Looking for illumination
 

Literally. I know Autumn is a ways off yet but I'm looking ahead.
I will need a light for my LeMond -I already have one for the Fisher.
It's, uh..., OK- but can't/don't want to be swapping it back and forth.
Better for each bike to have its own dedicated light.

THIS has caught my eye... and they're a "local" company. Local enough, anyway.

It's hard to compare lights and even harder to read the specs and get a feel for how bright they really are.
Anyone care to weigh in with an opinion? You haven't been shy so far :lol:

Thanks!

I don't know anything about the light you posted but I've been extremely satisifed with my light setup.
http://www.turbocatusa.com/

Beverly, which one of those do you use?

I talked to someone at the site, described the type of night riding I did and they recommended the S10 with a 15 watt flood bulb. Most of my night riding is done on a dark river trail at 13-15 mph. I've really been satisfied with them.

I've successfully used a 3 watt LED mini mag light for riding road and MUP in the dark. That light is a 4 watt light on high and I guess it would work fine in that application, as long as you are willing to slow down a little at night, or you will outride the beam.

Bike Forums has a sub forum answering your questions.

Link
http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=259

Those Luxion lamps are impressive in the light out put they give but are not a cheap way of getting lots of light. What is also important is the battery life aswell.

I have twin 5 watt luxions and at high power I get 2.5 hours of blinding light. At low power- I can get 8 hours of light but low power is not used that often. Now if you are looking for an economical lamp that gives out light- then look at the Halogen lamps.

Don't know what it actually means but the luxion 4 watt leds only put out 85 lumens of light- The 20 watt halogen puts out 390.

I use a Use Exposure and one thing it has in common with the Vega is that it is a self contained lamp. That is a godsend- no separate battery or leads to lose connection with.

Depends on how well light your route is- But don't take the Vega offroad- It will not be powerfull enough. Mine is.

Cute little light OP. If you start riding in heavier traffic you might want to go for a little more power.

I liked the looks of SKT's candidate, then I found out it carries a list of $180!! Wow! I would have never guessed that given that it is such a small light.

At that price- Definitely look at the Halogen lights.

You already have one lamp on the other bike- Get a spare mount for the LeMond.

AND I forgot to say it- But the most usefull lamp you can use on a bike is a helmet fitted lamp. I went to an outdoor Pursuits shop and got a Lamp that would fit the helmet. (Take the helmet to make sure it will fit) Then just get a cheap lamp to fit the bike to be legal. That helmet lamp I have is mutipurpose. First of all it will see round corners and not just where the Bars point. It has a spot that is good for 50 yards so is powerfull enough. It also has 3 leds. I led and I can see the controls and computer. 2 and I can read a map and 3 and I can see enough to repair the bike if necessary.

Admittedly my Use Exposure was a lot more expensive but that is for Offroad use. BUT The twin 10 watt Halogen has a life of 4 hours with one lamp and I could have bought 5 of these for the proce of the exposure--And to be honest- is just as good. The cateye in the pics is my spare on the bike and is the legal one.

I think that there is a sticky in the commuting section here. I am to scared to ride at night so I use the sun. If it was not for all the dog sneak attacks I could have a blast at night. I used to motor at night and there was nothing like it in the hot summer.

They moved the light selection sticky from commuting to Electronics, lighting and gadgets

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=142723

"The Vega’s Proprietary acrylic reflector focuses the kind of smooth, even beam pattern that Light & Motion is famous for. No more weak green fuzz, the Vega gives you a broad, white swath of light to ride behind."

I'm not sure what a focused, broad, white swath of light looks like. Personally, as a rider who likes to have headlights that could peel the paint off of a car in front, I'm not (yet) comfortable with current state of the art in LEDs. I would pass on the LED as something only to be seen by and instead go with something brighter that would light up the road ahead a lot more.

+1
I use the 3-watt Mini-Mag flashlight as well. Wal-mart has the 2 AA version on clearance sale for $19 if your local WM is not sold out already. Rumors on the flashlight forums say a 5-watt Mini-Mag flashlight is in the works so there trying to sell off the remaining 3-watt flashlights before the 5-watt flashlights will be shipped. Anyway, mounting a flashlight like the Mag-Lite Mini-mag is so easy. Just use an EMT conduit hanger with small peaces of inner tube rubber glued inside to prevent scratching the flashlight and providing a very good grip so it never gets loose and "escapes" to be dashed on the pavement. Here is a photo showing how a Mag-Lite flashlight was mounted on a bike.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r.../swingpipe.jpg

Flashlight forums???

+1: < http://www.use1.com/exposure/ >. I got the Exposure Enduro Turbo, based on Stepfam's description and picture of it in use. There may be a bit of recharge-time involved, especially if you use the turbo-power like I do in the metroparks after sundown ... about a 1:1 ratio of turbo-power use-time to recharge-time. So if I get back from a ride at 10:30 PM, I may not be able to complete a recharge before midnight ... and the wife threatens me with bodily harm if I leave the headlight recharging while we sleep. < http://www.use1.com/exposure/product...duro/index.php >

There is a fairly large following of the latest and greatest in flashlights, custom set ups, arguments over which battery charger is best, who has the best deals, who got ripped off on an import deal from China and so on. A lot like cycling forums, only for lights.

The only issue with the L&M is that battery--and it depends on which side of the fence you're on.

The integrated battery is nice, compact and neat. There are no wires hanging about or battery packs velcroed to the bike.

On the downside, you can never have a spare battery pack. When the built-in cells go bad, you throw the whole thing out. And it's another proprietary charger kicking around the house,that's good for nothing else.

It's for this reason I went with the DiNotte, $150 at Geoman Gear. It takes generic rechargeable AAs and uses a generic recharger. I can charge and carry as many spares as I like. When one goes bad--which has happened--I replace only the battery and still have the light, charger, etc.

I use a Lupine Wilma headlight and a Dinotte tail light. I don't ride at night but I commute at 4:00 am and I can tell you you will be safer at that time than any other time of day. There are seldom any cars and when one comes along you hear it a half a mile away and they see your lights way sooner than a driver would see you in the daytime. The other benifit is you can ride like your in a pro race going all over the road.

Besides my DIY dual halogens mounted on the bike I use an older CygoLite dual halogen set up on my helmet. That allows me to ride some of the other bikes in low-light conditions.


http://www1.shopping.com/xPC-Night_O..._Battery_Black

I use the CatEye HL-EL320. I like the flashing mode which provides a better clue to motorists while saving on batteries if I don't need a constant beam. Mine is 1,000 candle power but they have ones that go up to 1600 candlepower.

Don't forget the homebrew flashlights as well. Some of those home built flashlights can start paper burning if you hole the light close to paper from the heat generated by the bulbs used.

reviews of Vega

http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Lights/product_124612.shtml

Scroll to the bottom of the page.

Yep, I had found those reviews earlier. Mostly favorable.
I really like what I see of the Use Exposure you recommed but -yegads- it ain't cheap

The Use is not cheap over here either but it is UK made and goes out at a comparable price to the Cheaper imports from the US. For Offroading at speed on the Tandem it is just about good enough. Plus we have the helmet lamps aswell. BUT on the road- it is fantastic. I do not go for 8 hour night rides but I only use low power on the road and that is plenty powerfull enough. Round towns I can definitely be seen with it and When I lose the street lights- I can see adequately. Mid power is Too much use -except on the MUPS and when I go to searchlight power- It is daylight.