dcrowell

Upgrade path? Mount the 600L on your helmet, and buy a new 800L for your handlebars... At least I'm considering it.

dcrowell

A company that is making good money on their product can provide good service, and is more likely to "go the extra mile" to make sure you are satisfied. That is less likely for a company selling things at razor-thin margins.

Consider me happily raked over the coals.

CliftonGK1

I'm sure to be setting myself up for flames with this question, but seriously... Aside from 24hr off-road racing, where do you really need 800+ lumens?

jefferee

You don't.

Of course, most of us don't need Dura-Ace, Record, carbon fiber, or titanium either.

dalmore

I run my Wilma at 40% so nowhere near it's rated 750 or whatever lumens. But I have gone to 100% a few times on particularly challenging situations. Sometimes it's a very dark morning. Other times it's a lot of ambient light casting shadows over the pavement deep enough to hide potholes and the like.

If I was riding along where mechbgon shot that photo, I'd be all over 800+ lumens for see me reasons

ax0n

Indeed, for commuting, most light output over 100 lumens or so is probably more of a "want". That said, I really like having about 500 lumens, but wouldn't complain if I had more (provided the light can be thrown efficiently and safely into a nice pattern onto the road before me)

vik 

We don't really need a billion lumen bike light from Dinotte or anyone else. What we need is a focused optic system that puts all the light we have where we need it - down on the road. I have a couple Dinotte 200L-AA's and they are nice lights, but the unfocused optics mean I'm shooting a lot of light up into the sky and the eyes of passing motorists/cyclists. The B&M IQ Fly is one of the Euro lights with a focused optic that makes the most of the light put out by the LED.

noteon 

When you need the cloud of killer bees to combust before you ride through it.

JeffS

We couldn't come to a consensus on lighting NEED if our lives depended on it. Clearly you don't need 800 lumens any more than you need five blinkies on the rear of your bike, although there's plenty of people who are comfortable with that level of illumination.

I'm pretty sure though, that if you were to ride a few months with 5/6/700 lumens your definition of need would likely change.

Brian Jr

C'mon, a few of these babies and 13 blinkies and you might get mistaken for a UFO. "It was flying low, and going too fast to be anything from this planet," the locals might say. That alone is enough to justify it, right?

Really, it's the price that gets me. If it makes you feel better and more safe, great, it's good for you. But I'm upset if I have to pay more than $40 for new headlights on my automobile. I know I'm going to fork out more for a quality self-reliant system on my bike, but over 10 times more and costing almost as much as my rig itself? I'm just not that fiscally liberated.

dcrowell

You can replace the bulb for $40 on your car. What about the whole light assembly? The battery? Then compare prices.

CliftonGK1

I rode for a few years with a max of 350 lumens and my definition of "need" didn't change until I moved to the top of a 2.25 mile, 650' tall hill and I was riding my brakes to keep from outrunning* my light. I'm not sure what the lumens equivalent for the 60 lux spot rating on the E3 turns out to be. I'm interested to try out the upcoming E3 focused beam lamp (similar to the SON Edelux). I just hope that there isn't a 4 month waiting period to get one (like the Edelux).

*Not that I can literally ride faster than the speed of light , but rather that my the throw distance of my light wasn't enough to give me significant reaction time at the speeds (45mph +) I can hit on that hill.

JeffS

Price the housing the next time you're at the dealer, or a wiring harness.

eh... beat me to it.

Hirohsima

OK, sorry to get off topic but you P7 guys have gotten me thinking about lummen-per-$ and those flashlights do seem to have some pretty impressive #'s.

How the heck to you pick from the 60 p7 lights they have on DX? I was originally thinking of a Dinotte 600L or a 400L when they were having their gift certificate sale, but now that thats off, spending $3-400 on a light seems too much for my needs.

If I get two P7's or maybe a P7 and a Cree, which are good choices? I was thinking the P7 for a flood, and a Cree for a spot..... help, this stuff makes me dizzy.

Brian Jr

Touche, mine was a bad comparison. What it comes down to is that I can get something that is able to do a very good job lighting my way for far cheaper than this.

And I wanted to say that UFO thing.

noteon 

I think you guys are minimizing the danger posed by killer bees

Booger1

Old school stuff:
4 sealed beam headlights-$32
group 27 battery-$55
light switch-$14
wiring harness-$32

You can change the whole lighting system on a car to HID,including ballasts,for about what that light cost,including the battery and light switch.

Nice light,WAAAAY overpriced.

nmanhipot

40+ mph descents in heavy traffic at 6 AM? I dunno. I've got at least four of them on my route. The problem is, I don't think my light is brighter than some drivers are clueless. I'd rather they think the mothership is coming to take them away. At least then they might think twice about pulling out in front of me. Hey, that gives me an idea - I think I'm going to look around for a green laser for my helmet.

FWiW, I'm using the TriNewt now and while it lights up the foreground really well, I miss the loaner HID I gave back to the LBS manager. For me the TriNewt just doesn't have enough throw. I was also hoping it would be that groovy purply-bluish-white color that the HID was. I'll have to find out what temperature that bulb was.

nmanhipot

I have a 1/2-watt single LED with a very focused beam on my road bike. I'm not a big fan. The experience is like tunnel vision and quite unnerving. It took me a while to figure out why I was only averaging 15-16 mph on my morning fun rides.

DataJunkie

If you purchase the highest end light a particular manufacturer makes you will pay a premium. Just like just about everything else... especially audio visual equipment.
The 400L is more my speed and cost.

CliftonGK1

I've got 2 of them on mine, and that's why I switched from my L&M Solo to the E3; but the E3 is rated in lux as opposed to lumens. I don't know that it's much brighter (overall), but the optics are better and the spot portion of the beam is better concentrated giving me a longer throw.

vik 

The options aren't a 800 lumen wide as heck spot or a 1/2W LED tight as a pin prick....the point of a focused optic is to put light where it's needed. This can be tuned to ensure you get enough in the right places. A 200 lumen Dinotte with a focused optic would be a much more useful light than a 400 lumen unfocused light...not to mention the savings in battery power or longer run times. Projecting light down the road is what will let you ride faster...lighting up the trees doesn't buy you anything.

russ3706

Im really surprised by how many people are up-in-arms over the price vs. output of this light. Its only $40 more than the 600l, and there wasnt nearly as much griping about how 'overpriced' it was. Its especially interesting when you compare the 800l to lights such as the Seca 700 which is 700 lumens and costs $550-650(depending on the battery capacity), or compared to the Wilma 6 Race which has two batteries (as does the 800l) and 830 lumens for $850! Now that seems overpriced, unless there is something significant I am missing that is somehow worth an additional $410 on the Wilma 6 Race... Now that is overpriced, more than $1 per lumen!

So compared to what else is out there that you can buy off the shelf it seems like a sweet deal, or am I missing something...

dobber

I had one of those mounted in the basket of my XO-3. It was absolutely ****ing insane.

unterhausen

I think the killer bee argument has swayed me, now to convince the wife.