Luxos B dynamo light user review

[Toshi Takeuchi]

A couple of notes on the installation of the Luxos B dynamo light:

1. The light is much bigger than the Cyo light.
2. The bracket must angle upwards. You can no longer mount the light
with the bracket angling downwards because the light cannot swivel to
the proper orientation.

Because I could not mount the light downwards, I needed to add a bunch
of washers/spacers to the front of my Mark's rack to have the light
clear my Acorn mini-rando bag.

--An immediate difference at start: gone is the dark spot in front of
the light. The light spits out a U of light with the bottom of the U
starting on the ground right in front of you, so you don't have to
worry about getting a nearfield light and losing out on distance.

The light output is quite ingenious--I think. The way you align the
light is to have the light hit the ground about 30 feet in front of
you. What this does is put a big hotspot on the ground a little over a
lane wide in front of you. This gives you clear vision of any
obstacles in front of you, but there is still decent light within the
U which spreads out from the bike to the hotspot. In addition the
width of the light much wider than the Cyo--most of the 2 lane road.
Don't throw the hotspot into the horizon, put it on the ground--it
will improve the ride visibility immensely and you won't blind the
traffic.

The color of the light did not look too blue. Without direct
comparison to the Cyo, it looked pretty similar to me.

The downside of the light could be that the only area that is as
bright as the Cyo is in that hotspot I mentioned earlier. The rest of
the illumination is less, so it is much easier to get distracted by
street lights. If you do mostly city riding, then you probably don't
need or maybe wouldn't want this light.

For me, yes, I wish that whole area within the U was as bright as the
hotspot is, but for lighting what is most essential for safe and
enjoyable riding, the Luxos does a great job, and it is a big
improvement over the Cyo for me.

Toshi in Oakland, CA

[NickBull]

Hi, Toshi,

The main place where the Cyo is less adequate than I'd like is on a 40mph twisting mountainous descent in the dark.  On the straight parts it is fine.  But for the curves, I need to use a helmet light so that I can look "around" the corner to see where the road is going.

I had hoped that the wider beam of the Luxos would help with this, but based on your review it sounds like the wider beam is not bright enough to be all that useful in these circumstances.  Do you think that's correct?

Also, I don't understand what you mean by point 2 below.  I have my Cyo mounted with one of the Velo Orange brackets that is bolted to the side of my front rack.  The bracket is angled down and slightly forward and swoops underneath the Cyo.  From the photos I've seen of the Luxos, I can't see why it wouldn't attach the same way as the Cyo.  I can see that because the Luxos is wider at the bottom, I might need to bend the bracket so that it sticks out further from the rack.

Thanks for any comments,

Nick

[Toshi Takeuchi]

Hi Nick,

There is no doubt that you can ride much faster with the Luxos and get
much better illumination in contrast with the Cyo. However, I believe
it would be less than adequate on a 40 mph descent because although
the road may be illuminated, the hotspot will be off the road, and I
would not be able to see hazards adequately. On the other hand, it is
much better than going blind, which is what would happen with the Cyo.
If you know the road is in good shape, then you could be ok...

The Luxos is not only bigger than the Cyo up and down but also front
to back. If you mount the included bracket downwards, the back of the
Luxos hits the mount and you cannot rotate the light high enough to
orient the beam properly. Perhaps the mounting point could have been
moved up on the bracket, but I didn't try. Also, as you mention,
perhaps if the mount is bent, then the rear of the light might be able
to orient up enough to mount properly. Maybe the Velo Orange mount
would be fine...

Toshi

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[Matthew J]

Thank you for the review Toshi.  I am near the front of Peter's wait list for the Luxos U.  From what I read, delivery will be soon.

[Toshi Takeuchi]

Nice, I'd be interested to hear how the USB charging and the "turbo"
mode work. Maybe the "turbo" mode on Nick's 40 mph downhills would be
the ticket...

Toshi

[Montclair BobbyB]

Bravo, Peter... That's an awesome comparison.

The Mythbusters could use your ingenuity!!!  

BB

On Thursday, February 14, 2013 11:44:53 AM UTC-5, Peter White wrote:

Putting the top of the beam 30 feet in front is viable if you're riding slowly and using an older halogen headlight. But the newer lights, in particular the latest Luxos headlights from Busch & Müller are far brighter, and have very wide beams. So you can aim them higher and still have plenty of light both close to the bike and at a distance.

See the photos of the beams I've posted here.

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp

Peter Jon White
Peter White Cycles

On Tuesday, January 8, 2013 10:44:42 AM UTC-5, ttoshi wrote:

A couple of notes on the installation of the Luxos B dynamo light:

<snip>
 

The light output is quite ingenious--I think.  The way you align the
light is to have the light hit the ground about 30 feet in front of
you. What this does is put a big hotspot on the ground a little over a
lane wide in front of you. This gives you clear vision of any
obstacles in front of you, but there is still decent light within the
U which spreads out from the bike to the hotspot. In addition the
width of the light much wider than the Cyo--most of the 2 lane road.
Don't throw the hotspot into the horizon, put it on the ground--it
will improve the ride visibility immensely and you won't blind the
traffic.

<snip>

[Minh]

Those Luxos pictures are almost unbelievable to me, it's just so incredibly wide and bright that it's hard to believe the headlight is that good. it's really impressive what they've done with it, will be interesting if they expand the technology down the line (price) or across the line to something a little more aesthetically attractive (hey i love my the look of my edelux).

[Peter Morgano]

Now for sale on Riv site.

 

http://www.rivbike.com/German-Headlight-p/ltd-01.htm

On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 9:30 PM, Hoffsta <tongue...@gmail.com> wrote:

I agree. While this light seems functionally perfect, it would look totally out of place on my vintage commuter with all silver components. Looking forward to more iterations!

On Thursday, February 14, 2013 1:26:34 PM UTC-8, Minh wrote:

Those Luxos pictures are almost unbelievable to me, it's just so incredibly wide and bright that it's hard to believe the headlight is that good.  it's really impressive what they've done with it, will be interesting if they expand the technology down the line (price) or across the line to something a little more aesthetically attractive (hey i love my the look of my edelux).

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