Bokkie

Have to admit, I found the same as well. Jim Taylor of Jetlites was very helpful in advising me when I got my lights from him into the UK.

slvoid

Not exactly there but I have seen some LED clusters rival 8-10 watt halogens. And I'm willing to bet the new wave of luxeon high powered LED's with some good optics can throw out just as much light with twice the battery life. (While you might get 30 some odd hours from current LED's, the new LED's, like the GEN3 from performance, only give you about 8 hours on high).

If you're willing to live with it, performance currently has a HID for $150 after all the discounts.

Guest

I may go with the performance HID after all. When I went there yesterday, they had a Gen ? from last year's model on clearance, so they suggested that one. Well, the battery for it is so big, I couldn't even get it into my bottle water cage! So I will bring it back with my bike today, since I'm back home now and I can go in with my bike.

I will never be in such a remote location that I can't recharge my batteries. It's a pain in the butt to have to buy batteries over and over. Thanks for the suggestion, but if I can't plug it in and recharge, then I'd rather not go for it.

I'll head back to performance today and see what my options are.

Koffee

cyclezealot

A little mini light of which I find adequate for rides, where I get to work just at dusk,(but no serious darkness.) Is the Cateye 300XL, I think is the model number...Submersible to 50 ft.- It has a flashing mode with a red lense cover,if you so choose..You can put it into flash mode also..For such a little light it is pretty powerful.. At dusk,that and some flashing UFO lights on the handlebars and rear of helmet, hope can't be missed..
At dusk is the riskest time to be seen I guess. But for 15 minutes of semi darkness, don't think I need a heavier duty light, particularily with my flashing UFO lights.

Guest

Well, I went by performance today in Chicago. I returned the lights I got yesterday, since the recharger was so big and clunky, it didn't fit in my water bottle cages! I also brought my bike so they could see how I have bigger handlebars, and I would need a bit of extra help, since the mounts for bike lights are traditionally smaller than my handlebars.

I asked about the $150 lights on sale, but they didn't know of any. So we went through all the lights, and I ended up with the ViewPoint EVO dual headlight system. It has a 10 watt low beam and 20 watt high beam, and the battery pack is a square shaped NiMH, so I can attach it to my top tube. It also shuts itself off after it fully charges, so I don't have to worry about overcharging the battery! So I have a headlight now, I just need to test it out. I think it came out to something like $114, but when I returned the $80 lights I got yesterday, it wasn't as painful once they subtracted that. They used a couple of twist ties and secured the mounts to my bike, so they are good to go. I just need to try them out either Mon or Tue morning, then bring it back if it doesn't work. Hopefully, it will!

I also got those flashing lights for the handlebars. They were only like %9.95, so I figured why not? It's double points!

Thanks!

Koffee

froze

I also have those weird handlebar taillights, but you know what? They work and their bright! I combine those with my regular Cateye LED taillight. When all the rear lights are on I have had a few motorist compliment me for lighting my bike up well so they could see me from the rear extremily well.

bkrownd

What range of handlebar diameters will they fit in?

bkr

Orion

Allow me to say a few words about LED lighting. First of all, a bit of background first. I am a member of another forum dedicated to [and it's true] flashlights. These guys are on the cutting edge of illumination technologies that are currently available, but can't be found in any department stores. They [me included] have built flashlights using single 1 watt Luxeons, triple 1 watt luxeons in parallel, single 3 watt luxeon setups, single 5 watt Luxeon setups, and recently going with multiple 3 watt luxeons [such as the triple 3 watt bike light I mentioned earlier] and even multiple 5 watt setups. Only when you get into these multiple setups will you actually begin to see some adequate lighting, especially if you're riding at night. And then, only if you're using at least 3 watt luxeons. I had a triple 1 watt setup and it just wasn't good enough. And if you happen to find optics that give you good throw, you will suffer not being able to see well what may be right in front of your bike. The best bike light would be a multiple 3 or 5 watt luxeons [best to use 3 watt luxeons since 5 watt white luxeons are only rated for 1000 hours, and they're expensive at around $30 each], using some sort of reflector for throw and adequate side spill. That would not be a very small unit either.

Secondly, you won't find an LED lighting systems that will out do an HID system. Not unless you have multiple LEDs and not just 1 watt Luxeons either. That's the consensus of the experts on that sight. Even the newest lights out there can't stand up against an HID system, . . . .at this point. Heating of the LED and trying to find a good heat sink is the problem that will cause this new technology to remain out of the question in the near future.

Saying all that, my triple 3 watt Luxeon bike light seems to work pretty well, but then we only did not more than 10 miles per hour when we rode. It shined well on the trail and had that HID look because of the color temperature of the LEDs I put in it. It uses a Fraen triple optic that is roughly the diameter of a Maglight head, with the optics set up in a triad. It runs direct off of a 4AA battery pack and does have a pretty good longevity of light. But even when the batteries loose their 'oomf', the light will remain the same color and not gradually get more and more yellow as the batteries poop out. Anyway, that setup, I think, would be the best LED setup at this point.

*steps down off of soap box*

dobber

I'll plug my recent purchase(s)

https://www.bicyclelights.com

I've been very happy with them, both the handlebar and helmet system, which I got for <$100, including shipping. I got the NiCd system, but I can upgrade to NiMH just by buying the battery (~$50).

Run time has been as published. Build construction is great.

