WTB Sinewave Cycles Beacon 2 Dynamo Light, or reviews

[brizbarn]

Anyone have a Sinewave Cycles Beacon 2 Dynamo Light they want to sell?  Or has anyone used it, and care to share their thoughts?  My dynamo light broke and can't be fixed, and I have a Sinewave Reactor dynamo charger that I use to charge my iPhone or other USB things.  I figured I'd combine the two to declutter things a bit with the Beacon Light.

[Ryan Frahm]

I think the Beacon 2 is still at pre order status. They are supposed to start shipping in summer is all it says. 

[Matt Beecher]

I have one, but have not had a chance to use it yet.  I ordered the gen1 and it kept getting delayed.  I changed plans and ran with something else for a while, but still plan to put mine into service this year.  Overall, I felt a bit ripped off for a while, waiting with continual promises of it coming sooner than it ever did.  Had I listened and not made other plans, I would have been screwed.  

FWIW, there was someone on the paceline selling the first version of the beacon.  That was a few weeks ago though, so it may have sold.  

[Jeffrey Arita]

We've got two (his/her) Beacon V.1's.  Purchased 1st quarter 2017.  Both worked okay until one of them has issues with all of the LEDs firing up upon faster speeds.  Worked with the Owner and he stands behind his products.  Around that same time I asked him if he were going to consider making a focused lens option (StVZO).  At that time he (unfortunately) said 'no.'  IMHO, if he were to do so, he could sell a lot of these units to randonneurs and cyclotourists alike.

The Version 1 works quite well.  At low speeds only 1 or 2 of the LEDs light up.  As speed increases, the third LED lights up.  The lens is unfocused, so it is pretty decent if you are off-road on dirt roads.  The USB output is integrated into the chassis (obviously power limited via the dynamo).  There is a second way to power up the light - you simply plug in a USB power source - excellent when you get to a campground after dark and you need to light up your camping spot (or if you want to power the light without the dynamo).  Well thought-out.  If only there was a StVZO lens option, I think it would be perfect.

Note: the USB power output is power limited by the dynamo (not the device itself).  We have had trouble trying to charge late-model smartphones since they are quite power-hungry.  It is probably better to try and charge a battery bank (pass-thru or not) vs. the smartphone itself (in  our experience).  The dynamo + Beacon does re-charge small-ish GPS devices quite well such as Wahoo BOLTs and ROAMs. 

Best regards,

Jeff

Claremont, CA

On Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 3:41:05 PM UTC-7 brizbarn wrote:

[Brian Turner]

My experience is only with the V.1 Beacon, and I must admit it has been a bit disappointing to me, so I’m hoping some of the shortcomings have been improved in this new version. Like Jeff mentioned, it just kinda blasts a lot of light out, unfocused, so it’s best for off-road riding. Personally, I’d prefer a focused beam for both paved and off-road. I’ve found the USB charging feature to be practically useless for my needs. I could ride all day with a smartphone plugged in, and I’d be lucky if my battery percentage went up more than 3-4%. When I tried to charge my Garmin Edge Explore, it made my device freak out so bad, I thought I’d damaged it. When I contacted the owner of Sinewave about this, he said he was aware that certain Garmin devices didn’t work well with the Beacon’s charger. So, the two devices I bought the light to work with won’t work with it. I’ve heard it’s best to use it to trickle charge a separate battery bank, but those are so powerful these days, I can practically go 3-4 days on a bike trip, charging my devices as needed on a full charged bank. So I basically have a really expensive, gorgeous, very well-constructed dyno light that only really does one thing well, and that’s blast out a lot of light. I really wanted to love it, but I’m way happier with my Edelux II on my other bike.

I know it’s a popular light and works great for a lot of people in certain situations. I’m curious to know if the V.2 Beacon is a significant improvement over the issues I had with it, but it would probably take a lot to convince me to try another one.

-B

On Apr 18, 2023, at 8:49 PM, Jeffrey Arita <jeffre...@gmail.com> wrote:

We've got two (his/her) Beacon V.1's.  Purchased 1st quarter 2017.  Both worked okay until one of them has issues with all of the LEDs firing up upon faster speeds.  Worked with the Owner and he stands behind his products.  Around that same time I asked him if he were going to consider making a focused lens option (StVZO).  At that time he (unfortunately) said 'no.'  IMHO, if he were to do so, he could sell a lot of these units to randonneurs and cyclotourists alike.

