corrado33

Hi all,
I purchased myself a Fenix BT10 350 Lumen bike light about a year ago at this point. I also purchased my GF a Nightrider Lumina 500 Lumen bike light. Here are my thoughts on both, starting with my complaints about the nightrider.

There have been a few times when both my GF and I were using our lights at night. My Fenix is significantly dimmer than her Nightrider, but that is to be expected. However, the main difference I could see is that her light is EXTREMELY annoying to look at. Riding in front of her, I couldn't even think about looking back without being instantly blinded. Her light seems to have an isotropic beam pattern, where it projects in all directions equally. (Forward of course.)

On the contrary, my fenix is very well aimed directly in front of you and down. It actually has two "brighter" spots, one a meter or so in front of your tire, and one further down the road. This works out quite well and isn't blinding at all.

As for the brightness... I think that a 500 lumen light is a perfect brightness for COMMUTING. I often have a hard time seeing at night, but I still support my above statement. I was just reading another thread talking about 3500 Lumen lights. I couldn't even fathom that much light. My Fenix 350 lumen light is GOOD, not great. I wish I had slightly more light, especially around dusk and dawn. When it's perfectly dark out, I can run around with the fenix on medium and be fine. I can see just fine with the Fenix, don't get me wrong, but I wish it had just a tiny bit more light. However, since light is additive, I can just add another light on if I need to.

One of the main reasons I chose the fenix was because it ran on AA batteries. Over the years I have collected many rechargeable AA batteries, and I really had no use for them. (They often come in packs WITH AAA batteries, which I have uses for.) Lithium based batteries are great, but I'm not a fan of non user serviceable bike lights with Li-ion batteries. However, it was a better choice for my GF since she does not have a really nice battery charger.

Maybe if I get a chance I'll take pictures of the beam patterns and post them here.

Anyway, where I was going with this thread was this. Is riding a bike with a very poorly aimed/engineered light like the lumina safe. Not necessarily for YOU, but for people driving down the road, or even other bikers? There have been a few times where I've come across other bikers with really bright lights coming in the other direction, and I felt it was quite dangerous, as I temporarily lost a bit of my night vision, making it significantly harder for me to see where I was going.

My second question is this, why do we have this need for extremely bright lights on a bike? 3500 lumens is very extreme! I by no means ride slow on my commute, maybe ~18-22 MPH, but even if I was on a normal bike ride, I think I'd be completely fine with a well aimed 500-1000 lumen light. Even on quick descents. I can't imagine 3 times the upper boundary for my range! I also can't imagine that a light wouldn't overheat with that much power being used in such a small package.

PaulRivers

On the road, there's a point where it's an annoyance or a problem, but it's a point that's a lot harder to reach than on a trail. The other traffic is on the other side of the road, outside the hotspot of your light, and there's other extra lights (headlights, street lights).

On an unlit bike trail, almost anything with a wide beam is annoying, and super bright lights can be dangerous. Or front blinking lights - oh god I hate those things on unlit trails. I seriously just want to !@#!@#!@...anyways.

Their are lights that have a distinct cutoff in the beam, like car headlights do. More important than that, they put an even amount of light on the road, so no hotspot, and they light up the road far down as evenly as the road near you. They also take AA batteries, but having charging built into the light so you can just plug the light into a wall charger. They're the Phillips Saferide and the Ixon Iq Premium (there's a non-premium model but it's much dimmer and I don't recommend it).

Ixon Iq Premium, a pic illustrating the cutoff -


Ix on Iq Premium, a pic illustrating the beam pattern (note that it appears brighter than it is in real life though) -


Phillips Saferide -


The Ixon Iq Premium appears to be better in pics, but I own both, and lean towards recommending the Saferide. The Iq Premium has a slightly purplish color to the light that doesn't like up road hazards quite as much (in my opinion), and while it's beam is wider, it doesn't seem to be as bright as the Saferide. It does have much longer battery life, around 6 hours. It's worked "fine" for me, I bike with it periodically, but it's easier to recommend the Saferide. The Ixon Iq can be mounted on just above the tire on the brake mount, so it's a little lower and less likely to get in people's eyes. It's beam pattern is also a little better if mounted there. It's also a better light if you like the "feel like you're riding with no light" feeling, even though you can actually see ahead of you.

The Saferide has lower battery life (1.5-2.5 hours depending on battery and version) and it's beam isn't as wide. But the color of the led is better in my opinion (a more natural color that better lights up road hazards, though again I haven't actually had an issue so far with my ixon iq) and the beam appears to be brighter. It's more of a "feel like I'm riding behind a nice light" kind of light.

Both have a distinct cutoff - the Ixon Iq is a little better for not bother others but it's not a huge difference.