Thought I would post a 3-week review of the Shining Beam S-mini. It's been a pretty good light so far. The beam pattern is good, it's quite light, and seems well-made. I kludged together a mount for my helmet consisting of several zip ties and a pad made out of craft foam to raise the angle a bit. I planned to use this "mount" only until I figured out something better, but it actually works quite well and it's very secure. I might find some black zip ties and craft foam to make it a bit less obtrusive.

I've been using it on morning and evening commutes nearly every day. In the morning when it's light out, I use it on high as a "see me" light. It's quite visible during the day (though I think it would probably wash out at high noon in July). I've been running it on medium at night, except a couple times when my handlebar light got a low battery and needed to be switched to a lower mode. On high, it's not much dimmer than my 500-lumen handlebar light, so it's a good backup. I wish it had slightly more output on medium, but it's bright enough to be a useful supplement to the handlebar light. I haven't tried to test run times in any accurate way, but I think it will run longer than 2 hours on high using a 3,100 mAh Orbtronic 18650.

Thank you for the review. I like the mount! I might try the same idea.

Can you comment on the beam pattern or even post a picture? I have the 501B, and the beam pattern is bad. Battery life is bad, too.

I am really impressed with my L&M Vis 360. I run mine on low but it seems much brighter than the lumens rating. It is incredibly effective at getting the attention of drivers. However, the beam is not at all floody, but more focused. Biketiresdirect.com has it on sale right now for about $75.

To me, the beam is a good compromise - not too narrow and not too floody. Much better than my previous PB Blaze 2-watt helmet light. I've never taken a beam shot, but I'll give it a try.

Here is my feeble attempt at beam photos taken with my cell phone. Neither the phone or a camera I have allow you to adjust settings. So the shots don't entirely reflect the true appearance of the beams, but at least they will give you an idea of beam shape. I happened to still have this Halloween skeleton in my back yard. It's about 30 feet away from the light.


Here's the Shining Beam S-mini on high power (supposedly 400 lumens). It's hard to tell from the photo, but it has a wider, more uniform beam than my handle bar light. It has a brighter area in the middle of the beam, but there isn't as much contrast between the hotspot and outer beam as there is for my other light.


Here's my main headlight, a Serfas True 500+ on high power (honest 500 lumens). This has a brighter hot spot in the middle, and less on the outside. The overall width of the beam is actually about the same as the S-mini.

The beams are surprisingly similar, but if I had to choose, I'd choose the s-mini, because I don't like hot spots.

I think they both work pretty well as bike headlights. The Serfas does a better job at lighting up the pavement in front of me, which is important given the condition of streets around here, plus it puts out a little more light in total.