He often sells through EBay at a discount

https://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...ort=3&since=-1

bkrownd

It all depends on what you need. I use a Black Diamond "Moonlight" hiking headlamp for night riding. It has 4 white LEDs, and I'd guess that it's much less powerful than a 1-watt luxeon. It isn't a spotlight, but it is adequate to illuminate signs and reflectors and keep me from hitting debris etc on the road. Since I've been encountering more glass on my route lately, I ordered a 1-watt(?) Cateye EL500 to help with that problem. It will also serve as a hiking flashlight, so battery life, weight and size are important. I should have plenty of light.

bkr

slvoid

Let us know how that 1watt luxeon works.

RiPHRaPH

i've never had problems with my 6V Cygolite NiCad battery system. the battery fits snugly in my cage and the combined 16.3 watts pumpus some serious wattage into my cottage. i like the dual 10W wide and 6.3W narrow beams. and the low battery indicator helps me with recharging......

significant upgrade over the 4AA battery systems. i dislike the planetbike and the like. when my friend and i are riding side by side we look like a car's headlights.

Merriwether

I agree. HID. Tons of information, some from me, on other threads. If you've got to see the road, there's nothing better. And, as far as weight, pleasing color (to me), convenient charging, and other features, nothing's as good.

If you're just riding in town, and you just need to be seen, one of those little LED lights isn't a bad idea. I just got a cateye LED. I'm impressed with it. A good in-town light. But don't rely on it to show you the road.

Merriwether

Interesting information. As I just mentioned, I just got a little cateye LED light. A lot of performance in a little 3AAA battery package. LED are obviously improving.

I've got a halogen for a camping/emergency biking head-mounted light, but I might look at the newer Princeton LED lights for an upgrade, now that I've seen what's doing these days.

bkrownd

Everybody's lighting needs will be different. I ride with only the LED headlamp on unlit streets. I just ride a little slower when necessary. I wonder if those fancy new Luxeon-type LEDs are as easy to tinker with as normal LEDs - I'd like to try building my own.

bkr

catatonic

I use a niterider trailrat 2.0 The battery may not last long enough for your use though, but I bet if you can get a water bottle type battery it will.

I'm about to look for a bottle batt for mine, I'm going to have a rack on my roadie once I get it out of the shop, so my extra water is going to be strapped to it...every gallon of it

bkrownd

I've been reading about this for fun. The companies never use consistent units to state the brightness of their lights, so I've been wondering just how to compare different LED lights. (They probably like numbers that sound impressive but mean little to the end consumer)

Eventually I found a page that suggests that bright white LEDs are about 2 lumens each, and that 1-watt Luxeons are about 25 lumens, 3-watt luxeons are about 50-80 lumens, and that 4-5 watt luxeons are about 80-120 lumens. That's a total light output unit (think "light power"), but the spectral output of white LED's and Luxeons would need to be pretty similar to compare them directly. I'll neglect that for the moment. Not all photons are created equal.

Luxeons are not only brighter, but should be focussed into a tighter beam than white LED arrays. That puts more of your light into each unit solid-angle of the beam, or each unit area on the target. Converting lumens to candlepower (= candela) requires knowing the illumination pattern. (1 lumen = 1 candela per steradian, so for a uniform spherical distribution, 1 candlepower = 12.57 lumens.) Multiply your candlepower by the effective solid angle illuminated in steradians, and you get your lumens.

Cateye claims that the EL500 is about 1200 candlepower, and the EL300 is about 400 candlepower. Assuming that the EL500 is 25 lumens and the EL300 is 10 lumens (5x2) doesn't quite give relative beam sizes and illuminations I'm expecting, so I'm still puzzling that out.

(edit: OK, later at www.lumileds.com I found the datasheet for their collimator optics, and it quotes a 10-degree beam which matches my calculation for effective angular beamsize = 25 lumens / 1200 candlepower. I guess the EL500 probably does have a 10-degree wide beam)

Anyway, if the EL500 is 25 lumens I can guess-timate how much brighter it is than my headlamp. My headlamp has 4 white LED's = 8 lumens. It has a very broad beam - I'll guess 20 degrees wide. I'd guess a 5-degree wide beam for the Cateye, but their candlepower number suggests more like 10 degrees wide. Let's say my headlamp spreads its light over 5-10 times more area. 25/8 more light concentrated into 5-10 times less area is 15-30 times more light per unit area at the target. So, my new light should be at least 15 times brighter at the target, though it probably only produces about 3-5 times more light.

bkr

froze

The little taillight LED plug for handlebar ends fit in standard road bike bars. They use two button batteries with a run time of 20 hours, but they are surprisingly bright.

khuon

They also have special versions available for straight bars.

bkrownd

The diameters aren't the same? I'd like to get a couple for my bikes with straight bars, to use as side-markers.

bkr

bkrownd

Hmmm..."they use button batteries" is NOT good. Those are usually expensive, and not rechargeable. What size?

I think I could mod them to use AAA's somehow, though.

bkr

catatonic

just get some generic brand button cells, I'm sure you can get a 20 pack for dirt if you find a generic brand. I got a ton of "UltraLast" batteries, about 40 of them for $8 a while ago....and they work well, about on par with duracell, for a heck of a lot less. Given the 40-pack were AAs, but I bet you can find buttons like that too.

bkrownd

Depends on what size it uses. Hearing aid batteries might be much cheaper, but the LR77/AG13/S76 batteries that go in my calculator are usually like $3 each. I also have a thing about using rechargeables.

bkr

catatonic

true, I use NiMH whenever I can afford to. On my backup lights for my bike..I won't though. Problem being rechargables rarely put out the same voltage, and often have a lower capacity than a regular alkaline. Anything crucial like flashlights and such get te alkalines, but for CD players, remotes, my wireless mouse, cameras....they get the NiMHs.

bkrownd

This deserves a re-post:

https://www.lupine.de/en/produkte/leuchtvergleich.php

Illumination pictures for several systems of varying type and power.