL OF YOUR HALOGENS PUT TOGETHER - each of which you paid about $100 for PARTS - and you suddenly think anything I suggest is too expensive?

Here's a shocker for you - I have about 20 of those $120 lights and use them on multiple bicycles. And I paid cash. But wait a minute - you apparently have multiple bicycles too. Including a tandem. I guess you paid less than $100 each for those bicycles too - either that or, like your $100 halogen lights - you're still paying off a 30 year mortgage.

In another recent thread, I commented that your posts usually tend to ridicule someone - thanks for making my point - AGAIN.

You commented that I suggest you're stupid. By now you should have figured out you do THAT to yourself.

And obviously my suggestion that we use these forums constructively was wasted on you and you really need your mommy to stand you in a corner to learn anything.

A couple years ago Magicshines WERE cheap inferior lights. Now that the company has addressed QC issues and equipped them with different battery pack options - some of which are sourced from very reputable companies - they're no longer inferior. They're also no longer cheap. In fact they're in EXACTLY the same price bracket as the lights they were undercutting a few years back.

Even YOU don't believe what you're posting about those lights - you posted THIS just a short time ago:


If you wanna buy Wallyworld bikes and Fleabay lights - thats a personal choice. If someone else wants to buy something more state of the art - thats also a personal choice. But for you to even try to suggest they're all the same thing is just ... stupid.

The lights that I have referenced and the ones that I use are very bright ones. I wouldn't suggest any other kind of light. These lights are cheap but they aren't dim. At $40, they are well within the cost of the "be seen" (but not really) lights that many people use but they have a far greater output then those lights do.

On return policy, I always check the returns policy and country of origin before I buy. I suggest buying from a US supplier so that returns, if needed, are easier.

Some of the Chinese vendors are stateside now. Tmart.com is one of them. Get your stuff in a couple days, and if something is wrong, as it was with one of my lights, they sent me a mailer to return it. Got the replacement light in a couple days too. Tmart is not the only vendor stateside, there are several more. I am thinking about going for one of those MagicShine clones, and I will be getting mine from a vendor stateside. BTW, the stateside vendors run a few dollars more too. But, you get fast shipping and the customer service to return quickly. Well worth it in my book..

If your suggestion of "half a dozen" lights wasn't facetious, then it was silly. Why spend that kind of money on that many lights. masterofsilence already has a light as stated in his posts and only wants this one for augmentation. I do suggest multiple lights but not 6 redundant lights. I've found that 3, with a small backup (just in case) is enough. Yes, I have broken all three in the past but that was only once and it was a random event.

Context. Context. Context. The halogen lights I built were built in several years ago when even a cheap halogen light was much more expensive. At about $100 per headlight, they were about half the cost of comparable lights of the time and had a higher output. The run times weren't unusual for lights of that era either. About a year after I started that thread, Magicshine hit the market and I've been suggesting them ever since because you can't make the DIY lights for the same cost. Now that the price of the high intensity LEDs have been driven even lower, there is no sense in using halogen. The light is still very, very bright but just too costly and too heavy to bother building them.

I have 3 headlights. That all I really need. They have this clamping mechanism that allows me to move them from bike to bike so that I don't have to do something a dumb as owning twenty $120 lights. Now wonder you suggest "half a dozen" lights! I've got better things to spend $2400 dollars on.

As for the rest of your quote, you are just being rude.

I only ridicule those who deserve it...like you. Suggesting spending $200+ on 6 lights when masterofsilence only needs one isn't 'constructive'. I read it as being snarky which it was.

Do you even know what "state of the art" means? The lights that I've been suggesting are the "state of the art". The old Magicshines were the "state of the art" when they came out. And, when they first came out, the output wasn't the same as the "state of the art" of the overvolted halogens were when I was using them. Overvolting halogens is actually the "state of the art" now because that's where the "art" in halogens lies right now.

Above illustrates a fundamental difference between us. You are concentrated on the performance of the battery. I don't really carry that much about the performance of the battery because the battery is a consumable...it will eventually stop functioning and can be replaced. The light output is far more important to my uses and is the part of the light system that is changing the fastest. Sinking a lot of money into a lamp (with the battery) doesn't make a lot of sense right now. This is quite clearly illustrated by the Magicshine lights.

Four to 6 years ago, the Magicshine was an okay light for about $120 while its competitors were costing about double or more. Two years ago, the Magicshines came out with better emitters at $90 while their competitors were still costing double or more. Now there are even better lights that cost even half of what the Magicshines cost and a tenth of what the competitors cost. There may be some issues with the lights but there were issues with the Magicshines too.

I also change my mind as I get new information. That's why I posted what I posted. When the Magicshine came out I was unimpressed with the light output which is the most important part of the system to me. The new lights I have were inexpensive enough to try an experiment and the experiment was successful. I'd really be a fool if I tried the new lights and then stuck with the old ones because of brand loyalty or because they didn't cost enough. I learn, I grow, I'm open to new ideas.

There is one final difference between you and me. I have actually seen and used the lights I've linked to in the past. You seem to be drawing conclusions based on nothing as far as I can tell. You must be psychic or just blowing smoke. I don't believe in psychics. Quite blowing smoke and actually buy one of the lights suggested. Then you can actually make an argument based on facts rather than speculation.

I'd take your responses personally but have noted that you treat everyone that disagrees with you with the same arrogant attitude and claim that anyone that disagrees with you is personally attacking you.

I may not be psychic but I'd say you were stubborn and foolish as a kid, and had to learn everything the hard way. Not much has changed - you're just older.

Agumentum ad hominem.

masterofsilence: Try one of the headlights. See if it works. If it doesn't, send it back (the first link ships from Texas with a 2 week return policy) and you'll be out $10 or $15 dollars. It it does work for a while you'll be out a little bit of money. If it works well over the long run, you'll have a useful product.