Anyone have experience with the 1 watt Luxeon lights? Are they bright enough for occasional trail riding? I was thinking about pulling the trigger on this one https://www.batteryjunction.com/f5fx-bw3a3-db.html. The shipping is kinda high though.

This light is marked as being 20-30 Lumens, which is what I'd expect from a 1W Luxon. A good modern 2AA pocket light is about 150L. I think I'd want 300-500L for trail riding. This is a "be seen" light, not a "see with" light.

A 1W LED is a candle. It's not suitable for trail riding. It's suitable for walking ... slowly.

Is 900 Lumens too much? I can get a flashlight with an SSC P7-C emitter for ~$30. Just needs a 18650 battery and a cheap charger and I'd need to rig a mount, then I'd be good to go.

B2B and I both have some of those on the way from DX...it's taking FOREVER!!

900lumens is not too much for trail riding. 1million lumens isn't too much either, ARGH!!! Bear in mind, that light is "factory rated" at 900 lumens. It's not truly 900 lumens. They're saying somewhere around 500-700 actual lumens. Either way, I think it will be a killer light.

The MagicShine at geomangear.com is really a kick in the pants! It's also rated at 900lm. Same LED and driver, I think. The difference is that the Magic Shine runs on 4x 18570 giving it 3hr+ on high. The MTE P7 5 mode flashlight has been consumer rated in the neighbeehoo of 40min. You can always just pop a new battery in there though.

The difference in the actual light spread (from what I've been able to observe) is that the SSC P7-C is more of a "flood" beam. The MShine has a decent amount of "spill" to give you good peripheral, but the hot spot has a great amount of throw to it to light up whatever you're looking at. It's a great helmet mount light. I think my MTE SSC P7-C is gonna be bar-mounted since it's more of a flood. The beam shots that I've seen of side-by-side comparison of the two are impressive, but the MShine is definitely brighter.


Another thing that I've been reading but cannot yet prove is that the P7 flashlights that run on 1x 18570 cell lose a noticeable amount of light as the battery drains. So far, the MagicShine hasn't been noticeable.



All I can say is that for $84.99, I can't say enough positive jabber about the MShine. I'm loving it!

Oh that's what you guys are waiting on. I read pretty much every post in this forum, so sometimes I skim over details. If I can convince the misses it's worth it, I'm going for it. There's no way I'm getting a $80+ light, short of winnning the lottery. I'd sooner try to build something from a mish-mash of hardware store parts, and likely never finish, so the MTE is looking pretty good. I went out around 6am the other day thinking the sun'd be up by the time I got to the trail head, but I should have checked the sunrise time online, because it didn't start to get light until it was time to head home and get ready for work. It's dark by the time I get home in the evenings, and most weekends, I have to help with the kids, so getting a light is the only way I'm going to get to ride for a while.

Are you getting the MTE stateside or at DX?

https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=556304

The site I was looking at is not DX, but it's out of China. https://www.bestofferbuy.com/MTE-SF15...campaign=gbase

I haven't ordered anything yet.

Very cool.

The one I ordered is the 5 mode. (tell ya honestly...I should have gotten the 2-mode) All I need is on/off.
10mm longer / 4mm smaller in diameter than the 4-mode

I believe this is the one you're looking at?

That's the one. Doing the conversion, looks like the 4-mode's about 1 5/8" diameter by 5 1/4". Pretty compact. Is the first one you pictured the 5 or 2 mode? It'd be about 1 7/16" by 5 5/8".

5 mode

Yah...compact as heck for so much light. The downside is the 40min'ish run time. Quick and easy to pop a new battery in though.

Ordered. Went with the 4-mode, a pair of 2500mah protected batteries and a cheap charger. Didn't bother with a mount, cause I've got some velcro, double sided tape, foam, etc to mount to my helmet. Pointed the direction of my eyes should be the most useful, and (hopefully) being mounted to my head will be less shock and help it live longer. Should be here by the 8th.

I got my MTE flashlight in, an SSC P7-D 4 mode. I built a helmet mount for it out of stuff I had laying around. First, I used double sided tape to attach two patches of velcro to the flashlight and blacked out the foam in the tape with a marker. Then I glued matching patches on the top of my helmet. They're the same color as the helmet and are very subtle when the flashlight's not mounted. This positions the light in the right place, but what really holds it on is a velcro strap weaved through the vents.


And of course, here's the obligatory beam shot, in this case, of my very messy office.

1w will do fine as a helmet lamp to see the controls on the bars- repair the bike or read a map. Beyond that and you need something a bit more powerful.

I have a twin 5w Luxion and it throws out about 350 lumens. Just about good enough for 35 to 40 mph on the downhills but it is the spread of light that the "Quality" lamps give out. Pointless having a 5w lamp if it only extends 20 yards or give you a 100yard beam that is only 6ft wide. And I have had those lamps aswell.

My MTE is a bit smaller diameter than that one. It's got a decent spot w/ good spill for peripheral. I'll get some pic's up soon. I'm still sayin that this little UltraFire 230lm light is the most impressive light for its size that I've ever seen.

Stapfam, I made up my mind months ago not to get a Luxeon. The one I got uses an SSC emitter and is factory rated at 900 Lumens, realistically probably half that but still plenty to ride by. I've ridden with the setup in the pictures twice now, hopefully again tonight after the kids are in bed, and I'm very happy with it. This light was a great value. I expect reliability issues, eventually, but these flashlights are so simple, I should be able to repair it if/when that happens or to mod it into a direct drive single mode flashlight.

Ed, did you get all the bugs worked out of yours? I'm probably not going to test the battery life, since I usually ride in the morning, and it gets light before the battery dies, but If you ever time it, I'd like to know what you get.

I forgot to mention, that the flashlight was a bit bigger than I expected (even though I knew the dimensions, it's different to see it in person), but it looks a lot bigger in the picture than it really is because of the perspective. Also, I've got a small noggin - so a small helmet which also makes it look bigger.

Yah man...the run time is around 40'ish min or so. I have stretched it to an hour, but it was so dim that it may as well have been off.

The head on mine is slightly larger than the body, so I think it's got more of a spot and less flood. I'm thinking about ordering an Aurora that's similar to your particular MTE for a little more flood...I really don't need it, but this whole light thing is getting to be alot of freaking fun!

The bugs are worked out of mine as far as I can tell. No more annoying flicker.