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[brizbarn]

Thanks for the replies.  I mainly am interested in the Beacon 2 light for the clean look in a good light with built-in USB charging. My setup with the Reactor charger worked pretty well though, unfortunately my light broke and I need a new one.  I emailed Sinewave a while back and they said that the preorder is more like reserving your spot in line, they are currently producing Beacon 2's in small numbers and shipping them in order of purchase date.  

The beam pattern is interesting to think about.  I imagine if you just point the light down a bit it would be fine for commuting (not blinding to oncoming riders/drivers), which is where I would use the light most often, but maybe I'm mistaken. 

It sounds like the charging issues would be worked out in the version 2. I actually use a small portable charger rather than charge straight to my iPhone from my Sinewave Reactor.  It helps keep the iPhone screen from turning on (like what happens when you unplug your iPhone from a wall charger) every time I slow down too much to produce a charge.  This setup works well enough for me, but I wish I could set my iPhone to not have the screen turn on when it stops charging, and avoid needing the battery charger.

Maybe a light with a focused beam (one that lights up just the ground) and a UBS charger built in would be better for my use, but I don't know of any.  Kinda surprised there isn't more options out there. 

Attached is a pic of how I had my Reactor set up with my now broken light.

[Luke Hendrickson]

That light is gorgeous however that was my concern, too: beam pattern. I prefer the more European beam pattern of either the Son Edelux or the Busch + Mueller IQ-X (B+M makes the mirror for the Edelux, too). More American lights with their conical beams… not to my taste and seemingly very inefficient. 

[Kesler Roberts]

Resurrecting this old thread - wondering about experiences with the Beacon 2.  Is the low beam a reasonable compromise for not blinding oncoming traffic.  I just tranferred my B&M light to my wife's bike and am shopping.... I really like the idea of getting the charging function without extra wiring

[Ben Miller]

I have the Beacon 2 complete setup with the headlight and taillight. It's really really nice. The taillight is the highest quality taillight I've ever seen, super solid and well designed. As for the low setting on the headlight, I think that's more for when you want the light and to charge, or at least that is how I use it. I mostly just leave it in the high setting otherwise. It's obviously designed more for multiday bike packing trips, and the symmetrical beam is much better than a progressive beam better when off road. But still works fine on-road. But really, I'd only ever put it on a bike that sees a lot of off road use and especially off-road biking packing use. For a dedicated road bike I'd go with a progressive beam pattern like the IQ-X or Edelux and just use a battery bank for charging (which is still the best way to use the Beacon -> Beacon charges the battery and then use the battery to charge your devices). 

[Patrick Moore]

I'll dump this onto the current discussion: a very nice high/low beam dyno headlight that is very bright  is the BM IQ XL, a step up in brightness and in price from the X. I've got very bad night vision, and this is the first dynamo light I've used (and I also used an early-gen K-Lite at 1200 lumens) that is entirely sufficient off road at night, at least, on Conservancy District ditchbank/acequia/irrigation roads versus 3' wide footpaths threatening to tip you into an irrigation ditch, and twisty singletrack, tho' with the slower speeds of singletrack I'd bet it would work there, too.

B&M advertise 300 lux on Low and only 250 on High, but I think that's because on Low the light is more focused on a given pattern in front of you, while on High it just sprays out there. In any event, on High it is wonderful, and on Low it is almost good enough, only it doesn't throw quite far enough.

The one bigger complaint is that the switching is computer controlled: daytime default is auto on in daylight mode; you have to press and hold switch for 5 seconds to turn off; and at night, when you're in High and slow to a walking speed, as when you have to cross a stile, it automatically switches back to Low. I say, bring back mechanical toggle switches.

The smaller complaint is that the light is bulky; the good news is that B&M sell very good bar mount clamps. Still, with a wide 42 cm (at hoods) Maes Parallel on my dirt road bike, with the IQ XL bar mount, the remote swtich, and the Spurcycle bell, there's not enough room for the Cateye-like mount for my auxiliary Fenix headlight (also supremely bright, and used while stopped at intersections and as a night time repair torch) that has to go onto a fork leg rack boss mount.

[Kesler Roberts]

Thank you !  I really want the Beacon 2 to work for me but I think your assessment is right.  This is my go everywhere bike but 75% of the time it will be on road.

[Kesler Roberts]

Would love it if I have that in the budget.  I just found a deal on a lesser  B&M on ebay so I'll kick the can down the road a little longer on getting a fancy light